From iPod to iPhone to iPad, Its Steve Job's World, and Apple's too. | The Brand New Relies iPad Goin to Hit the Market.

While it's still too soon to tell if it can live up to the insane amount of hype that preceded its introduction, the iPad is more than any other product the company has made the quintessential Apple device.
From the almost entirely homegrown technology, to the addition of the books counterpart to its iTunes media hub, to taking a risk on the middle category between smartphones and laptops, the iPad completes the picture for Apple in a lot of ways.
Steve Jobs used "revolutionary" to describe his company's newest device Wednesday, and while that's more than a bit over-the-top, the iPad does epitomize Apple's evolution. Before he even introduced the tablet Wednesday, Jobs brought up Apple's three main sources of revenue: the iPod, iPhone, and Mac have made Apple a $50 billion company. By basically discounting the iMac and other desktops (which makes sense, desktops have been headed downhill for a while), he pressed the point about what Apple has become: It's "a mobile device company," he said. "That's what we do."
Though he didn't say it specifically, he meant it as opposed to a computer company--a name they dropped in 2007--and as opposed to just a hardware and software maker. With few exceptions, Apple makes portable media-centric devices, and of those, the iPad is the one that brings all of Apple's businesses together.
With the iPad, Apple has a device that rounds out the company's product line and also moves the company forward toward being the spoke in the wheel that is the world or media and technology. Making something that fits between a smartphone and a laptop has been a goal for the consumer technology industry for more than a decade. The most recent attempt has been the Netbook. The iPad easily makes Netbooks seem boring and staid, and too close to the same old form factor, the computer. The iPad is taking a different tack: taking tasks that were too big for an iPhone and puts them on a device that isn't pocket-sized, but is more convenient to carry around than a 13- or 15-inch laptop.
It's risky, of course, to try to jump start a category that has never been proven. But it's also part of Apple's M.O.: the company has a vision for the mobile computer and media industries, and a lot of confidence in its abilities.

That extends to the company's manufacturing and design. Apple has positioned itself so that it has to rely on very few outside sources to create the device. Plus, any sort of content you want on the iPad has to be, with few exceptions, bought through Apple as the middleman.
Looking back now, we should have seen this coming over the past few years: Apple wanted a new way of building their MacBooks, so they came up with the manufacture process where it's cut from a single block of aluminum. They wanted to make their own chip, so they bought PA Semi and created the "A4," which notably cuts Intel out of the equation. They also have their own battery technology and are using IPS, or in-plane-switching LCD technology, for the screen that allows quicker response times for viewing video and wider viewing angles. And all of the content for the device must pass through one of Apple's own online retail stores: iBooks, iTunes, or the App Store. Plus, if you consider the sweet deal on the 3G wireless plans (AT&T, no contract, month-to-month), Apple clearly dictated the terms with AT&T.

The tablet comes with its own built-in e-book store, called iBooks.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
The introduction of the iBooks store also snaps into place the final piece of the iTunes puzzle. Beyond music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, games, apps, and iTunes U educational material, books was the only thing missing. Yes, newspapers and magazine content did go mostly unmentioned during Wednesday's presentation, but it's conceivable those deals are still getting worked out behind the scenes and could be added later to the iBooks site.
Also worth noting: Apple didn't have to do the iBooks site itself. There are a variety of e-book apps that already exist and could have easily delivered books to the iPad. But again, Apple does things its own way, and books are very much a part of what appears to be a plan to be the gatekeeper of all media.
Secret guinea pigs
In terms of the ways users interact with the iPad, this is a culmination of stuff Apple has been working on for years. Anyone who's ever bought from iTunes, played a game from the App Store, or gotten used to a virtual keyboard was being secretly trained for the iPad.
With the iPod, Apple got us used to purchasing media without a physical copy--no CDs, no DVDs. With the iPhone, they taught us to think in terms of touch screen interaction--pinching and zooming, swiping, and a virtual keyboard, the utility of third-party applications, and having the Web in your pocket. All of those things are the main features of the iPad. And as Jobs said Wednesday, 75 million people that own an iPod Touch or iPhone "already know how to use the iPad."
And that's Apple's philosophy for all of its products, you're supposed to "get" it, or intuitively know how to use a device the first time you pick it up. As opposed to the first iPod though or the first iPhone, the iPad is so similar to other devices we already have experience with that this really can be said to be for the average consumer with perhaps a casual interest in technology.
On that note, there's also some subtext in the initial reactions to the iPad by the tech-savvy set, e.g. most of the people in the room today when Jobs unveiled it and the same people who thought this would be the magical device that changed everything. You may have seen the flood of negative responses on Twitter, Facebook, and at various blogs to what the device can't do. There's a whole separate story to be written about the hype and letdown cycle that comes from these Apple events, but more important is what the iPad's capabilities and technical specifications illustrate: Apple is going to do what it wants.

