Full Press Release :

Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.

Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May. We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10. We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far.

“With Cisco M-Learning, any student with an Apple iPhoneApple iPhone or Apple iPod touchApple iPod touch can access a wide variety of M-Learning study modules to tailor a customized educational experience to meet individual study goals and reinforce training from other Cisco authorized resources. This is an innovative way for students to build their skills while on the go, and further reinforces Cisco’s commitment to providing best-in-classbest-in-class training to support the success of students pursuing new skills and certification,” said Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, vice president, Learning@Cisco.

At todays media event where Apple plans to show off iPhone OS 4.0, we might get to see some more official numbers.

Once it took one apart, iSuppli found more silicon chips than it had expected powering interactions with the iPad's 9.7-inch screen. Apple uses three chips to control the iPad's touchscreen, for example. "Because of the sheer scale of this device, we're seeing more here than we expected to," says Rassweiler.
The most significant single price bump, however, appears to be the iPad's touchscreen, which checks in as a $95 part and up $15 from the company's earlier estimates.

Apple stores opened at 9am this morning to start selling the iPad to customers.

It has signed up two additional publishers to its stable - book distributor Perseus Books Group and Workman Publishing Company, according to a report in the New York Times.

Workman publishes novels, cookbooks, and other titles. Perseus is an independent publisher that also distributes a number of books and titles from Harvard Business School Press and Zagat, the NYT said.

Sales of the iPad have apparently been brisk and Apple is set to coin it by nabbing a 30 percent commission for every sale it makes.

But Apple may find itself being challenged by its competitors such as Amazon because it won't let outlets sell books lower than it sells them in its iBookstore.

That means that Amazon will face visits from its publishers to renegotiate deals to match the deals they've made or may make with Apple.

iPad will face-off with HP’s Slate. Apple is hoping to dominate with its April 3 release, while HP is simply targeting this year. In this case, timing may not be everything as consumer expectations will be running high.

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A recent San Francisco Chronicle piece by Ryan Kim noted that HP has been ramping up its marketing for its upcoming launch and many industry experts expect HP will be able to hold its own against Apple. It doesn’t hurt that HP’s CTO of personal system group, Phil McKinney, has been touting the Slate as a powerful new media device.

“We predict users are looking for that consolidated device, that one device they can use for the ultimate content consumption experience,” McKinney said in a recent video interview and featured in the Chronicle.

“The feedback that we got from our customer base is: I want to be able to browse, I want to able to watch movies, I want to be able to listen to my music, I want to read magazines and do books. So the Slate device can give you not only reading capabilities but also give you that rich media.”

Even as these products are set to go neck and neck, there are some stark differences in their respective makers’ approach to the industry. For one, Apple – and many other rivals – are using mobile operating system paired with smartphone processors. HP, by contrast, is taking a computer-based approach in that the device will run Windows 7 with an Intel processor. For some, the idea of Windows is an attraction – for others, a big turn off.

“In some ways, Windows and Intel is a safe bet,” said analyst Bob O'Donnell of IDC . “You have things that are important for people like Adobe Flash, and a lot of other things that people are used to. The question is how do people use them: like a big smart phone or a totally different way. That remains to be seen.”

The issue actually goes just a little bit deeper as Windows have not proven to be the best thing for the handheld device. An earlier overview of the HP Slate highlighted the issue:  “…as much as the majority loves Windows for a myriad of tasks completed on PCs, laptops and even Apples, Windows 7 – which is standard on the new HP tablet – just does not work well in smaller devices. The biggest hiccup is the touch screen capability that Windows 7 offers.”

HP is also facing an uphill battle in the handheld market, although a success could present considerable revenue and profit opportunities. Even though the company dominated the world in PC sales, it only recorded $25 million in handheld sales in the most recent quarter; Apple had $5.6 billion in iPhone (News - Alert) revenue in the most recent quarter.

This is a big difference in performance, but it does not mean that consumers aren’t ready to try something new. The problem is much of Apple’s success has been built on its ability to create loyalty among its customer base. HP will have to go up against this strategic marketing technique, as well as its proven inability to deliver streamlined products that can compete in a market demanding smaller devices.

Ultimately, the outcome is yet to be determined and everyone has their own opinion as to the final dominating player. In truth, Apple may hit the ground running and do very well, but HP should not be counted out of the game simply because of a few missteps in the past. Their strong performance in the PC realm is enough to warrant them a formidable adversary and a failure to do so will leave Apple vulnerable.

As a result of the partnership, the companies together launch the iPad Advertising Platform, which combines PointRoll's cutting-edge rich media technology with AdMarvel's mobile advertising capabilities.

The iPad launch is part of a broader partnership to deliver comprehensive mobile capabilities across multiple platforms providing developers, publishers, agencies and ad networks with a comprehensive platform for monetizing ad revenue on the industry's newest distribution channels. By combining AdMarvel's expertise in improving the performance and revenue associated with mobile advertising with PointRoll's scalable rich media technology capabilities, the industry now has a solution that offers ad mediation, campaign management, ad serving and analytics specifically tailored for mobile devices such as the iPad.

