Live Blog: Apple Releases New iPad

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Tim Cook launces the new iPad

Editor's Note: Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the new iPad today. This is a live blog of the coverage. To read in chronological order, read from the bottom up.

2:25 P.M. : Tim Cook is back. He plays an ad that highlights the display. He thanks Apple employees, calling them "The most innovative on earth."

"Across the year, you're going to see a lot more of this kind of innovation. We are just getting started," Cook says.

The conference ends.

2:20 P.M. : Apple will keep the iPad 2, priced at $399.

2:18 P.M. : Also, a digital approach to scrapbooking, called Journals. They can be published to iCloud and shared with others through a standard browser. This is $4.99, available today.

Schiller is back. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't create on an iPad," he says.

First line in the video: "We believe technology is at its very best when it's invisible."

(I'm beginning to think they're trying to reset the naming here, that they're just calling it "iPad" the way the iMac is just the iMac.)

2:11 P.M. : Now a demo. This is full photo editing, like on iPhoto for Mac. The iPad can show images up to 19 megapixels with the retina display.

A built-in feature will autocorrect the image, or adjust the horizon line.

Also, photo editing by touch, including adjusting shadows, saturation and white balance. (It's a new paradigm for editing in computing. This is a very big deal because the old menu and palette metaphor existed for a long time. It will also be difficult for other companies to copy this, because it's a novel approach.)

2:02 P.M. : Schiller: The first iPad brought iWork for iPad; that has been updated for retina display. The second iPad brought GarageBand and iMovie. Now GarageBand has been updated with Jam Session, which allows up to four iPads to play together over wifi or bluetooth and record it.

iMovie will let you create a movie trailer, like on the Mac. He shows a video of a trailer. (Apple provides prerecorded music.)

The prices are all the same, and there will be free updates for those who have already purchased them.

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Apple launches new iPad

Schiller is announcing iPhoto for the iPad.

1:54 P.M. : Next: Epic Games is showing a very detailed game with sophisticated lighting effects and graphics. Epic claims the iPad has more memory and higher screen resolution than an xbox 360.

1:50 P.M. : Demo is now of what's possible for developers to do with the new resolution and graphics. Namco is showing that smooth graphics and detail in an impressive demo.

Autodesk : The company has 15 iOS titles that have been downloaded tens of millions of times. Introducing Sketchbook Ink. (It's a drawing and painting program. It has a new engine. Adobe should be concerned.)

1:37 P.M. : Carriers include AT&T, Verizon, Rogers, Bell and Telus.

There will be different iPads to work on AT&T versus Verizon. There is personal hotspot software available if the carrier supports it.

Battery life? Ten hours of battery life, nine hours with 4G and 9.4mm, 1.4 pounds.

The new iPad will price at $499 for 16gb, $599 for 32gb, etc ... $629 is the starting price for the LTE.

It will become available March 16, it can be preordered now.

On March 23 it will become available in 25 more countries beyond the first wave of U.S. These will be mostly Western countries.

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Phil Schiller

1:36 P.M. : Apple is adding hspa+, dc-hspa, and LTE. Schiller is demoing how much faster photos load and photos stream on LTE.

1:34 P.M. : The new iPad features include HD video recording at 1080p, video stabilization, temporal noise reduction, voice dictation (You speak, the words appear on the screen) and 4G LTE.

1:28 P.M. : Clarify: Quad core graphics in A5X. The rear camera is now 5 megapixel, autofocus. Apple calls it an iSight camera.

1:27. P.M. : There is a44 percent greater color saturation: A5X chip is quad core.

1:26. P.M. The retina display resolution is hard to describe because the screen he's using is lower resolution: 2048 x 1535 pixels, 3.1m pixels.

1:24 P.M. : Phil Schiller: It has a retina display.

1:23. P.M. : Cook says this is the key reason iPad has momentum and rivals have failed to gain traction. Cook announces the new iPad. (If that's it on screen, it seems to have a home button).

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Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller talks about the display on the new iPad during an Apple product launch.

1:22 P.M. : Cook is showing Twitter on a Samsung application on Android, versus the iPad application, arguing that the interface is much better. Same for Yelp on Android versus iPad.

1:19 P.M. : Apple says iPad users who own other devices tend to prefer iPad versus ereaders for books, versus consoles for playing games, versus PCs for email.

1:18 P.M. : Cook: when we set out to create the ipad, we set out to create not just a new product, but a new category.

1:17 P.M. : Cook says iPad is the poster child of the post-PC world, and Apple sold more iPads than any single OEM sold PCs.

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110 Million visitors to Apple Retail Stores in Q4 2011.

1:16 P.M. : Tim Cook is back. He says Apple TV is still $99, available next week and you can order today.

1: 15 P.M. : Cue has cued up the movie "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."

1:14 P.M. : Cue is demoing photo browsing in Apple TV, and now movies. Apple TV now recommends movies based on what you've already watched.

1:12 P.M. : Eddie Cue is coming up to demo Apple TV (this is an update to the $99 box).

1:11 P.M. : Cook: You can redownload movies and TV shows, now with 1080 pixel support .... And there is a new Apple TV box that supports 1080 pixel.

1:09 P.M. : Cook:The iCloud now has over 100 million customers and it now supports movies.

1:08 P.M. : Cook: Siri demo ... Letting the audience hear Siri from Australia, France, Germany, and today Japan .... It's in iOS 5.1, available today. App store: 585 thousand apps now. A lucky customer in China downloaded the 25 billionth application a few days ago.

1:07 P.M. : Cook: Another key element of a post-PC ecosystem is iOS ... 315 million devices sold total, 62 million were sold just last quarter.

1:04 P.M. : Cook is showing a video on the opening of the Grand Central store in New York City.

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Tim Cook takes the stage.

1:03 P.M. : Cook: Retail experience most important for post-PC devices.

Cook is showing the Amsterdam store, which had 110 million visitors last quarter.

1:02 P.M. : Cook: iPad is outstripping the wildest of predictions. The momentum has been staggering, 76 percent of revenues came from post PC devices last year.

1:02 P.M. : He's saying Apple has three post-PC products: iPod, iPhone and iPad.

12:59 P.M. : Tim Cook has taken the stage.

12:58 P.M. : One of the things that gets me about Apple events like this is how some of the execs in the front row are chatting animatedly to each other.

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Apple will announce the new iPad during a news conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Apple is expected to unveil the next generation iPad in San Francisco today.

The new device is likely to have a sharper screen, better camera and possibly an A6 chip, allowing for faster processing.

One of the big questions remaining, however, is when the new Apple iPad will be available for consumers. The last iPad 2 was in stores nine days after the initial announcement.

CNBC technology reporter Jon Fortt will be reporting live from the conference. We will be live blogging throughout the event, so check back here for updated details.