As is to be expected of any device that the masses get excited about prior to it actually existing, the iPad has torn the Internet in two. Some love it, seeing it as the first iteration of an eventually world-changing device; others just don’t see a point. “It’s just a big iPhone,” they say, “and I already have an iPhone!”
These iPhone owners are exactly who should be the most excited about the iPad – even if they don’t plan on buying one. Even before its release, the iPad has heralded a number of changes on the way for iPhone OS – and presumably, the iPhone itself.
Now, many of the changes found in the just-released iPad SDK are strictly iPad only. For example, all iPad applications (presumably excluding games) are required to support both landscape and portrait orientations – a requirement which, with some 140,000 apps already made, really wouldn’t be feasible to introduce on the iPhone.
Other changes, however, seem almost certain to trickle down to the iPad’s pocketable brother. Apple’s not officially acknowledging that any of this will find it’s way to the iPhone; as is par for the course for them, they’re not even acknowledging that iPhone OS 3.2 will ever make it to the iPhone, ignoring that the damned thing is called “iPhone OS”.
Here are some of the changes introduced in the iPad that seem likely to make their way over the iPad Nano iPhone :
- Bluetooth Keyboard Support
Finally! We’ve been clamoring for this one for a while now. We were starting to worry when Apple introduced a new, iPad-specific keyboard, but then the good word came straight from the horses mouth:iPad also comes with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, letting you connect to devices like wireless headphones or the Apple Wireless Keyboard.
Considering that the Bluetooth stack that the iPhone uses (Qualcomm’s BlueMagic) already supports it, many have assumed that the lack of Bluetooth Keyboard support thus far was either an intentional choice on Apple’s part, or a side effect of the limited Input system (which has been overhauled in OS 3.2, also allowing developers to make custom keyboards within their applications). If the iPad supports Bluetooth keyboards, there’s no reasonable reason why the iPhone won’t – unless, you know, Apple says so.
- Desktop file syncing for third party apps:
With iPhone OS 3.2, Apple has introduced a new key called “UIFileSharingEnabled”. As Apple puts it, this means:
Applications with [this key enabled] can share files with the user’s desktop computer. A connected iPad device shows up on the user’s desktop and contains subdirectories for all applications that share files. The user can transfer files in and out of this directory.
In other words, you’ll now be able to drag-and-drop files from your computer into a third party application’s storage folder, as if they are sitting on a standard external hard drive. Imagine being able to build levels for your favorite game in a desktop level editor, then simply dragging those files onto your iPhone to play them.
- Apps can identify themselves as supporting specific file types:
Opening files on the iPhone can be a bit of a chore, be it that it’s not a file type the device recognizes out of the box. Even if you’ve installed an application that can read that specific type of file, you’ll need to find a way to get that file into the app’s sandboxed storage space. A lot of applications have implemented clever — albeit hacky — workarounds, but they’re by no means the most user friendly.
The desktop file transferring option mentioned in the last point will help considerably – but what if you need to launch a file that’s been emailed to you?
As it currently stands, you can’t launch a file from an email into a third party application – but on iPhone OS 3.2, you can do just that. Did work just send you an obscure type of file that only one app can read? Don’t sweat it – just make sure the app is installed, open the email, and launch the attachment.
It’s not clear yet whether or not you can override defaults, allowing third party applications to launch files the iPad already supports.
- PDF Creation Support:
When you’re working on the go — with the iPad’s iWork apps, for example — you don’t really have time to worry about whether or not people will be able to open the files you’re creating. That’s where PDFs come in; while they’re not without their faults, PDFs will open (and more importantly, look exactly the same) on just about every modern computer.
Apple had to build PDF creation functionality for iWork – but rather than keeping it for themselves, they went and built it into the operating system. Any iPad developer looking to add PDF creation support can do so without having to write the system from scratch.
- Apple’s 1Ghz A4 Processor:
Over the past few months, smart phone manufacturers have successfully jammed blazingly fast 1 Ghz chips into their handsets. Take the Nexus One, for example; inside Google’s much-hyped handset is a 1Ghz CPU chipset called “Snapdragon”.During the iPad announcement, Apple disclosed that the tablet was running on a custom-built 1Ghz processor. It doesn’t take too much much conjecturing to figure out where Apple’s probably going with this; the competition is starting to jam 1Ghz chips into their smartphones, and now Apple has one of their own. Put one and one together, and it sure seems likely that the next iPhone will be clocking in at 1Ghz.
So what do you think? Is the iPad a sign of the things to come for the iPhone? Sound off in the comments below.
I cannot wait until maybe in a few years time they bring out a smaller, handheld version, perhaps they could make it cheaper in price, give it better battery life, and maybe even make it so that it could act as some sort of mobile telephone.
I’m glad there is nothing else to talk about in the TechWorld except iPad.
