iPad - 1 million iPads sold in 28 days!

[Danoff]

I'd snap up a 10 or 12 inch Apple Netbook in seconds if they made one available.

Apple has decreed that you do not want a netbook. You want a tablet. So it will be written, so it will be done.

 

[Anghammarad]

Still don't get it. You can't watch a movie on this thing - you'd have to hold it up the whole time (unless you buy a special stand that incareases the bulk and weight). From standby, your netbook will load up with the same speed as this tablet, stands on its own, but it isn't limited to 140,000 apps from the itunes store.

A netbook weighs twice as much and is generally bulkier. Also why would you need a fullgrown Windows 7 OS just to watch a movie or surf the web? And you know as well as I that there is massive number of applikations that cannot be used in a netbook either, there's just not enough horsepower

 

[Northstar]

Apple could well have made a tablet computer with a fullgrown MacOS but whats the point. Tablets have been around for ages and no one wants them and even if Apple were successful where other have failed they would just cannibalize the sales of their MacBook range.

Thing is though that they made a tablet with 1/4 of the capabilities of a normal PC.

Basically if someone wants a basic computer they get a netbook and if they want a portable computer they get a laptop. I don't see a whole lot of people wanting a big iPhone that has very limited apps(article on front page said they don't work well on the iPad).

A netbook weighs twice as much and is generally bulkier. Also why would you need a fullgrown Windows 7 OS just to watch a movie or surf the web? And you know as well as I that there is massive number of applikations that cannot be used in a netbook either, there's just not enough horsepower

Have you actually used the iPad or are you just talking crap?

 

[Anghammarad]

Have you actually used the iPad or are you just talking crap?

No of course I haven't but I can read. Can you?

 

[Northstar]

No of course I haven't but I can read. Can you?

Yes, but you're talking like you know everything about it.

 

[Danoff]

A netbook weighs twice as much and is generally bulkier. Also why would you need a fullgrown Windows 7 OS just to watch a movie or surf the web?

Because you might want to use it for something else - and that's the point. You're spending, lets face it, $850 for the ipad when you could be buying a computer for the same price that could do a whole lot more if you wanted it to (like multitask), but can still do the things the ipad can do.

They make some very small netbooks the weigh very little - especially for $850. I'm still not seeing the advantage of the ipad over any existing product.

 

[Jondot]

A netbook weighs twice as much and is generally bulkier.

Not significantly. And 'bulk' is an interesting subject - would you rather carry around something the dimensions of a rubix cube, or a piece of A2 board? As far as volume is concerned the cube is larger, but it's far more difficult to toss in a bag and carry around.

Simiarly, an EeeeeeeePC might be thicker than the iPad, but it's not as tall/wide and is far more robust. I wouldn't think twice about chucking a thick plastic Eee in a bag and going out, but the iPad is a far more dainty arragement covered in a nice big sheet of glass.

Also why would you need a fullgrown Windows 7 OS just to watch a movie or surf the web?

Why on earth would you want to watch a movie on one of these things?

And you know as well as I that there is massive number of applikations that cannot be used in a netbook either, there's just not enough horsepower

Like, what? GTA IV? Folding@Home? Sony Vegas? I think we'll live. Nobody's suggesting that Netbooks are fully fledged computers, it's just that the iPad lacks so much of the stuff we're used to that it's hard to even consider it as a netbook rival. Flash, for example - there's absolutely no reason to say why it won't work on any of Apple's mobile devices, it's just that Apple seem to refuse to impliment it.

 

[F1GTR]

I was hoping for an Apple+Wacom collaboration that would've brought about a tablet with a quality digitizer running OS X for creative types... Instead it's a device solely used for entertainment. It's a bit of a shame, hopefully some of the new iPhone OS features trickle down though.

 

[GM]

 

[FoolKiller]

I don't get it. I still cannot figure out who is supposed to want one of these. It offers no advantages over a netbook. Price? No. Size? No. Ease of use? No.

I am totally stealing this from Kotaku.

It is the first step toward Star Trek's Personal Access Display Device (PADD).

Much like some dude saw Star Trek's automated doors and created the electronic eye now seen in every grocery store on the planet, Steve Jobs watched some Star Trek after they came out on Blu-Ray and realized that the iPhone was phase 1 in creating PADDs, it just needed to be more tablet sized. This is also why he went with the very unfortunate naming scheme, despite it already having been a joke years ago.

