Ultimately I think the goal here is to replace netbooks. The price range is about right, the capabilities are about right.

A larger iPod Touch with "deluxe" app support--reference the new mobile version of iWork--could actually be pretty good. But I won't buy one anytime soon.

 

des won't buy something apple :O im shocked...

 

I have an iPhone 3GS and a unibody MacBook. The iPad doesn't offer me anything, nor do I like tablets as a form factor.

So shut it. :lol:

 

But it has an apple logo on the side therefore = must buy. :tantrum:

 

No thank you. I would prefer to have something that will multitask and not an over sized iTouch.

 

Apple makes it, they will buy it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/feb/04/ipad-abi-tablet-sales-boom

 

This is much more than a large iPod Touch.

 

Still I just don't see sinking that much cash into something that can't even multi task.

 

I guarantee you that you are in an extreme minority when it comes to multitasking on this thing.

Most people--that is, average end computer users, not power users, geeks, programmers, tweakers, techies, nerds, and Microsoft employees--do only one thing at a time with their computer. Yes, they might have multiple windows or tabs open, but they're still only dealing with one application at a time.

For example, I have never seen my mother work on a spreadsheet, only to pause and switch to her 25th open tab in Firefox, and then bring up her music program so she can change the background song, and then go back into Excel. Simply does not happen.

If your one hangup with the iPad is that it can't multitask, then you aren't the target audience and can go merrily on your way toward the Chrome OS netbook segment. Coincidentally, Chrome OS netbooks probably won't take off the same way the iPad almost certainly will.

 

My only hang up is its price.

 

Good news, then.

 

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/31077/apple-ipad-vs-ipod-touch

I still don't see much of a difference between an iPhone/iTouch and an iPad except price,size, and maybe better specs.

 

Yeah, I've heard the "it's a big iPod Touch" line before. It isn't.

The difference is deluxe apps.

 

It runs the same OS.

 

No, it doesn't. iPad runs what is more or less a fork of iPhone OS. Different platform, new code, new features. Some of those new features will make their way onto the iPhone and iPod Touch, some won't. But Apple now basically sells three different operating systems.

Deluxe apps--stuff that can rival a desktop-class app in quality with a far more minimal implementation--marks the difference between the iPad and the iPhone.

A more important departure is the iPad's total hiding of the file system from the end user. It's still there, but you don't need to wade through it to use the OS, and in fact you're discouraged from doing so. This is a pretty big step forward for actual usability.

 

I have read that it uses iPhone OS 3.2. I haven't found any other sources that state anything different. Do you have any links or info stating any different? I am not trying to prove you wrong but rather curious and interested to what the OS will be.

 

Yes, it uses iPhone OS 3.2, according to the marketing materials.

HOWEVER.

The version of iPhone OS that is being loaded onto the iPad is NOT the same codebase that is being loaded onto iPhones. Despite the name "iPhone OS," the iPad is not actually running the same OS that the iPhone is, much in the same way that when Apple announced the iPhone back in 2007, they said it ran "Mac OS X."

Much like how the iPhone is running a heavily stripped and modified version of OS X, the iPad is running a modified, separate (therefore forked) version of iPhone OS. Features and code changes that were done to get the iPad working will not necessarily appear on the iPhone, and future iPhone features may not necessarily appear on the iPad, because both products are driving their OS updates from separate sources. Quick example of code/ feature differentiation: the "popover" UI element demonstrated by iPad apps will not appear on iPhone apps, because the iPhone OS does not support it.

Apple is referring to the OS on the iPad as "iPhone OS" for initial recognizability and marketing purposes. Down the road, they'll likely begin referring to it as "iPad OS" once they believe the two products have been sufficiently differentiated amongst consumers. Shouldn't take more than 12 months, maybe WWDC 2011 at the absolute latest.

So when you say the iPad and iPhone run the same OS, you are are incorrect as saying the iPad is nothing more than a large iPod Touch.

 

$500 for something, I'd rather need it so badly that I'd be willing to pay $500 for a tablet.

 

What will it do that a $200 netbook will not?

 

It will actually excel at its given tasks.

And "$200 netbook" is a fallacy. They largely don't exist anymore; netbook ASPs have gone up over the last year as OEMs try to raise profit margins without affecting sales too much.

Really, it's a comparison between a $500 netbook--which does nothing well--and a $500 iPad which the average person will instantly understand and adapt to, as proven by the success of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The iPad might not be for you or I, but so what? Neither are manual transmissions.