This is latest innovative product so everybody will talk about it
Oh goodness…
http://platinumlolita.blogspot.com/2010/01/run-away-from-it.html
Remember when we thought the iPod was going to flop? And the iPhone? The iPad is going to be huge! I’ll see your Kindle and raise you with a more readable screen (in color) and a library to purchase your books and Steve Jobs gets Apple into the exploding e-book market for an affordable price for the device. There’s something the iPad doesn’t do that you wish it did? There will be an app for that. And more in the next version.
More details: http://bit.ly/apple-ipad-advantages
Really? It doesn’t multitask, it doesn’t support Flash and it doesn’t have a camera. No apps for that.
The iPad may be popular for casual computing but don’t pretend it’ll be “more readable” than a Kindle. Yes, for textbooks and reference guides the color and bigger screen will be nice, but book worms aren’t going to sit back with an iPad and read the latest novels for hours on end like they (and I) will with a Kindle.
i dont get the “people can’t read their iphone for hours” argument. We work in front of computer screens and read on iphones for hours everyday.
Maybe it will be a huge success… but on the readibility issue I gently disagree with you… Kindle uses e-Ink, this one uses a standard screen… there’s no way you will find it better just for the colours if what you want is reading… e-Ink is much more stable and relaxing to the eyes, even after hours of reading.
But if all you do is looking at the figures and watching movies, that’s definitely your device
I agree…come on it’s the coolest thing on earth right now so you’d expect all this coverage. Just tried my luck in this competition cause I can’t afford it right now:
http://www.gfi.com/blog/free-ipad/
I’m glad I have the ability to choose what to read.
wow. you are really funny. glad your inane humor made it to the top of the list. hurray you
Apple Fanboy.
It has nothing to do with Apple fanatacism, Apple hater.
Oh, you mean like an iPhone?
Or you may want to pick an Ipod and a Mac Air for work?
the obvious thing to say is: it’s good for posting comments on blogs. you barely care to do work that requires a keyboard on a single-tasking device (Hello again, DOS).
another obvious thing to say is, yes, it’s important for this reason: At least 9 tablets of all sizes will ship with android these year. the overhyped underdelivery of the ipad will make their sales soar.
You make it sound like the iPad was made by Microsoft.
if you think the apple-logo coolness factor alone will be a big selling factor this year, you are mistaken
The same thing was said of the ipod, and the iphone, and even the imac. You will be proven wrong. You won’t be the only one.
They said the same thing about the Mac mini and the Apple TV too! And Apple sure showed them about those!
The same was also said of the Apple Hi-Fi, the Newton, and the Lisa. The skeptics were proven quite right on those.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that the first-gen iPod sold jack diddly squat (mostly because it was a Mac-only affair at a time almost no one had Macs). The iPad might sell like hotcakes *eventually*, but you’re still better off waiting a generation or two.
When Jobs returned as CEO in July 1997, at Apples lowest point, “they” said all he would do would be to help hasten the company’s demise and that Apple would be dead and buried within 2 years. We all see how that worked out.
BTW, Job’s is the one who killed the Newton in 1998. And Lisa? Lisa led to NeXT which led to Pixar, another failure.
Keep running around hating on Apple, igniman, it’s fun to watch you play the fool.
It’s silly to compare it to DOS. What people are talking about the lack of “multi-tasking” refers to the ability to run third party background apps, not the “multi-tasking” at the OS level. The OS X that the iPhone OS was built upon supports actual multi-tasking. You can have the iPod app run in the background to play songs while you run other apps. It’s NOT “multi-tasking” damn it, it’s the ability to run “third party background apps” !
tomatO, tOmato ;)
Should be titled “What Blogs and Sites can Learn From The iPad”
When you over hype, you just look like a fool.
i have another one: when you push the hype and underdeliver, people actually get angry at you
wait, who over hyped? I’m sure you’re not talking about Apple. If I recall, they didn’t say a damn word about this thing.
So, they said nothing, and delivered a tablet netbook/e-reader/wordprocessor/media player that every one of these upcoming Android tablets will emulate and improve on.
Sounds like under-hype, over-deliver to me.
seems i have to explain it to you: if apple did not want to hype any of their products they ‘d have gone to the CES and presented a preview. Apple’s PR hype machine is simple: make it secret and let everybody and his brother know it’s a secret. the more secret it is , the more people will talk about it.
they delivered a tablet. big deal. lots of competitors around: http://mashable.com/2010/01/27/9-upcoming-tablet-alternatives-to-the-apple-ipad/
some of which are already selling.
perhaps, but I rather enjoy hearing about the ipad 10 times per day versus Twitter.
What a dishonest article. No, the internet is not “split”. The vast majority think the iPad is a ridiculous product limited in so many ways, while not actually fulfilling any great need that can’t already be done BETTER with a netbook, Kindle, etc.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/split
(Not sure why you put “split” in quotation marks, by the way – I didn’t use that word anywhere in my post. What are you quoting?)
i ‘m pretty sure i haven’t read a single article stating that apple “overdelivered”. hell, even the investors took the stock down
WRONG!!!
stock jumped when the price was announced.
do your homework.
