Apple Australia just became one of the first international sites to introduce the iPad to its pages. That gives us a pretty good indication of Apple's plans for a global launch: same "late March" ship for Wi-Fi only models and April for 3G models (carrier yet to be announced). Fine, but it's not what we see that has us intrigued so much as what's missing: the
iBookstore and any indication of the iBooks app. This doesn't look like an oversight but rather its purposeful removal from any images or feature lists. Guess we shouldn't be too surprised; going back to the press release we see the following: "iBookstore will be available in the US at launch." Seems Apple meant to say,
only in the US, eh? Rest easy Bezos, the iPad has a long way to go before it's any
competition to the Kindle.
Update: Footnote on the bottom of the Apple Australia iPad site says "iBooks available in the US only." Evidence after the break.
Update 2: UK
site is up sans iBooks which doesn't bode well for Europe considering it's the home for many of the world's top publishing houses. One sliver of hope was spotted in the iPad video promo that's footnoted with the following text: "iBooks available in U.S. and select countries." Hopefully soon rather than later. Screenshot after the break. [Thanks, Eytan D]
[Thanks, Robert S.]
posted Jan 28th 2010 5:46AM
So basically if you're not in the US it's just a big iPod Touch!
@cadmium910 touch has kindle app LOL
@cadmium910
People seem to forget that it uses the epub format and so you can get books for it anywhere in the world from launch.
As said before it is just a kindle big i pod touch , apple could have done better and blast everybody away with normal functionality of a downgraded i book.
This would be the ideal tool for having students on mass use in classrooms.
Compact with the normal software as word powerpoint etc....
I would pay na 1000 dolar for it
@sunsun sadly, it didn't materialize. For sure, Steve Jobs released one of the best Tablet as for this moment, but seeing its flaws -- surely, made the impression that it really didn't 'beat' its contenders (Kindle/Netbook devices) At least on this model. Maybe, if they will release a 2G model, these disadvantages will be eliminated, but then again that begs the question.. Why should we buy this half-baked tablet, if 2G will be better?
In the end, it'll be up to your preferences and budget if you're going to have the iPad. More Details: http://bit.ly/apple-ipad-under-fire
@sunsun I feel your pain brother.
I hate to beat a dead horse but, I don't want to wake up to more iPad news... Engadget should have an option remove all iPad related news like TUAW has to remove all iPhone related news. Apple is so damn arrogant as to release this blatantly ridiculously under featured *profit machine* and think the mass iSheeps will just roll over and buy into it till they are milked for every penny they have. The NERVE of these people to try and convince us that this is the holy grail of mobile computing:
"Way better than a laptop, way better than a phone."
"Our most advance technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price."
@cadmium910: This deal is getting worse all the time...
Nope, if you're outside of the US, it's a huge bag of hurt...
@cadmium910 yeah, question is how many people are interested, in or out of usa...
@cadmium910
Where are the Stocks and Weather apps???
I think we should give the iPad a few months to evolve and work out the kinks, just to be fair.
@cadmium910
Steve said it has a kindle app, so you can still read lot's of books.
But the iBooks UI/GUI is pretty sweet. That's one thing apple did right.
@artemis360
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/the-ipad-is-not-a-kindle-killer-blame-the-display
So no flash, no multitasking, and now no book store? This this is turning out to be a lemon!
@morikaweb
No international media content (video) what's new. There are no films nor tv shows in European iTunes (non English) since release!
No books... Ha a small worry.
So a travel and couch cute PC that is OK I guess.
Multitasking, not if that slows it all down and what is the point?
No camera, shucks I will stick to my Nikon, no visio cam , nobody uses that anyway.
So in all not bad but not sure it fits at the price, that will depend on apps that benefit from the screen.
@Leman instead of bitching why don't the Europeans get their minds on task and actually come up with something relevant in the tech world- rather than always pinging on the so called inferior US for our design products and intellectual property.
@morikaweb can you say Kindle App; Jesus help some of these people wake up faster before they post!
@cosmicinglewood Well, Jonathan Ive is English ;-)
@cosmicinglewood
Why would I buy 3rd party device in order to read books from the kindle? I think you need to wake up before you post!
@morikaweb
DRM sucks!
@morikaweb
Nah.. It's an Apple. Same thing in this context though.
Still.. Bigger battery, bigger explosion.
@cosmicinglewood I was about to remind you that Johnathon Ive is English but somebody got there first.
