What do you think of Apple's new iPad?

[emeraldgirl08]

After a quick browsing the net for similar pictures that dr_st posted, I've came accross these -
http://www.joemonster.org/art/13297/iPa ... nternauci_ - the website is in Polish language - sorry for that, but the pictures pretty much sum up what do most of people think of the new gadget from Apple - let us hope that Nokia will release it's own, more functional version of the iPad - as shown on the last picture in the article... .

Thanks for sharing that link!

Hilarious

[A31]

Thanks for sharing that link!

Hilarious

I also thought the same. The Hitler video is so funny!! And so are the pictures...
It's not going well for Apple is it??!!

[j-dawg]

As I've said elsewhere: Apple's products tend to do very, very well at exposing a certain, limited set of functionality to the user. Provided you're content doing only what Apple supports in the manner that they support, their products really are the best. It's when you want to do something that's not one of their targetted use cases or when you want to do something in a different way than they've deemd "optimal" that the user experience heads downhill, and fast.

This is a fabulous post that sums up my attitude towards Apple very concisely. It's all well and good for someone else. For me, give me flexibility and choices.

The netbook is an important thing to consider when discussing the iPad. Remember how cool those were supposed to be? Just tiny little things that fit between a telephone and a laptop. You'd carry it with you when you didn't know what you might or might not need. It might have an 8GB hard drive if you were really willing to shell out, and the battery would last a few hours.

Obviously, that did not hold. Netbooks have been getting bigger and heavier, more often Windowsed. The hard drives are now regular-computer sized. They've basically become cheap laptops rather than a separate class of device.

The iPad goes after the netbook's intended market, but Acer's initial experiment with the Eee 701 proved that such a market does not exist. If they're going to sit down on campus or in the coffee shop, people don't want to be limited beyond their usual computing experience. They don't want to leave their music at home and use funny little custom Linux distros. They just want a lighter, cheaper computer, and that is why the line between netbooks and laptops is being blurred. Jobs captured it perfectly: "They're just cheap laptops." And that's what people want.

Now let's ask ourselves: what can an iPad do that a netbook can't? Why do I want to sacrifice functionality and pay more money for it? The biggest failing of the iPad, in my opinion, is its inability to multitask. Being able to run AIM, Pandora, and a browser in the background while I work on a paper is very useful. We are accustomed to having this functionality, and that netbooks can do it is why they sell so well - again, cheap laptops.

So Steve says that the iPad isn't supposed to compete with the netbook. (I could tell by the price.) But where the netbook was able to evolve its way into an established market segment - laptops - the iPad does not really have an established market to cannibalize. Instead, it has to create a market. And it does so with what seems to me like an awkward device - can you imagine typing on that keyboard? (Obviously I can't say that it'll suck for sure - but the big touch keyboard's weirdness is indicative of how little this market segment has been explored.)

All told, this is, as others have mentioned, a big iPod Touch. I'd just buy one of those and a netbook and be a happy man. More likely, actually, I'd buy a Nokia N810, just because I like them better, but you get the point.

[j-dawg]

That said, by the way, I have no doubt that Apple will sell bazillions of these. To their credit, they have ways of making strange products interesting and useful - the iPhone, for example. But I saw value in the iPhone when it was introduced, even if I didn't like the implementation. I even briefly owned one. The iPad I cannot understand, and would not spend the money on.

[A31]

j-dawg, you do in fabulous job in your posts explaining why the iPad is so pointless and stupid...
Very well said!

[Marin85]

The biggest failing of the iPad is its inability to multitask.

And iThink this is its greatest feature... For no other modern electronic device of this or bigger size has this feature! And if you want mult-iTasking, you will have to buy the new mind-blowing McBook, not that - let´s face it - cheap iPad.

It should be already apparent that this device is targeted at a specific group of customers. Those are customers who had already bought one or more apples, who buy pretty much every new Apple toy or applestore toy application (no matter how pointless it might be), who buy Apple just because Apple is soo super-duper-mega cool (which by itself is actually not far from true), who drink only apple juice and have this kind of brain-washed appelized way of thinking feeding the self-esteem and very successfully built over the past 7-8 years. Only a customer that thinks like (an) apple would buy such a pointless device (only considering the implementations of iPad as advertised by Apple). So, unless one is an Apple fanboy, there is no reason for one to bang his head upon the new iPad. We, people on earth, simply cannot understand the great reasoning behind it... And this is NO secret to Apple! Gosh, even Sir Isaac Newton was hit by an apple...

Just my 2 iCents

iMarin

PS: Even as a kid I didn´t like apples.

[rkawakami]

PS: Even as a kid I didn´t like apples.

You forgot to insert any mention of road apples .

[A31]

Even as a kid I didn´t like apples.

What? The fruit or Apple Macs (Apple Coats)?
But I'm also with you in not liking Apple.

[SafeHarbor]

I watched the presentation with mounting interest (not live), and I kept thinking "That can't be right."

