After unveiling the iPad 2 today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the time to show off a few new products. One of those was Smart Covers, a new type of screen protector for the iPad 2. The others were new tablet versions of iMovie and Garage Band.
iMovie
First, Apple showed off iMovie. Much like Google’s recently unveiled Movie Studio, iMovie attempts to simplify the video editing experience and bring it to the tablet. Like Google’s app, while editing you can use pinches and taps to move and add things in the timeline. The new program will have multitrack audio recording (3 layers of audio possible), new themes, a provision editor, the ability to share with Apple TV, and social sharing features to instantly post on YouTube, Camera Roll, Facebook, Vimeo, CNN iReport, or iTunes. Apple also added some nice visual additions, 50 sound effects, including a project browsing screen that makes your open projects appear like movie posters outside of a theater. iMovie will be available in the App Store March 11 for $4.99.
Garage Band
After demonstrating iMovie, Jobs unveiled a new touch version of Apple’s music creativity tool, Garage Band. The new app will have touch instruments, eight track recording/mixing, more than 250 loops, Guitar amps/effects, is compatible with the Mac version of Garage Band, and will let you email an AAC file of your song. When demonstrating the app, Apple employee Xander Soren flipped through different instruments much like you flip through albums in iTunes coverflow. Overall, the program looks very similar to the Mac version of Garage Band.
Thanks to improved sensitivity detection, Garage Band will be able to pick up how hard your fingers hit the screen when playing the piano and other notes. Several of the instruments, like the drums, use the iPad 2’s accelerometer to help play.
Finally, Apple has added “smart instruments” for those of us who can’t play an instrument. It makes playing the guitar and other instruments much easier, much like training wheels help you learn how to ride a bike.
(Images courtesy of CNET)
