Apple's founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, unveiled the highly anticipated Apple iPad today at a media event in San Francisco, California. At the beginning of the event, Jobs said that Apple wanted to create a device that bridged the size and functionality gap between their laptops and the iPhone.

The iPad, a touch-based tablet computer with a ten-inch screen, is Apple's hybrid of the two devices. Apple designed the iPad to combine the productivity of a MacBook with the entertainment value of an iPod.

The iPad's functionality is similar to that of an iPhone; it doesn't run the full Mac OS X operating system, but rather an expanded version of the iPhone software. Like the iPhone, everything on the iPad is controlled via touch.

The iPad's functionality is similar to that of an iPhone; it doesn't run the full Mac OS X operating system, but rather an expanded version of the iPhone software. Like the iPhone, everything on the iPad is controlled via touch.

Scrolling, zooming and clicking are all done by swiping, pinching and tapping the screen. Typing is achieved through a virtual QWERTY keyboard, however Apple has made an optional keyboard dock accessory that attaches to the base of the iPad for more typing-intensive projects.

At 1.5 pounds and 0.5 inches thick, the iPad isn't much larger than the typical book, and with an Apple-made processor, the iPad is fast and efficient with a battery life of 10 hours.

Apple also hopes to market the iPad as an e-book reader to compete with Amazon's Kindle. Through a new application called iBooks, Apple will be selling books and textbooks designed exclusively for the iPad. Similar to the iTunes store, iBooks allows for the purchase of books instantly and wirelessly.

The New York Times has also created a new application specifically for the iPad which provides seamless navigation of a digitalized version of their newspaper.

The iPad will be available in two versions -- a Wi-Fi enabled version and a Wi-Fi+3G enabled version. Two 3G data plans are available through AT&T, require no contract and are priced at  $14.99 for a 250 megabyte-per-month plan and $29.99 for an unlimited data plan.

The 3G data capability allows the iPad to download content wirelessly from anywhere within AT&T's 3G network. The Wi-Fi iPad will be available for purchase in 60 days and will start at $499, while the Wi-Fi+3G model will be available in 90 days for $629. Both versions will have the options of 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of storage.