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Monday, April 2, 2012

Apple’s New IPad Is No. 1 Tablet in Consumer Reports’ Rating

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By Sarah Frier and Scott Moritz - Apr 2, 2012 8:34 PM GMT+0700

Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s new iPad was named the best tablet computer in a ranking by Consumer Reports, two weeks after the magazine said the device runs “significantly hotter” than previous models.

The new iPad’s high-resolution screen provides the best detail and color accuracy of all tablets Consumer Reports has seen, the publication said today on its website. Consumer Reports also commended the device’s camera and faster connectivity. The new iPad costs between $500 and $830.

A new Apple Inc. iPad in New York on March 16, 2012. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Rich Jaroslovsky reviews Apple Inc.'s new iPad. Jaroslovsky says the new iPad has a vastly improved display and offers an ultra-fast Internet connection -- but otherwise seems more likely to maintain Apple's huge lead in the tablet market than to extend it. (Rich Jaroslovsky is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. Source: Bloomberg)

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., Walter Piecyk, an analyst at BTIG LLC, and Eric Jackson, president and founder of Ironfire Capital LLC, offer their views on Apple's new iPad and the outlook for the company. The device will be called iPad, carry a price tag of $499 to $829 and include an A5X chip that enables better graphics, Apple said today at an event in San Francisco. Kevin Dede, technology analyst at Auriga USA, and Michael Holland, chairman of Holland & Co., also speak. (Source: Bloomberg)

Last month, Consumer Reports said the new iPad reached temperatures of 116 degrees (47 degrees Celsius) when handling processor-intensive tasks such as playing graphics-heavy games. The reviewers didn’t regard the temperature as a concern, though it was hotter than the prior model. Many customers didn’t wait for the reviews before buying the new tablet. Apple sold more than 3 million iPads during the product’s debut weekend.

The sales enthusiasm carried through to satisfaction ratings, according to survey results released today by ChangeWave Research, a unit of 451 Research LLC. Of the new iPad owners surveyed, 82 percent said they were very satisfied with the device, compared to the 74 percent approval rating of the previous iPad.

Eye Pleasing

The high-resolution “retina” display was ranked the best feature on the iPad by new owners. The biggest dislike of the iPad was the cost, according to the ChangeWave survey.

Consumer Reports ranked the new iPad above other new tablets including the Toshiba Corp. (6502) Excite 10LE, the Pantech Co. Element, the Sony Corp. (SNE) Tablet P, and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)’s Galaxy Tab 7.7.

When Cupertino, California-based Apple released the iPhone 4, the magazine declined to recommend it, saying it dropped calls when gripped a certain way. After initially playing down the matter, which became known as “Antennagate,” Apple gave out free cases and issued a software update aimed at addressing the glitch.

Apple rose 0.3 percent to $601.04 at 9:30 a.m. New York time. The shares had gained 48 percent this year before today.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Frier in New York at sfrier1@bloomberg.net; Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net; Ville Heiskanen at vheiskanen@bloomberg.net



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