Now, before you point out that it isn't remotely close to a PADD, remember that Steve Jobs has taken the EA Sports route to making money. The first product in a franchise line must be as bare bones as possible. Updates should only add enough functionality to keep early adopters from refusing to buy it. Then every single year you bring out a new version with one new feature and one or two aesthetic improvements.

Look at the first iPods compared to today's Touch or iPhone. I had a third gen that only had 15GB and looked like a brick and has a battery that can no longer hold a charge. My Nano that I got for Christmas last year is significantly improved. Or just look at even the first iPhone to now. Everyone I know that gets an iPhone visits the app store first for a game and to find apps that add the functionality the OS lacks.

I guarantee you that in 5-10 years the iPad will look like something really cool from your wildest sci-fi dreams. Next year I predict Flash functionality, maybe multi-tasking (that might be year two), and a built-in stand that makes it look like a picture frame. Later the stand will be designed in a way to be completely unnoticeable until you need it.

 

[JB-BMW1989]

The iPad looks really nice and all, but the thing is that I don't need it. I rather just get the Dell Studio XPS laptop instead.

 

[Anghammarad]

Yes, but you're talking like you know everything about it.

No. I have just watched the keynote and read the info on Apple's site. It's not difficult to understand what it's for if you just for a second step outside of the computer geek thinking.

And once more, it is as much a replacement for a laptop as a PSP is a replacement for a PS3. Different beasts altogether.

 

[Northstar]

Thing is, I'm not even close to a computer geek and I have no idea what it's for. From what I've seen/read it's essentially a dumbed down netbook with a touch screen with a $850 price tag for the full version. They pretty much made a product for a market that doesn't exist.

 

[Anghammarad]

From what I've seen/read it's essentially a dumbed down netbook with a touch screen

No, if anything it's a souped up iPod Touch.

 

[Northstar]

No, if anything it's a souped up iPod Touch.

So, why not just buy an iPod Touch/iPhone?

There really is no market for this. It may not be meant as a netbook competitor, but that is probably the category it fits most.

 

[Robin]

As many others are saying if Apple had made a proper netbook and priced it around this price I would have bought one in a shot! Instead your buying an iPod touch with more inconvenience. Hell, even if this thing ran proper OSX and did nothing else I would be tempted, but a mobile OS on a netbook sized product is crazy, its like putting Windows Mobile on an eeepc... at least WM can multitask from as far back as 2003 and every device which ran it had a card slot, thats what business people need Apple!

There is no reason why they couldnt have had it run a full OS and have a iPhone UI emulator which you could switch to at any time (a Front Row style of setup). Not 1 USB port is inexcusable because it probably would have cost them a buck per unit or less to have it built in but now they will charge probably $20 for some ugly sticking out white tab.

On the issue of fast loading many laptops have an instant on feature which gives access to audio, video and web browsing without having to boot the OS so the fact that the iPad can turn on instantly is nothing special.

The Star Trek Padd is useful because its a specialised tool geared for engineering, medical etc (im talking like its real! ). The irony is even the Padd's have removable storage! Something called Isolinear Chips.

Steve Jobs is living in a dream world where everyone is a Starbucks sipping socialite who doesnt actually do much with their time. As a market generalisation the young will buy a netbook or iPhone and the old won't buy one or will buy something specialised like the Kindle.

Which leaves the middle aged who WORK for a living, thus need something productive which this is not as you can't really type properly with it and more importantly can't even plug anything into it. Why do you think most of them use small ThinkPad's and Blackberry's because they have a physical good quality keyboard/pad and do everything.

I can see this being in the arms of models, IT girls and rich housewives more than anything, probably jewel incrusted or plated in some horrible rare metal or Gucci leather bound. Its like it was made for a handbag, thats if the name hasnt already put all the female buyers off.

Robin.

 

[opendriver]

This would have been better than the ipad:

 

[nick09]

Not to mention that four iPhones held together by tape would be worth the price you would pay of about $499. Honestly you can nearly buy two PS3's with that kind of money.

 

[Tornado]

I'm quite sure that a few years from now it will have changed the game in the same way the iPod or iPhone did. The possibilities are endless.

People are just too stuck in an old way of thinking.

