iPad discussion

[editor]

Here's a good look back at what one analyst had to say about the first iPhone back in 2007.

The iPhone: Apple's First Flop

Genius.

This one is legendary from the nerds at Slashdot on October 23, 2001:

http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&tid=107

The review was short: "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

Other comments that day:

"Do you want revolutionary? Ask yourself, what chip is this running? Ask yourself, what is the OS on this thing? This is v0.8 of Apple's PDA folks. They're just waiting for the hardware and the economy to get a little better. "

"If Apple is now selling its own MP3 player, does that mean it's going to stop selling 3rd party players? Right now on their website [apple.com], when you try to buy one of their computers, you're given the option to buy a Creative Nomad or a Rio 600. Are they gonna stop that, and demand that buyers buy only the Apple MP3 device?"

"You can get a Toshiba palmtop/subnote for about $400 with a 10gb drive, and it'll be much more useful."

"It's not cool at all. It's just another Mac attempt to have the coolest looking, hippest sounding gadget on the market. It adds nothing serious to the current options. For instance, no Ogg Vorbis support (and yes, I realize it probably decodes mp3 in hardware, but...) and it doesn't appear to be cross-platform. I guess this falls into the Dilbert principle of 'the best target market is stupid rich people.' Since they'll fall for anything and have the money to burn on it."

[Fringe]

Good article about ipad:

"Why Apple Could Have Etched “iPad” Into Some Rocks and Sold Millions"

Link

[samagon]

I think apple would have done better offering a competitive netbook.

In my mind (and maybe only in my mind) the iPad is a direct competitor to netbooks.

My iPhone is a tool, and I use it because it is a good tool, not great, there are still some things I wish it had that my winmo phone had, but these shortfalls are trumped by the capabilities of the iPhone, and it is very price competitive in the smartphone category. The shortfalls are trifles at best. No flash support? I can wait till I get home and check on a real computer. Only 8 tabs available in the web browser? I don't know if the iPad has that limitation, but not only is it inconvenient to be limited to 8 tabs, but clicking from tab to tab is not easy anyway, so I usually don't use all 8. No multitasking? Things are slower to do than they were on my winmo phone, but if I need to work fast, I'm not going to use my phone to accomplish those tasks. Default sounds for text, or email not able to be changed? I could jailbreak it and fix that, but honestly I would only do it so I can tell when I have a text and not wonder if the 50 other people who have an iPhone in my proximity are getting a text at the same time, not a huge hassle, but I see it as a deficiency.

When I do the same comparisons of the iPad vs a netbook, netbooks comes out on top, and at half the price. If I'm going to have something that doesn't fit in my pocket, that has a primary use other than as a phone/text/facebook/tweet/toilet gaming system, I want versatility, I want to see flash, I want to have a mail program open at the same time I have a browser open.

I want more than just 16gigs of storage, so I can save pictures to it, if I take it to my friends house, I want to plug it into their TV to show them those pictures from my latest trip. I want to plug it into my TV to watch netflix live streaming movies. I want a standalone keyboard that doesn't take up half the screen, and that offers feedback and has the nubs on the F and J keys.

In my typing class, I had it hammered into my so hard that I had to memorize the keyboard layout so I don't have to look at the keys, and can focus on the words being typed on the piece of paper coming out of the typewriter, or focus on the document I am typing from. I feel that it would be a major regression in my life to have to go back to looking at the keys as I type. I have learned to accept this on my iPhone because of the size limitation, but this device doesn't have that.

Whether it's a netbook or an iPad, it's going to be sitting on the coffee table, and eventually, it's going to be sitting on someones lap while watching TV, browsing forums, checking email, playing games waiting on the commercial break to be over. I see coffee table computers (my classification for the ipad and netbooks) also as a good tool for console gamers who get stuck in a particular part of a game and are out of ideas, so they want to search. I know me, when I want to search for stuff, I want to have more than 8 tabs (easily clickable), cause I'm probably also going to have webpages open for stuff that I want to look at later, or the HAIF forum open, and Facebook, and whatever else, and then I want to be able to do the google search and open a new tab for the pages, so I don't have to click back to see the search results.

While safari is the best browser I've seen for a smartphone, I'd rather have firefox on a bigger screen, if we get into the class of netbook sized computers, and tablets, I'm going to option for the one that has the option for firefox. As far as reading books, I'm not a fan of digital books, call me a tree killer, call me whatever, but I like to have a visible library in my house, and I like going to half priced books and finding a bargain, and I like flipping pages in a worn out tattered novel.

