iPad apps likely to be bigger, pricier
If recent gadget history is a guide, consumers considering Apple's new iPad won't focus so much on the product specs -- the big screen, fast processor, long battery life and the like.
They'll look instead at what the product can do. And to find out, they'll turn to its lineup of apps -- those cheap, downloadable programs that run on mobile phones and other gadgets.
"The reason why people buy an iPhone is because there are 140,000 apps and you can change your iPhone into anything you want," said Gene Munster, a senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray. At the iPad's unveiling last week in San Francisco, California, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs went to great lengths to say how robust the iPad's app "ecosystem" will be. He said app developers will encounter a "gold rush" of opportunities if they develop programs for the device.
