iPad Air: What you need to know, and then more

I know most of you are busy professionals and haven't got the time to read up on all the buzz about Apple's new iPad - iPad Air. And that's why I'm here, to let you know all the things I think you want to know.

iPad Air?

We all know iPad, the tablet a Chinese boy sold his kidney for. Well, the latest iPad is known as iPad Air. It's extremely thin and very light. And lasts for 10 hours too. I wish I can find a more practical way to describe how amazingly thin and light it is. My mind can't come up with a common item to compare it's weight to, and another to compare it's thinnest to. But in absolute terms, it weighs 1 pound (less than half a kilogram) and is 7.5mm thick (less than a centimeter).

This is the latest in Tim Cook's innovations. He started by creating a colourful version of the iPhone, one that will appeal to teens and young adults. And now, iPad Air.

Since Steve Jobs died, Tim Cook has been having a tough time. People, influential people, having been saying Apple will no longer be innovative. Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO and close pal of Steve Jobs, put it this way - 

"Well, we already know... We saw Apple with Steve jobs, we saw Apple without Steve Jobs. We saw Apple with Steve Jobs, now we're gonna see Apple without Steve Jobs."


He was referring to the period between May 1985 and late 1996 when Steve Jobs was kicked off the very company he started, the company he convinced Steve Wozniak to resign from his job at HP to co-found. And the emotional part was that the guy, John Sculley, who pushed Steve Jobs out was brought in from Pepsi-Cola by Steve Jobs. The words Steve convinced him to join Apple with have become golden, " Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?" 

Those years, 1985 - 1996, left Apple dying. In 1995, Larry Ellison proposed buying out Apple if Steve Jobs would come back as CEO, but Steve didn't want that kind of a comeback. Fortunately, Apple's board decided to buy the new company Steve Jobs started and, ultimately, worked a comeback for Steve Jobs. At that time, the company was doing so bad that Steve had to beg Bill Gates for funds (Steve and Bill had a very complicated relationship, it followed the pattern of friends -- foes -- friends again -- foes again -- finally, contemporaries).

Steve turned the failing company around and made it the world's most profitable and innovative company. I won't forget the way he described it at an All things D conference, "Apple was like a ship with a hole in the bottom, leaking water, and my job was to get the ship pointed in the right direction." He was quoting the CEO he took over from, Gil Amelio. 

And that was the situation Larry Ellison was referring to when he said, "Apple without Steve Jobs". 

There's also Steve Wozniak's not so good comment. He says he is not impressed with the iPad Air.

What do I think about Apple without Steve Jobs?

Nobody cares about what I think. Not even me. 

Steve Jobs was Steve Jobs. Tim Cook is Tim Cook. And we'll all keep buying great products. Steve didn't get things right from the go, he grew on the job and became the Steve Jobs we now celebrate. Even Steve Wozniak said so in his comments about the movie, Jobs.

Tim Cooks isn't doing bad. He is focusing on expanding the international markets of Apple, launching Apple products in countries Steve cared little about. The new iPad Air will launch on November 1 in over 40 countries and territories. And that's is a big leap, considering that the iPad 3 launched in only 10 markets a year ago. He's also making the iPhone more appealing to fashion loving teens. 

He has set a new standard in the tablets market with the iPad Air.

You can read the iPad's spec here. It's basically same specs with the iPad 4, just thinner, lighter, with a faster CPU and better WiFi. The real innovation is in making it that compact.

As for pricing, it's $499 for the 16GB WiFi alone, $599 for the 32GB WiFi alone, $699 for the 64GB WiFi alone and $799 for the 128GB WiFi alone.

For the WiFi + Cellular (SIM): $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32Gb, $829 for 64GB and $929 for 128GB

image credits: apple.com