2010: the year of the iPad / iSlate / Apple tablet (Apple haters move on please...)

[Mellotron]

I'm now DEFENDING Apple on here !

Winner!

 

[clapham_gull]

Winner!

You certainly are now you've ditched the phone

 

[beorhthelm]

But i've just read the most interesting article which is talking about a VERY overlooked point:

what point is that? they created their own processor? well, the author is going a stretch too far to say they are the only company to own their own mobile CPU (all the other major phone/PDA makers do too). he's also a stretching it to suggest this any sort of step change in Apple's business.

...Apple doesn’t just own and control a mobile CPU, they own and control the hands-down best mobile CPU in the world.[...] They’re not getting into the CPU business for kicks, they’re getting into it to kick ass.

They’re Microsoft and Intel rolled into one when it comes to mobile computing.

typical fanboi bollocks. look up the A4 and its simply a customised ARM chip made by Samsung - not much different to iphone except Apples people have been more directly involved in design. since its a single task device with custom chip tied to specified I/O system, i'd damn well hope it was fast. they arent going to start using it in macbooks, they just control a CPU for one product in their range.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

A message to the Internets regarding the iPad

“Everyone gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” - Gertrude Stein
Oh Internets, how I love your unrealistic optimism, your pervasive cynicism, your willingness to believe any rumor, no matter how far fetched, and your desire to pronounce judgment on things with the tiniest amount of actual information.
Today Apple announced the iPad. Amazingly it did not fulfill every expectation that was floating out there. Most importantly, it does not fulfill every, specific desire you have and expected. The rumor machine of tech web sites promised you so much more.
Oh noes.
Let me explain it clearly and talk you off the ledge before you go and do something stupid.
Remember way back to January 2007, when the iPhone was announced? Oh Internets, you wailed and gnashed your teeth endlessly. No 3G network? No MMS? No apps on the iPhone? No replaceable battery? Oh, your complaints were endless. You were sure that the iPhone was doomed because it didn’t meet all your requirements.
And what happened? Well, Apple has sold 40 million iPhones. FORTY MILLION. They have become the largest mobile device company in the world.
So today, you moan on and on about all the features you expected and demand in the iPad. What no Verizon? No two-way camera? It’s not weightless? A full half inch thick? Only 10 hours of battery life? You make tons of predictions on the success and failure with scant details and without ever actually trying one.
Well, I am lucky enough to have been at the Apple Event today. Deep within the Reality Distortion Field. I saw the demo live, not snap shots on a web site. I got to use the iPad and see how it worked in person. I talked with other people that had tried it.
And you know what, just like Steve Jobs said, you need to hold it for yourself. It’s a different computing experience. It’s intuitive and simple. The device is blazingly fast and obvious how to use. It is a third kind of computing between a smartphone and a laptop.
For those that have iPhones, you know the experience of showing someone the iPhone for the first time. The look in their face, when they first flick the screen or squeeze the image to zoom. The realization that this is something different, very different, than what they have experienced before.
I am a technology professional. For almost 20 years I’ve tested, used, broke, fixed, and played with all kinds of technology from broadcasting to air conditioning to software. I am not easily swayed in these things. But even with all my skepticism, I think the iPad is something different. A new way of computing that will become commonplace.
Oh Internets, I know you won’t believe till you hold one in your hands. You’ll bang on about features, data plans, DRM, open source, and a multitude of issues. You’ll storm the message boards, wring your hands, and promise you won’t buy one till ‘Gen 2’. The din will grow and grow as time passes.
And then one day, in a few months, you will actually hold one and use it. And you will say, “I want one. Iwant one right now.”
So, my sweet beloved Internets, please take a deep breath, relax and stay away from your regular knee-jerk reactions. Have a little patience, a quality you are not known for, my sweet Internets.
And please, please stop trying to make predictions about what's next, you have no clue and just look stupid when you do.
“You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.” - Steve Jobs

From Cruft: A message to the Internets regarding the iPad

 

[Wozza]

From Cruft: A message to the Internets regarding the iPad

That wasn't very interesting.

 

[Bozza]

 

[Superphil]

Have a giggle at this

[yt]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnT0zp8Ya4&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQnT0zp8Ya4&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/yt]

 

[beorhthelm]

From Cruft: A message to the Internets regarding the iPad

its quite funny when you read it because, like a lot of fanbois, its basically saying forget all the missing features and fact it doesnt do much that you cant do better with another toy, its by Apple and they are great, the iphone was great, so by extension iPad will be too.

i come back to this because i was wondering this morning how successfull the iPhone would have been if it were full price, off contract? that 40 million mobiles is counting iPhone and iPod Touch, the latter which costs half the price (although theres no subsidy/payment plan available). where does a $700 multi function device find a market when in each functional area better devices exist for 1/3 the price?

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

I want to like it, and I want to want one, but I cannot see what function it would replace for me at the moment. It's not really anything that fills a requirement except look good. I would have wanted something like a Portege M Series but with more style and tech specs. I just think this is not "it".

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I thought it had a few sentences that, at times, could be a good summary of NSC:

“Everyone gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” - Gertrude Stein
Oh Internets, how I love your unrealistic optimism, your pervasive cynicism, your willingness to believe any rumor, no matter how far fetched, and your desire to pronounce judgment on things with the tiniest amount of actual information.

 

[Bozza]

iPad week is upon us with the launch on the non-3g version happening this Saturday in the States.

The volume of pre-orders has been so high that orders now won't be shipped until April 12th.

With no UK release date announced beyond 'within April', I guess there's a chance that this could slip as those greedy Americans are satisfied first.

It's so very, very exciting!

 

[Bozza]

...and the iPad is alive. For the yanks, anyway.

 

[SUIYHP]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKAm1OmdFfU

 

[Raphael Meade]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKAm1OmdFfU

that was so very unfunny!

 

[beorhthelm]

i've been watching and reading the media in the past few weeks and still fail to see how this is going to revolutionise the world as some claim. i do buy into the idea of a home bound media reader, but thats not how its being sold, its supposed to replace laptops and desktops in some eyes.

im thinking the best thing it will do is spawn a bunch of immitators that do deliver a really good niche inbetween the iPhone and a full computer. some are looking good but i still yet to see anything that beats the versitility of a netbook.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Their Manhattan store looked decidedly quite when I walked past it at about 3 this afternoon considering all the hype. Seemed to be more NBC and Fox reporters and Apple staff giving each other high fives than actual punters. Quite a few British Appleistas must have flown in judging by the accents. The timing is quite good for a lot of Americans who have just received their IRS tax refunds and are looking for something to splurge it on. $499 is not outrageous, but like a lot of posters I can’t really see what gap it really fills. It looks good, even if it is a bit on the large side, and the iBooks function will probably wipe the floor with Kindle which looks cheap and nasty by comparison. Will wait and see if the price comes down – will be interesting to see what price they pitch it at when they release it in the UK.

 

[Kick Ass Minton]

iPad

Just wanted to say that first impressions of the iPad are that it is different gravy - much more than an oversized iPhone

Been using it all day so far and just about to watch a movie streamed via netflix

Any other USA based nsc'ers picked one up yet ?

 

[Notters]

Can you explain further? What's the point?

 

[Kick Ass Minton]

I intend to use it whilst commuting to work and while away on business rather than dragging my laptop with me - especially as my company now requires we travel economy for any flight under 8.5 hours

I know there are many Mac haters on here and everyone is entitled to thier opinion but it deffo fills a need between iPhone and laptop for me

 

[beorhthelm]

much more than an oversized iPhone

how so?