You might want to get your facts straight before looking like an idiot.
Historically, investors tend to buy on rumors and sell on news. Read a financial paper every once and a while.
+0.9-4.13=-3.23 %
there. i did it
torn/split – you don’t see these as being synonymous? It’s a dishonest type of spin on something by implying a 50% split; no we are not torn or split on this. The vast majority think the iPad is not a compelling or useful product.
“The vast majority”? Care to show some reliable statistical analysis to back your claim?
look up astroturfing, its being synonymous with your comments.
andrew, you are an idiot.
talk to me in a year after you have worn the oleographic coating off your ipad.
Oleographic? Is that some kind of Russian billionare? How would I wear it off?
Um… excuse me, but I want one.
I won’t apologize for wanting what is essentially a more powerful CrunchPad, which many on this board was willing to shell out a few hundred bucks for.
I like where Apple is headed with this. I think an operating system built for mouse and keyboard entry will prove, over the long haul, ill-suited for touch specific activities. And multi-tasking is a software fix. It doesn’t concern me. As long as I can play my iPod and surf the web or respond to email I am happy.
I am not letting the fact that Apple didn’t deliver on all of the wild speculation and conjecture out there in the blogsphere fuel any disappointment in me.
“more powerful”??? how? https://thejoojoo.com/sites/specification
as a kid, i ‘d heard that some naughty things lead to blindness. never knew apple was one of them
I’m sorry. Forgot I was talking with a PC crowd where stats are all that matters.
I was speaking of the ecosystem. Last I heard the JooJoo had natch in terms of media access and apps.
Am I wrong?
ok. i ‘m done. i think i had enough fun with fanbois today
That’s what I thought.
… said the idiot who swore he’d buy a $399 CrunchPad that did nothing but surf the web.
Crunchpad was supposed to support flash. And was supposed to be less than $399.
Are you guys freaking nuts?
I posted a comment a couple of months ago that I wanted a bigger iPod touch. I want my five yr old to be able to read the books on it with me, watch the cute YouTube videos and podcasted Sesame Streets.
I want to be able to HANG it in my kitchen and have family members add to the grocery store app items we need. Be able to see my recipes easier (can stand it up in my cookbook holder), be able to check the family calendar which is synced with my husband’s work calendar, mine, and my kids’s google school calendar. Have my to do app be accessible for the family.
Screw you guys who think this isn’t going to sell. I want this.
Great use cases, mama.
I’m looking forward to read with it in bed (backlit means I won’t have to turn not he light as I do with the kindle, and disturb my partner). Am already reading often with the iPod touch on the stanza app. No more tired arms. And I find text easier to read on in than on the kindle. Less broken up letters, no more screen flashing and slow page turns. And battery life on the kindle is lower than that that of the iPod touch.
I also want to hang it up in the kitchen, to watch how-to videos while I cook or bake on the work surfaces. No need to find that scarce counter space any more for a laptop which gets sprinkled with flour, or run back and forth between TV or iMac and kitchen.
I’m looking forward to surf at the breakfast table. I can never find the space to put a laptop. Always have to put it on a chair and then bend down to read it. And the iPod is just a bit too small for casual sunday morning browsing. And when you look something up on Wikipedia, no more squinting at a mini iPhone screen to show it to your partner across the table.
And anyone who has ever lifted the standard school book bag kids haul across town every day, will understand what a lifesaver the iPad will be. Also kids often get free books from their school, but reused ones, with the pencil marks of several previous school years. They could now each get their own, CURRENT, clean e-version each year on just one single, lightweight device.
And let’s not even start with the augmented reality apps for the next round of iPads (with a camera). Can’t wait to get an app that gives me overlay information created by my friends or partner while i’m in stores or in sightseeing places.
That’s what apple products do, solve real world problems, even those you never knew you had.
Don’t speak for “the internet”. We don’t even know you.
No, the iPad is shit. The only way the iPhone can learn from it is what not to do (including the horrible lock down).
ps, can’t wait till technology is able to make this into a small handheld device that probably works as a phone!
oh wait.
perderson, you too are a moron.
you have never used the ipad and yet you are calling it shit?
again, let’s check in next year and tell me your thoughts then.
What’s up with you, carlvincent? You can’t have possibly ran out of cogent arguments, and yet here you are, insulting people.
Of course this makes iPad supporters and Mac fanboys look good.
moron is a term of endearment for me, i have social skills issues. sorry. idiot.
I’m not wild about the iPad myself, but I wouldn’t call it shit.
