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In yesterday’s purgative disgorging of iPad news, it was easy to miss some of the details about Apple’s iPad accessories… and what they cost. Here’s a quick run down of four of them.

The first accessory was the iPad Keyboard Dock, priced at $69. Although it also functions as a charging and syncing dock with stereo out, though the addition physical keyboard is what is likely to make this the most popular iPad accessory: it will theoretically allow the iPad to be used like a netbook… but in some ways, it feels like an omission of defeat by Apple: “Yeah, we want you to be able to work on this thing… but we just couldn’t figure out a good software data entry solution. Sorry.”

The iPad Case, costing $39, seems like a similar admission of data entry failure: you’re just not going to get as good a look at the screen when typing on the virtual keyboard if it’s flush with a surface. The soft, rubbery case solves this problem with the addition of a triangular kickstand. This will also likely make watching movies when the iPad is on a surface in front of you a lot more pleasant.

Maybe Terry McGraw III forgot the old World War II saying about loose lips. Not only can they sink ships, but prime exposure for your brand as well. It seems Apple CEO Steve Jobs didn’t like his iPad being unveiled by McGraw, CEO of textbook publisher McGraw-Hill on CNBC a day before the big event.

“Insiders say as soon as Terry shot his mouth off on CNBC, Jobs had the company cut from the presentation,” according to VentureBeat. Sure enough, Wednesday, when Jobs took the stage, McGraw-Hill’s logo was absent from a screen listing publishers involved in the iPad.

“Hi, can I speak to Steve please?”

Steve speaking.

“Steve, hi. Listen, we’ve just found out that someone else already has a product called iPad.”

Uh-huh.

“Yeah. Fujitsu. Looks like they’ve had it for quite some time. Since about 2002.”

Really.

“Um, yeah. What do want us to do? Call Legal?”

UPDATE: Check each contest website for details and closing dates — newer ones are last.

The contest list has doubled from the original post. If you hear of others, let us know. Scams have also cropped up with iPads as bait, so remember your due diligence.

Before the launch, we wrote about a daring intern who risked his job by staging a contest with the as yet unseen iPad as a prize.

Today,  a bunch of contests giving the iPad out as prizes have already cropped up, many involve no-brain activities like tweeting (sorry, witty chiruppers!) or signing up for Facebook groups. (If you can bug fix, try here or here. )

So if you want to get your hands on one without spending any cash, this may be the ticket.

Mashable

Springwise

MacMall

Failbooking

TeenCastic

Big Prize Giveaways

Appletell

Weekinrewind

Dealsplus

Retailmenot

3Dbookshelf

TheRagTrader

Winanipod

Geeknewscentral

Swagbucks

Squidoo

Catalink

Pricecanada

The tech buzz

Geeksugar

Savings.com

Meritline

Getafreeipad.co.uk

TheWhuffieBank

Zemime

Mouseenvy

EverythingiCafe.com

IrishAisle

Mahalo

Gimme

Artamata

Whytheluckymobile

Gazelle

Smarta

Appqanda

iPad contest

My contest

Socius

Simply free ipad

If you come across other ones, please add them in the comments.

NB: If you win one, Cult of Mac staffers reserve the right to come over and play with it.

It’s mostly been assumed that the iPhone SDK’s omission of terms enabling VoIP over 3G was prompted by Apple bowing not just to AT&T’s bandwidth concerns, but by concerns that 3G VoIP would make calls and minute moot.

It now looks like that assumption may have been unfair: Apple has just updated the terms of the iPhone SDK to allow VoIP calls over 3G. iCall is the first company to be jubilantly crowing that their free VoIP app has implemented 3G VoIP, but others (hopefully Skype!) should be soon to follow.

That’s not to say that VoIP 3G will work universally — T-Mobile in Germany, to my irritation, doesn’t allow VoIP over 3G — but it’s nice to finally see this functionality hit the iPhone after a couple years wait.

[via 9to5Mac]

One analyst Wednesday expressed ‘measured enthusiasm’ for Apple’s iPad, the thin, lightweight tablet device Cupertino announced after months of speculation. Despite the cautionary optimism, Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster said the iPad could mean $4.6 billion in new revenue for Apple by 2011.

“We have measured enthusiasm for the device’s first year, but we expect 2011 to be a breakout year for the iPad,” Munster told investors. The Apple watcher said it will take a year for the iPad business to ‘solidify’, but be worth $4.6 billion, or 7.5 percent of the company’s revenue in 2011.

Journalists streaming into the iPad event yesterday were greeted by a handful of volunteers from the Free Software Foundation protesting DRM restrictions in the about-to-be released device.

They dubbed the iPad the iBad for two reasons:

* All media in the iTunes store (with the one exception of music) is wrapped in Apple’s DRM. That means films, TV shows, movies and audiobooks (NB: books are in an open format ePub) are locked to Apple’s platform, taking away your right to share.

* All applications must be signed by Apple if they are to run, an unprecedented level of control for a general purpose computer. On top of this, Apple can push updates to the device over its wireless connection, letting them add or remove capabilities at any time.