Maybe I'm short sighted, and this device fills needs people have, I don't know.

Maybe this device will create a place for itself in the computing world where there was really something missing, or maybe it is trying to fill a void that isn't there, or maybe the void will be found in later versions of this device that it will fill.

I have to hand it to apple, they are willing to take a big risk on this device that may not have any place. I think that they may fumble with it for a short period of time, but I think ultimately, they'll find where this device excels and they will push it firmly in that direction, and history will be rewritten to show that the device was developed with that direction in mind the whole time.

when I look back at those articles from the breaking news of yesterday, I can't help but notice the features that the iPod was offering, firewire only? Could it have been more limited? File storage at the same time as it's a mp3 player? does anyone use their ipod as file storage? The device was very limited in usability, and it was given a wide berth of things they thought it could do. it's been refined to be a singular tool, and is very compatible with any computer out there. They had a device that may have not been a breakthrough idea, and they saw what people wanted and made it that. they also marketed the hell out of it. I never saw one commercial for an archos jukebox, but I still have shadow dancers with white ear buds seared into the back of my iBalls.

[HoustonMidtown]

I want more than just 16gigs of storage, so I can save pictures to it, if I take it to my friends house, I want to plug it into their TV to show them those pictures from my latest trip. I want to plug it into my TV to watch netflix live streaming movies. I want a standalone keyboard that doesn't take up half the screen, and that offers feedback and has the nubs on the F and J keys.

It also comes in 32 and 64 GB sizes with a standalone keyboard/stand as an option...

I cant really comment on your ideas because I haven't seen the ipad in person (not many people have) to know how it is going to handle all points you bring up....I think it will be interesting to see how it is accepted by people and how it is adapted to all sorts of different uses -- Im not sure I need/want one (I have an iphone and a macbook pro) but I definitely want to get my hands on one when it becomes available to see what all it does...people I talk to seem to be split down the middle - half think it's going to be the best thing ever, and the other half think it's a joke - not much middle ground

[N Judah]

Now this is interesting:

We briefly mentioned Microsoft's Courier tablet concept back in September, but more details about the would-be iPad-killer have finally leaked. While the design seem to have moved into a less "pie-in-the-sky" direction, the demo videos and mock-ups are still quite impressive.

We now know that the dual-screened electronic journal will be less than an inch thick, and that each screen will be roughly five inches by seven inches. By way of a stylus and multi-touch capacity, Courier will allow users to scribble notes, manipulate clipped photos and text, and sketch images. Courier will be built around NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chipset and run Windows CE 6, the same system powering the Zune HD and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series handsets.

http://www.switched.com/2010/03/06/microsoft-courier-details-leaked-ipad-looks-on-in-envy/

(click the link, there's a video)

I do not agree that tablets are competitors to netbooks. Looking at that video I cannot imagine a netbook doing any of that. Tablets seem to be geared towards people who don't want/need to get under the hood. In particular I think there are segments of the education market that could really benefit from tablets.

[Pumapayam]

Any thoughts on a good sketch app for the iPad.

Been wanting to see what good for the iPad two to make something in the lines of Harry the Dirty Dog type art work.

I am thinking between Sketchbook Pro or Brushes.

Any thoughts of opinions would be helpful.

[Guest vklr92]

Apple’s mythical tablet may or may not be here, but let’s indulge in last-minute conjecture on what Apple may have in store. So let’s try a thought experiment: a rundown of the 10 things that would guarantee that the tablet is an enduring success.

To begin with, I assume we all know what a tablet device is and what it does. Imagine an iPod touch with a 10-inch screen. I assume, too, that the tablet will run something similar to the touch-flavored OS at the heart of the iPhone — probably iPhone OS 4.0

Other lessons will be learned from the iPhone. Sleek industrial design, precious few hardware buttons and oleophobic coatings will feature in the spec sheet. So, too, will accelerometers, magnetometers and flux capacitors.

A cautionary note; despite assertions from unnamed Apple execs that we’re going to be “very surprised” by how we interact with the tablet, take it from an old cynic: It will be nothing like Apple’s 1987 Knowledge Navigator concept device. It might be similar in form factor, but I guarantee the Tablet has more in common with Apple’s venerable Newton than it does the crazily ambitious platonic paradigm that was the Navigator.