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Apple has ended months (maybe years) of speculation by unveiling the iPad, company’s first tablet device. Jobs claims the iPad sits in middle of smartphones and laptops and works more efficiently than the current mid-segment netbooks. The iPad can do web browsing, email, photos, videos, games and ebooks and in retrospect seems to be a larger-sized iPod touch.

Interestingly, the iPad uses Apple’s in-house created chip called A4, clocked at 1GHz and features a 9.7-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen display. The tablet is 0.5-inches thin and comes with 16/32/64GB storage capacities, Wi-Fi 802.11n, 3G, Bluetooth 2.1, speakers, mic, compass, accelerometer and a battery capable of running up to 10 hours on a single charge.

Areas where iPad has an edge over iPod touch are gaming & apps – where iPad can run apps and games out-of-the-box on two resolutions – original in a blackbox or double them in full screen; a dedicated iBooks app that transforms iPad into a fully functional e-book reader and allows users to buy books in a very iTunes-like interface, iWork apps and will use GSM micro SIMs slot.

iPad will start shipping in late March with prices as follows: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), $699 (64GB), add $130 for 3G.

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[Via Gdgt]