Apple unveils $499 tablet with AT&T data plans

AP – SAN FRANCISCO – Apple will sell its newly unveiled tablet-style iPad starting at $499.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs shows off the new iPad during an event in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

The iPad resembles an iPhone, but larger. Apple will sell some iPad models with data plans from AT&T, with no contract required.

Apple Inc. will have to convince consumers, many of whom already have Internet-connected phones, computers and TVs, that they’ll want to pay that much for such a device, when many small, lightweight “netbooks” cost less than $400.

CEO Steve Jobs says the iPad will be better for reading books, playing games and watching video than either a laptop or a smart phone.

The initial price is likely to drop. Apple sold the first iPhone for $599 but slashed the price to $399 after a few months, upsetting early buyers.

Apple unveils iPad tablet with onscreen keyboard

AP - SAN FRANCISCO – Apple CEO Steve Jobs has unveiled the iPad, a tablet-style computer that resembles the iPhone, but larger.

"It's so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone," Jobs said Wednesday at the device's highly anticipated debut in San Francisco.

Apple had kept its "latest creation" under wraps, though many analysts had corrctly speculated that it would be a one-piece tablet computer with a big touch screen, larger than an iPhone but smaller than a laptop.

Jobs demonstrated how the iPad is used for surfing the Web with Apple's Safari browser. He typed an e-mail using an on-screen keyboard and flipped through photo albums by flicking his finger across the screen.

The CEO says the iPad will also be better for reading books, playing games and watching video than either a laptop or a smart phone.

No price or information on availability was immediately announced.

Now Apple will have to convince consumers, many of whom already have Internet-connected phones, computers and TVs, that that's the case. Tablet computers have existed for a decade, with little success.

Shares in Apple fell $4.65, or 2.3 percent, to $201.29 in afternoon trading Wednesday. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company's shares have more than doubled over the past year, partly on anticipation of the tablet computer.