You forgot to mention the most popular media type on the internet, Flash media … Oh never mind .. the Apples “Internet Media Pad” oddly does not support Flash ! …. How weird is that !
not weird Rich. Flash is GARBAGE!!!
do you really need flash ads that bad?
video sites will be leaving flash soon.
flash games for the most part are CRAP!!
it sucks battery life, just ask anyone with it on their android. they all turn it off!!
flash is going the way of the dinosaur.
get over it.
yeah limited internet. 90% of video are delivered over the web via flash. 100 access to content is still better!!!! go ahead enjoy you’re crippled platforms and wait for html5 and at that time i still got 100% access of the web…..apple sucks and fanboys too…losers…
epgomez, what kind of smart phone do you have?
People ranting against Flash are just whiney little bitches. It’s just a box of content on a web page. Graphics and videos with code behind it to make things work. Who cares?
It’s funny how people keep repeating the same crap about HTML5 being the savior and that Flash sucks. The irony is people say HTML5 will do everything flash does and in the same breath say that Flash sucks. If HTML5 can do the same thing then doesn’t that mean it sucks too? It will magically do heavy interactivity with no taxing of a computer’s processor? Newsflash — video and animation require CPU power and there is no way around that.
Anyway over 95% of internet users just want to see content and don’t care about this shit.
Yeah, ’cause that is REALLY hurting the iPhone.
wow.
HTML5 baby, HTML5. inevitable, i don’t care for flash
how are you going to play farmville?
gotta agree with the no-flash thing.
YouTube is dropping flash, as is Vimeo and Ustream.
Those sites are pretty big, and the rest will follow. Flash is pretty bloated to just stream video.
No they aren’t retard.
I’m all for html 5, but with canvas video support limited to Chrome and Safari 4 browsers it will be a LONG time until developers put flash to bed. FF and IE will still need flash video player objects/embeds to play h.264 content.
At least the iPad won’t have to contend with obnoxious, CPU hogging flash banner ads.
HTML5 is just a bunch of demos. List ONE fortune 500 company website that has heavy usage of HTML5 that replicates the most complex flash sites. There are NONE.
The Snapgragon is based on the ARM Cortex A8 CPU core, while the NVIDIA Tegra 2 is a dual-core Cortex A9 SoC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon_(processor)
BTW, I don’t believe the report that the Apple A4 is a Cortex A9 has been substantiated.
I actually meant to lop that line out of the post, missed it in editing. Fixed. Cheers!
It hasn’t been substantiated, and can’t be until the iPad is available for tear-down, and even then it will likely not have any labels other than “OEM Apple A4 by Samsung”. Unless someone at the fab opens their mouth we may never know. What can be derived however is that an A8, even at 1 Ghz, isn’t powerful enough to render a screen that size at the speed the iPad has been described as moving, which according to all hands-on reports is “really really fast”.
Therefore we can derive the processor type via performance indicators rather than Apple’s confirmation.
Looks like a really pretty $500 digital photo frame.
There seem to be 3 distinct camps:
1) The people who are outright confused by it, if not angry that all Steve could come up with was sticking a larger screen on an iPod touch,
2) The people who are making excuses for it, once denial dissipates or reality sets in they’ll filter in the former or the latter camps, and
3) The people who genuinely see it being useful in their daily lives.
If nothing else, this is the first iPod / iPhone type product from Apple where I’d be perfectly happy with the cheapest version… it would serve two purposes:
1) I’d keep it on the coffee table so visitors could check their email or look stuff up on the web instead of me having to get out the laptop.
2) A high-tech replacement for toilet books.
Hahahah a high tech toilet book…… I bet that is exactly what Steve J saw it as.
Hahaha the IBog
“1) I’d keep it on the coffee table so visitors could check their email or look stuff up on the web instead of me having to get out the laptop.”
In other words, a vanity item. Just hope your visitors won’t spill their morning skinny-soy-latte on your $500 toy.
Jealous of people with money, are you?
I’m just pissed people dumb enough to buy this piece of shit have the money to afford it. But I’ve long accepted the m
axim “A fool and his money will soon be parted”.
You really think $500 is a lot of money? Hell, it’s the average weekend getaway in California. Personal computers used to cost $2500 on average (well over $5000 in today’s dollars) and were a hell of a lot less useful than the iPad. Actually, from the looks of it, the iPad gives an experience using a computer that sets it apart from ALL other computers today. I believe this IS the beginning of something new, and how compelling the experience on the iPad is for those who try it will drive its sales, whether it be up or down.
I like how your camps makes everyone seem like idiots except for you.
Get out the laptop? Could it not sit in the almost like sized foot print as the iPad, where all you have to do is turn it on>
Where [physically] is anyone going to use this silly thing?
What are they actually going to do on it that they can’t now do on the thing in their pocket or desk/lap?
And – the desk/lap thing in some instances is cheaper and does everything.
Read mrvco’s post above. He basically wants to keep it on his kitchen counter… Then he’ll cry when it won’t last a month. But that’s probably exactly what Apple had in mind.
