Apple today announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April. Beginning a week from today, March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

For the third year in a row Apple has been named the World’s Most Admired Company by Fortune Magazine — this year by the widest margin ever. What makes Apple so admired? Fortune explains: “Product, product, product. This is the company that has changed the way we do everything from consume music to design products to engage with the world around us.” Apple also ranked #1 in Innovation among all companies.

“You’re not crazy, and neither are we: The touchscreen on the Apple iPhone really is more responsive than the screens on the BlackBerry Storm, the Motorola Droid, the Nexus One and many other phones, even though all of these devices use essentially the same touch-sensing hardware,” Priya Ganapati reports for Wired.

“Though handset makers buy their touchscreens as components from the same select pool of suppliers, a good touchscreen experience requires more than just hardware. It requires a bit of design alchemy blending software, engineering and calibration for the perfect feel. Few smartphone makers have managed to get that balance right, say experts,” Ganapati reports. “‘If you think that no other touchscreen out there is as good as the iPhone, its not all in your head,’” says Chris Verplaetse, vice president of the Moto Development Group, a product design and development firm. ‘It’s like asking what makes a Mercedes door close like a Mercedes door and a Hyundai door close like one though they use the same steel. There’s clearly a difference.’”
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“In 1998, Apple killed the floppy drive. It took a few years for the rest of the industry to catch up, but the handwriting was clearly on the wall,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “Of course, anyone who actually lost data on a worn or defective floppy would only cheer the end of that flawed storage scheme.”

“Segue to 2007. Apple introduces the iPhone without support for Flash. People complain, but iPhones sell at ever-increasing rates. Today, with some 40 million of them around the world, and the iPad on the immediate horizon, Steve Jobs has made it quite clear that Flash is the floppy drive of the 21st century,” Steinberg writes. “It’s time for it to go.”

“As tens of millions of additional customers acquire Apple’s mobile products, the number of visitors to Flash-based sites will also decline, which pretty much forces the issue. Web developers must either build two versions of their sites to accommodate the different requirements of their potential visitors, or just set Flash aside and try to work within open Web standards,” Steinberg writes. “That may be happening. Google is beta testing an alternative to YouTube without Flash, and just this week Virgin America, a small airline, decided to drop Flash from its site. In the Macworld article reporting on the change, writer Dan Moren concludes, ‘Because, as we know, all it really takes in the corporate world is one executive with an iPhone to ask why she can’t use the company’s site on her device.’”

Steinberg writes, “As has already been mentioned, even if Flash runs with decent performance, and even if it doesn’t hog system resources or compromise stability, that doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to magically access all or most Flash sites on your smartphone. Flash is designed to work with regular personal computers that have conventional input devices [not] multitouch… As a result, Web developers might begin to look for the free, open source alternatives to Flash that don’t require paying fees for Adobe’s products.”

Full article here.

The Examiner’s Daryl Deino has confirmed with an “Apple Store manager in Southern California who wishes not to be named” that “The actual release date hasn’t been set, but March 26 is very likely. [Apple store employess will begin training on March 10].”

Additionally, the same source says, “The 3G versions won’t be available until April or May. Commercials will start airing on March 15 (and) e-book capabilities will be emphasized. People who camp out for the iPad lauch will receive a ’special gift.’”

Full article here.

“Apple’s next update to the blockbuster iPhone handset is expected by one prominent analyst to have a lower total cost of ownership, and to also include new gesture-based functionality,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.

“Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley maintains that the biggest barrier to greater iPhone adoption is the cost of the hardware, followed by the service plan,” Hughes reports. “The investment in the device has been its biggest issue in both developed markets like the U.S. and emerging ones like China.”

Hughes reports, “But Huberty expects Apple to address that in June, by introducing a new model that will be economically friendly to even more consumers. ‘We expect Apple to launch new iPhones in June that offer both a lower total cost of ownership and new functionality, potentially including gesture-based technology,’ she wrote in a new note to investors Friday.”

Read more in the full article here.

Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over 10 billion songs from the iTunes Store, the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store. The 10 billionth song, “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash, was purchased by Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia. As the winner of the iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs, Louie will receive a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. iTunes is the number one music retailer in the world and features the world’s largest music catalog with over 12 million songs.

“We’re grateful to all of our customers for helping us reach this amazing milestone,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services, in the press release. “We’re proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering.”

Apple’s iTunes Store currently has a catalog of over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 movies including over 2,500 in high definition video.