There were only about six or seven naysayers outside Yerba Buena center yesterday, but they still hope to bring about some long-term change, namely by getting people to sign an online petition.

Analysts appear to be in love with the iPad’s low price, a figure falling below most expectations. The morning after Apple unveiled the device, many experts raised sales forecasts for 2010 and 2011.

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray nearly doubled his sales expectations to 3 to 4 million iPads this year and 8 million of the devices in 2011. Earlier this week Munster warned if the tablet were price between $800 and $1,000 “adoption is going to be much lower than the hype would lead you to believe.” At the time, the analyst said 1.4 million iPads would likely sell in 2010.

“Yes, we were surprised by the $499 price point,” Piper Jaffray’s Andrew Murphy tells Cult of Mac. “We were originally expecting $600-$800 and 2 million units in its first calendar year of sales,” he said.

Netflix instant streaming on the iPad? Not any time soon.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says, “Until we get our TV ubiquity and our Blu-ray ubiquity and we’re getting close on video game ubiquity, then we would next turn to the small screen. It’s just not a primary movie-watching (option). So it’s something we will get around to but it’s not in the near term.”

Even with iTunes’s thumb in the movie rental pie, Netflix instant streaming on the iPad needs to happen as soon as it drops. If I’m going to pay $15 for Wi-Fi on a plane I need to watch a couple episodes of Due South for it all to be worth it.

(via Yahoo! News)

The backlash against the iPad was inevitable and predictable. The lack of a hard keyboard was enough to send most geeks into a fit. But the backlash against the iPad is particularly vicious and visceral.

The word “iTampon” is the #2 worldwide trending topic on Twitter right now.

“This thing sucks. Anyone who buys it is a moron,” says one commenter at Engadget.

Some sites, particularly Gizmodo, are going the extra mile in iPad-bashing.

“My god, am I underwhelmed by the iPad,” says Gizmodo’s Adam Frucci. “This is as inessential a product as I’ve ever seen, but beyond that, it has some absolutely backbreaking failures that will make me judge anyone who buys one.”

But similar reactions greeted the iPhone, the iPod and the original iMac (no keypad, closed system, no floppy), and look what happened to them. They’re just the most popular smartphone, MP3 player and single model of a PC ever built.

Thing is, the last people to ask about the iPad are geeks. This isn’t a product built for them. They’re WAY too in the weeds. They can’t get over the lack of camera, multasking or Flash. But ask my wife about the iPad and Flash and she’ll look at you like you’re speaking in tongues.

As we predicted, the iPad is Steve Jobs’ “computer for the rest of us.” It’s a natural successor to the original Mac, which introduced the GUI to PCs – and was derided by geeks as a “toy.” But look around, the GUI kinda caught on.

The iPad is not for geeks. It’s for ordinary people who want a lightweight computer and are sick of computer headaches. This is a machine you’d buy for your grandmother and not have to worry about tech-support.

Yeah, you relinquish some control — which is something PC fans have always hated about Macs — but most ordinary people are grateful not to think about file systems, software installers and virus definitions.

The iPad is the first computer for people who are completely computer illiterate — and there’s millions of them.

Earlier on we gave you a post crammed full of iPad hardware pics. But now, some software:

See that iTunes UI? A little bit different. What’s that slider at the top left? Thicker, chunkier controls. I might write a whole post about that.

Here’s the App Store. Looks very familiar.

Right now, only the people who were at the event have actually touched the iPad. So what are they saying about it?

Comedian and author Stephen Fry said on Twitter:

Ryan Block from GDGT told TWiT: “It’s heavy.” He picked it up and felt it was bulky in comparison to other tablet-like devices. He still liked it, though.

Elsewhere on TWiT, another contributor (sorry, I wasn’t fast enough to pick out who it was, it might have been Andy Ihnatko), said it was fast. It kept up with his finger movements without any fuss at all. The page-turning felt like actual page-turning. That’ll be the A4 chip doing its thing, then.

Seen any other comments by people who have Actually Touched the iPad? Shout in the comments.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGiUoXB6IV4&feature=player_embedded

Jonny Ive is on top form in this iPad introductory video from Apple.

“It’s true,” he starts the video by saying. “When something exceeds your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical. And that’s exactly what the iPad is.”

BTW: There’s a higher res version on Apple’s homepage, but it’s taking a while to load.

A lot of people following the Steve Jobs iPad keynote this morning weren’t convinced about the device until he mentioned the price: $499.

All of sudden, people wanted to buy three of them.

The price is the big news here. Everyone was expecting it to cost $700 to $1,000 — Apple makes pricey products, right?

But there’s no “Apple tax” on the iPad. This thing is priced to move, and they’re going to sell boatloads of them. And not just to Apple fans — the iPad will attract scores of Windows switchers.

Go to any Apple store and you’ll see heaving throngs of shoppers checking out Apple’s goods. A lot of them are Windows users shopping for a new home machine to replace an aging Windows box. They’re sick of the headaches and want an alternative.

