By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN EAST — Hours after Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, New Yorkers headed to midtown's Apple Store thinking it was available for sale.
The tablet-style computer looks like an iPhone, only larger, and allows users to play movies, surf the Internet, read books and newspapers, and play high-definition games.
But some Apple store patrons weren't impressed with the gadget's new name, which had been commonly been referred to as the "tablet."
"I think the tablet makes it feel like its something that you could read and look at it. [iPad] doesn't seem to have that same ring as iPhone," said Timothy Walters, who had popped by the midtown Apple store hoping to see the new device.
Troy Masters agreed.
"Is that what they chose? That's disappointing," he said. "I mean I'll get used to it. iPod, iPad, iPhone – I guess it's fine."
The iPad was unveiled Wednesday morning in San Francisco, and will cost as low as $499, according to the Associated Press, far below the $1,000 price tag some analysts were expecting.
The iPad will be available in stores starting in March.
"It's so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone," Jobs said on Wednesday, as he surfed the Web with Apple's Safari browser and flipped through photo albums by flicking his finger across the screen.
Masters had visited midtown's Apple Store Wednesday afternoon in search of the iPad, but left empty handed and disappointed.
"It wasn't here yet. I came here to buy it," he told DNAinfo, adding that iPhone fans would undoubtedly flock to purchase Apple's newest gadget.
"If it's an iPhone, and it has the same functionality as an iPhone and as good as iPhone and better hopefully there are more features, why not?"
The highly anticipated iPad has a 9.7-inch touch screen, is a half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and comes with 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes of flash memory storage.
All models have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The battery lasts 10 hours, and can stay on standby for a month without needing a charge.
But other New Yorkers were worried about the price.
"I think that Apple continues come up with new products that have changed the way we see technology and it's applications," said one Apple customer who did not give his name. "My only concern is the price of it and it being available for consumers."
The basic iPad models will cost $499, $599 and $699, depending on the storage size.
Apple will also sell a version with pay-as-you-go data plans from AT&T, according to the AP. Two tiers of data plan will be available without contracts: $14.99 per month for 250 megabytes of data, or $29.99 for unlimited data usage.
Those 3G models will cost more — $629, $729 and $829, depending on the amount of memory.
The Wi-Fi only version will be available worldwide in March, and the 3G version in April. International cellular data details were not announced.