For Developers and Publishers: Easy-to-integrate, managed service platform to maximize ad revenue

-- Works across browser and application modalities. AdMarvel SDK dramatically extends rich media advertising options for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and other mobile applications including Android and Blackberry

-- Ad sourcing from over 60 ad networks around the world -- delivering geo-targeted advertising to users across the globe

-- Rich media campaign management; ad composition, ad serving, granular targeting, pricing and forecasting for direct-sourced ad deals or house ads used to create awareness and cross promote properties

-- Real-time reports and analytics for unparalleled visibility and control over advertising monetization

For Marketers and Ad Networks: Easy-to-use platform to maximize visibility & efficiency

-- Target and engage consumers as they interact with the leading mobile content brands and properties around the world

-- Sophisticated campaign management, targeting and frequency control for optimal ROI on campaign spend

-- Best-in-class creative services, engaging features, and advertiser metrics for unparalleled interactive campaigns that allow you to easily extend the work you do with PointRoll on the desktop into the mobile space

"The iPad and mobile devices in general represent a great opportunity for both publishers and advertisers to engage consumers," said Mahi de Silva, CEO at AdMarvel. "The iPhone was a quantum leap in mobile phone usability and interaction, creating a new paradigm for rich media advertising. The iPad promises to take this to the next level. Most of the legacy advertising infrastructure designed for desktops and laptops will not work on the iPad -- but this is a tremendous opportunity for advertisers to explore new, more relevant and better performing engagement models for advertising."

The partnership's iPad Advertising Platform supports JavaScript, expandable ad units, animation, interstitials, transparent overlays of content and interaction. The platform also supports the ability to contain an ad experience within an application for the promotion of new features or content channels. Additionally, the iPad Advertising Platform features click-to-contact, click-to-maps, click-to-app and click-to-video actions. The platform is further supported by server-side tools to help advertisers create, manage and track rich media ad performance and analytics.

"We are very pleased to partner with AdMarvel to enable marketers and publishers to deliver memorable and measurable PointRoll campaigns across mobile environments," said Max Mead, Vice President, Business Development & Strategy at PointRoll Inc. "It's extremely important to us that the campaigns we deliver create an interactive and engaging user experience on whatever platform they appear. With the iPad, it's not just about repurposing mobile technology on a larger ad space, but enabling marketers and publishers to meaningfully connect with consumers."

AdMarvel powers many of the leading developers on iPhone, iPad and Android platforms. AdMarvel works on behalf of more than 500 publishers and carriers globally to source, manage, optimize and serve advertising from over 60 ad Networks and Agencies.

The iPad is scheduled to go on sale in 11 days, April 3. When it ships, the 100,000-plus apps in the iPhone App Store will be compatible with the new device. However, the iPhone apps might appear awkward on the iPad, because the iPad has a much bigger screen than the iPhone. Native iPhone apps can either be stretched to fill the iPhone screen, or run in a small, iPhone-sized window.

Likewise, the iPhone apps might be awkward to use, because they're designed for the smaller touchscreen.

That means developers will have to get to work building apps designed specifically for the iPad.

Here's what some developers had to say about their plans:

1Password: Agile Web Solutions, which makes the password-management app, plans to have an iPad version available April 3, said co-author David Teare.

The 1Password vendor, like other developers, can't guarantee the app will be available April 3 -- or at all. But Apple has set a deadline of March 27 for submitting to the App Store in time to have apps available on launch day, and the 1Password vendor plans to hit that deadline.

The iPad version will be free to existing users of 1Password Pro. Agile Web Solutions also plans to add support for MobileMe synching, "so people can sync all their devices to the cloud and not have to worry about manually syncing each device," Teare said.

Things: Vendor Cultured Code plans to have the to-do list app available April 3, said spokesman Michael Simmons. The vendor provided this funk-a-delic sketch of what the app will look like:

Instapaper: Marco Arent, developer of the app for downloading articles from the Web and reading on the iPhone offline, said he is working on an iPad version, but will probably not have it ready in time to ship April 3. The first version for the iPad will basically be a bigger-display version of the existing iPhone app, he said. "The first version will have no surprises, and no new features that aren't in the iPhone version. The interface isn't very different, either. It's going to be very version-one, with better tweaks and interface redesigns coming after I get accustomed to using the iPad in real life," Arent said in an e-mail.

Simplenote: Cloud Factory, which makes the memo pad app, plans an iPad app, but doesn't know when it will be available, said founder Michael Johnston. "Unfortunately, it's tricky to design effectively without a real device in our hands," Johnston said. "We have a version of Simplenote that works with the iPad simulator, but our instinct is that it's not going to feel right on actual hardware. This, combined with being busy working on some new features, means we're likely going to wait until we can do some design iterations on actual devices before we submit Simplenote for iPad."

Pastebot: Vendor Tapbots, which makes the software for enhancing the iPhone's cut-and-paste, is hanging back until they can get direct iPad experience. That also applies to Tapbots' other apps: Weightbot, a health and fitness app for recording weight loss; Convertbot, for unit conversions; and a fourth app still being developed.

Tweetie: The Twitter client will not be available April 3, the day the iPad becomes available, "but it's coming," said developer Loren Brichter in an e-mail.

Modbook

First on the list is the ModBook which is essentially a MacBook modded by another company in to a tablet form factor. The price for the ModBook is $899 although you need to provide your own unibody MacBook which the company hack up and make in to a tablet form for you.

The ModBook has a 13.1 inch screen, 120GB hard drive, Camera, optical drive, flash support and runs OS X although there’s no 3G like the Apple iPad and no multi-touch. Picture below…

Archos 9 PC Tablet

Another good option is the Archos 9 PC Tablet that costs $549. It runs Windows 7, has flash support, multitasking, USB, SD slot, webcam, stand and a trackpad. However, this tablet doesn’t have multitouch either. Picture below…

Notion Ink Adam

The Notion Ink Adam is another fantastic looking device that if launched, has great potential. The latest we heard is that it will launch in the next few months, so stay tuned. Features included in the Adam are Android OS, multitasking, NVIDIA Tegra 2, 10 inch dual mode screen (colour and ePaper), track pad on the back, USB, HDMI and a 3G modem.

The full list is available over at CrunchGear.