SPCR

Why introduce a crippled and practically useless device and then name it after a feminine hygene product?

Hey, before you know it, all those hygiene products will have to choose a different name because of Apple's legal department

Seriously though: Jobs said the iPad is supposed to be the gadget when it comes to browsing, emails and other web-activities. It's supposed to fill the gap between netbooks, notebooks and smartphones. As always, PCs (netbooks) offer more functionality for a lower price, notebooks offer even more for a slightly higher price and several other companies have also already published similar tablet pcs (e.g. archos 9 pctablet, among others).

Personally, I wouldn't be able to use the iPad for anything meaningful. I prefer books over eReaders and multitasking is a must. When surfing for fun, flash is a must. Also, the 16 GB storage are a joke.

no usb?
no card slot?
no camera?





No Way, José!





( at least they got one thing right, its fanless...)

The dock port connects to a USB plug. It should have a female USB on it, though.

In my opinion, it also needs more storage and a DVD/cd slot, as well. And it should have a built-in phone, with a Bluetooth headset. I suppose you can use Skype on the 3G *if* there is a Skype client available? And it should have TWO cameras -- one for video chats, and one for taking images.

And the name is completely unfortunate -- my wife says that every woman she knows *immediately* realized the silliness of the name. I'm sure they wanted it to be close to iPod -- maybe it should be changed to "iPod Tablet"? Which is close to "iPod Touch"...

"iPad 2.0, now with wings and deodorizer for that summer's eve fresh smell"

My girlfriend didn't like the name either, and she's an Apple fan.

It looks kind of slick, but I can't see myself using a product like this. The iPhone I can understand, but unless you already carry a bag/briefcase around all the time (which I don't), then a tablet is too big to be portable, and when I'm at home I'd rather use my PC with 24" screen and a real keyboard and OS. I've also got an IBM X40 for when I'm out of town occasionally.

The name. Enough said.

The *not* network. AT&T again? Groan.

"We want to make it affordable." But I'm sure the accessories are going to be getting you close to the $1000 mark anyway (and probably well over for the full featured models).

Yeah, no Flash? I mean, I hate Flash as much as anyone else, but unfortunately Apple, you live in the same world as the rest of us where Flash is dominant.

The resolution? 1024x768? Would rather get a full power Motion Computing tablet with a real resolution at that rate. Limited on the video playback, the resolution is low, whatever Apple.

I wish they had put a microphone on it so I could see some tool holding this thing in front of his head trying to talk into it like a phone

And the thing is going sell like friggin hotcakes. Wish MS would get their Courier prototype out and kickin.

The Inquirer have got it right.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opi ... 89247/ipad

This is an utterly worthless product that is NOT a Tablet PC at all, it is simply a large iPod touch.

The only people who are going to buy this are the die-hard apple fanboys who enjoy wasting cash on junk products such as this.


Andy

psiu wrote:And the thing is going sell like friggin hotcakes.

There's way more than enough Apple customers that will pretty much buy anything Apple, and they know it. No idea how Steve let that name through, though, seems a bit much even for him.

idale wrote: No idea how Steve let that name through, though, seems a bit much even for him.

One to many tokes while watching Tv in 2005?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTzhXMbOWHE

NeilBlanchard wrote:The dock port connects to a USB plug. It should have a female USB on it, though.

Does this mean USB-A or USB-B? Will it be a host or slave device?

andyb wrote:This is an utterly worthless product that is NOT a Tablet PC at all, it is simply a large iPod touch.

Thank god a second person on this planet knows what a Tablet PC is. This has been killing me. It's like when, before the iPhone came out (the new one that was actually popular), everyone kept saying "this is apple's first cell phone" and the like.
Sad thing is, there was the "iPod Phone" in 2005 which BOMBED. Remember? It had a software limit of 1000 songs?

It seems like apple can call a product anything and people just repeat it...

This thing looks like total junk. What good is it if you still have to carry around a phone, camera and/or a netbook?

andymcca wrote: Sad thing is, there was the "iPod Phone" in 2005 which BOMBED. Remember? It had a software limit of 1000 songs?

