Steve Jobs said on Wednesday that 2011 will be the year of the iPad 2. We'll see whether that is true, but there is no question that this was the week of the iPad 2, evidenced by the bulk of the news items of note from this week:
- Yesterday, I gave you my thoughts on why lawyers will like the iPad 2. Brett Burney shares his thoughts on the subject here.
- Brendan McKenna is not as excited about the iPad 2 in this article for Law Technology News.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote a fantastic analysis of the iPad 2 introduction.
- Jeff Gamet of the Mac Observer notes that Apple is still selling the original iPad wit the prices dropped $100, so you can get the 16 GB Wi-Fi version for only $399.
- Want to pay even less? You can get a refurbished iPad for as low as $349 directly from Apple. $349 for an iPad? Wow.
- Did you buy an iPad after February 16, 2011? Bryane Wolfe of App Advice notes that you can get a $100 rebate from Apple.
- The site iLawyerApps discusses LogMeIn Ignition, a $30 app that I use all the time on both my iPad and my iPhone.
- A competitor to LogMeIn Ignition is GoToMyPC, and Tony Bradley of PC World has a review of the new GoToMyPC iPad app from Citrix. The app is free, but you need to have a $10 a month subscription to the GoToMyPC service.
- Joshua Topolsky of Engadget wrote an interesting commentary on the Post-PC World, a concept that Steve Jobs discussed during the iPad 2 introduction.
- Eric Slivka of MacRumors cites recent reports by Bloomberg and Reuters that Verizon will drop its unlimited data service this summer. AT&T used to offer an unlimited data service for the iPhone, but now only those grandfathered into an old plan can use it. That includes me, but I am thinking of switching to AT&T's current 2GB/month plan. I've never used more than 2GB a month, and with that plan selected I can take advantage of the new Mobile Hot Spot feature in iOS 4.3 that is coming out in a few days, which means that I can just get the Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2 and piggy-back on my iPhone's data plan. If any of you have been thinking about doing the same thing, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
- The ABA TECHSHOW blog notes that there will be lots of opportunities to discuss the iPad at the upcoming conference next month. That is true, and there will be also lots of opportunities to discuss the iPhone as well.
- Joel Johnson wrote an interesting article for Wired about the conditions at Foxconn, the massive manufacturing company in China that makes (among many other things) the iPhone.
- Peter Cohen of The Loop notes that the developer of the Angry Birds app is very happy about Apple.
- There is a good comparison of four different iPhone apps that you can use to take notes on the And Now It's All This blog.
- Divorce lawyer Paul Talbort writes on The Huffington Post about using spying on your spouse using their iPhone or BlackBerry.
- Engadget posted the 2010 Readers Choice Awards and Editors Choice Awards. The iPhone and iPad did quite well on both lists.
- Josh Barrett of Tablet Legal writes about apps that you can use for Word and Excel compatibility.
- And finally, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2 this past Wednesday, he also showed this video looking back on the uses for the original iPad over the previous year. Like many videos produced by Apple, it is incredibly well done, and may even provoke a tear or two. Worth watching:
