I’ve been watching the event live via engadget today and I’m so happy to report that the iPad is real. I’ll update this post later with pics and the actual specs once we have them. And the date when we can all start camping.

Specs:

• .5 inches thin
• 1.5 pounds
• 9.7 inch IPS display
• Full capacitive multitouch (naturally)
• Apple has it’s own chip for this: 1GHz Apple A4 chip
• 16, 32, 64 GB Models
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• WiFi 802.11N
• Speaker, Mic, 30 Pin connector
• Accelerometer
• Compass
• 10 Hour battery life, over a month on standby!!

And it’s very, very green by industry standards.

Apps

Apps will need to be updated to make use of the display. Some will be able to take advantage of faster processor, memory and graphics for gaming as well. All the current apps can be downloaded directly to the iPad already! They are releasing the SDK that supports the larger screen today. Of course, Apple’s native apps have all been updated already and look amazing.

After strong showings from New York Times, EA and MLB, Apple is introducing it’s ebook reader: iBook. I’m hopeful they play nice with Amazon because it’s my favorite store for buying goods. Obviously apple prefers me to buy from them, so hopefully there will be some middle ground. The Kindle’s price will have to go way down, if you ask me, to stay competitive. It’s now a niche device thanks to the iPad and the iBooks app looks pretty good. They appear to have deals with plenty of major publishers so getting books shouldn’t be a problem.

They will also be releasing iWork for the iPad. The challenge seems have been horse power and user interface. They seem to be happy with what they’ve come up with and these would make great additions to the iPad, truly making it into something more office/mobile friendly. I hope they add the iLife suite as well. iWork looks pretty good on the iPad.

Pricing

• WiFi
  • 16 GB – $499
  • 32 GB – $599
  • 64 GB – $699
• WiFi + 3G
  • 16 GB – $629
  • 32 GB – $729
  • 64 GB – $829

There will be models with 3G, not just WiFi. Currently, it’s about $60/month for laptop data plans. The iPad has 2 pricing options:

• $14.99/month for up to 250GB
• $29.99/month for UNLIMITED!

Both are with AT&T, with no commitments! It also includes free use of AT&T WiFi hotspots. That’s slick.

I’m not sure what version I’ll end up getting. Most likely the 16 with the $14.99 monthly pricing. For what I want to use this for, that should be more than enough.

The iPad uses the GSM microSIMS and comes unlocked! You can use it on any carrier.

When Can I Buy an iPad

Apple says “We will be shipping these in 60 days. 3G models will ship in 90 days“. Emphasis added.

Wow! It’s going to have an external keyboard.

I predicted it wouldn’t have bluethooth keybaord support and I think I’m still right. But it will launch with a dock that does included a physical keyboard. Super slick. Which means there is hope for bluetooth keyboards for both the iPad and the iPhone. This means that the doc might actually work with the iPhone. Nice. Update Chris in the comments pointed out that Macrumors says “The iPad also supports Bluetooth keyboards.” I’ll be happy to be wrong on this one. Looking for sources on this bit, haven’t seen any other coverage of that point yet.

The iPad Site is now online. h/t to @beley.

Apple is planning an announcement on Jany 27th and the some thing and others hope that the news will be the tablet. I’m in the hopeful, but skeptical camp. Here’s some of the more interesting rurmors on the Apple tablet from today:

• A Third OS for the Apple Tablet?
• To Keyboard or Not to Keyboard, That is the Question – I’m betting against The Apple Blog here. Read my last post : Will the Apple Tablet Have Bluetooth Keyboard Support?
• Amazon Prepares for the Arrival of the Apple Tablet: Gives Authors and Publishers a Bigger Royalty Cut for E-Books

You can expect the rumor mill to start churning over time with the event only a few days away. We’ll post the more interesting and likely ones as we run across them. Feel free to send tips!

Is Apple Really Going To Announce A Tablet on January 27th? Unless you’ve been on mars chatting it up with Dr. Manhattan the last few months then you’ve no doubt seen the slew of rumors about the possibly impending tablet announcement. Most seem pretty set on the basic idea is that we are looking at something along the lines of a bigger version of the 1st generation iPhone. Nicer looking and updated hardware, of course. But I take it more to mean this is Tablet 2G. It’s going to be be pretty amazing, but it’s an initial release and I think we’ll see a very similar product cycle with the tablet, or iSlate if you buy the rumor, where we’ll see a newer in several months and then a minor update to that one.

But the real question for me is will the tablet support bluetooth keyboard profiles? Right now, the iPhone os does not have the bluetooth keyboard driver profiles. I’m sure the experts will all give different reasons, but I think it comes down to Apple being stubborn thinking that the software keyboard is good enough and that if they did allow external keyboards, would that have any impact on laptop sales? I highly doubt it’s the latter. At least with the iPhone. Could you imagine one of those silicone roll up keyboards that was bluetooth, with a small foldable stand for your iPhone. Put that puppy in landscape and you could do some serious writing. But will the Apple tablet have a bluetooth keyboard profiles? No.

Why would they? If they software keyboard is good enough on the iPhone then why wouldn’t it be good enough for the tablet? In theory it should work much better. Lots more space and less fat fingering for those of us who are still normal human sizes. Again, I doubt this would ever cut into the notebook market. The netbook market perhaps, but no chance on notebooks. The tablet will be seriously under powered to be a real laptop of any kind. If it turns out to be real, it could be a serious contender for a primary mobile device though. With a keyboard it could be a threat to lower end laptops and netbooks, possibly even the Macbook Air.

Regardless, I think this initial release stands no chance of having those bluetooth keyboard profiles I so desperately want. But I hope I’m wrong, because if it does run on the iPhone OS, that also means the iPhone may get those profiles too! So lets hope that come Jan 27 Apple announce the tablet, which will launch with the iPhone 4.0 OS and have, among many other improvements, bluetooth keyboard profiles.

The eBook reader wars are heating up with the anticipation of a tablet from Apple. Rumors have Apple working with publishers to give them a bigger royalty share further hinting that the tablet may indeed be real. If true, we may find out January 27.

Amazon isn’t just sitting back and waiting to be steam rolled by Apple. Amazon recently upped their royalty split with publishers and authors and now we have news they are introducing an app platform for the Kindle. Lets face it, single use devices days may be numbered and apps really changed the game for Apple and paved the way for other companies to follow suit. Amazon’s apps will be in limited beta starting next month and there are some limitations, but this is a smart move in what’s becoming a very competitive market. Besides, wouldn’t it be cool to be able interact with twitter, blogs and other apps out there with your Kindle?

Paid Content has more details on the apps and limitations. Moco News has further news that Apple is meeting with top publishers in New York. They hint that it’s not about the yet to be announced tablet. I personally thing Apple’s ebook reader plans are software based and that it’ll work on the Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch and, if it ever becomes a reality, their tablet.