iPad...failure? Or just the beginning of an era?

[sportage]

I hear the 3rd generation will support 4G, much thinner, have a DVD/Blu-Ray slot, an 1080p HD cam/camcorder, and twice the battery life. Well... I didn't really hear that, but u know it will. Not the 2nd gen, but the 3rd mind you.

 

[ciproxr]

I think it going to fail, its nice looking but not practical and i think its step back. I cant think of a single reason to use it over a 13 inch macbook for example other than the "cool" factor.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I hear the 3rd generation will support 4G, much thinner, have a DVD/Blu-Ray slot, an 1080p HD cam/camcorder, and twice the battery life. Well... I didn't really hear that, but u know it will. Not the 2nd gen, but the 3rd mind you.

OK, this would definitely pique my interest more than 1st gen.

 

[aphex]

Its been out a day, I dont think anyone can accurately predict yet whether or not it will fail.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Apple is doomed!™

http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune...-ipad-launch-day-estimate-600000-700000-sold/

Thats a lot of fucking product there son...

 

[speg]

I think it going to fail, its nice looking but not practical and i think its step back. I cant think of a single reason to use it over a 13 inch macbook for example other than the "cool" factor.

It's half the price, half the weight, half the size, twice the battery, and for a lot of people it's going to do almost the exact same things.

 

[Pliablemoose]

It's half the price, half the weight, half the size, twice the battery, and for a lot of people it's going to do almost the exact same things.

Damn you, this thread is about feelings, not math, or empirical data, stop posting stuff that makes any sense right now...

The iPad is the Newton II, didn't you get the memo?

^_^

Seriously though, it will take a while, while the iPad may never & will likely never have the same effect as the iPod did on its market segment, it sure as hell is a kick in the pants to manufacturers to cough up a tablet with a decent user interface, and respectable battery life.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Damn you, this thread is about feelings, not math, or empirical data, stop posting stuff that makes any sense right now...

The iPad is the Newton II, didn't you get the memo?

^_^

Seriously though, it will take a while, while the iPad may never & will likely never have the same effect as the iPod did on its market segment, it sure as hell is a kick in the pants to manufacturers to cough up a tablet with a decent user interface, and respectable battery life.

I'm not so sure. We'll have to see just how the sales data pans out. If 90% of the iPads sold thus far were sold to people who own multiple Apple devices, from iPods to Mac Book Pros, then that definitely tells us one thing. If, on the other hand, half of the sales went to regular Joe then we may have a real winner on our hands and that means a new niche is about to get flooded.

I read something on CNN yesterday where this guy bought it simply because it had Apple on it. He didn't know what it was supposed to do for him but he knew it was their latest gadget and it had to be cool! I have a feeling this will be the more frequent story than the regular guy story but who knows.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Well, thats why I said, kinda useless.

I can see the reasoning behind why you would use one...but for $499 just for the barebones lowest version, you could buy a netbook and trick it out to the max...or hell, maybe even a good used tablet or convertible laptop with touch screen.

I mean, is having a tiny netbook while sitting on the couch THAT much more inconvenient than a iPad...to me it seems MORE so than anything...you dont have to worry at that point of whether or not that website you are going to visit will be fully usable or if you have to type an email or post something here it isnt going to take you 10x as long due to the poorly optimized touch screen keyboard.

I picked up a $150 refurb Asus eee awhile back and it works fine for Gamefaqs and browsing but I'd never want to use it as an ebook reader. Battery life is poor so I need to keep it plugged in and the iPad wins that too.

The current tablet PCs are not comparable at all: lousy battery life, 4 times the weight, and the awkward need to twist-and-fold the keyboard/cpu base out of the way. Imagine trying to read ebooks on those oversized, clunky devices.

I'm not claiming that millions of people will agree with me, but as a couch puter I haven't seen anything that would work as well as an iPad. I'd probably choose a well-done Windows 7 slate over it though to run existing apps (any apps I want, vs. the closed app store) and since I use Windows during the rest of my day.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I'm not claiming that millions of people will agree with me, but as a couch puter I haven't seen anything that would work as well as an iPad. I'd probably choose a well-done Windows 7 slate over it though to run existing apps (any apps I want, vs. the closed app store) and since I use Windows during the rest of my day.

This. I see the merit but the closed ecosystem of Apple is what scares me off more than anything else. I really wish they would open the doors just a crack.

 

[VinylxScratches]

It will succeed.

 

[FerraraZ]

I got one and love it. Thats all I can really say, much rather have this as an ereader and portable for trips.

