Fail
Too expensive, too restrictive, but sooooo pretty......
Want a the 3G-less Apple iPad? The Mac maker will begin taking advance orders for the product later this week, it has been claimed. The news comes from website AppAdvice - formerly AppleiPhoneApps.com - and is said to derive from "a reliable source... familiar with the matter". Said mole says Apple's online store will begin …
Just wondering what will be the optimum use of this ?? Lemme think.
For phones calls, I have handsets aplenty.
Navigation, I have that, and also on the phones now.
Surfing, can do on my N97, and also on netbook with free access at hotspots.
Skype, is free on Three network.
MSn messenger is free on Three.
Photos, I have decent camera as also on phone (5meg).
As a Photoframe ? There are tons of them around for £20 apiece.
Media player ? All my gadgets do that anyways.
Emails? Blackberry does it well enough.
Wow factor ? Jealousy? No chance since fanbois would already have that unit.
PIty ? yes by everyone else.
Admit it - Jobs has lost the plot.
And its a Monday and weather is ... mmmmmm - Do we need this news/announcement?
Yeah, but by being on this website the odds are you're a bit of a techy and I don't think this device is aimed at us. It's the kind of thing my wife would love to have so she can check her Hotmail and Facebook and do a bit of surfing while she's sitting on the sofa - rather than sit at a desk and wait 5 minutes while Windows boots up. My kids would love it too for the games and Spotify Premium.
Don't forget that there is a world out there away from us geeks!
The wifey won't be playing Farmville (or whatever it is that wimmin spend untold hours doing on Facebook) due to the lack of Flash.
The kid's won't be playing too many games either, for the same reason. Apart from the crap available on the Apps Store.
And doesn't Spotify use flash too?
So, techy or not, it's still shite. Overpriced shite at that.
> The wifey won't be playing Farmville (or whatever it is that wimmin spend untold
> hours doing on Facebook) due to the lack of Flash.
She doesn't. She just uses it to stay in touch with friends.
> The kid's won't be playing too many games either, for the same reason.
> Apart from the crap available on the Apps Store.
They will .They already love playing games on our iPod Touch.
> And doesn't Spotify use flash too?
No it doesn't.
So it sounds like the perfect device for our family.
Not aimed at us?
How about not aimed at anyone that reads product labels of any sort?
This thing does not replace your desktop web browser. That's the whole point of the whining and hatred directed at this thing since it was announced.
Although I am sure plenty of people will buy it for it's shiny happiness. Some of us may even have members of our own households that are already ensnared. So look forward to some well informed whining and hatred in the future. '-)
A few of places where I thought the iPad might be useful:
- Messing around on the web while watching telly. The iPhone works for this but the screen is a little small. Netbooks/laptops aren't great for this in terms of ergonomics.
- Catching up with news at the breakfast table. Newspapers will be produced that are designed for the iPad's screen, which seems pretty handy. I would't read a book on this thing, but for news it seems ideal.
- Taking notes and writing documents in meetings. The iWork demo was good and made it seem ideal for this. Maybe business will be a big market for this.
Messing on the web while watching telly? -
How is the ergonomics of a netbook/laptop not great compared to an iPad? At least they sit on your lap and you don't have to constantly hold it. And anyway, who has that much money that they want to spend a few hundred just to mess around on the web sile watching tv? I can to that with my Macbook Pro. Which can multi-task too incidentally. ;-)
Breakfast table newpaper reading, maybe, but it would get dirty quickly, crumbs, coffee, cereal/milk splashes. Oh, jam of course!
Taking notes in meeting... type them my friend. Why slow yourself up? Laptop is where it's at.