No USB ports means no support for cheap peripherals like external drives, keyboards, mouse, and monitor - things that we've taken for granted for years. Then I realized why it had no SD memory slot. It was to force a premium price for the memory upgrades. Then I discovered why it ran an iPhone OS. It was to create a "walled garden" in which applications could only come from... iTunes? Well, no, the "App Store." The, uh, iPhone App Store? They are working on the details.

An associate told me, "My grandmother would groove on this." I asked if she used a PC. "Yeah, but just for emails and web browsing. She could do that anywhere in the house with one of these." And then I remember that Jobs had said something about picking up the iPad "in the kitchen."

Jobs seemed to present two scenarios. One was the family slate hanging around the house- eReading, watching movies, playing tunes- and getting passed around. The other, and I thought the more bizarre part, was the $9.95 productivity applications, each sold separately, that one could use for word processing (with a giraffe), spreadsheets, and presentations. That would need the $130 upgrade to wireless, apparently. (And that giraffe graphic protruding into the text made me instantly wonder if I were cool enough to have an iPad. Heck, I'm not cool enough to have a Mac or iPod as it is.)

The other part I enjoyed was hearing that the keyboard was "almost full size" several times. Almost full sized compared to what I wondered.

So what do I think of the iPad? I think it's an interesting experiment. I think they'll sell a bunch of them, but not one to me, and I doubt to anyone close to me (if I can influence them at all).

I was really expecting a baseless MacBook Pro with a multi-touch-screen, and I was expecting it to be expensive - but not quite so much as a MacBook Pro.

Instead, it's a big iPod Touch. It is sort of a MaxiPod.

[ajkula66]

SafeHarbor wrote:

I think they'll sell a bunch of them, but not one to me

+ 1 and then some...

[BillMorrow]

It is sort of a MaxiPod.

ROFL

[Outatime1989]

I think it would be a great product if it had the ability to multitask and handle flash. Those are two selling points for me and until they implement them, i wont even consider buying it. Although since its Apple, it will probably sell great no matter what.

[MooNWalker]

I have an iPhone. And every time I talk with a friend/collegue/co-worker/whomever about cell phones, a comparison with other models is inevitable. Almost every time my counterpart will have a phone with either a faster processor, or more RAM, or an additional card slot, or a better battery, or a larger display, you name it... But in those phones is not allways that easy to surf the web, listen to music, check your emails or choose between huge amounts of applications like my (or any) iPhone will do.

I won't ignore the fact that the marketing department at Apple is doing one of the best jobs out there, but you also have to admit that they do very good products just using "normal" or let's say "average" components inside. From an ergonomics point of view, Apple is doing a great job as well... Even without multitasking or flash support, the iPhone's OSX version is very stable and extremely intuitive.

I have a Nexus One. It's as easy to surf, listen to music, check emails as on iPhone, plus there is ever growing amount of apps that are not prohibited from improving on built-in functionality. Multitasking actually is a huge ergonomics plus - it's not intrusive yet it allows you to do more stuff easier. About "intuitive" iPhone OS - I find it to be very limiting with no way to show on the main screen only those apps that you want to see and no way to show relevant info on the main screen without opening programs themselves.

[archer6]

iWhat?

Oh, that!

I think the real fun is watching Steve Jobs act like a recalcitrant three year old.

Temper tantrums and all. His vociferous outbursts about Adobe Flash, Google and the like, are the stuff that only spoiled little rich kids from Silicon Valley usually get away with.

[dr_st]

I think the real fun is watching Steve Jobs act like a recalcitrant three year old.

Temper tantrums and all. His vociferous outbursts about Adobe Flash, Google and the like, are the stuff that only spoiled little rich kids from Silicon Valley usually get away with.

Is there a link to a video that I missed?

[archer6]

I have a dentist friend, who's 9 year old son is an obsessive video game player. Since Daddy has a never ending supply of disposable income, the kid has every console video game ever made. They picked up an iPad Saturday, and I took a look at if from afar, as the kid held it with a death grip that would make Darth Vader Proud. My first impression is due to Apples exemplary industrial design, and gorgeous flat glass panel, it would make a very stylish and usable outside rear view mirror for a Peterbilt, or Kenworth big rig.

[RealBlackStuff]

For those of you who want to see the innards of this iPOS:
http://news.zdnet.com/2346-9595_22-4109 ... ntent;col1

[rkawakami]

According to a teardown and cost analysis by isuppli, the iPad is estimated to cost Apple almost $260 to make. With a $500 retail price, that's about a 100% profit margin (ignoring marketing and R&D costs).

ref: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-0 ... ate1-.html

[j-dawg]

My roommate bought one. I was convinced for a few hours, but after a while it occurred to me that, while cool, it's still just a big iPod. The novelty will wear off eventually. It did for me in one night.

I'm not saying there's no place for such a device, but it's not the iPad. A tablet needs to move more towards being a laptop with no keyboard - even if that hasn't worked out in the past. I refer back to my earlier post: a netbook is a laptop scaled down, an iPad is a cell phone scaled up. There's a fundamental difference in how the two are used, and the iPad tries (with some success, in my opinion, and with some shortcomings) to straddle the two. I don't think that's necessarily the right approach, even if Steve-O insists that the iPad doesn't compete with netbooks.