The iPad is that alternative. It’s not an extra gadget, a luxury for someone who already has an iPhone and a laptop. It’s a replacement for that laptop — a true alternative.

And at $499, it’s also an alternative to the Kindle, cheapo netbooks and even Apple’s own MacBooks.

The iPad+ keyboard dock = cheap MacBook. It’s half the price of Apple’s cheapest MacBook, and a third of the MacBook Air.

Steve Jobs is a ballsy guy. He’s probably the ballsiest CEO in the U.S. right now. Who else would undercut their own laptop line — which are Apple’s most popular and most profitable computers — with a brand new device that costs half the price?

But this is how Jobs rolls. He killed the popular iPod Mini and replaced it with the iPod Nano. He’s undercutting the entire iPod line with the iPod Touch. He’s a forward-looking guy, and the iPad is a forward-looking computer.

OK folks, now for some picture pornography. This post is hardware; later on, we’ll do a gallery of software-related stuff. Keep the comments coming. Don’t be shy now: will you buy? Will you buy two? Does this compete with netbooks?

Although John Gruber over at Daring Fireball predicted it a couple weeks ago, I think most of us were shocked when it turned out that Apple’s newly announced iPad tablet didn’t have a forward mounted camera.

After all, why not? With an entry-level price and a $29.95 unlimited 3G coverage plan, the iPad seems like it would afford a perfect solution for mobile video calling. Hell, even if it didn’t have those things, surely it would be just as good as, say, a MacBook in letting people play around in Photo Booth. Right?

No. I think Apple knew what they were doing here. Unless it’s mounted in the iPad keyboard dock accessory, the iPad is going to be predominantly used in a below eye-level position. What that means is that a forward fronted web cam would need to point upwards at a slant to capture a human face.

So what, our lithe and muscular long-necked readers ask? Two words: double chin. Or three words, if you prefer: double triple chins.

Always fun to see long-term Apple design language tics show up in brand new products. The wedge shape of the iPad in its case set up for horizontal typing is making me remember the Apple IIc. Pretty rad.

Image via Recycled Goods

We’ve told you everything we know about the iPad so far. But when will you be able to buy it?

Well, the official page is here, and according to Apple, here are the release dates:

The WiFi version will be shipping in late March.

The 3G version will be shipping domestically in April.

International carriers will unveil contract plans in June.

You can sign up to be notified when one is on order here.

Phew. It’s all over. And a new era has begun.

Ladies and gentlemen: Say hello to iPad. It will cost you $499. Even the most expensive model is $829. The WiFi version ships in late March, the 3G in April

Here’s an overview of everything we know so far.

With most pay apps in the App Store running at $0.99 could most apps for the iPad be $9.99?

iWork for iPad will be $9.99 per app. That means you can have at Pages, Keynote, and Numbers for under $35.

With developers delivering quality content at such a low price point, can we see the same low prices if this low priced iPad becomes widely adopted?

I say it’s $10 for an app and $30 for a Grand Theft Auto Irish Mafia.

One little details Apple just mentioned at the iPad Media Event is the technology they are using in the display.

Viewing angle on a lap based media device like this is an issue, obviously… for example, if you have a loved one watching a movie next to you on your iPad when on the couch.

Apple just announced that while their display is LED (and not OLED, which makes sense — for $499, that price is just a pipe dream, given the price of OLED panels right now) they use IPS technology to maximize viewing angle.

That stands for in-plane switching. Here’s the Wikipedia article about how it all works. But it’s a good thing.

Although the iPad is clearly aimed at taking down netbooks and e-readers, make no mistake: it’s also taking a secondary aim at your television.

Now let’s just see an iTunes movie store revamp to capitalize on the off-angle viewing excellence of the LED + IPS display.

[image via Gizmodo]

Typing on a capacitive touchscreen like the iPad when it’s completely flush with the table isn’t the most ergonomic of solutions, and the screen is certainly not in a position we’re used to looking at while typing, so Steve Jobs has just announced the iPad Dock.

“When you really need to do a lot of typing, this is the way to go. If you’ve got to write War and Peace, just plug your iPad in,” said Jobs.

He hasn’t announced a price, but providing this is cheap enough, this could do wonders to replace my netbook as my road writing warrior machine.

The question is: will the iPad support a mouse as well?

[image via GDGT]

Despite the rumblings that both Apple and AT&T were ready to see the end of each other’s exclusivity deal, Jobs just announced that the iPad will be an AT&T exclusive.

Two great plans: for up to 250MB transfer every month, it’s only $14.99 a month.

Wasnt unlimited? AT&T will cover you for $29.99.

The big news! No frickin’ contract. Cancel anytime. Does this mean no subsidies?

Also, you get free use of AT&T WiFi hotspots, like the iPhone.

The network card uses new GSM micro sims, according to Jobs.

International contracts will be available in June. Sorry, rest of the world! The USA gets it first.

[image via GDGT]