Questions on iPad you want answered

Desh Kapoor -

There are many questions in people’s minds.. so here are some answers:

1. When will it be available?

It starts to ship End of March.

2. What will be the price?

  1. $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model
  2. $599 for a 32GB iPad
  3. $699 for a 64GB model.

You can add $130 to any model to get 3G wireless support.

Just as a matter of comparison, Kindle DX – which is non color and also not touch screen, is available for $489, while a nook in Barnes & Noble is available for $289.

3. Will you be locked with the service?

There is no locking with any provider if you don’t want to use it.

$15 a month for 250MB of data, or $30 a month for unlimited data.  But the greatest thing – the service is pre-paid, no-contract rates, and service can be activated at any time right from the iPad itself.

The 3G service, however, will be through AT&T from Apple.  But that is a moot point, since it is shipped unlocked.  Which means you can use the SIM (micro-SIM card) from any service provider and use it or ever take it overseas and use it with a provider in another country with a GSM service.

There will be free WiFi at all hotspots from AT&T.

4. Will it enable me to do Office work?

Yes.  A new version of iWork has been created for iPad.  Now iWork for the Mac comes for $79; the iWork apps can, however, be available for $10 each.  iWork consists of Keynote (presentation slides), Numbers (spreadsheets), and Pages (word processing).

The iWork will have compatibility with iPad – where the slides (KeyNote), graphics/images and text (Pages), and Columns (Numbers) can be worked by the trademark tapping fingers and dragging stuff.  In fact it comes along with a library of spreadsheets and templates.

IWork for iPad can also import documents from iWork ’09 and Microsoft Office, while it can send out the documents in iWork’09 and PDF formats.