I'm not against the iPad exclusively, apart from being dismayed about what it can't do compared to other tablets. I just think it's great technology, but has no place to the consumer. It's not that much smaller than my 13.3" Macbook Pro. So I'll happily carry that and type, multi-task and all the rest, as I have a proper OS on it. They even sell a separate keyboard for the iPad? How many things are we supposed to carry then? Again... it alwasy comes back to the best solution. A laptop.
because a netbookl doesn't do portrait, only landscape. nuff said. Also, the iPad is hermetically sealed, unlike a netbook (and even a newspaper). get it dirty all you want, just wipe it clean...
It's is also NOT a tablet. A tablet is a $1,000 full fledged PC, ($1700 if it can do h.264 decoding). It requires expensive software and constant maintenance, and less than 5% of the apps made for it are even touch aware, let alone the OS itself...
This is a COMPANION COMPUTING DEVICE. It is not MEANT to replace your netbook (though it might as well, given the anemic performance of what people call one, and after you buy Office for it they're way more expensive than an iPad), it's designed to compliment both your PC and your phone. It pairs with your phone for making/taking calls as well as doing VoIP calls, handles large amounts of e-mail beautifully, handles photos on the run, entertains the kids and you, hang easily from a car seat so the kids can watch video in the car withough buying a seperate system to handle that, and its the best ebook system i can imagine (I treid both the Kindle and Nook for more than a week each, e-ink sucks except in certain lighting conditions, i MUCH prefer my IPS MBP screen in both bright light and dim rooms...)
Then don't read the articles, and certainly don't post if you don't want one.
I don't want one either, but father in law was just saying last weekend he'd love one and it's just what he's looking for. He has a PC in the office (separate building) and doesn't want a mobile phone or a laptop.
If everybody wanted the same product, there'd be no point in competition.
You spend a lot of time finding faults, but you have failed to grasp it's simple and elegent place in your life, and why it will be extremely popular with the masses:
1) You won't use it as a phone, primarily, but when you're using it, and the phone (or VoIP) is ringing, its linked via bluetooth, and you simple pick up by clicking on screen instead of having to get up and get the phone. Its convennience. Also with a bluetooth camera, its a great video chat platform (and yes, it DOES do video chat, it's all there in the SDK).
2) Surfing you can do on a netbook sure, but you have to wait for it to boot up and conenct to a network, where the iPad is ALWAYS ON. If you don't have free wifi (most of us have at best limited access, especially when driving around, and wifi is banned in our business network for security reasons) then you can not beat $29 a month for unlimited access (or $14 for 250mb), especially without a contract being required. Also, surfing via touch is far superior to surfing with a microscopic trackpad on a netbook. Finally, portrait mode? Your netbook can't do that, and your portable devices can't surf the web properly, not even an iPhone is useful for more than a casual lookup of something important.
3) Skype is free on this too, as are all your chat and VoIP aps, and M$ has already admitted to developing messenger and Microsoft Live too.
4) This is not for taking photos, it's about MANAGING photos. Sync to your camera into iPhoto, sort, catalog, etc. $20 photoframes? seriously, even if you could find one, they're not 10" and photoframes are not wireless, don't share photos, don't integrate to weh sites, and don;t get passed around a table, hell most don't work without a wall wort. However, this is not even a top feature of the iPad, it;s a gimmick, and one noone but you mentioned as a strength o target of the device.
5) Media player? So all your gadgets to 720P or higher output to a TV? (The iPad actually supports 1080p, we're simply waiting on the announcement of a wireless HDMI Dock adapter...) I know your netbook either doesn't do 720p at all (probably can't even do 480p in h.264), and if it does, well, there's no netbook on the market capable under $500 today.... Plus, can you hang your notebook from the back of a car steat to use as a movile video platform? no. Will it play videos over WiFi for 10 hours on a charge? no. Will it play any of your iTunes TV purchases (or any other encrypted video from ANYONE in HD quality), no. The iPad is simply a premium platform in this class, nothing touches it in this category alone for less money. Oh, and the iPad conencts to your stereo via A2DP as well, so no wires in the car...