That was a Motorola product. The Motorola ROKR, to be specific. It was Apple's fault it failed, as the 1,000 song limitation came from them, but it wasn't an Apple product.

Just a couple of thoughts on what it might be used for..

It's an iTouch with a large screen so you *could* use it as an ebook if so desired...but yet another DRM model (sigh).

I never understood why people fixate on 3G service when you can do everything better in a wifi environment. It's not like you whip out your book sized iPad while driving around. Free WiFi is nearly everywhere.
Using wifi means:
- Skype
- browser environment.

So, you could read your ebook in the coffee shop while listening to music...erm..no multitasking..

I think this is a $500 touch screen remote control for your media center.

Saw this, and couldn't resist:




Maybe Apple are becoming too confident. The iPod/iPhone are very good products, especially because of all the apps which add to an already functional and efficient piece of hardware.

With the iPad they are placing a product for which there doesn't seem to be a real demand for (as far as the features go, too restricted).

Ofcourse they know what it can, and more importantly, what it can't do.
I suspect they will somehow (?) make apps for it that it will almost become irresistable.
Or they just flunked.

Too funny.

Ipad
Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.
And so sayeth Jobs. And rainbows and unicorns came forth from his buttocks. And the believers waited in lines and provided their first born.

I mentioned to the wife that the iPad will hopefully flop just like Apple TV did. Her response, "The Apple TV what?".

iPod sales have slowed and they needed another product line that they could slowly dole out updates for, expecting the public to buy each iteration. Another reason why I'll be sticking with my iPod Touch 2G for a while.

CA_Steve wrote:I never understood why people fixate on 3G service when you can do everything better in a wifi environment. It's not like you whip out your book sized iPad while driving around. Free WiFi is nearly everywhere.

Speak for yourself. Well, on the WiFi thing, at least. Free WiFi is not nearly everywhere. Besides, having 3G coverage is very convenient on long boring drives (if you're not the driver). We have a Novatel MiFi with Verizon service which the family shares. My brother on his netbook checking out Facebook and YouTube. Myself browsing forums and replying on my laptop. My mom, well, not so much but at least that means more bandwidth for me and my brother. My grandparents don't have internet, either, so we also use it when we're at their house.

I do agree that the iPad is just an oversized/priced iPod Touch.

Apple doesn't make excellent products. Apple make good products usually but they don't sell products like other corporations. They sell image, way of life that can be obtained by buying an Apple's device.

Apple's customer's service and way they have treated their customer's is amazing and its no wonder how there are plenty loyal Apple fanatics.

Apple could take an icecream stick, duct-tape tape it and paint and sell and iStick. That is how good Apple's marketing machine is. Its one the best marketing machines there are.

But eventually Apple will have problems. Steve Jobs is the soul of Apple. His charisma, vision and skills are performer (speaks and such) is founding power of Apple. When Job's dies (despite there deinialists he is still a human being and the Messiah), Apple will eventually be in crisis as there is nobody in Apple yet, who can fill his shoes.

I am not surprised that if Jobs' death would mean death of Apple...

How did Apple miss something like this instead?
Make the iPad Touch slightly larger and offer it with or without a base. The iPad Touch would run the iPhone OS and the base would run OSX.

Perfect!

sea2stars wrote:
Perfect!

Sure looks like it!


That is unless your goal as a cult is to....
> be able to charge for "service packs" with features a product should have come with originally, or at least offering service packs with such features for free.
>only allow apps bought through the manufacture's site be installed and discourage non itunes media.
>limit storage capability by not having card slots (so your valued customers must buy the one with 3g if they only wanted more storage and wifi only).
>and tie 'your' machine to an exclusive data plan. (micro sim cards/ no frequency support outside of ATT network)

Capitalism is now, more than ever, all about producing the bare minimum in products and support (off shore) and increasing your returns though hype, advertising, branding, corporate collusion and bowing to wallstreets ridiculous expectations.

Best part is now every dollar we give to these corpocults now buys them more votes than we can ever have as people.

xan_user wrote:Best part is now every dollar we give to these corpocults now buys them more votes than we can ever have as people.

Oh, judicial activism.

