That's just it. This is being described as a "whole life" device. There are so many practical, every day uses for this thing. People need to let go of this "why didn't they just make another netbook" fixation and start thinking outside the box.
Why? Because it would sell more iPads?
I think its a pretty valid concern. Jobs himself said "The problem with netbooks is that they aren't better at anything" when he was presenting the iPad. Clearly, they're better at some things than iPad.
It seems like you're saying that there's nothing wrong with the product, there's something wrong with the consumer. Consumers don't need to think out of the box, Apple needs to give them reasons to buy it. And that doesn't include using iPods as an example of the brilliance of Apple devices or using buzzwords like "whole life device". All we saw from Apple at the unveiling was pretty underwhelming, in my opinion. It has potential, I'll say that much, but I won't change my mind until they actually show me something cool I can do with.
That's the thing with the app store. It takes a phone that has decent capabilities and makes it a device that I'd be crazy to leave the house without. The iPad could have the same sort of appeal.
But will it?
I think probably at this point one of the most compelling reasons to get this is the sheer volume of iphone apps. And I'm sure people will create specific iPad apps.
But isn't this just simply too large to to carry with you every time you leave the house? The iPhone you can easily put in a holster or pocket. You can't do that with this.
If you are going to work and have a briefcase or knapsack you should be fine. And ladies with a purse I guess. But I just can't see this as a form factor that people will want to carry everywhere.
Do people with a Kindle carry it everywhere they go? Even if this does have a boatload more functionality, is the additional functionality a reason to tote it around everywhere?
It is more portable than a laptop, but not as portable as a smartphone.
I'm just wondering where people will draw the line?
Maybe that is why the 3G isn't initially included; there is limited utility when you are away from home or work or coffee shop.
I'm just not sure about this product. Apple's other successes have been evolutionary. MP3 Player to iPod. Smartphone to iPhone.
If this is the eBook to iPad then I'm not sure that is a big a market.
If this is netbook to iPad, then the inability to run multiple programs will hamper adoption.
Although I've read that netbooks are much more popular in the rest of the world than they are in North America. If Apple has analyzed those markets then that may make the most sense.
I will say that this launch seems to have the most skepticism. Every launch has has nay-sayers and cheer leaders. I'm trying to see what people who are in neither of those camps seem to feel, and so far it has been a fairly tepid response.
But if this forces every competitor to improve their offerings then everyone wins.
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/\ I saw that on another website and it clearly needs a new battery or different hardware that doesn't use so much power. An hour and a half battery life is hilariously useless for a tablet. You could barely watch an average length movie. But it will be interesting to see how many companies will step up and deliver a tablet and what their features will have.
Wow. A cheap Chinese knockoff made out of plastic with a 90 minute battery life. Did you even read the review before you posted it?
How will anyone ever compete with that?
Ermm, it was announced in October, making the iPad a knockoff of this. The Chinese version is obviously cheaper though, and more meant to be permanently plugged in, rather than portable. Perhaps it could be used as a control panel for a home?
Maybe you should think outside the box rather than what Apple feeds you?
Wow. A cheap Chinese knockoff made out of plastic with a 90 minute battery life. Did you even read the review before you posted it?
How will anyone ever compete with that?
Yeah I did read it. Don't need to be so snarky. Just pointing it out.
It has a similar price point and is based on hardware thats common in netbooks today with a "full" OS.
Not sure about how well "engineered" this chinese tablet is, but if this 90 minute battery life is the best an Intel Atom chipset can do, then kudos to Apple for designing their own chip to allow the iPad to have its battery life and performance. Other comapnies will be behind the ball if they are relying on Intel to compete.
Again interesting to see what other manufactuers will do.
Yeah I did read it. Don't need to be so snarky. Just pointing it out.
It has a similar price point and is based on hardware thats common in netbooks today with a "full" OS.
Not sure about how well "engineered" this chinese tablet is, but if this 90 minute battery life is the best an Intel Atom chipset can do, then kudos to Apple for designing their own chip to allow the iPad to have its battery life and performance. Other comapnies will be behind the ball if they are relying on Intel to compete.
Again interesting to see what other manufactuers will do.
I wasn't being snarky, it was a legitimate question. I figured there was no way you would have tried to offer that as a comparison, if you knew it only had a 90 minute battery life. Also, since companies always exaggerate their battery life rating, and the one they do list is always based off of operating parameters that are one step above just being in Standby Mode... it's pretty safe to say that you would be lucky to even make it through a single 45 minute episode of House on one battery charge. This thing is nothing more than a toy.
As for the "full OS," it runs Windows XP Starter Edition, which is even less of an OS than the iPhone OS is. Sure, it has a start menu and looks like regular old Windows, but it's not. The only thing I will give you is that it isn't bound by the Apple Store TOS, but I honestly couldn't care less about that. I'll take a pool of 140,000 virus-free, malware-free apps that I know aren't going to blue-screen my device every time I install or uninstall them any day. I'm fairly confident that there isn't much someone can do on a Windows netbook that I also can't do on my iPhone - even without jailbreaking it.
