iPad

iPad apps start off pricier than iPhone apps

Early adopters of the iPad should be prepared to pay more to download their favorite apps than they would if they waited for the presumed masses to get onboard.

Though a healthy sampling of iPad apps will be free or inexpensive, many now available in the App Store cost twice or three times as much their iPhone and iPod Touch counterparts.

Games and graphic arts applications are two categories likely to cost more on the iPad. Scrabble by Electronic Arts is $2.99 for the iPhone but costs $9.99 for the iPad. Electronic Art's Need for Speed Shift … Read more

iPad sales could pass 7 million units this year

Speculation has run rampant as to how many people will grab an iPad following its launch Saturday. But at least one market researcher is predicting huge sales for the tablet this year and beyond.

Worldwide sales of Apple's new device are expected to reach 7.1 million units this year, according to a preliminary forecast released Friday by iSuppli. Sales will double to 14.4 million units next year and triple to 20.1 million in 2012, the research firm predicts.

Though the iPad initially generated a fair amount of negative reaction, several recent reviews in the press have been much more favorable. The tablet's design, applications, and multitouch interface will compensate for any perceived limitations and will lead to huge demand by early adopters this year, iSuppli predicts.

Growth will continue to soar in 2011 and 2012 as more iPad apps hit the market, and as Apple improves the tablet's functionality and lowers its price, said iSuppli. In fact, the company believes its sales forecast could prove conservative if Apple enhances certain features sooner than expected and reconsiders its lack of support for Flash.

"2010 sales could potentially climb much higher than the 7 million figure, and that first year success--combined with expected ongoing innovation--will help to keep Apple at the forefront of the tablet market for several years," Rhoda Alexander, iSuppli's director of monitor research, said in a statement. "Key to continuing success will be how quickly Apple responds to issues as they arise and whether the company can align suppliers to meet demand needs."… Read more

Plants vs. Zombies for iPad gets hot and buttered

The iPad's bigger screen real estate has held some of the biggest promise for fans of tower defense games, and iPhone and iPod Touch best-seller Plants vs. Zombies from PopCap could be one of the best early examples.

The iPad version of the title, dubbed Plants vs. Zombies HD, was leaked last week along with a slew of other iPad games through Apple's iTunes Web interface for apps. At $9.99, it costs more than three times its smaller sibling.

However, the iPad-optimized version brings the game nearly up to parity with the versions found on PC and Mac computers, which cost twice as much. This includes the proper top placement (instead of the side) of all the weapons and resources you must work with to defeat your zombie foes, as well as survival mode, which lets players try to stay alive for as long as possible. For many of those who have finished the game's campaign, this is the mode of choice, and something that was sorely missing from the iPhone version.

iPad users also get a new (and exclusive) mini-game mode called "buttered popcorn," which makes use of the iPad's multitouch display. As PopCap explains it:

Players attack zombies by first "buttering" them up before firing corn-cob cannons at them. To defeat the growing hordes of zombies, players can touch them to place butter on their heads. With the multitouch user interface, players can select up to 11 zombies at a time, targeted for 'buttering' by the powerful cob cannons.

Presumably, by selecting "11 at a time," PopCap means players are expected to use their nose, or the help of a friend, to select the extra zombie beyond their own 10 digits.

PopCap says it's sold 650,000 copies of the title for the iPhone and iPod. Users who have already paid for that version will, of course, still be able to play it on the iPad, but will need to buy a copy of the HD version if they want to take advantage of all the new features and extra screen real estate.

More screens after the break. Click on any shot to see it in its native iPad resolution.… Read more

Big names unveil iPad apps

The iPad will let you watch streaming movies from Netflix, play games from Electronic Arts, and read the latest adventures of Spider-Man, thanks to new apps announced Friday.

Netflix is offering subscribers a free app that lets them instantly watch an unlimited number of TV shows and movies streamed to the tablet. iPad streaming will be free on all Netflix plans costing $8.99 or more per month. Netflix subscribers can also stream TV episodes and films by selecting them from a broad list of genres via the iPad's touch screen or by adding them to a queue for … Read more

Free NBA iPad app targets stats geeks

Everyone has an iPad app--or it just feels that way since I've been inundated with press releases about them since Thursday--but the NBA's is interesting for a few reasons.

First, it's free. And second, the NBA is looking at the iPad as a different use case than every other mobile platform. Pro basketball has more than 100 apps, if you count each variation of them released for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. But the iPad app, called NBA Game Time: Courtside, is not just a reformatted iPhone app for a larger screen.

"It's completely different from the ground up," said Bryan Perez, the president of the NBA's Digital Group. "One you pull out of your pocket, the other is sitting on your desk or coffee table."

The iPad app is supposed to be a companion to people watching the game, or in this case, the NBA playoffs, which start in just a few weeks. Unlike the iPhone app that you're probably using to stay updated on a game you're missing while you're at the airport or work or on the bus home, the Courtside app assume you're watching on TV.

It's really for stats geeks who don't want to rely on the announcers for all their information.

"We give them the info our TV analysts would have at their fingertips," said Perez.

With some finger swipes you can watch a game and delve into the type of live-updated stats that NBA analysts Doug Collins or Reggie Miller would have while they're sitting courtside calling a game. You can tap any player or team on the screen and see his/their stats as well as shot charts and shooting percentage from different areas on the floor. There's also real-time scoring, updated video highlights, play by play, news updates from around the league and tweets from the NBA's official Twitter account.

You might be thinking, "Bad timing, since the NBA season is basically over." And yes, it is in about two weeks. But this application is specifically for the playoffs. You can get it Saturday, and until the postseason begins, it will show the current playoff picture, and update depending on how the last games of the season go down.

Additional screenshots after the jump:… Read more

Friday Poll: Got your eye on an iPad?

iPad Day, as you've surely heard, is almost upon us. When Apple stores around the country open their doors Saturday morning, those who have preordered the much-hyped tablet, yours truly included, can finally get their hands on one. Those who haven't preordered the device can also get one at Apple stores starting at 9 a.m. local time, as well as at most Best Buys.

It's been reported here and elsewhere that iPad preorders are numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and you, being Crave fans, perhaps count for one of those. Or at least you're … Read more

So you're buying an iPad...

With the exception of the original iPhone, it's hard to remember a more anticipated piece of technology in the last few years than the iPad.

If it does follow the same pattern as Apple's iconic smartphone, that implies that the touchscreen tablet is going to do very, very well. Initial reports have listed the number of preorders in the "hundreds of thousands," and tech industry analysts are forecasting that Apple might sell 6 million iPads within a year. That's astounding because, first, that's how many iPhones Apple sold in the first year, and second, … Read more

Latest iPhone jailbreaks could work on iPad, too

Attention, jailbreak fans: two competing tools might be released in the next couple of days to jailbreak iPhones running 3.1.3--and they might also work on the iPad, which launches Saturday.

Jailbreaking is the practice of hacking an iPhone or iPod Touch to install non-Apple-approved programs and run system hacks. It allows for things like tethering, interface tweaks, and other changes Apple doesn't approve of. Many people don't like being locked in to the "ecosystem" Apple forces its iDevice users to inhabit, and jailbreaking is seen as the cure.

The hacks have been demonstrated and … Read more

Apple touts 'iPad ready' sites

Amid heightened anticipation for the launch of its iPad tablet device on Saturday, Apple on Thursday made available numerous iPad-ready applications and began listing Web sites that have been optimized and enhanced for compatibility with the iPad's features.… Read more