Come on. Massive conglomerations are people too!

andymcca wrote:
Come on. Massive conglomerations are more than people now too!

fixed.

My problem with the iPad is, how is it going to be unique? I'm pretty sure there were already some Android tablets at CES, and now that Apple has defined what theirs will look like, there will undoubtedly be copycats coming out of the woodwork. I wouldn't be surprised if a few started shipping before the iPad. I'm pretty sure that Archos is already shipping something like this in a smaller form factor (7" screen?). There certainly is a use for a media player with a larger screen, and a color ebook reader, but for Apple to go out now with an LCD it just invites the Android guys to wait for color e-ink or cheap OLEDs or whatever to come out and get the jump on them. I'm guessing that Apple wanted to put a stake in the ground around for a digital book and magazine shop, but if the Android guys get their act together, they could pick an open format for books, open up a store and make an end run around Apple here. I'm sure the marketing machine will crank up, and the track record Apple has in digital distribution will help, but I don't think that this will be the out-of-the-park hit that the iPod and iPhone were. I guess we'll see how it plays out.

I think apple is making a joke out of themselves.. Seriously It can only don 1 process at a time.. its not a freaking multi-process machine.. What are you guys thinking..You have to upgrade this stuff...

ok, so I completely missed this thread and had started another one in notebooks forum. My bad.

I'm not as convinced as some that it's going to be a failure. Certainly there are a few slightly odd "WTF?!" omissions in the hardware specs (lack of a camera for video chat being most obvious in my mind). Ultimately though I think this device is about user-interface and content.

Much of the comment I've seen from tech-enthusiast folks seems to revolve around it not being a stripped down laptop. Missing storage, missing optical drive, missing USB, missing multi-tasking, and so on. These are valid concerns if you regard this as a stripped down laptop computer. It's not supposed to be a stripped down computer though, I don't think. It's a big iPod.

To my mind Apple's strength (ignoring for a moment marketing and image) has been in user interfaces. This is what separates iPhone from other smartphones - it just works, it works snappily, and it's simple. Other companies have other smartphones which much better hardware specs, whizzo features, and so on, but they're a PITA to use. Today we're seeing other tablet concepts popping up running Windows, or Linux, touted as iPad competitors. If they're running those OSs they're iMac or MacBook competitors, not iPad competitors.

What I don't think we've seen is what content Apple will bring to the iPad. If they can sew up good content and make it as easy to buy as iTunes/App Store they could have a real winner on their hands. Everyone loves a lock-in after all Look at the device + content as a package, not just the device alone. Others have better devices, but they don't do content.

With iPhone it took them to the second-generation to catch up with what much of the world regard as an expected hardware spec, but this didn't stop iPhone 1.0 flying off the shelves. Maybe iPad will be the same, iPad 2.0 will be closer to what might look like a sensible spec today.

Anyway, I think it's premature to write it off just yet.

nutball wrote:Ultimately though I think this device is about user-interface and content. [...] If they can sew up good content and make it as easy to buy as iTunes/App Store they could have a real winner on their hands. Everyone loves a lock-in after all Look at the device + content as a package, not just the device alone. Others have better devices, but they don't do content.

[...] Maybe iPad will be the same, iPad 2.0 will be closer to what might look like a sensible spec today.

Apple just wants to get out in front of the eReader/ultra-mobile market that it is seeing with the kindle/netbook. Version Wun is a POS that will only be bought buy the iTool fanboys.

The point is to lock people in, like they did with iPod, AAC and iTunes. It has been a cash COW for Apple, and they are looking for the next product that they can use to SUCK money out of the dim-witted public.

(Also, all the Apple employees have Flash player on their devices. Apple is just keeping it out of the hands of the public, as they want complete control over YOUR devices.)

nutball wrote:It's not supposed to be a stripped down computer though, I don't think. It's a big iPod.

So how often have you looked at your ipod and thought "Gee, I wish they would make this thing six times larger."
Point is, nobody whats a giant phone or MP3 player. So the only reasonable marketing description for this thing is a smaller laptop. Or maybe an e-reader with all of the standard LCD eye-strain and lack of outdoor readability.