(c ) cnet

Following China, is India Going to Put Restriction on Google?, if Yes, why? Here is a Funny Answer!

Following China, is India Going to Put Restriction on Google?, if Yes, why? Here is a Funny Answer!
See this picture. It is real. Its an auto search answers on 'removing' tag. See the difference between google.com and google.co.in, and think, is google going more adult oriented in India. Does it need to be blocked using parental control?. Moreover, comparing to Bing, its very open. The results on porn contents are not restricted in any manner. But Microsoft Bing is a good job in this matter.
Hope that, google will answer for this. why it happens.

Avatar; The movie; The real Avathar going to grab all Oscars as it is fastest growing film Just Below Titanic

Avatar the big budget movie and one of the fastest growing movies ever is going to grab as many Academy awards to beat all time records. The growth of the movie in box office looks like it will beat titanic in viewership as well as earning. See link list, which shows the growth of Avatar, few weeks after its global relies, shows that the so lasting dream of James Cameron, the Avatar, is going to be the number one in all manners.


Avatar, the mega-budget, 3-D sci-fi adventure that pits humans against humanoid natives on a far-off planet, begins its own adventure at midnight tonight in theaters around the country. Though it is not likely to displace his last film -- the 1997 Oscar-winning Best Picture 'Titanic' -- as history's most popular movie, it is very likely to give Cameron a second Best Picture statuette to go with the first.

I come to this conclusion not just because the movie is receiving ecstatic reviews from both sides of the Atlantic, but because it's getting raves for the things that matter to Academy voters. It has romance, visual sweep, a humanist premise and it's going to make a fortune. More than that, it is being heralded as a technical milestone on the order of the first talking picture and the advents of color, wide-screen, 3-D and computer-generated imagery.

Take this paragraph from today's Los Angeles Times review by veteran critic Kenneth Turan, whose harsh attacks on 'Titanic' prompted Cameron to write a letter to the editor demanding the critic's scalp: "To see 'Avatar' is to feel like you understand filmmaking in three dimensions for the first time. In Cameron's hands, 3-D is not the forced gimmick it's often been, but a way to create an alternate reality and insert us so completely and seemlessly into it that we feel like we've actually been there, not watched it on a screen."

The fact that Turan made these comments in Hollywood's hometown paper is significant. It's widely believed, certainly by Cameron, that Turan's condemnation of the 'Titanic' script prevented the writer-director from adding a screenplay nomination to the film's 14 others. Turan acknowledges in his 'Avatar' review that the new movie contains some of the same 'flat dialogue' and 'obvious characterization' that put him off before, but says 'Avatar's visual powers and the freshness of its other-worldly characters overcomes those objections.

Add in an apparently moving love story and an environmental issue that tweaks the liberal conscience, plus the absence of any "typical" Oscar contender, and Cameron will be able to end Oscar night March 7 the way he ended it March 23, 1998, by bellowing, "I am King of the World."

Death Toll Rises to 200,000, Looters Rule the Streets in Earth Quake Hit Haiti / Heiti / Haithi /Hiti /Haity.

Death toll Rises.

Haiti's earthquake may have killed up to 200,000 people, according to the government. More than 50,000 bodies have already been collected to be buried in mass graves.

The government has given the United States control over its main airport to coordinate the international relief effort. Aid supplies are being flown in from all over the world but their distribution is being hampered by chaos and disturbances.

The US is sending 10,000 troops to Haiti to help distribute emergency supplies and maintain order. In the capital Port-au-Prince gangs of youths are reported roaming the streets armed with machetes. A UN warehouse has been plundered and shops are being looted. UN relief workers say many survivors are angry that it's taking so long for aid and supplies to reach them.