6) emails? For the occasional message, and a quick reply, a blackberry or iPhone works fine, sure. Gotta deal with a mass of messages, long or complex replies, HTML based e-mail responses, embedded couments, then you need a real email clinet. Managing your inbox and lots of lessages as well? a real pain to do on a mobile platform. The iPad has a great visual, touch enabled e-mail client. I think i'll be doing more e-mail on it than I do in Outlook...
Wow factor, pity, other negative comments? Thanks for indicating your level of maturity for us.
and with all this chatter and FUD, you missed the big points:
A) Document editing, with a full office suite, including performing presentations, all on your companion PC device without having to whip out, boot up, and deal with your PC
B) synced through the cloud. Yes, netbooks can do this too, but few other device types can
C) instant gratification. Need to look something up, and have to wait 2 minutes to get a browser open and connected, is a problem. Sitting in fron of the TV with the iPad handy I copuld look anything up in seconds, and never no have the answer that ends an argument before it begins again. This device will save my marriage!
D) It's always on, allways receiving notifications. Your netbook doesn't do that, even your multitasking phone has trouble doing it properly (and your blackberry is lucky to get e-mail and text, let alone VoIP, Chat, facebook, and other notifications).
E) Its hermetically sealed, unlike a netbook, which means its a durable outdoor device, perfect for beaches, doesn't mind the rain, etc. Put a hard case on it, and its the equivalent of a toughbook tablet, for about $1500 less.
F) NO MAINTENANCE REQUIRED. It takes care of itself outide of the occasional OS update, which happens with a simple sync. No backups to do, no patches to install, no antivirus to worry about. I don;t want a desktop AND a netbook because then I have twice the effort in maintenance and troubleshooting. I want a simple device that does what a netbook does without bothering me!
G) SOFTWARE LICENSING. A netbook that runs a desktop OS (poorly) requires desktop licenses. I need Office on my netbook, and my PC. I don't want to buy it TWICE for $349. Nor do i want to do that with all the other software I require on a netbook, of which the iPad comes with most of it for free and the rest are only $1-10 licenses away, licenses which work uon up to 25 devices in my home (up to 5 PCs, each with up to 5 registered devices).
H) It replaces any need i have for en e-periodical reader. Comics, books, magazines, newspapers, all in either portrait or landscape, and accessed via a fluid look and feel of a touch system.
I) Games, glorious 3D games, better than you can get on a PSP or DS, even better than the PS2 in many cases, also all on the ssame device, and it will play for hours on end without a charge.
Here's my use case:
While the wife's watching something I could care less about, I can be using the iPad to watch TV on my own, in a quality resolution. I can instanty switch to the web, and the whole time i'm connected and getting e-mail and messages. The phone can live in its carger, instead of bothering me on my hip, and I can take calls on-screen when i feel likel it. I can look up things for the wife, edit the grocery list, read a book (or comic), and all on the same device. It;s a single device, not a collection of them, to do all these things and more. As software is released, it will be even more powerful. ...then there's OS 4.
> 5) Media player? So all your gadgets to 720P or higher output to a TV? (The iPad actually
> supports 1080p, we're simply waiting on the announcement of a wireless HDMI Dock adapter...) I > know your netbook either doesn't do 720p at all
It's not about the screen output. It's about whether or not you have to mess with a conversion
process that will take HOURS AND HOURS before you can play the video in question. A device
that can "play anything" is much easier to deal with in this respect. A device that is less "picky" and
is more flexible will subject users of all kinds to less inconvenience.
Being forced through iTunes or into a particular format is just another bother for users many of
whom can't really cope with such a thing.
The iPad is being grossly oversold at this point. It's strictly a walled garden device which is
going to be quickly bested by anything else including Apple's own less restricted products.
A) Document editing, with a full office suite, including performing presentations, all on your companion PC device without having to whip out, boot up, and deal with your PC
Acer Aspire 1 netbook running Ubuntu with Open Office - total cost £200 - Check
B) synced through the cloud. Yes, netbooks can do this too, but few other device types can
Anything that can connect to the web can synch over it!
