Yeah, I'm sure Microsoft is perfectly happy watching Apple steer the entire tech industry and get all the press.
What were Windows 7 sales numbers again? MS made nearly double in profits what Apple made last year and it was a slow year for MS until the end.
And how are they steering? MS showed off a tablet at CES before Apple ever showed one off. As I said, I betcha Apple rushed it to market to get in ahead of the Slate.
Uh huh, because that whole "Windows on a tablet" thing has worked so well in years past...
In years past MS didn't have an OS that industry pros have said rivals or betters OS X. Windows 7 is a huge improvement over all prior versions of Windows.
Newsflash: consumers want usability, not features. Wanna make a wager about how well the HP Slate will sell vs. the iPad?
Hey, at least you'll buy one!
The Slate will be better because of this: multitasking. Unless Apple gets that going before June, that's a huge advantage. And for usability, doesn't having a memory card reader and the ability to plug in USB devices into the Slate qualify as both better usability and functionality?
The Slate is also smaller than the iPad and likely more portable.
And, no, I won't be buying one. I don't believe the tablet is the future of anything at this point because the large majority of people want a physical keyboard. Why get a tablet when I have a perfectly good compact Sony Vaio laptop with a BD player, 4GB or memory, a large HDD, and a Core i5 processor? All that for $1200 and I can actually do real work AND consume information on it.
I'm just making a comparison to the Slate because IT IS more fully featured. I think HP has been dumb just focusing on Flash for the Slate as a big feature. I'd point out if I were HP that you can plug your iPod into the Slate but you can't plug it into the iPad at this point - an HP product can work better with an Apple product than Apple's new shiny gizmo can!
I remember people like you talking about the original iPod in the same way. "Bah humbug, no one is going to dump their CD player for this stupid little gizmo!"
Fortunately while some people merely talk about others being unable to change the world, those others are actually doing it.
I'm someone who bought an iPod early on. There was clearly a market for it because portability in music has always been the holy grail. I didn't go with MP3 players before the iPod because they were terrible. Apple was the first one who got it right.
But to think this is anything like the iPod is lunacy. There already are portable computers that are far more capable. I have a couple of friends who picked up iPads and they love them, but they won't use them for anything serious. They don't want to type out long emails on that keyboard because it is tedious.
And if people can't do serious things on the iPad then it won't be a revolution. The iPod went into a market that was already there filled with inefficient CDs that took up lots of space for large collections. And portable CD players have always been clumsy, especially if you're on the go. But music was always a leisurely activity.
Computers serve for both leisure and serious business. Why would you pay $500+ for something if you also need a laptop to do anything serious? You want to craft a PPT or Keynote presentation and do it in a fully featured environment? Write a legal brief?
The iPad is nothing more than a toy. The reviewers got it right, it is all about consumption. But I guarantee that people with good laptops will not touch this thing en masse. People with cheaper netbooks already have something cheaper and capable of doing more.
See, the iPod could actually DO MORE than your CD player could. It could store thousands of tracks and let you hold them in your pocket.
This thing is all that much smaller overall than a netbook and it does less. And if you want portability for web surfing, etc then just get an iPhone or another phone that has the same capabilities. I have an enV Touch and I can run my browser, my IM, and my email client all at the same time - that's better than the iPad and that's a cheap cell phone that is far more portable AND has a physical keyboard.
I'm an Apple stockholder. I've made a buttload of money off of Apple and I'd love for this thing to go crazy in sales, but it doesn't seem like a game changer to me. As I said, it'll be a nice little niche market akin to the AppleTV. Laptop and netbook sales will still see large increases and will be unaffected by the iPad.
Apple did with the iPad what they're good at, squeezing more money out of Apple junkies that will buy anything Apple makes.
The AppleTV is a better comparison here. The iPod made music more portable and people already used it on the go, in their cars, etc. It made it more compact and easier to manage. The Apple TV tried to replace home usage of the DVD. It didn't increase functionality or portability. The iPad is less portable than cell phones that can do the same thing, so someone is more likely to just stick with the cell phone on the go. So that leaves in home usage where portability is less of a concern.
A few will buy it instead of a laptop, but it doesn't fill a need for anyone. The iPod did, the AppleTV didn't.
But I don't expect the most ideologically pure Apple zealots to see this. If you want one then good for you. Just don't be surprised if everyone else doesn't want one. They might think it's cool when they see it and still not buy it. I know NO ONE that isn't a pure Apple nut that is interested in forking over money for this thing. And there are enough Apple nuts out there to ramp up a couple of million in sales. If it can't get beyond that then it won't be a game changer at all, will it?