UN Secretary-General will visit the disaster area on Sunday. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is travelling to Haiti later today.

Looters Rule the Street.


Looters and robbers are ruling the Haitian streets days after the devastating earth quake. People are robbing the shops and collapsed supermarkets just for eatables to survive.

A looter trying to nab eatables with his knife. (c) Reuters

One rioter, a man in his 30s, was killed outright by bullets to the head as the crowd grabbed produce in the Marche Hyppolite.

Another looter quickly snatched the rucksack off the dead man's back as clashes continued and police reinforcements descended on the area armed with pump-action shotguns and assault rifles.

It came as predictions of the death toll from the Haitian earthquake rose to 200,000 as mounting desperation at lack of aid threatens to tilt the country into anarchy.

With up to three million survivors still cut off from outside rescue efforts, the United Nations said the disaster was the worst it had ever dealt with.

Aid officials fear a lapse into all-out lawlessness in coming days unless US troops can get through with vital food, medicine and water deliveries, which are being hampered by the sheer scale of devastation. There were continued incidents of looting, and isolated reports of rescue workers being stoned by angry crowds.

The UN's warning came as the full picture of the horror in the flattened capital of Port au Prince emerged. Haitian ministers claimed the body count could rise far beyond the 50,000 estimate made by the Red Cross officials on Friday, saying that 50,000 bodies had already been buried. Trucks piled high with corpses delivered them to mass graves outside the stricken city, with thousands more still lying uncollected on the streets or buried under heavy rubble.

"We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies," said interior minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime. "We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number."

If that casualty count is confirmed, it would make Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake one of the ten deadliest on record. The death toll would also rival that of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which claimed roughly 250,000 lives. However, officials with knowledge of both incidents said the Haitian disaster - which hit a country already barely functional - posed an infinitely tougher relief challenge.

"This is a historic disaster," said UN spokesman Elisabeth Byrs, whose own organisation has lost 36 local staff in the earthquake. "We have never been confronted with such a disaster in the UN memory. It is like no other."

The UN undersecretary general for peacekeeping, Alain Le Roy, added: "There have been some incidents where people were looting or fighting for food. They are desperate, they have been three days without food or any assistance.

Paul Antoine Bien-Aime, Interior Minister had stated earlier, "We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies. We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number. " Aramick Louis, the Haiti Secretary of State for Public safety has confirmed that about 40,000 bodies have already been buried in mass graves in the Carribean nation.

These figures in regards to Haiti earthquake death toll has, already put this earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks on the list of ten deadliest earthquakes ever recorded, as per reports.

Even as relief work still continues and the country has begun recuperating with authorities asessing damages, a more worrying report has come into the news. Incidents of robberies and looting by bandits are on the rise, especially targeting those Haiti earthquake victims and survivors who have moved into camps on streets and sidewalks. Such looting has happened even in the capital city of Port au Prince. (c) Various Sources.

Rescue Operation in Haiti / Heiti / Haithi /Heiti after Devastating Earth Quake; Through Pictures / Photos / Images.

After the most devastating earth quake in the careebian Island State, Haiti; The pictures which are coming thorough various internet sources are terribly shocking. It says the people of this poor country is really in the need of the world's help. Below are some of the pictures two days after the earth quake.

Click on the Image to Enlarge

A burnt leg of a boy, waiting for first aid in a hospital in Port au Prince.

a girl looking at the world for their sympathy, in a temperory medical camp in Haiti.

Deadbodies are carried in a car by the rescue team.

A dead body inside the debris of the collapsed buildings.


A woman runs after a deadbody under the debris of a building.

A man looting eatables from a collapsed supermarket.

An Indian rescue force member searching for survivors with the help of snifer dog.

(c) various internet sources.

Death Toll of Haiti / Heiti / Haithi /Heiti Earth Quake is Crossing 50000; As per Red Cross Authorities. Port au Prince Still under Debris

Reports gathered from various sources:

The most devastating earth quake of the new decade in Haiti, is claiming more and more lives after hours being passed. The poorest country in the American hemisphere is raising hands towards the world community for help. The only thing they can console is United States is next door to them, but china being first country to send their rescue team to the destroyed land of Haiti.

Haiti earthquake death toll remains anyone's guess as bodies are still lying in the streets. However, today Haitian Red Cross estimated up to 50,000 people could be dead and another three million hurt or displaced.

Haiti earthquake death toll was believed to be in the tens of thousands. However, it seems to be too early to tell as many bodies are still lying out in the streets. CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta Tweeted from the ground in Haiti today, saying he has never seen what he saw in Haiti.
Meanwhile, Haitian Red Cross believes between 45,000 and 50,000 people have been killed. It also estimates that three million people have been either hurt or left homeless as the result of the earthquake. There were reports of a thousand bodies lying outside Port-au-Prince General Hospital.
The highest death toll from a natural disaster in recent history is that from the 1931 China floods that have killed close to four million people.
Authorities suppose death toll will exceed 500 000, barricades from bodies are built in disaster area

Haitian Red Cross estimated that 50,000 lost their lives in the deadly earthquake, but the government expects the death toll will exceed 500 000, APA reports. Three million suffered from the earthquake.

First mass funeral was served in the country on Thursday. Haitian president Rene Preval said 7000 bodies were buried in the mass graves. UN mission in Haiti made new announcement about its losses during the earthquake. 36 UN workers were killed and 73 injured, 160 are still missing, including 8 workers of UNESCO mission in the country. 57-year old worker of the US State Department Victoria Delong was also among the quake victims in Haiti, US embassy’s three staff members became missing.

There are serious problems with landing of planes carried humanitarian assistance as the quake damaged a runway strip of the Port-au-Prince airport. Some of the planes couldn’t leave the Haitian airport because lack of fuel resources. Planes carrying humanitarian assistance to Haiti are forced to land in the neighboring Dominican Republic delivering shipment to Haiti via land transport.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy called for international conference on Haiti and said he was discussing his proposal with the world leaders now. US Deputy Secretary of State Philip Crowley said there were few cases of marauding in the disaster areas. He said air and landing forces would be deployed in the region to provide security and public order, as well as to participate in rescue and humanitarian operations.

There is unbearable sanitary in Haiti. Leaving bodies still at the streets caused serious protest among the population. The people are building barricades from bodies to express their protests. Mexican ambassador to Haiti Everardo Suarez told journalists that authorities couldn’t organize funerals. “There are hundreds of bodies at the streets and serious problems with water supply, electric energy and medical aid. People fear to take the streets because of large groups of marauders there”, said the ambassador.

(c) Various Sources.

Shocking Pictures of Haiti / Heiti / Haithi / Heiti / Earthquake !!

Tuesday afternoon, January 12th, the worst earthquake in 200 years - 7.0 in magnitude - struck less than ten miles from the Caribbean city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0. Structures of all kinds were damaged or collapsed, from shantytown homes to national landmarks. It is still very early in the recovery effort, but millions are likely displaced, and thousands are feared dead as rescue teams from all over the world are now descending on Haiti to help where they are able. As this is a developing subject, I will be adding photos to this entry over the next few days, but at the moment, here is a collection of photos from Haiti over the past 24 hours.

Live update on Haiti Earth Quake..
The US army is sending up to 3,500 soldiers to Haiti, officials quoted by Reuters say. The first 100 are scheduled to arrive soon.

5 Haitian actor Jimmy Jean-Louis, who starred in the Heroes TV series, tells CNN he has not been able to contact his parents in Petionville since the quake. "I don't think people have any idea how terrible this is," he says.

comment from blogger
1 Sebastien Barrau, a Haitian living in Miami, has started up a website for missing persons. He says: "I'm really disappointed - there are so few survivors. I spoke to a friend who helped get five people out of a collapsed supermarket, just five people. I've heard about people being alive one day and stuck under the rubble, but who don't make it."

1319 Troylivesay tweets: "Yesterday there was only one gas station operating in town that I saw and it was a mob scene. No violence but it was very intense."

1315 Churches, barber shops and small shops in Haitian areas of Miami have been collecting donations to send to friends and relatives. "My body is in Miami but my mind is in Haiti," Fletcher Toussaint, a young immigrant, tells the BBC.
Awaiting news from home

1310 Two days after the disaster struck, people speak of still hearing voices crying from the rubble.

1309 Google and Geoeye have put together some new satellite images of Haiti, taken after the quake and showing the extent of the destruction.

1303 The foreign minister of Indonesia - a country which has suffered natural disasters in the past - expressed condolences to Haiti. "As a country that has been itself devastated by a similar situation, we are absolutely saddened by what's happening in Haiti," said Marty Natalegawa.

57 Haitian DJ Carel Pedre tells BBC's Newshour he has seen a lot of dead bodies and collapsed buildings. "I've seen thousands of people crying for help, I've seen thousands of people homeless, helpless. I see a country devastated, I see - wow - I have witnessed a disaster and I think that's the biggest disaster I've ever seen in my life."

54 The UN says up to 200 of its staff, including peacekeepers, are unaccounted for. Between 50 and 100 could be trapped in the UN building in Port-au-Prince.

tweet
53 Troylivesay tweets: "Currently experiencing another aftershock - they are still coming - had a couple strong ones yesterday and last night."

(c) Various Sources

Burj Dubai Renamed Burj Khalifa, Grand Opening Ceremoney...

The world's tallest building was formally opened Monday in Dubai as the emirate tries to re-establish investor optimism.
As he inaugurated the 828-metre high tower on Monday, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, renamed it Burj Khalifa in honour of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the president of the United Arab Emirates. Sheikh Khalifa is the ruler of Abudabi, which helped Dubai to pay large amount of debt recently. It seems that the naming of Khalifa for the world's largest tower is a thanks giving for the help done by him and his city state.
"I now officially announce the opening of the Burj Khalifa Bin Zayed," the ruler said at the opening ceremony of the tower that has been developed by Emaar Properties and believed to have cost US$1.5 billion
Burj Khalifa, which took about 12,000 labourers to build, overtook its nearest rival - the Taipei 101 in Taiwan which rises to only 508 metres.
The Burj Khalifa's opening is seen as a positive start to the year and analysts believe Dubai's financial troubles have not hurt sales of the approximately 1,100 residential units in the "super-scraper".
"The message is very simple ... we build for tens of years to come," Mohamed Alabbar, the chairman of Dubai's Emaar properties, said.
"Crises come and go and the world has gone through two years of difficult times," he said. "I hope that this is the beginning of a gradual move forward."
Bill Baker, the building's structural engineer, said Emaar kept pushing the design of the the tapering metal-and-glass spire higher.
"We weren't sure how high we could go," Baker, who works for Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said.
"It was kind of an exploration ... a learning experience."
Emaar, 31.2% owned by the Dubai government, is the Arab world's largest listed developer, but is less indebted than other Dubai property firms, with about AED8.1 billion (US$2.21 billion) of loans and borrowings outstanding as of September 2009 of which about half is due this year.