C) instant gratification. Need to look something up, and have to wait 2 minutes to get a browser open and connected, is a problem. Sitting in fron of the TV with the iPad handy I copuld look anything up in seconds, and never no have the answer that ends an argument before it begins again. This device will save my marriage!
As A my netbook with dongle or wireless boots and connects inside 30 seconds. Talking to your wife would be a better way of saving your marriage than waving a shiny gadget with wikipedia on the screen at her!
D) It's always on, allways receiving notifications. Your netbook doesn't do that, even your multitasking phone has trouble doing it properly (and your blackberry is lucky to get e-mail and text, let alone VoIP, Chat, facebook, and other notifications).
As long as I leave it switched on its err always on!
My HTC Hero does a pretty good job of recieving stuff in real time as well.
E) Its hermetically sealed, unlike a netbook, which means its a durable outdoor device, perfect for beaches, doesn't mind the rain, etc. Put a hard case on it, and its the equivalent of a toughbook tablet, for about $1500 less.
Its unexpandable. And if your on the beach, have some down time, try getting into the noisy wet stuff thats hitting the shore.
F) NO MAINTENANCE REQUIRED. It takes care of itself outide of the occasional OS update, which happens with a simple sync. No backups to do, no patches to install, no antivirus to worry about. I don;t want a desktop AND a netbook because then I have twice the effort in maintenance and troubleshooting. I want a simple device that does what a netbook does without bothering me!
Acer Aspire 1 running Ubuntu does all that, still cheaper as well.
G) SOFTWARE LICENSING. A netbook that runs a desktop OS (poorly) requires desktop licenses. I need Office on my netbook, and my PC. I don't want to buy it TWICE for $349. Nor do i want to do that with all the other software I require on a netbook, of which the iPad comes with most of it for free and the rest are only $1-10 licenses away, licenses which work uon up to 25 devices in my home (up to 5 PCs, each with up to 5 registered devices).
Ubuntu Netbook remix, open office, never have to buy it at all.
H) It replaces any need i have for en e-periodical reader. Comics, books, magazines, newspapers, all in either portrait or landscape, and accessed via a fluid look and feel of a touch system.
No one ever mugs you for your newspaper and I have never had the battery go on a newspaper either, or the signal drop, plus I can swat flies with it.
I) Games, glorious 3D games, better than you can get on a PSP or DS, even better than the PS2 in many cases, also all on the ssame device, and it will play for hours on end without a charge.
I dont play games much.
That is all.
Paris well marketed but leads to disappointment
"Just wondering what will be the optimum use of this ?? Lemme think."
Apparently, your alternative consists of an N97, a "decent camera", a photoframe and a BlackBerry, all gaffa-taped into one big lump of uncommunicative uselessness.
While the iPad may not appear to be the sleekest or best equipped device in the world, it certainly sounds a lot more attactive than watching you rummaging through your pockets, looking for the gadget you need for whatever task is at hand...
I think your comment is very pedantic. This is not an Iphone and I never criticised the Iphone. Does its job very well, as a phone (& control freakery).
IPad is not even a phone, at best a glorfied Ipod in my opinion. The techno world has moved on a long way since the Iphone was launched . Netbooks rule now, with all the functionalities that IPad "claims" is revolutionary.(Life changing, if you believe St.Jobs).
So for what IPad does, Its uses are limited and offers nothing new or groundbreaking.
Its reflective of American corporate culture to have something "new" in the pipeline, to be "seen" to be doing some inventing, new product launches etc.
Look what Microsoft had to do (seen to be doing a new revolutionary) product, came up with Vista. Abject failure.
Ditto IPad.
So what it offers is nothing new, just a hashed up mixture of already available functions, but hyped up to the nth degree.
And thats my gripe. (Vision - if you prefer)
Paris _ cos she might have better uses and functionality !