 

I get your point but there are some netbooks out there that are under $300.

 

But they're not any good. That's the problem. Netbooks are form over function; they're small and portable and that's it. They're for people who think the goal of buying a computer is to acquire a gadget to tinker with. Netbooks are a hobbyist curiosity, not a tool to get something done.

I'm really, truly starting to get tired of the hobbyist segment that sees a computer as nothing more than a list of technical specs. The purpose of having specs is to accomplish a task, not to wave an e-***** on a geek forum.

(Not talking about you specifically, don't get me wrong.)

 

The same e-***** waving is done by ones that buy a $1500 machine for the sole purpose of only web browsing and sending/receiving email. I have machines that serve 2 purposes.

1. getting things done
2. tinkering

With that being said, I would never spend Apple asking price for just getting things done.

No offense taken man.

 

Definitely. These are the same people dismissing the iPad. (I'm sure they were the same people dismissing the first iPhone, too.)

Regardless, the point of the iPad is to create a low-overhead device that hides the "computing" side of things and just lets people get their tasks done. This is inherently reprehensible to geeks and hobbyists, because to them the point of computing is to tinker with the innards and tweak the OS and basically perform the PCB equivalent of pimping their ride. The iPad doesn't allow them to do that, so they greet it with hate.

I predict that some time during the next decade, the UI and interaction style of the iPad will replace the mouse/desktop metaphor we've been using for almost 30 years. At the very least, we'll begin the transition period. How I long for the day when I don't need to explain "even though the application is taking up the screen, it isn't in focus, which is why your keyboard shortcut to print isn't working" and other such scenarios.

Slightly higher cost of entry, lower TCO.

 

How is it any different from a tablet PC? (outside of the Superior Mac OS)

 

Multitouch. App Store. OS designed for the platform, rather than a shoehorned version of Windows. 3G. Battery life.

On a more fundamental level: it hides the freaking file system. The ability to use a relatively full-featured computer without delving into the file system (C:\what\I\did\there is as fundamentally horrifying to most people as the concept of dismantling their car's engine while the thing is running) is a massive change.

 

This I totally disagree with. This is gonna be based on what the machine is being used for. I have a 5 year old Toshiba that's used by my wife for managing finances, record keeping, browsing, email, and light gaming. I haven't spent anything outside of the $379 I spent on it.

 

I think the fact that you can hold it like you would paper, is probably the most underrated feature about it. So much so, its quite revolutionary.

The only thing that will cause this to fail is lack of software development. If that doesn't happen, its the next step in computing.

 

I'm not stating anything new or revolutionary when I say Macs have a lower TCO, though the statement applies mainly to businesses. I'm glad your Toshiba works for you, but it's the exception, not the rule.

I'm convinced most PC sales come from people who toss their old PC out when the viruses bog it down too much.

 

I can believe this when I deal with people everyday that don't know the difference between a left and right click or how to shut down a computer properly.

The iPad will be perfect for them.

 

I really don't think it will take off but we will see. I don't see a place for it right now.

 

A sort of backhanded compliment, but you're not wrong.

And not only are you not wrong, but you are absolutely right. :up:

 

Really didn't mean it as a backhanded comment. Just stating the truth. Sorry.

 

Yes, but you stated it while looking down on them. Computer technology is unnecessarily convoluted. We "get" it because we've been raised with it and we've tinkered and tweaked our systems and are comfortable with the concept.

Most people are not. This does not reflect badly on them, it just means that the computer industry is not properly serving these people.

Apple's solution was to take "the computer from the movies" and sell it. And it'll likely be a huge success, not just in sales but in terms of people actually enjoying and wanting to use the device.

 

My dad being one of them.

He got a Compaq when ISP's were giving them away. It was a crap computer but all he was going to do was surf the net.

I had to explain to him what the space bar was for......

Anyway, an intuitive "point and touch" platform is exactly what he needs. I've already convinced him he's getting one.

 

I had actually typed something to the same effect in one of my post but deleted it.

I understand the older generation not grasping it.

Maybe I should have said "work with" instead of "deal with".

 

I think karma may have taken the comment the wrong way as well. I have been slammed with calls about spyware and everything else under the sun that is not an internet connection related issue. What a lovely day to work for an ISP.

 

Another reason you should be hopeful of iPad propagation: no viruses. :up: