tablet-together

President Obama calls iPad a toy

With prices and dates released today for the UK launch of the iPad, Apple’s huge-selling tablet computer has been criticised by President Obama for being a mere “distraction.” In a widely-discussed commencement speech at Hampton University in Virginia, the President poured scorn on popular consumer devices, including “iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations,” for being “a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.” Apple fans have predictably come out in force over the President lumping Apple’s multi-faceted tablet together with devices intended solely for entertainment. Writing for CNET News, Brooke Crothers points out that, despite the prominence of entertainment applications on the iPad apps page , users can also download a plethora of education tools. From iBooks to apps such as ‘The Elements’ and ‘Shakespeare Pro’, it seems the President may have been short-sighted in his derision of the new technology’s educational value, though it remains to be seen whether the iPad can achieve recognition as a useful reading platform and educational tool. The good news for UK Apple fanatics eager to try out the much-touted tablet for themselves is that the delayed UK iPad launch is now close at hand. The tablets are expected to hit Apple stores in the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland by 28 May, and customers can now pre-order their iPad to avoid the store running out of tablets on launch day . According to TechCrunch, the prices for various iPad options will range from