If only the iPad could start at £323. Snag is, you'll have to add on VAT (the US prices are always quoted without sales tax -- a pain, but I suspect due to the fact that it varies by state). That brings us up to around £379. Then there'll be the usual UK markup for anything gadgety.
So, my guess is that the non-3G 16GB iPad will sell for £399 in the UK. Or about the same price (without all that bothersome inflation to worry about) as my first computer -- a BBC Model B. Isn't technological advancement great... (and is there a port of Chuckie Egg in the App Store?)
Can someone please post pics. of fanbois queing up overnight in shelters and sleeping bags "dying" to snatch/grab this item outside Apple store when launched? And also inform the TV news networks to cover the story? Wall street Journal would do well to to highlight the impact on Apple share and stocks and our lives in general.
This is important for historians and posterity.
It sounds like a little glimmer of hope in these debt-ridden, resessionist days.
Seriously, it sounds like this piece of kit is gonna revolutionise our lives beyond the onset of sliced bread. And emancipate it along the way from the tyranny of Windows and other PC makers.
Paris, cos I could be holding my breath forever, for her.
Already have clients lined up who want development doing for the platform, and you can sell any old tat on the App Store to the tens of thousands of hopeless Apple cultists whose pre order will sit alongside mine.
So from my point of view, it's like Apple are actually giving me money.
YMMV , obviously.
gautam asks, "Just wondering what will be the optimum use of this ?? "
Let's pick a market...
In the West, the aging population is continuing to rise. They have some degree of wealth, which they are willing to spend. They are less mobile than their children and grand children.
This group of people wish to stay in touch with their children & grand children over social networking and email, but dealing with viruses is a pain. They wish to read the news, while modern generation seem to care less about the news. They want to have SIMPLE access to the web, not UPS's, flipping open laptop cases, OS upgrades every 2 years, virus software license upgrades every year, wireless access points, plugging in machines into outlets, devices which do not weigh a ton, and reasonably sized screens.
I knew a retired man who loved surfing the web from an iPhone, but the screen was a little too small. I know a retired woman who uses an HP laptop with a 17" display, but it is hard to lug around, has to be plugged in after a short period of time, was an absolute bear to get working (until Vista SP1 was released by Microsoft), and the virus tax makes it expensive over the long term.
After using an iPad for for it's battery lifetime, the virus tax (to keep getting your virus updates coming) will be about $300 US - the iPad is a great long term investment. Can someone get a freeware version? Sure. Someone has to install it for the retired folks and take care of their machines once they get a virus.
Can a retired person get a netbook? Sure. The small keyboard, small screen size, and anemic CPU power may be a turn-off. Virus updates sure are.
The cost of the iPad is a cheap investment for retired family member connectivity - this is really a great market. Is it for everyone? No, but that's OK - it does not have to be for everyone in order for Apple to make a profit and continue supporting the form factor for a long time.
I wonder if there is another market which fits this device well...
...my dad does.
He currently uses his iPod touch or most of his emailing and web surfing without needing to use his computer.
He's by no means a technophobe, he's a retired engineer and very computer literate, but spends very little time on his computer these days. He rarely needs anything other than a browser and a mail client. A full-blown laptop would be too much and too big for what he wants to do with it.
He's also perfectly happy to use a touchscreen keyboard despite being 65 and having dodgy eyesight.
Personally it serves no purpose for me, I need a laptop, but for him it's ideal. I suspect Apple are going to sell a lot of these to people like my dad.
Oh, and my dad is about as far as you can get from being an Apple fanboi, having used Microsoft OSs exclusively since the early DOS days. His iPod is about the only Apple exposure he's ever had.
Oh I can think of a few...
A door stop
To prevent tables from wobbling it could be wedged under that rogue leg
Turned off the glossy screen could act as a mirror
A fly swatter - probably only one time use though
A hard surface to take notes on although a spring clip at the top would have helped to keep the paper in place
An emergency rescue aid; by reflecting the sun you could attract helicopters and mountain rescue.
... the possibilities are endless
If you look at the broader picture, I think this is a machine aimed a kids and senior citizens. The strong points of the iPod touch, iPhone and now iPad are casual games, music and a simple interface. The fact that Apple recently removed all the "sexy" apps from the app store sends a clear message: the iPhone / iPad / iPod are for kids, adults should purchase an Android based device. Like it or not, I don't think any modern device aimed at young adults can survive without some "adult entertainment" being available, so this is clearly for kids or senior citizens.
Title says it.
Nobody knew what Woolies stood for. Household goods, candy store, uniforms, kitchen stuff?. sewing needles, threads, buttons, pensioners meeting point, phone top ups ?The list goes on.
And see what happened.
AFAIK, dont think this has wifi for seemless home browsing. Theres a Smaller SIm card and needs a data subscription and plan I guess?
Oh I forgot, Apple gets a cut of the data revenue, I presume (like the Iphone). Thats where the market is.
A glorified browser and book reader. (How much will books be to download and read?)
My initial reaction was also of disappointment, however has I thought about it it made more sense.
What would i use one for? Well a book reader for a start. As someone who has owned a e-reader in the past I have a love-hate relationship with them. For certain types of books(novels etc) they are excellent, but as soon as you move to anything which requires formatting e.g programming tomes, the size of the screens become a limiting factor.
The size of the iPad screen makes it far more attractive for this purpose, especially compared with the equivalent kindle. The truth is e-readers are just too expensive for what they do, with too many limitations. A more general purpose device such as an IPad makes more sense especially at that price point.
I don't think the screen type is a big an issue as much as the screen format(landscape against portrait) I always said that my netbook would make a great e-reader if only I could rotate the screen. Also the battery life is not a problem, 10 hours until you have to recharge is fine, I think no one is likely to be that long from a charging point unless they are going up the amazon with it.
My only issue is a) how good is it at displaying PDF's and b) its a pity it has no removable storage so I can carry my e-library around with it.
... it'd replace the laptop we keep in the living room to do some web surfing / emailling / cbeebies watching (if you have little kids you'd know what joy there is to be had from letting them mess with the cbeebies website while you get to the proper TV!) in front of the telly.
However, a lot of web sites use flash and St Jobs can witter on about how bad it is, but frankly I don't care - I just want canyon defence (for example) to work! I also want proper multi tasking as my iphone annoys me occasionally when I find it can't.
Until both of these are included the laptop stays and will probably be replaced by a cheap netbook at some point. Shame really as my expensive gadget sense is tingling and the credit card wants to be used!
Simple, a wireless HDMI port. Imagine being able to link with your TV wirelessly, download you movie and beam to your 1080p telly. To me if someone want to dominate the tablet market they need to be thinking of a soultion like this.
As I can't stand having a PC under my TV no matter how small and quiet .
Wrong, if you've not got a PC, what purchases would you be wanting to sync? The iPad will work as a standalone device, the only time you come unstuck is if you want to rip any of your own music/video to it, but I think anyone wanting to do that has probably already got a PC anyway.
The iPad can do everything it says it can without the need for a "host" computer.
Quite a few people here seem to think it would make a good business 'companion'. As a former sysadmin I'd have to say 'NO, IT BLOODY WELL WON'T!!'
There is no way to purchase the apps in bulk, or store\deploy them centrally, and the task of managing a small flock of iPads would just take up too much time of any IT department. As a busines poseurs 'accessory' though they might look good. Unless you busniness web portal uses Flash, or Java. In several weeks time I have visions of sales people and minor execs enterign their IT deparments clutching their iPad and uttering the dreaded words ' I don't need my laptop now, I've brought this. Can you set it up for me?'
Apple have really failed on this (from a technical point of view), and it had the potential to be so much more. I now wait with baited breath for the W7 based tablets from HP et al to deliver the goods that Apple left behind.