Funny. Jobs even mentioned something about how easy it would be to sync the iPad to your computer and reload all of your info “in case you lose your iPad” Watch the keynote and see where he says this. Almost as if 500.00 was disposable.
I’d like it for traveling. My MacBook Pro is a little awkward to use when I have my Bichon in my lap tootling down the road (as a passenger, you name callers.) And the unlimited data plan is a reasonable price.
The Snapdragon is Cortex-A8 based and NOT A9 based. Please correct!
before there were cars, no one needed them.
before there were computers, no one needed them
before there were cell phones, no one needed them.
see where i am going with this…
my main point is give it some time. let’s circle back next year.
in fact i am making a list of the haters and nay sayers that have never even held one, but are sure it is a piece of crap.
you are on the list.
Right on! There are so many possibilities with this device and like the iPhone we just need to look past our preconceptions.
Except we already have this. There is absolutely nothing new here. Just making something bigger isn’t innovative or invention.
And before the iPhone there were already smartphones, and before the iPod there were already MP3 players…
No, I mean we have this exact product. Not only is the idea of a tablet is old, we have this exact product. It’d called the iPod touch.
The obvious thing to say here is, before there was the ipad, there was the iPhone, and it had a camera
Who cares about a camera? I have a camera on my LG Shine, but don’t use it.
I want mine! Just want to use it, to read, to navigate, to carry all places i can’t take the laptop. I is useful, no doubt…. can’t do all, what can?
Right on!
My biggest disappointment is that the iPad doesn’t have a camera lens to shoot still picture of HD videos. Both the iPad and iPhone could learn from the iPod nano in this department.
The lack of a front-facing camera is my only disappointment. The software stuff can be updated but the lack of a piece of hardware like a camera is what might… might… keep me from getting one immediately.
I use a MacBook to video chat with my daughters in college and it would have replaced my laptop for many of the social activities I do in the evenings.
I’m somewhat surprised they didn’t include the camera, but then again, I think it would be weird to use for video conferencing. If you hold it like a legal pad, for example, in your arm the cam would be pointing up at your face at a weird angle. It would be awkward to hold it so the cam is pointing at your face in a ‘normal-looking’ way. I wonder if it was more of an ergonomic problem with adding it in.
Think that would be solved by using the “case” accessory.
I see the ergonomic difficulties in using a front facing cam in a tablet. You can´t possibly hold it with your arm stretched out for more than 3 minutes at 1.5lb. On the table (even using the case accessory) you´ll get the weirdest angle which would look just like out of a 60es Dracula movie.
Missing Flash is not an issue on the iPhone/iTouch and it won´t be for iPad. You rarely get criticism on missing flash for those devices. Actually a lot of people block flash in their desktop browsers. What the heck ?
That said I tried to go through SJs list of what iPad is supposedly better at:
1. Browsing. I´d say entertainment browsing while lounging or on your couch using bookmarks yes. Heavy duty Internet research – NO.
2. Email. Maybe if your emails tend to be extremely short. Serious Email typing of any kind I´d rather have a hardware keyboard for. So Fail
3. Photos. Well Steve´s got a point there. Easy to access. Easy to browse. Reminds me of the photo albums we had before digital photography arrived. Also it makes for a nice digital frame.
iPad scores here.
4. Video. Not going to hold the thing for any longer than a common youtube video even less for a blockbuster movie anywhere from 90 to 120 mins. Dock is for vertical mode. Maybe with the accessory case. But then again I´d just rather use my MacBook which comes with a stand which even includes a physical keyboard.
5. Music ? Are you kidding ? My music/audiobook collection would not even fit on 8 of the 64GB iPads. If it´s able stream to a nearby Airport Express it might be nice to have. If it´s only on device consumption I´ll just stick to iPod/iPhone or any other given mp3 player. That at least is really portable.
6. Games. I can´t tell about that I just like my PS3 on the big screen and only use my iPhone for casual gaming while killing time. Personally again I can´t imagine holding the weight for a longer period of time in front of my face.
7. eBooks. I´m in love with real paper books. I don´t have a kindle or any other ebook reader.
I like to scribble into my books and just generally I prefer the look and feel of real books. Won´t judge on that.
Summing all up:
1 out of 7 where I think iPad is any better than a notebook or smartphone.
I like Apple products for their ease of use and superior design and I´m not dissapointed. I just won´t get one because it´s a tablet. And it does what a Tablet does. It´s just not enticing.
Oh a camera pointing up from an iPad on my lap would be okay by me because when I talk to people I’d like them to see up my nostrils.
Will the iPad take a screen shot like the iPhone? Anyone know?
Can anyone explain me why I should by an Ipad?
I believe it’s useless…
Doesn’t have usb ports
Doesn’t support flash
There’s no any cameras (can’t make any conference calls)
The OS is the 3.2 I believe the consumers where expecting finally the OS 4.0
I have read on a blog that will support VoIP calls, which is good…
The program of editing pictures it’s not compatible with mac OS..
