Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
When I picture people using these things, it isn't someone sitting on his couch watching a movie on a 10" screen, or IMing, or sending emails, or posting on a message board using an onscreen keyboard. What I see is a doctor doing rounds in a hospital, with an iPad in one hand and a stylus in the other, pulling up patient information from the hospital's database and writing their notes onto the screen to save for later. I see a student reading a text book on one side of the screen, while scribbling notes on the other.
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But what is going to sell more units? Marketing it to small niches like post secondary students and doctors or the huge market of people who check email, lightly browse the web, play crappy games, etc. Apple is after the larger market with this device, not specialized markets. It maybe true that this device will be great for students and doctors, but like the iPhone, the majority of the people that are going to buy it are buying it for their personal use and Apple is going push their products in that direction.
I think that some of the people in this thread that are comparing this to their netbooks and talking about all their obscure programs, that the vast majority of the population doesn't even know exist, and how they can't use them on it, are a specialized market. Like the picture that someone posted above of the Macbook Air cut in half. An Apple product like that is going to cost over a $1000. But why would anyone buy half a laptop for the same price of a laptop. This product needs to have a lower price point and it can't have everything.
I agree that it is missing things. I think the absence of flash is silly. Flash is not dead when so many websites are using it. Sure it maybe dieing and if the iPad gains success it maybe the final push Flash needs to fall off the internets, but Flash is still part of the internet today. And of course multi-tasking is a feature that would help sell it. But both of these things can be added after. Things like a camera, usb connection, and memory card slot can't.