As promised, Apple has launched its latest creation to the public this weekend. Locations like Apple’s Pittsburgh retail store saw huge waiting lines ahead of the tablet’s release, while others, like the Palo Alto store, saw even more excitement than originally anticipated - a surprise visit from Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. TUAW picked up on a Mercury News story saying that Steve Jobs showed up to casually check out how things were going on Saturday at one of the company’s retail establishments. The CEO reportedly brought his wife and daughter. Their visit occurred around noon (Pacific time). Jobs said he merely wanted to observe the festivities, but he inadvertently delivered an unexpected thrill to iPad shoppers, these reports state. Other tech-sites, like electronista, say that early estimates of iPad sales show Apple may have sold between 600,000 and 700,000 iPads on Saturday alone. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster had originally predicted some 300,000 shipped units for the product’s first day in the wild, but he reportedly changed that prediction when he learned of the long queues at flagship retail locations like the 5th Avenue Apple store (New York City), where over 700 people lined up before the iPad’s launch. The report includes a comparison with the iPhone 3G’s launch, when 540 stood in line before the store opened its doors to the anticipating crowd. The figures undoubtedly exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Reports focusing on findings after the iPad was released reveal more surprises, this time from a technical point of view. iLounge, the source dealing almost exclusively with Apple i-products, claims that Apple accessories believed to be compatible with the device, like the iPod Camera Connector, are, in fact, not suitable for the tablet. “Upon connecting the five-year-old accessory to the iPad, a simple notification dialog pops up to say that ‘[t]his accessory is not supported by iPad’,” the source states. It then points out to the new Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit, which includes both a Dock Connector-to-USB adapter and a Dock Connector-based SD Card reader, as the appropriate hardware to buy. It’s this accessory that allows users to download photos from the connected camera or card onto the iPad, and vice-versa. It has also been revealed that iPad has a space for a camera which, for now, the device doesn’t sport. Other relevant findings from iFixit’s teardown have been reproduced below: - The significantly improved 9.7 inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen with Multi-touch is perfect for all your movie watching, e-book reading needs. - A first peek under the hood reveals two huge Li-ion Polymer batteries taking up most of the space in this device. […] The 3.75V, 24.8 watt-hour battery provides the juice for an advertised 10 hours of use. In contrast, the iPhone 3GS has a 4.51 watt-hour battery and the MacBook Air has a 40 watt-hour battery. […] It weighs 148g with the casing. - The display data cable connector is the same style used in all of the new Unibody MacBooks. - The logic board is about 4.5" wide, spanning about 60% of the iPad's width. - […] the A4 processor is probably being manufactured by Samsung. - The connector found on the speakers and other components is typical of the connectors seen in MacBook Unibody laptops. - The ambient light sensor lives in a compartment that a camera would love to call home. Finally, readers can hit up Apple’s web site for a complete list of details of the iPad. Source: Softpedia