And also, why doesn't the so called "inferior" US start using there own TV formats rather than copying ours (interesting fact 50%+ of US TV is taken from British formats).
And don't say thats not tech related because its about TVs so yeah....
@GeorgeRobo Lets review history; Who invented and commercialized television? Who invented, funded and started the Internet? Who Invent the Transistor? Who Invented Information Theory? On and on and on? Who Built the first Digital Computer? Who Pioneer graphical user interface? Who designs the worlds routers and servers? so on and so on. Where were cell phones designed, first used, mass marketed? Aviation? Space Based Telicommunications. Lasers. ect ect. on and on and on... American American America.... the whole Information Technology sector of the global market was due to the work of Americans.... Down rank that!
@cosmicinglewood erm the ARM processor that's in there, where are ARm from?
@GeorgeRobo and another thing about TV formats, most providers like comcast use their own proprietary digital with encryption formats now! And what person with a brain watches mindless mind numbing TV anyways- when Hulu and Fancast exist....
@Stewsam RISC predates the ARM there my British counterpart; and where was RISC pioneered and by who?
@cosmicinglewood I might add atomic and solar power to the list too; the dutch get credit for wind turbines!
@morikaweb who buys and iPhone or iTouch for the kindle app? your the one with the weak coffee!
@cosmicinglewood erm the English and Scottish mostly :)
@Stewsam so where is this tight English gadget? Phone, Computer? Is it a coincidence that Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft, Dell, IBM, HP, Motorola, Apple, Sun, Intel are all American companies-
Who invented the digital computer?
Hmm, I'm going to have to go with the name "Alan Turing", who led a team of BRITISH engineers during the second world war designing code breakers, and went on to more-or-less define the computer as we know it today.
@CJ
Don't forget that the WWW is a British invention too.
But this is all moot. My daddy is bigger than your daddy flame wars are never productive.
Let's just remember whose language makes them possible. :)
@cosmicinglewood
Half the Forbes Global top 20 and half the top 100 are European. Just under one third are American businesses. Not one of the Silicon Valley names you listed are in the top 100, and both Microsoft and IBM are way off the front page. You keep waving that big foam #1 finger because sooner of later the Chinese are gonna come chew it off.
no multitasking no life
Austraila doesn't get a lot of things. So I'd hold your horses on pre-claiming the rest of the world won't get it either.
The UK is normally a good indicator.
@Phlashman Actually, I'd expect Australia to get it quite soon after the UK as British publishers control the copyright on literature in Australia.
Having said that, it took a long time for iTunes to come to Australia. I guess that's the price you pay to live in the arse end of the world.
@jakem arse end of the world, well I've taken that to mean a **** place to live, could think of a few hundred worse cities/towns/countries.
@jakem
I'm sorry did you just call Australia the arse end of the world?
If you're not Australian, have you ever been here?
If you are Australian, GTFO no one wants you here anyway.
@Phlashman
I agree, time for the UK site to get updated already.... plus it would be nice to know the UK pricing and order details.
@JonnySion Probably the same numbers, except the $ is replaced with a £.
@patlennas88 well it IS on the bottom of the planet and a hell of a distance from anywhere significant (I'm sure Papua New Guinea is nice and all, but hardly the first market Apple will be looking at).
@jubjub Better not be, £350-£400 for the base one I hope. If it is that at least one sold.
@chiefy
Arse end of the world, i.e bottom, other side etc. It's not a slur, he just means it's far away. Which it is... very far
@patlennas88
Shit dont Glass anyone no !! lol wait for the next long weekend to do that mate !!!
@patlennas88
Shit dont Glass anyone now !! lol wait for the next long weekend to do that mate !!!
@ patlennas88
Right on! Lebs out! Let's go get big southern crosses tattooed on our backs and beat up some indian exchange students!
Or we could... you know, not.
@patlennas88
Considering Australia's unemployment rate dropped to 5.5% and their median salary is $52k USD, economics 101 indicate that they should get it first.
@sinaplenty
Australia is not on "the bottom of the planet". That is a Euro-centric and US-centric view of the world.
FYI, the bottom of the planet is actually the Earth's inner core.
@Jimbob
Well to us Australians, you guys are on the arse end of the world...
@daniel D And to us Australians, virtually everything that goes wrong on this planet is your fault... And to everyone else, as far as I can tell from my travels...