APPLE UNVEILS NEW VERSION OF IPAD.

Apple unveiled upgraded versions of its iPads Tuesday, with more power and sleeker designs to ramp up competition against rivals who now have a majority of the tablet market. A slimmer version of its top-selling
full-size tablet computer, dubbed
the “iPad Air,” was announced along with a revamped iPad Mini with an improved high-definition display.
The new iPad Air is 43 percent
thinner than the version it replaces,
weighs just one pound (450 grams),
and is “screaming fast,” Apple vice
president Phil Schiller said at an
unveiling.
The upgraded iPad Mini has a high-
definition “retina” display along with
faster computing power and
graphics.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook said
at the San Francisco event that
consumers still love the iPad even
though it no longer accounts for a
majority of global tablet sales.
“Everybody seems to be making a
tablet,” he said. “Even some of the
doubters are making them.”
But he said that notwithstanding
sales figures, “iPad is used more
than any of the rest, and not just a
little more, a lot more.”
The iPad “is used over four times
more than all of those other tablets
put together, and this is what is
important to us. People use it, and
what is even more important to us,
is people love it,” he said.
The two new iPads will be sold
alongside the existing versions,
starting November 1 in more than 40
markets around the world.
The iPad Air will start at $499 and
the new Mini version at $399 for US
customers. Apple will cut the prices
of the older iPad versions.
The new iPads feature the Apple-
designed A7 chip with 64-bit
“desktop-class architecture,” Apple
said.
“iPad created an entirely new mobile
computing experience, and the new
iPad Air is another big leap ahead.
It is so thin, light and powerful,
once you hold one in your hand you
will understand what a tremendous
advancement this is,” said Schiller.
The new iPads come on the same
day Microsoft began selling an
upgraded version of its Surface
tablet, and as Nokia unveiled its own
tablet computer.
Industry tracker Gartner on Monday
forecast that global tablet shipments
will reach 184 million units this year
— a 53.4 percent rise from last year.
The iPad remains the largest-selling
tablet, according to surveys, but its
market share is being eroded by
rivals using the Google Android
operating system.
Source: Vanguard news