Should you Pre-order the iPad?

What is all the fuss about?

Marketing for Apple says that the iPad add is a touch screen device is supposed to fill the void in performance between an all-out MacBook and the iPhone. The device looks actually like a large iPod touch has a 9.7 inch screen and has an accelerometer so that you can switch back and forth between portrait and landscape. While it was rumored that screen might be in OED has released it comes with a liquid crystal display color reproduction and viewing is enhanced by in plane switching also called IPS for short.

The report came from an investor note by Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, who said Apple was hoping to ship 1 million, but might only have 300,000 available by launch in late March. Misek even said launch could be pushed back until mid-April, until 1 million units were available.

Though no official release date has been set beyond “late March,” it is expected that Apple will begin taking pre-orders in the next couple of weeks. Wall Street insiders are expecting strong sales for the iPad throughout 2010, with some analysts predicting more interest than that seen for the first generation iPhone. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky forecast first-year sales of 5 million units, while Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf is forecasting 4 million.

It doesn’t come as a big surprise considering Murdoch’s stated plans to charge for mobile access to News Corp. content and Apple’s desire to woo publishers onto its shiny new iPad platform.

The RedEye Mini boils down the essential hardware components of a universal remote control into an inch-long plastic tube that fits in your headphone jack. Remote navigation features such as buttons, channel guide, device selection, and even macros, are all left to a free app running on your connected iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.

While AT&T has agreed to provide wireless connections to the iPad tablet computer, Randall Stephenson said he does not expect the device to result in many new service subscriptions for AT&T as consumers will instead use Wi-Fi or prepaid services, where they do not have to sign a service contract.

Both MacRumors’ Arnold Kim and the Examiner have heard from tipsters that Apple stores will begin selling the iPad on Friday, March 26 at 6 p.m. The Examiner added that “People who camp out for the iPad will receive a special gift.”

That would be similar to the original iPhone launch, which began selling 6 p.m. on Friday, Jun. 29, 2007. (I don’t remember receiving any gifts when I camped out for the iPhone, but I did receive some coffee.)

Sources have told the NYT that Amazon was supposedly in a panic even as Apple was unveiling the iPad at its late January event, calling publishers of various formats to learn what deals if any they had struck with Apple. Few are thought to have taken up Amazon’s maximum price concepts, however, as many want either more royalties or more control over pricing, especially now that Macmillan won a battle with Amazon over the prices it would be allowed to charge for bestsellers.

The past week’s controversy swirling around Apple’s retroactive ban of sexy apps in the App Store seems trivial, but the implications of Apple’s arbitrariness should be disconcerting to members of the press and those who rely on the media for unbiased information.

Apple last week began removing thousands of apps containing “overtly sexual content” from its App Store — apps it had previously approved — in response to complaints from customers and parents. However, still remaining are apps from major publishers such as Playboy and Sports Illustrated, which contain images of partially nude women, just like the removed apps did.

In a note to clients today, Huberty predicted Apple will sell 6 million iPads this year — way more than the 3 million to 4 million consensus estimate.

Huberty believes “recent negative sentiment” since the iPad unveiling have set Apple’s stock up for a bounce after the device launches in March and new iPhones appear in June.