Nowadays who needs to watch an Apple product announcement? All you really need to do is be on Twitter, if you can keep up with all the tweets.
Apple's much-anticipated announcement of the next-generation iPad today, which includes a new retina display, the release of iOS 5.1 and a suite of updated applications, some of which seemed to be aimed at gamers, was abuzz on Twitter.
READ: Apple unveils its next iPad
Activity on the social media site exploded during the event, and as it went on users delivered a play-by-play call of the action. Both iPad and iOS 5.1 jumped into the Top 10 Twitter trending topics Wednesday.
Before the event began, people were getting ready :
@adamlashinsky: Apple event begins in 15 minutes.
Then, as it did, each announcement from Apple was tweeted:
@nickbilton On stage, Tim Cook, says Apple sold 172 million post-PC devices last years, which made up 76% of its Q4 revenues.
@cnntech New Apple TV is $99 and will be available next week.
@Alexandre_Pinto Apple Announces iOS 5.1, Adds Japanese Support for Siri
@dsarno There are 3.1 million pixels on the device -- the most ever on a mobile device, says Apple marketing head Schiller. 2048 x 1536 resolution.
@FashionweekNYC The new Apple iPad has a 5 megapixel camera & 4G LTE!
@CiscoMobile Apple releases free updates for iWork, iMovie and GarageBand for iPad, pricing remains the same
Some questioned Apple:
@tcrawford With the new #iPad including 4G LTE and Retina Display, one has to wonder about battery life.
And others made snide remarks about the company's use of the 4G LTE network:
@shenyard It's nice that Apple's using LTE... but everyone outside of New York and LA doesn't have that.
@HussainD1: Pretty hard to get excited about specs on the new iPad when we're restricted on iTunes and struggle with decent 3G let alone 4G.
RELATED: Much of Western U.S. is a 3G wasteland, says FCC
One running theme on Twitter was the lack of a name to call the new iPad product, which had some users frustrated:
@lexfri HEY APPLE TELL US THE EFFING NAME
@BrileyK Soooo, what do we call this thing? "The New iPad" or what? #What'sTheNameAlready
And, before the event was over, people had their analysis of the news:
@DowCo1 Full breakdown of the new iPad right here
Including quoting news sources:
@TechKnowledgeIt Apple lets movies into iCloud, upgrades Apple TV: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Apple is going to start letting user... http://t.co/eoFjuTqG
Overall, some enjoyed the product release:
@lawman_321 Apple brought their A-game with the #iPad 3/HD/whatever they end up calling it. Much improved, and at the same price points.
Others, not so much:
@AlexScottLeach Another predictable #apple conference.
@AlexanderStraub OMG, Steve Jobs is missing big time. They Apple team is making the most unfocused and messy presentation yet I have seen. No FOCUS anymore!
@deepaknrn Apple unveil iphone5 fast. fast fast we dont want #ipad
@mumuedstar Apple's habit of minor updates on new devices are becoming more and more obvious and it's starting to get really frustrating
The news sold some people though:
@danielspears_ I'm buying an iPad 3.
@AblaTheNaari The new Apple iPad. Giveeee meeeee!
And then there were the jokers:
@rainnwilson: Apple is about to announce its shrinking the iPad down to the size of an iPhone & allowing it to make calls.
Whatever you think of the news, it can't be denied that the announcement created quite the buzz:
@INNOV8ORDIE Apple TV and iPad 3 - - Cue the euphoria.
Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computing and social media. He can be reached at BButler@nww.com and found on Twitter at @BButlerNWW.
Read more about anti-malware in Network World's Anti-malware section.