Steve Jobs does it again

Only a few short weeks have passed since the launch of the iPad and even lesser time since it became available on the international market, and already the device has sold millions of units. The gadget, which garnered much hype after its announcement, is in between a smartphone and a laptop, letting people communicate and surf the web on the go.

You can check your e-mails, update your blog, post tweets on twitter, check out your friends’ updates on Facebook and keep in touch with your Linkedin account, all with a simple gesture of your fingers.

It can do pretty much anything a computer can and its interface interactivity is through a touch-screen. Like the iPod and the iPhone before it, users can download software applications for the device from the Apple App Store online. The iPad is also capable of downloading and reading electronic books from the new iBookstore.

So far more than 12 million software applications have been downloaded by iPad users and more than 1.5 million electronic books have been downloaded from its iBookstore; clearly showing the popularity and the demand of the iPad.

Analysts are predicting that worldwide iPad sales are expected to come between five and seven million units in 2010 alone. That number will jump to around 14 million units in 2011 and up to 20 million units in 2012.

Keeping such demand and growth of the device in mind Apple had to delay the launch of the iPad due to a surge of demand in the US and abroad. However, as the demand for the iPad grows, so does the demand for an alternative to the sensational device.

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard has already announced the HP Slate, a Windows-based tablet computer, similar to the look and feel of the iPad. The HP Slate uses Windows 7 as its Operating System, which is the rival company to Apple.

Though HP is confident with its tablet computer, it hasn’t generated the same hype as the Apple iPad did. That’s purely because of the ‘wow’ factor generated by Apple upon the announcement of the iPad.

The announcement, usually done by Steve Jobs, is where all the buzz and hype begins—and Apple has been very good at this, constantly creating the thrill and excitement around its latest products.

It was this excitement that has helped sell millions of units of the iPad and the many millions of units of the iPhone and the iPod—a passion that can only be found at the hands of the wonder magician that is Steve Jobs.