Anyway, I wasn't trying to be a dick and I apologize if I came off that way. I just honestly assumed that if you had read all that in the review, you wouldn't have posted it in the first place... and so I ask you if did.
Ermm, it was announced in October, making the iPad a knockoff of this. The Chinese version is obviously cheaper though, and more meant to be permanently plugged in, rather than portable. Perhaps it could be used as a control panel for a home?
Maybe you should think outside the box rather than what Apple feeds you?
Uhh... the company itself admitted to building it according to what they thought the tablet was going to look like. So yes, it is a Chinese iPad knockoff. Also, the iPad is actually an iPhone knockoff, so why do people keep trying to tell me that they copied it from all these other random devices on the internet?
And if you think permanently plugging in a mobile device is "thinking outside the box," then maybe you should get your box examined for carbon monoxide leaks.
Uhh... the company itself admitted to building it according to what they thought the tablet was going to look like. So yes, it is a Chinese iPad knockoff. Also, the iPad is actually an iPhone knockoff, so why do people keep trying to tell me that they copied it from all these other random devices on the internet?
And if you think permanently plugging in a mobile device is "thinking outside the box," then maybe you should get your box examined for carbon monoxide leaks.
Right, and if you think that disabling Flash on an internet communications device is thinking outside the box, then more power to you as well. I obviously don't think that that the chinese knockoff is better, because it isn't, but as we see, there's value in something that's ridiculously cheap, maybe you just have to think outside the box to see it.
You couldn't even see that the Asus Netbook Tablet could be used in an "outside the box" manner by converting it to a full time tablet, until the iPad came out and Apple told you how to use it. Any decision that Apple makes is thinking differently in order to create a "whole life device".
I think MSI is thinking outside the box by adding connectivity, USB, a camera, multitasking, and flash on their device too. But maybe it was really Apple that was rocking the boat by not including any of it. Or maybe it's part of their planned obselesence where the iPad 1.5 will have flash, then 2.0 will have a camera, then 3.0 will have everything, costing you $500 each time to get it. By then though, the iPud comes out and it's even better.
Basically, I think it's pretty obvious now that there is a niche for a lightweight e-reader type tablet. It's just that the iPad is such a poor implementation, that I don't see how anyone could possibly defend it. Yet, because it's by Apple, legions of people do.
And apparently the iPad is not something most people want in it's current form.
But I suppose it isn't about commercial success, it's about the 'craft', right?
Macbooks, ipods, and iphones were not successful because they created something people didn't know they wanted. They were successful because they took things that people knew they wanted, combined them, made them better, and made them pretty (and cool).
The iPad does get me thinking about where the concept could go eventually, but I am not buying based on what it could be or might be one day, but based on what it is now.
I'm betting the iPad is a pretty big hit. There is alot of hype, even people that know jack about anything to do with technology are telling me they are thinking about getting one.
Hence their impressive 10% market share of the computer market.
Apple is only "all powerful" among those who value form over function. The rest of us look at them and see a company that makes quality high end hardware with "simplified" (dumbed down?) software and limitations.
The iPad is not a netbook.
The iPad was never meant to be a netbook.
The iPad is not a laptop.
The iPad was never meant to be a laptop.
The iPad exists in a brand new device category that has nothing to do with netbooks or laptops.
I didn't create the thing, I'm just telling you what it is.
When you look at prices of computing devices, you either pay for performance, or pay for size. ie, you can get the same performance in a desktop for a lot less than a comparable laptop. Or you pay a lot to get some decent performance in a phone sized device (iphone/droid/pre). If you put a iphone os onto a desktop pc, you'd be laughed at, you wouldn't charge more than a comparable desktop? A big iphone should really be cheaper than a small iphone, because it is cheaper and easier to build the same performance into something bigger. It should also be cheaper than a netbook, given that a netbook is essentially a full functioned computer in a similarly sized form factor, but with a keyboard instead of a touch screen. So the rub, is that when compared to the landscape out there, they are selling a $150 device for $500-800. But I don't underestimate Apple enthusiasts willingness to overpay for stuff, so it may be a smashing success. Apple extending their closed, locked down OS from the phone market is a bad precedent for consumers. Good thing Google has emerged as a competitor to keep them honest, and google/apple is shaping up as the new MS/Apple.
Apple seems to straddle the line of a truly innovative and creative consumer electronic company, and an all marketing/no substance company that is basically the Bose of the computing world. This device is definitely in the Bose mold.
Maybe Apple doesn't put flash on it because they can't figure out a good way to setup the interface.. a touch screen with some flash apps would be more difficult (how do you mouseover?). I mean it took them forever to come up with a copy/paste interface for some reason.
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