 

[ciproxr]

It's half the price, half the weight, half the size, twice the battery, and for a lot of people it's going to do almost the exact same things.

you could say the same about the iphone in comparison to the ipad lol

 

[Qbah]

People who compare it to a netbook... have you ever tried to use a netbook? I had one (sold it recently) and let me tell you it's slow as hell. "But it can do Flash" - I just say LOL, I couldn't watch two YouTube streams... the banner on MSN Messanger was making my cursor choppy (and it's High Quality and can't be lowered). Only when I was minimizing it, the system was becoming responsive again... So yeah... Not to mention regular (non-video) Flash content is a joke on an Atom. Same for other phones - have you actually seen how flash runs on those? Let me tell you, it ain't pretty. Atom's lightning fast compared to phones...

I have an iPhone and I love it. I also really don't like Apple. But the phone is amazing so I stomach it... Now, from what I used a netbook for and how it behaved, the iPad would be a much better experience. It's extremely responsive, smaller, doesn't make any sounds (the fans on my MSI U100-clone were ramping up a lot during use) and lasts 10h+ on extensive use. Also probably doesn't feel very warm when using... The two thigns missing imo are:
- multitasking (hopefully will come in an OS update for people who will buy it) - streaming music and browsing - a scenario I encounter very often (luckily I can stream through Safari and browse through Mercury Browser)
- front facing camera (and not the PoS 0.3Mpix my netbook had - what a joke it was)

However, having said that... My iPhone fills my mobile needs perfectly (reason why I sold the netbook... I wasn't using it anyway). Whether it's reading something before sleeping or looking for something - I just reach for the smartphone and have my answer in a matter of seconds, anywhere I go So I wouldn't buy the iPad anyway...

 

[MotionMan]

Well...what do all of you think? Is the iPad for all intended purposes a failure?

Sorry, this is one I never can let go by - It's "for all intents and purposes".

And the iPad will be a huge success, though I have no use for one at the moment.

MotionMan

 

[0roo0roo]

People who compare it to a netbook... have you ever tried to use a netbook? I had one (sold it recently) and let me tell you it's slow as hell. "But it can do Flash" - I just say LOL, I couldn't watch two YouTube streams... the banner on MSN Messanger was making my cursor choppy (and it's High Quality and can't be lowered). Only when I was minimizing it, the system was becoming responsive again... So yeah... Not to mention regular (non-video) Flash content is a joke on an Atom. Same for other phones - have you actually seen how flash runs on those? Let me tell you, it ain't pretty. Atom's lightning fast compared to phones...

I have an iPhone and I love it. I also really don't like Apple. But the phone is amazing so I stomach it... Now, from what I used a netbook for and how it behaved, the iPad would be a much better experience. It's extremely responsive, smaller, doesn't make any sounds (the fans on my MSI U100-clone were ramping up a lot during use) and lasts 10h+ on extensive use. Also probably doesn't feel very warm when using... The two thigns missing imo are:
- multitasking (hopefully will come in an OS update for people who will buy it) - streaming music and browsing - a scenario I encounter very often (luckily I can stream through Safari and browse through Mercury Browser)
- front facing camera (and not the PoS 0.3Mpix my netbook had - what a joke it was)

However, having said that... My iPhone fills my mobile needs perfectly (reason why I sold the netbook... I wasn't using it anyway). Whether it's reading something before sleeping or looking for something - I just reach for the smartphone and have my answer in a matter of seconds, anywhere I go So I wouldn't buy the iPad anyway...

fiddling with the teeny touchpad and kb of a netbook is hell.
strange some people confuse the better than nothing for something well designed

 

[randomlinh]

People who compare it to a netbook... have you ever tried to use a netbook?

and here lies the inherent problem. Netbooks have a greater functionality to them. But the vast majority of people just wanted it to chat on IM and surf the web, maybe watch some videos. And the iPad fits this quite well.

Then there's those who use it as a very light notebook, where they need to type a lot. I'd argue the 11.6" "netbooks" are very usable in typing. And have the screen res I need to remote desktop back into the office.

What I'd like to see is all the sub 11.6" netbooks die off. fill it with the ipad/competition market, and get the price down to $100. Then up the 11.6-13" super thin/light notebook market, it can sit in at $500 and up.

in the mean time, I'll sit back and continue to consume media on my desktop =P

 

[TheWart]

back to the idea of it being a failure or not...considering that tablet pc's shipped a paltry 1.06 million in 2009, Apple capturing 50%+ of that market in a matter of weeks/months (however it shakes out) is pretty impressive. As others have said, at the very least it will spur competition and everyone benefits.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2010-04-05-tabletpcs05_ST_N.htm

 

[Tegeril]

I'm baffled at the delusions required to say that the iPad is a failure. I mean, really?

 

[JSt0rm]

people hate apple and always will. I personally think they are envious of the products. I was nosing around inside my macpro the other day installing a card and was just marveling at how badass the design of that thing is. It's old too! A quad 2.66 intel with 6gb of ram but daam if I dont work 60 hours a week on that thing with 4 screens and massive amounts of real time processing going on. I plan on dropping a ssd in it for my system.

There are some apps coming down the pipe for the ipad that I can use professionally as an amazing control surface and bet I will get one. I know EXACTLY how I would use this product.

I grew up on dos and windows 3.1 and 95 and 2000 and xp but damn apple knows how to do it. They just do.

 

[Hacp]

and here lies the inherent problem. Netbooks have a greater functionality to them. But the vast majority of people just wanted it to chat on IM and surf the web, maybe watch some videos. And the iPad fits this quite well.

Then there's those who use it as a very light notebook, where they need to type a lot. I'd argue the 11.6" "netbooks" are very usable in typing. And have the screen res I need to remote desktop back into the office.

What I'd like to see is all the sub 11.6" netbooks die off. fill it with the ipad/competition market, and get the price down to $100. Then up the 11.6-13" super thin/light notebook market, it can sit in at $500 and up.

in the mean time, I'll sit back and continue to consume media on my desktop =P

Have you even tried the toshiba 10.1 inch netbook keyboards? They are VERY usable. Very easy to touch type.

 

[BD2003]

The more I've been using it, the more I'm liking it. It's a very different experience than using a laptop.

The best way to describe it is that it's like a wii. It's a new take on computing, that seems silly at first until you actually get to try it, and then it just makes sense. It's far less powerful than your average computer, but it's more than enough to get done what its trying to accomplish. It's like a console in more ways than one, with its closed ecosystem, and that has it's advantages and disadvantages. You are somewhat limited by it, but having a single device to write software to allows developers to really focus to the device without writing to the lower common denominator.

Basically, its a platform, not just a device. Its more than the sum of it's parts. To me, it's all about casual computing, and nothing I've ever used does it better. Kicking back and browsing my feeds through google reader is an absolute joy. I don't have much time to read real books, but its something that this device excels at, something nearly impossible on a laptop. It's a device for consuming media, especially the web - you don't need multitasking, and I'd trade the keyboard for extra screen space any day. It's also super light, the battery lasts forever, and the actual device is built solid as a rock and feels and looks great.

The laptop is still superior for creating content, and as a general computer, and if I were to have one computing device and one only, I'd still have to go with a laptop. but unless you specifically need a portable computer for creating content, the iPad + desktop is a great combo. Not that you can't use an iPad to type things...the keyboard is actually quite good (especially when used with the case that props it up). You can't touch type on it really, but you can hunt and peck as fast as you can. I thought the keyboard would be a huge problem, but it actually works great - this post brought to you by iPad.

Beginning of an era? Possibly. It's definitely something special.

 

[randomlinh]

people hate apple and always will. I personally think they are envious of the products. I was nosing around inside my macpro the other day installing a card and was just marveling at how badass the design of that thing is. It's old too! A quad 2.66 intel with 6gb of ram but daam if I dont work 60 hours a week on that thing with 4 screens and massive amounts of real time processing going on. I plan on dropping a ssd in it for my system.

There are some apps coming down the pipe for the ipad that I can use professionally as an amazing control surface and bet I will get one. I know EXACTLY how I would use this product.

I grew up on dos and windows 3.1 and 95 and 2000 and xp but damn apple knows how to do it. They just do.

The mac pro is indeed a wonder in case design. a shame I can't buy the case along, because I don't need/want the hardware that's inside.

Have you even tried the toshiba 10.1 inch netbook keyboards? They are VERY usable. Very easy to touch type.

I put two things together... the 10" keyboards aren't too bad actually, but the screen res on all the 10" netbooks make them useless to me. 1024x600, ugh. Some of things I work with need at least 768, or else I can't see em on the screen.

 

[Kadarin]

This. I see the merit but the closed ecosystem of Apple is what scares me off more than anything else. I really wish they would open the doors just a crack.

I'm curious to see what an equivalent Android-based machine would be like.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Well it only sold 300,000 at launch, according to Apple. Far below estimates.

I think all those companies that rushed to provide content/access for it will be disappointed.