Honestly I don’t see reason to buy the Ipad, even that I know that as soon as it becomes available everyone one will spend their $ on this!!
For me, i will be waiting for next gen of Ipad, I was expecting much much more from this,
In my point of view, it’s the Ipad that should learn with the Iphone
Thanks
Then don’t buy one.
I second that and I might can’t afford to live on our own.
carlvincent is correct: Morons like me just don’t get it. Seems like just a super-sized IPOD Touch. My 4lb ACER Tablet runs Windows 7 Ultimate.
Having said that, I still want one :)
In the world of ‘evil empires’, Apple most definitely tops the list. Just ask any IPhone owner who wants to use Google Voice. Alas, Apple’s lack of openess & arrogance will lead to their demise. Maybe, Microsoft will support my IPAD then.
Trust me, you haven’t the faintest idea about Google-Apple phone wars (not public) so Google voice is collateral damage.
As for the app itself, go run it on your WinMo phone.
People have been talking about Apple’s demise for years & years and yet…
Off topic-
When i get to bottom of primary techcrunch page cannot go to older articles- everyone else experiencing same issue?
The iPad is not for us. Get it? Its for my mom and my sister and my grandparents, heck my kids would love it if it was made by FisherPrice. No keyboard, just drag your finger around and you get what you want? My two year old loves my wife’s iPhone and can navigate through all her Apps easily. This is not the tablet for the internet/geek cround. It is for Joe-Computer.
I agree with you Dave, it seems like its not being kept in perspective for what it is. I also don’t understand the outright hostility. I mean, if the product has no use in someone’s life then they shouldn’t buy it. But what is with all the name-calling? It is a gadget, of course it could be changed to be better for some which might make it worse for others or simply increase the cost. Other products will come and compete, this will go through iterations, and if there is a market for everything that is being ‘panned’ about the iPad then competitors will fill it.
If nothing else, just the excitement generated over it over the past year or so has spurned development and hopefully additional innovation across the entire industry (I imagine it is more than a coincidence that tablet like products are starting to be pushed out now).
But I find it odd to assume that just because a person doesn’t have a use for a certain device, that they assume no one else could possibly – which is a reoccurring theme in many of the comments.
AMEN!! Well said Jonny.
oh dont act all innocent…frickin apple fanboys go around and do the same thing for everything non apple…its just what retards do…they buy one thing and they immediatly feel like they have to diss on the competition as to make themselves feel superior for picking the “better” product.
Surely there is something else going on in the world….ok it’s an Apple etch-a-sketch and everyone gets rich…..we get it….next…..
Apple has always been known to launch unconventional products, which were predicted to be useless.
I-pad will create a niche of its own , and get a dedicated market similar to iphone & ipod.
I still don’t know the need, if I have a laptop, a blackberry, and an Itouch for my music and video remotely.
Probably not everyone will find a need for this device, just like not everyone finds a need for a smartphone. But I’m excited about being able to use it to display various biochem/bio textbooks with color and a larger screen size, among other things. It will make being able to read on the fly so much easier for me (I can’t stand eInk, the slowness and the inversion are too distracting for my taste and when I am trying to use my ereader at night I have to practically have a spotlight on it). If it is as responsive as I’m reading that will be awesome. My back at least will thank me going to class.
ipad creates a missing link between the laptops and smartphones it is a its own type of gadget.
how can you compare it from ipone except application?
Looking forward to trying one out. Lots of times I just want to surf the web or look at TV shows I missed (well “24″ anyway) – seems like a useful tool even in it’s current form. I don’t have an ebook reader yet either so fun to try that out too. For $500 who cares anyway – I’ve had all 3 iPhones versions (and flipped the older ones for more than I paid for them).
KY — all too-approproiate name for an iPad user…
Tom – they aren’t available yet so a little premature to call me an iPad user – I’ll certainly test drive one in the Apple store before making a final decision. I’d bet you will be doing the same ;)
Clock speed is nothing. The ‘Snapdragon’ SoC found in the Nexus One is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 design. That’s the same ARM model found in the iPhone 3GS. Clearly the iPad is sporting newer tech. The ‘A4′ SoC found in the iPad, and in all probability the upcoming 4G iPhone, is custom silicon based off of ARM’s newer Cortex A9 MP (dual core) CPU. That’s the same design found in Nvidia’s new Tegra 2 SoC. It’s 2010 and the Cortex A8 is old tech. It’s also not powerful enough, even clocked to 1Ghz, to power a screen that size (1024×768) in the fashion that the iPad as to date been described, which is “really really fast”.
I think one thing everyone is missing with the iPad, including Apple themselves is another potential market…
People who aren’t in love with computers! Like many people’s parents and or grandparents. I plan on eventually getting one for my mother. What she uses the computer for is email, some light web browsing, and thats about it. She hates when anything changes (including the google toolbar becoming installed) and just wants something simple that lets her check her email and reply.
When it isn’t used she can throw it into the dock and use it as a picture frame. Keep it in the kitchen and type up the grocery list in notes. Use the iCal app to keep track of events. It’ll also play music and has books. The price isn’t too too bad compared to what some projections were.
I think the key is that there is a market that doesn’t have a smartphone and doesn’t want one, that also doesn’t like all the complexity of computers that this product could clinch if it was marketed at them as well.
So I see it as a device that you might buy your mother or father so they can keep in touch with you if they aren’t fans of the laptop you bought them last christmas. Granted, this market isn’t what apple usually chases nor what techcruch reports for.
-Andrew
I can just imagine how she’d be calling you that half her favorite sites don’t work — due to lack of Flash support.
Five things Apple already knows:
1. People are stupid and will pay any amount of money for hype.
2. Hype things.
3. See #1 above.
4. Refer to #2 above.
5. Start over at #1.
I would be all over this like “white on rice” if it had a video camera, flash support and supported voice calling (which I think it doesn’t).
This is fully in line with its being a “media pad”.
I already own an iPhone and love it after being a WM user for n years and trying out Android/Pre/Rim and finding them woefully lacking in doing things as simple as streaming mp4 from my video cameras.
This form factor is small enough that with enough features I would prefer to sling the thing in a pack or small bag and use my BT headset for voice/voip calls.
Personally I would’ve liked to see some features ala the Newton and traditional TabletPCs which support note taking/etc….which one would really think a “digital tablet” might support…but this is apple and they want to hawk iTunes.
Why does everyone want a camera in this thing??
Aside from video chat, and honestly do you really want to see some these peoples faces, why do you want a camera?
Think how retarded you would look holding this thing to take a picture.
If I want to take real pictures, I use a real camera.
If I want quick pics, I use my phone!!!
That said they will offer a front facing camera in the next rev.
by the same logic if i want real web browsing ill use my laptop
if i want a real mp3 player ill use my ipod.
you’ll start getting it eventually
I’ll just post down here… So, you think that keyboard tethering and the implied file saving is implicit to the next version? Fantastic! As a developer, I have to sit here and question Apple and whether they will allow certain applications and the underlying technology. I will send some emails and alas it will be too difficult to even communicate.
Android vendors are interested in doing things computing-like in this space. I’ll send the emails. And, you watch for tethering, file saving and a file system! It will come. In time?
Apple Ipad is very nice. You can learn alot from Ipad give you alot of sleek design more features
wow~verygood
Who gives a shit?
i want mini vershshon of ipad red one call
mini pad and big maxi pad but redd
Hold on everyone……give gen 2 a chance……jobs shall deliver…….flash suxx
Why do people who sell houses also have to furnish them, even though the furniture is not part of the deal? Because consumers have no imagination. That’s why an otherwise perfect house with the wrong decor isn’t recognized by the buyer as the right choice and he won’t buy it.
The internet really is torn over the iPad, the divide runs between cheaters who *envision imaginative products*, and consumers without imagination who *buy imagination through products*. The consumers in this thread stumble uninspired and angry through the vast rooms with the basic furniture of this new house wondering what on earth to do in here and what’s supposed so great about this place. Meanwhile the creators already race off into visions of the parties they can have in this inspiring place and where to put the ‘Join’ team table and the pool billiard. Consumer confusion versus creator vision.
The revolution about the iPad is not the great furniture in the house. The revolution is the house itself. Since we only have the house at this point, creative people got the potential, consumers didn’t. Apple could have shown more apps at the keynote to demonstrate what the iPad can do, but they did the right thing – focur on getting the architecture right, come out early and give the world a head start to develop apps for this device better than any one company ever could with even a thousand developers. (Whoever thinks that this is worse than getting the architecture half-right, coming out late and self-developing tired, inbred apps, should throw the first Slate)
Very soon consumers will have more fantastic furniture to buy for the house than time to use it and they will get what creators already know toad, that inside this incredible architecture, anything is possible. Developers have half a year to furnish the place before the first buyers move in. That should be enough time for even the most clueless consumer in this thread to get why this product really is a magical and revolutionary place to spend the next decade.
Hm, got a typo there in the second paragraph. Didn’t mean “cheaters”, but “creators”. Sorry about that. And in the last paragraph it’s not “toad” but “today” I hate auto spellcheck. But I like toads.
Following your metaphor, the “creative people” are really happy that the house doesn’t have a door. But not to worry!!!!! You can buy a BRAND-SPANKING NEW DOOR from the real-estate agent, all for the LOW LOW PRICE of AN ADDITIONAL 5% of the original price you paid for the house!!!!!
Oh, and you can’t have dinner parties and go to the toilet at the same time. When you enter the toilet, the dinner party temporarily disappears. When you get back to the party, the toilet disappears.