A lavish presentation witnessed by Dubai's ruler and thousands of onlookers at the base of the tower said the building was 828 meters, or 2717 feet, tall.
Dubai is opening the tower in the midst of a deep financial crisis. Its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi has pumped billions of dollars in bailout funds into the emirate as it struggles to pay its debts.
Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the ruler of Abu Dhabi and serves as the president of the United Arab Emirates, the federation of seven small emirates, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Analysts have questioned what Dubai might need to offer in exchange for the financial support it has received from Abu Dhabi, which controls nearly all of the UAE's oil wealth. Abu Dhabi provided direct and indirect injections totaling $25 billion last year as Dubai's debt problems deepened.
Dubai's hereditary ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in recent months has increasingly underscored the close relationship between the two emirates. Sheik Mohammed serves as vice president and prime minister of the UAE federation.
The developer of the newly opened tower said it cost about $1.5 billion to build the tapering metal-and-glass spire billed as a "vertical city" of luxury apartments and offices. It boasts four swimming pools, a private library and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.
The Burj's developers say they are confident in the safety of the tower, which is more than twice the height of New York's Empire State Building's roof.
Greg Sang, Emaar's director of projects, said the Burj has "refuge floors" at 25 to 30 story intervals that are more fire resistant and have separate air supplies in case of emergency. And its reinforced concrete structure, he said, makes it stronger than steel-frame skyscrapers.
"It's a lot more robust," he said. "A plane won't be able to slice through the Burj like it did through the steel columns of the World Trade Center."
Dubai was little more than a sleepy fishing village a generation ago but it boomed into the Middle East's commercial hub over the past two decades on the back of business-friendly trading policies, relative security, and vast amounts of overseas investment.
Then property prices in parts of sheikdom collapsed by nearly half over the past year. Now Dubai is mired in debt and many buildings sit largely empty -- the result of overbuilding during a property bubble that has since burst.
Despite the past year of hardships, the tower's developer and other officials were in a festive mood, trying to bring the world's focus on Dubai's future potential rather than past mistakes.
"Crises come and go. And cities move on," Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of the tower's developer Emaar Properties, told reporters before the inauguration. "You have to move on. Because if you stop taking decisions, you stop growing."
Dubai, which has little oil of its own, relied on cheap loans to pump up its international clout during the frenzied boom years.
But like many overextended homeowners, the emirate and its state-backed companies borrowed too heavily and then struggled to keep up with payments as the financial crisis intensified and credit markets froze up.
Meanwhile, speculators who had fueled Dubai's property bubble disappeared along with the easy money, revealing a glut of brand-new but empty homes and crippling many of the emirate's property developers
The sheikdom shocked global markets late last year when it unexpectedly announced plans to reorganize its main state-run conglomerate Dubai World and sought new terms in repaying some $26 billion in debt.
It got some succor from a $10 billion bailout provided by its richer neighbor and UAE capital Abu Dhabi last month. That was on top of $15 billion in emergency funds provided by Abu Dhabi-based financiers earlier in the year.
Burj developer Emaar is itself partly owned by the Dubai government, but is not part of struggling Dubai World, which has investments ranging from Dubai's manmade islands and seaports to luxury retailer Barneys New York and the oceanliner Queen Elizabeth 2.
Emaar's Alabbar said the landmark Burj is 90 percent sold in a mix of residential units, offices and other space, offering a counterpoint to Dubai's financial woes.
The developer has only said the spire stands more than 2625 feet (800 meters) tall. Alabbar said Dubai's ruler will announce the height at the inauguration ceremony.
At a reported height of 2,684 feet (818 meters), the Burj Dubai long ago vanquished its nearest rival, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
But the tower's record-seeking developers didn't stop there.
The building boasts the most stories and highest occupied floor of any building in the world, and ranks as the world's tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota.
"We weren't sure how high we could go," said Bill Baker, the building's structural engineer, who is in Dubai for the inauguration. "It was kind of an exploration ... A learning experience"
Baker, of Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said early designs for the Burj had it edging out the world's previous record-holder, the Taipei 101, by about 33 feet (10 meters). The Taiwan tower rises 1,667 feet (508 meters).
Work on Burj Dubai began in 2004 and moved ahead rapidly. At times, new floors were being added almost every three days, reflecting Dubai's raging push to reshape itself into a cosmopolitan urban giant packed with skyscrapers.
During the busiest construction periods, some 12,000 workers labored at the tower each day, according to Emaar. Low-wage migrant workers from the Indian subcontinent provided much of the muscle for the Burj and many of Dubai's other building projects.
The tower is more than 50 stories higher than Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest building in the U.S. formerly known as the Sears Tower.
At their peak, some apartments in the Burj were selling for more than $1,900 per square foot, though they now can go for less than half that, said Heather Wipperman Amiji, chief executive of Dubai real estate consultancy Investment Boutique.
She said some buyers may struggle to find tenants at going rates once the tower's expected high service charges are factored in.
"The investment community is quite divided," she said. "They're not sure how it's going to play out."
The Burj is the centerpiece of a 500-acre development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city. It is flanked by dozens of smaller but brand-new skyscrapers and the Middle East's largest shopping mall.
That layout -- as the core of a lower-rise skyline -- lets the Burj stand out prominently against the horizon. It is visible across dozens of miles of rolling sand dunes outside Dubai. From the air, the spire appears as an almost solitary, slender needle reaching high into the sky.
An observation deck on the 124th floor opens to the public Tuesday, with adult tickets starting at 100 dirhams, or just over $27 apiece. The ride to the top took just over a minute during a visit for journalists early Monday morning.
Dubai landmarks like the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab hotel and the manmade Palm Jumeirah island were visible through the haze.
The Burj itself cast a sundial-like shadow over low-rise houses and empty sand-covered lots stretching toward the azure Persian Gulf waters. And yes, Dubai is still open for business: there are gift shops at the base and the top.