There have been PC tablets for at least 8 years. The market by and large gave up on them because they were too expensive, too compromised and largely unnecessary outside of a few tasks.
So here Apple comes with one with even more compromises, even more expense and even more pointlessness (because its no longer suited to actually doing anything), particularly now that you can get a decent netbook that will take this to the cleaners on specs and features for a few benjamins. So, forgive me for saying so, but what wheel is Apple reinventing?

 

[Casio]

I was having a thought last night, why couldn't have they just ripped the keyboard off the Mac Book Air?

They could have easily made a 10"/11" Mac Book Air based Tablet which may have been slightly heavier but totally worth it for it's full Operating System!

But then I remembered it's Apple, so it all made sense.

 

[Robin]

Not to mention that four iPhones held together by tape would be worth the price you would pay of about $499.

And atleast it could multi task!

I was having a thought last night, why couldn't have they just ripped the keyboard off the Mac Book Air?

That would have made much more sense, a cheaper Mac Book Air in essence.

Also Apple likes to hold stuff back so they can add a camera to it in a year and have everyone buy it all over again. But seriously the A4 chip is capable of running full OSX so why dont they just put it on have a iPhone interface emulator. I bet someone will jailbreak it and install full OSX or Linux.

Robin.

 

[Casio]

But seriously the A4 chip is capable of running full OSX so why dont they just put it on have a iPhone interface emulator. I bet someone will jailbreak it and install full OSX or Linux.

Robin.

Actually it can't. The chip Apple has chosen is an ARM-based processor, and OSX is only compatible with x86 architecture (10.6 is Intel only as well). They may have done this deliberately to prevent people from putting OSX and Windows on it, though it does have power and cost savings as well. 95% of Common Linux builds are x86 based as well.

However, I guess theoretically Android could be put on the thing with the right know-how, though I'm guessing Apple would have thought of that and have preventions set-up. Windows CE is another build that is compatible with ARM processors.

 

[Sharky.]

I bet someone will jailbreak it and install full OSX or Linux.

If it's simply running the iPhone OS (ie not anything custom-made), then it can probably be jailbroken already. If it's using a modified iPhone OS, geohot should have it 'broken in, oh... a day?

A jailbroken iPad makes a bit of sense, a stock iPad does not. At all.

 

[Rykon Zero]

My Asus Eee PC is wonderful. It weighs four pounds, it runs on the same OS I've used most of my life, it can flip close, and if I get a big trenchcoat, I could fit it in a pocket.

So why do I even want a super-sized iPhone? I mean, I can run GTA III era games and below. Can't see doing that on an iPhone.

Also Steve, not everyone lives in Seattle.

 

[Anghammarad]

So, why not just buy an iPod Touch/iPhone?

Just because you can do something on an iPhone doesn't mean it's perfect for it. Surfing on it isn't such a great experience, the screen is simply too small. There are a number of things that benefit from the larger screen, not to mention the possibilities of the more powerful processor.

So, forgive me for saying so, but what wheel is Apple reinventing?

The same wheel they reinvented with the iPod and the iPhone.

My Asus Eee PC is wonderful. It weighs four pounds

Which is almost three times what the iPad weighs

 

[Anghammarad]

Sorry for the double post but the posts are totally unrelated

 

[Northstar]

Which is almost three times what the iPad weighs

It's 4 pounds, you're making it sound like netbooks weigh a ton compared to the iPad. Sometimes it's better for something to be heavier as well as it's harder to forget you're holding the thing.

I still can't think of any market for this, the only possible market is for business but without a USB(Or any other ports) it takes that market away as well.

I guess Apple will once again have to rely on Apple fanboys getting a big tax return.

 

[Anghammarad]

Sorry for the double post but the posts are totally unrelated

Just to make absolutely sure since this is after all an internet forum. In no way whatsoever is it my intention to imply that the people who critisize the ipad have any similarities with the persons depicted in the video.

Edit: And it was also my intention to edit the first post, not quote it.

 

[Jondot]

Might be worth reading Stephen Fry's latest blog entry:
http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/01/28/ipad-about/

He was at the keynote and has had a play with one. Admittedly he goes a little fanboyish much to my annoyance, but it's worth a look nonetheless.

 

[Rykon Zero]

Which is almost three times what the iPad weighs

It's also a computer.

And it also weighs 2.5 lbs. I was looking at the shipping weight.