Apple has posted two new iPad ads on their website titled: “iPad is Musical” and “iPad is Delicious”. They follow up from the What is iPad…?”  commercial. Click on the links to view iPad is Musical and iPad is Delicious

The page highlights the update’s main features of: Multitasking, AirPlay, Folders and Wireless Printing. This page can be viewed here

Apple has released a software update for the iPad, iOS 3.2.1. The update brings several improvements and bug fixes, the most notable being “Improved WiFi connectivity”. The full list of upgrades are detailed here:

• Improved Wi-Fi connectivity
• Fixed an issue that could prevent copy and paste of single-page PDF attachments in Mail
• Addressed an issue that could cause video playback to freeze
• Improved reliability of video-out when using iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter
• Added Bing as an option for Safari’s search field

Since the iPad’s release many users have complained that the device has lost it’s WiFi connection during use, meaning some users have had to either input their router password again or reboot the iPad itself. Despite not having the same press as the iPhone 4’s signal problems (which is addressed in a simultaneous update, iOS 4.0.1) it has still proved an area of criticism and frustration for users. Time will tell whether this update is a complete cure or a short term fix.

Apple has released an update to it’s MobileMe iDisk app to make it fully compatible with the iPad as well as the iphone and iPod Touch.

The app allows users to access documents, pictures and music that were deposited on to their iDisk on their Mac. Users can open documents using specific apps dependent on the format. This functionality is considered a crucial aspect for many ipad users, especially those who use the iWork apps. While other parties have created apps with this functionality, such as DropBox, many MobileMe subscribers have been waiting for this app to be updated.

Here are Apple’s notes to coincide with the update:

• Designed for both iPhone and iPad
• Multitasking support for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS (iOS 4 required).
• Quickly switch to another app and back to iDisk
• Play audio from your iDisk while using another app
• When app is opened, the last file or directory viewed is displayed
• Open to open iDisk documents in compatible apps such as iBooks
• When sharing a file, an email can be sent from any configured email account
• The URL for a shared file can be copied and pasted
• Various stability improvements

One problem I have encountered whilst using the app is that it is somewhat a one-way street in terms of use. You can access documents from your Mac, however, you cannot then save it back onto your iDisk after editing. This crucial feature will presumably be included with either and iWork update or when the iOS4 is released for iPad this Autumn.

ATT have sparked controversy this week with the news they will be discontinuing their unlimited mobile broadband plan for the iPad 3G from June 7th.

Up until this point AT&T offered customers a choice of two data plans: $14.99 for 250 MB of data per month or $29.99 per month for Unlimited data. But just over 1 month since the launch of the iPad 3G on April 30th, this has been revised significantly. Starting today the unlimited data plan has been removed and replaced with 2 GB for $25 per month. Whilst for the average consumer this is a significant amount, for many it is seen as another reason of justification for Apple to move away from AT&T as their sole US data partner for the iPad and iPhone.

However, there is a clause that may offer some comfort to users. Those who have bought or ordered their iPad 3G before June 7th can still sign up to the Unlimited plan including purchases from Apple’s Online Store. Those who have bought after the 11.59 PM cut off will not have the option of this plan.

Many see this as a prime example of the real need for multiple data partners in the US to trigger competitive pricing like in other countries. The UK for example has 4 different carriers allowing users real choice and an option to suit everyone. Something that is very much lacking in the US.

One has to wonder what Apple’s thoughts are on this issue. Steve Jobs himself described the two plans as a “real breakthrough” when he unveiled the iPad back in January. I don’t imagine he envisaged the breakthrough to last only 38 days.

Mobile Broadband

Steve Jobs at today’s iPhone OS 4.0 event, announced that as of today — 450,000 units of iPads were sold, 3.5 million iPad apps and 600,000 iBooks downloaded and more than 3,500 iPad apps is available in the app store. He also mentions that the total iPhones sold to date worldwide is at a whooping 50 million units, where as the iPod Touch sold 35 million.

Related Post: 300,000 iPads sold on Launch Day

[Photos via Wishard of Oz]

The iSuppli component breakdown for the iPad is here. As with any of these costs estimates, things that are not factored in the cost includes: Research and development, putting the parts together, marketing the product, packaging, etc. So the actual cost for each iPad Apple makes could be more or less than the ‘estimated cost’ below.

Here’s the estimated cost in just parts for each WiFi models of the iPad:

• $259.60 — 16GB model
• $289.10 — 32GB model
• $348.10 — 64GB model

Highlights in the parts:

• $95 — Capacitive Touchscreen Display
• $29.50 — 16GB Flash drive, $59 32GB, $118 64GB
• $26.80 — Processor designed by Apple manufactured by Samsung
• $10.50 — Aluminum Backing

When Apple announced the iPad in January, the ‘iPad’ trademark was already snagged up by Fujitsu, the company has a device used in retail establishments and has been around since 2002 that’s also called the iPad.

Days after the announcement, Fujitsu was reportedly preparing to begin litigation or settlement terms with Apple for the iPad TM. It looks like Apple has negotiated with Fujitsu with some sort of deal and the company now officially owns “iPad”.

For those who pre-ordered the iPad keyboard dock, 10W USB power adapter and/or the official iPad case, there will be a delay in the ship date for these 3 particular iPad accessories.

The $69 keyboard dock and the $29 USB power adapter that was originally scheduled for a April launch has been pushed back to ‘sometime’ in May. And as for the the iPad Case, which was suppose to start shipping on April 3rd along with the WiFi iPads, has been delayed to mid-April.

As of now, the iPad Dock and dock connector to VGA adapter is still on track for the April 3 release.

Also checkout our iPad Accessories Store for iPad Cases, screen protector, headphones, cables and more!

On Friday, Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad, and according to an estimate done by the AAPL Sanity Team, nearly 120,000 iPads was sold on the first day alone.

You can see  more details on how they came up with that number at Deagol’s blog, but basically, looking at order numbers from a sampling of 99 orders over 19.5 hours, the team subtracted the number of typical daily online sales from the total estimated sales from Friday.

In addition, the team finds that the pre-orders were nearly equally split among the 16, 32 and 64 GB models, with almost 70% of the pre-orders going to the WiFi-only iPads.

As Victor Castroll, an analyst with Valcent Financial Group pointed out, “Apple has been able to generate over $75 million in revenue in one day on a product that 99.9% of purchasers haven’t touched or for that matter, even seen in person.”