California universities use iPads to report news, diagnose heart conditions; Penn State students are like, 'what's an iPad?' originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• What If…Apple Only Offered the 64GB/3G iPad and Sold It For $499
• Trouble In Paradise: iPad Users Complain Of Wifi Issues

Red Flag Software's just shown off a custom MeeGo tablet that's China-bound. Though we don't have any images of the unit yet, we know that the NPad be a Moorestown-powered, 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet that "looks like" the iPad, and it'll boast WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, and GPS. The company also says that it'll be cheaper than the iPad, so there's that!

NPad tablet shown off in China, running MeeGo originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• What If…Apple Only Offered the 64GB/3G iPad and Sold It For $499
• Trouble In Paradise: iPad Users Complain Of Wifi Issues

Today at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York, we had a panel entitled “Does The iPad Change Everything For News, Or Is It Still All About The Web?” The New York Times’ David Carr moderated the panel which included angel investor Ron Conway, Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau, and Bloomberg chief content officer Norm Pearlstine. The common theme? The only thing that can stop the iPad is Apple.

While that may sound confusing (since, of course, Apple makes the iPad), everyone seemed to agree that Apple’s restrictions could end up hurting the device in the long run. Apple is in control right now because they’re the first to market with a killer product, but others will emulate them, reasons Pearlstine. He believes a lot of the content on these type of tablets will eventually be web-based rather than app-based (similar to an argument Google co-founder Sergey Brin made last week).

Carr extended on that question, asking if maybe the iPad itself would just be a device where you consume content on the web rather than through apps?Hippeau says that’s up to Apple. Clearly they want to push people towards apps, behind their wall, he believes. The problem with this is that Apple doesn’t give back nearly as much data as having your own website would, Hippeau says. He thinks Apple will have to learn that media organizations live  off of this data. “They’ll have to open it up more,” he says.

Pearlstine agrees, saying that the key for traditional publishers is their lists of subscribers. More importantly, they have their payment information. With iPad apps, Apple has that information, and that will be a problem for a lot of media companies. “There will be other providers that won’t do it the Apple way,” he says. That, again, is implying that while Apple may have jump-started the industry, if they don’t open up a bit more, a competitor will beat them.

Of course, that hasn’t happened with the iPhone yet. But Android is charging fast.

Conway believes that Apple has a good lead for now though thanks to its “fantastic user interface.” He sees publishers flocking to it just like the music business did to the iPod/iTunes combo. “It’s a better model than free,” he says.

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Irrespective of Apple policy, we know that many of our readers already purchased a US iPad for use -- gasp -- outside of the United States. With favorable exchange rates and an early US launch really, who could blame you? But after notifying your local customs office and paying your government tithe, the very next thing you probably did was notice that you couldn't buy iPad apps from your local iTunes app store. Now you can, at least if the sudden deluge of tweets and tips from Dutch, UK, German and Swiss iPad owners now hitting our inbox is any indication. Go ahead, give it a go and let us know the results in comments.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPad app store goes live in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 03:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• White iPhone 4 evidence shows up in Apple Store app’s update?
• What If…Apple Only Offered the 64GB/3G iPad and Sold It For $499