And a similar addendum as I made to my above post: though iCouldn't see myself using this thing for more than a month, iKnow that many to most of the 450,000+ people who've bought iPads so far will make regular use of them. More power to you, iPad owners.

[archer6]

As the truth emerges, an interesting reaction is developing. iPads are being returned in large numbers. Apple has apparently failed to disclose that one must have a computer to activate the iPad via iTunes. Many *non-techies* were unaware and brought there's home only to find out they could not be used.

[GomJabbar]

IPad Struggles at Some Colleges

Apple Inc.'s iPad isn't having an easy time during college admissions season.

The tablet, lauded by many as the next wave in education technology, is having difficulty being accepted at George Washington University and Princeton University because of network stability issues. Cornell University also says it is seeing connectivity problems with the device and is concerned about bandwidth overload.
<snip>
George Washington said earlier this month its wireless network's security features don't support the iPad—or iPhone and iPod Touch, for that matter. Princeton on Wednesday said it has proactively blocked about 20% of the devices from its network after noticing malfunctions that can affect the entire school's computer system. Princeton is working with Apple to resolve the issue, according to a statement on the school's Web site.

Cornell's information-technology director Steve Schuster said via email last week that the school is seeing networking and connectivity issues and is "working to ensure the iPad does not have devastating consequences to our network." Mr. Schuster added that when the iPhone arrived on campus it overwhelmed the network's bandwidth capabilities.

The colleges all say they are trying to find fixes to the problems. George Washington has said it could take until next spring before the iPad operating system is fully supported on its network.
<snip>
A Princeton pilot study last fall found that students were frustrated by the lack of a note-taking or highlighting function on Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader. Apple's iBookstore now offers books in a similar format, though third-party companies are working on alternatives.

[RealBlackStuff]

That thing should be renamed iPOS.

[asiafish]

I think it would be great for certain uses, lousy for others. It would make an excellent replacement for my ultraportable laptop, which I use for only two things, web and Exchange calendar in the courtroom. For this, it would be better than any laptop out there because of its instant-on and easy handling while standing. The 1.5 lb weight and 10 hour battery beat any tablet PC.

It is also better than any smartphone in that role for its large, readable screen that gets along well on month-view calendar with my 42-year-old eyes.

Does it replace a laptop? No way. Does it supplement one? Better than any other device I can find.

[dr_st]

I think the first important step towards accepting the iPad is accepting that it is not a computer by any means, despite some misleading claims.

Once you accept that it is not a computer, but essentially an overblown iPod Touch, then the lack of USB downstream port, or the fact that you must have a computer to activate it, or the fact that it cannot do many of the things which are standard computer features, and doesn't have a keyboard, etc, etc, become more reasonable.

While personally I find far less usage models where the large screen of an iPad will be advantage over the iPod Touch / iPhone, and far more where the extra bulk and weight will be a disadvantage, there most certainly can be scenarios where these advantages can make the iPad a useful supplement, like asiafish mentioned.

[rkawakami]

While I wouldn't go as far as this if I ever received one, this had me laughing today after somebody at work showed it to me:

http://www.blendtec.com/willitblend/vid ... video=ipad

Note: Blendtec is a real manufacturer of blenders. The cheapest one is $400. Brings back memories of Dan Aykroyd's Super Bass-O-Matic

ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_It_Blend%3F

[EngineersCake]

The iPad is the reason I bought an X41 tablet.

I wanted to make sure that the "real computer experience" would beat out the bloated iPhone experience. I was right, and I got the opportunity to rebuild a cool computer... oh and I got to meet a bunch of nice people here.

The iPad never did that. (-:

But this is kind of cool: http://gizmodo.com/5520913/the-ipad-dj

[Norway Pad]

While I wouldn't go as far as this if I ever received one, this had me laughing today after somebody at work showed it to me:

http://www.blendtec.com/willitblend/vid ... video=ipad

Ha, ha. "That was one tough pad!"

Notice that an image of a keyboard is present on the screen even after it's bent and the screen is crushed.

[dsvochak]

I don't think of Apple's new iPad.

[billp117]

The iPad will have a good following of dedicated users. Look how many have been sold and follow the Apple stock price. It has been out for just a few weeks and they have sold over a half million units. Hmmmmm...must have done something right. And for now...the unit only has wifi.

But, with all the apps available and a low entry price of $499...there will be a lot of these on the kitchen counter tops, coffee tables and briefcases of people that want just another tool. If you can afford it...you will probably buy one after trying it.

I was skeptical of the iPhone and bought a Blackberry. After a year and a half...I tried the iPhone and liked it. It would be hard to go back to the Blackberry. Perhaps the iPad will work out the same way. Just consider it a "cross" between a tablet and a Kindle.

After I try an iPad I may change my mind...we will see. Also, if you search YouTube you will see some torture tests that included drilling a hole through it and beating it with a baseball bat. It is built tough.

[Navck]

At its price range (High end), I'd rather buy a X201 tablet and get infinitely more, especially with a digitizer that doesn't smear the screen.