CEO Steve Jobs was the surprise master of ceremonies as Apple today lifted the cover off the much anticipated iPad 2 in an event in San Francisco. The iPad has come out to be Apple’s most discussed products in recent times, even more than the revolutionary iPods and iPhone, which goes on to say how important the product is for the company. Jobs walked onto the stage at the event to a standing ovation from the crowd and introduced the new lighter, better, faster version of the iPad, taking innumerable swipes at the plethora of competitors that are flooding the market with revolutionary tablets of their own with the likes of Motorola Xoom and RIM’s Playbook.
Speculation had been running wild that Jobs was suffering from some rare cancer with many media sources around the world claiming that his condition was very critical. He had been on medical leave since January, however he turned up at the evening to a delighted audience, saying that it was “just too exciting” for him to miss. His appearance has had such a big effect that even Apple’s shares have gone up by around $4.
Mr. Jobs emphasized on the fact that Apple bossed more than a 90% share of the market and added rather cheekily that the competitors were just ”flummoxed”. He went on, calling 2010 the year of the iPad, and 2011 the year of the iPad 2. He stressed on the evolution of the new “post-PC” category of devices that are now coming up, and the iPad being the frontrunner along with the iPhone. It is interesting that Apple had faced harsh criticism of the iPad from skeptics when it was introduced last year, however it went on to sell more than 14.8 million units of the device by the end of the year and generating $10 billion worth of revenue in the process.