This is problematic of course when everyone gets food poisoning, but like all metaphors, there comes a point when it breaks down.
Oh, and “creative people” isn’t the right word. “Sucker” is.
forgive me but there are plenty of times that I wish my iphone was bigger especially when I would like to watch the movies that I download or stream.While people are saying that they arent necessary or that there isnt a market for it i would say this IPad will be competing with the netbooks. Only difference is that the ipad has a lot more style..
I dont get it – it doesn”t do anything my iphone doesnt already do – so, whats the deal. I expected at least a few cool new tricks (multitasking, wireless synching, flash, ability to play other video formats like mpg) This device is supposed to be a video powerhouse – but that only applies to Apples video format and youtube format. I still get many emails with video attachments i have to launch on my COMPUTER.
So whats the point of all this – yes, I was/am disappointed.
Does anyone remember Palm’s Foleo?
http://gizmodo.com/264550/palm-foleo-a-laptop-for-your-smartphone
Wow, so many people seem happy to believe that Apple “underdelivered”. Envy is such a short sighted emotion. You don’t know what the iPad is capable of because apps and games haven’t been developed for it yet. And you don’t have the imagination to picture what is coming. But soon enough creative developers will come out with killer apps that may only run on this platform and we’ll see the naysayers rushing to get an iPad, or bitterly waiting for Apple’s next disappointing delivery. And you know what helps create incentives for these developers to take risks with this product? The legions of fanboys and early adopters who’ll blindly buy anything Apple puts out on the market. They guarantee there will be a market for their creation. Long live the fanboys! Consumers who take risks are largely responsible for Apple’s success, and for the brilliance of their products. Sure there have been failures, the iPad could be one of them. But dismissing it this early is just arrogant and pessimistic. I for one as a consumer will be happy if this product is a hit. And I hope a lot of good competitors come along. I win! The consumer wins! Cheer up people!
i can’t believe i just went through all (ok, most of) these comments.
nice article
It’s been strongly suggested by several industry analysts, that Apple, like other companies, routinely under-deliver products as a means of harnessing future sales. Not a bad business model considering that even a moderately intelligent kid possessing a large cache of toys understands the value of discriminately sharing his or her toys with other neighborhood kids in a timely manner, at a price, of course.
I have gone to the well and I drank the Kool-Aid when it comes to the first iterations of the “Jesus Phone”, but I can’t see this “ebook reader” with add-ons as a game changer. Yes… the UI is a leap forward and pretty but I think the future is in convergence not more products which fit between other devices.
If you are a road warrior (or just someone who loves their connectivity) you will need to bring THREE devices with you when you travel? Your phone, your iPad and your laptop? That is crazy.
There is a NEED for a computer (laptop) in daily life for most and there is a NEED for a phone… but an ebook reader with a browser and day planner? It just isn’t a NEED, especially when the other two devices can handle those functions (for better or worse) already.
Steve… if you are listening… figure out how to combine the phone, the laptop AND this ebook reader thing into one device. I don’t think it is so crazy to simply have a bluetooth interface device for phone calls and a little more power and functionality for computing with a similar UI as the iPad… To my way of thinking, that is the future… LESS IS MORE (as in few devices doing more things).
It would have been a much bigger event if they would have released or at least mentioned a Verizon Iphone.
Could it be that Apple is encouraging the critics here so that the true fanboys are even more likely to purchase just to “show them they are wrong”????
So here is my non-techie opinion. Build a hinge right in the middle and when I want a tablet PC or video player, etc., I spap it fully open and use it like it is built now. When I want to use it like a laptop, I open the hinge 90 degrees and use the touch keypad laying flat and the half screen facing me. And when I am not using it, I can fold it closed and have metal on both sides to protect that big screen which I would hate to drop and break. Maybe add a softphone voip app and cellphone with bluetooth headset that works for either phone, and music, etc. Put in the camera/video, etc. Then you’ve got something…
The iPad is an astounding feat of imagination.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/ipad-exclusive-photo/
Whew! People can get worked up over all kinds of stuff and the iPad is no exception.
I have owned a Sony eBook and curently own a Kindle. I do not see anything right now in the iPad that would make me want to part with my money.
Also, I know there will be upgrades to this device that will follow shortly after the iPad ships. I think I will wait. Too many memories of the Newton that I shelled out big bucks for only to have it turn into a paperweight.
If it had the processing power of a laptop, then i might consider it.
man i cant wait till it comes out. anyone know the exact date?
iPad vs. Kindle: maybe it’s a case of horses for courses? The Kindle certainly is cheaper as things stand….http://www.juniperresearch.com/analyst-xpress-blog/2010/01/28/how-is-the-ipad-going-to-affect-the-ereader-market/#comments
good ridins to flash, what a pain in the ………..,
bring on Html 5, cant wait.
i think a ipad is better but it looks like the ipad only has a little bit stuff on it.