Apple Tablet Media Event Today: 'Come See Our Latest Creation'

[AidenShaw]

To be fair, that markup also covers the inclusion of the GPS chip as well.

I wonder if they're using the Gobi chip - since it does both 3G and GPS from one chip/antenna.

(It also does GSM and CDMA from the same chip - maybe a Verizon Ipad will be announced soon.)

Dell charges $125 for the Gobi option, so no "Apple tax" here.

 

[0092762]

Flash is a must

I have to admit I don't use my aluminum macbook for much other than media consumption, since I work in front of a PC at work all day. I also have to say that using the macbook (or any laptop) in my lap is not comfortable, and a tablet would be much better. I use my macbook connected to a big monitor, and proper keyboard and mouse, on a desk. The only reason I don't have an imac is that I want all my stuff to be portable when I go on trips.

However, here's the average use scenario: Looking at a webpage that has flash video, since there are about 4-5 sites I visit regularly that make videos once a week or more, having my ichat/MSN open in the background, checking my e-mail, posting in forums, and listening to music when I'm not watching a video. The iPad has to be able to these for me to consider it. I wouldn't buy the 3G version since my iphone does 3g and GPS anyways and it's always with me, and the ipad wouldn't really leave my home. I'm also sure the jailbreaking community will find a way to tether the ipad to the iphone's 3G connection, in fact it already exists (PDANet)

So as soon as the iPad does flash and multitasking, I'll be buying it.

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

Upon watching the keynote opening again today i thought a lot about this slide:

Steve said the iPad would have to be better than both the macbook and the iphone at each of these tasks, while he criticized netbooks for being better at none of them.

"They are going to have to be far better at doing some really important things. Better than the laptop, better than the smartphone."

The iPad certainly isnt better at browsing than the macbook. Say what you will, Flash is still huge and HTML5 isnt taking over quite yet. I'll be glad when html5 is the standard, but its not today, and if im buying a device to browse the internet i want it to be ready for today's flash-filled internet.

Is it really better at email? Can email really be improved enough? Since nobody has really spent any time with the pad's Mail interface its really not fair to judge anything here, but i dont see how it can be substantially better than email via on the iphone or better than email with a real keyboard and file manager on the macbook. A tie at best unless Mail on the iPad is something incredible.

The iPad is easily better than the iPhone when it comes to photos, if only for the larger screen, but its certainly not better than the macbook's ability to edit and sort. Once again, i've not used the tablet, but i cant imagine it would have better editing/organizing software than the macbook.

Video? Puh-leeze. The macbook can at least show widescreen movies without half the screen being black. The macbook also offers higher resolution so its an easy decision to watch video on the macbook.

Not much can change the way we listen to music (plug in headphones, press play), so it all comes down to storage and portability. The iphone has more storage and better portability than the pad. Quite simply the iphone is better for taking your music on the go. Listening at home? More storage on the macbook, better speakers (most likely), and the ability to stream while doing other things.

The iPad can play games better than the macbook? Lol.

Look, the iPad is finally better at something. Great battery life, its portable with a decent size screen. Touch gestures are easy for flipping pages/scrolling/annotating... The macbook can fit more on the screen, but reading is all about portability.

"If there's going to be a 3rd category of device its going to have to be better at these kinds of tasks than the laptop or a smartphone, otherwise it has no reason for being."

Then he claims netbooks arent better at any of these things. I dont see where the iPad is so much better at anything.

But if we throw around the words "magical" and "revolutionary" it has to be better, right?



Just my thoughts on the whole thing. Flame away.

 

[dscuber9000]

I finally watched the press conference today and my general impression is that the only thing that separates this from the iPod touch is the giant screen. I freaking love the screen and I hope to have the iPad on day one, but I can't help feel that a lot of these interface improvements could have been done on a next-generation iPhone. There's no reason why iBooks can't be on the iPhone, there is no reason why the iPhone can't change the background on the home screen, there is no reason why the iPhoto-like Photos interface can't be on iPhone, etc.

In my opinion, Apple needs to make more things that can be done on the iPad that can't be done on the iPod touch. I was impressed with iWork on the iPad, but it would be nice if they were free as an added incentive to making it more like a laptop than the iPod touch.

I can't wait for iPad-exclusive apps, though. They should make a real reason to own an iPad.

 

[LagunaSol]

Dell charges $125 for the Gobi option, so no "Apple tax" here.

Shazbot, did you just imply something positive about Apple by saying something not negative about Apple? The End is nigh!

The iPad certainly isnt better at browsing than the macbook. Say what you will, Flash is still huge and HTML5 isnt taking over quite yet. I'll be glad when html5 is the standard, but its not today, and if im buying a device to browse the internet i want it to be ready for today's flash-filled internet.

What better way to hasten the death of the Flash-plagued Web and institute HTML5 by not including Flash in your market-leading devices?

It's a painful move, but a necessary one.

I can't bear to browse the Web on my Mac without ClickToFlash doing its thang. I say the sooner we break the chains of Flash the better. Kudos to Apple for making this short-term-unpopular yet long-term-wise decision. ¡Via la Flashless revolución!

 

[cmaier]

The same can be said of iPad. With a 10 hours battery life, you're going to have to drag the power cord along. And it won't be online until you find a wifi network (unless you subscribe to a 3G data plan, which you can do from a laptop also, with a free USB stick usually included vs iPad's 130$ markup).

That's what I do with my verizon aircard - pay as you go. However, I had to pay for it (no contract=no subsidy), and for $30 I don't get anything close to unlimited access (I forget the limit, but I exceed it in about 2.5 days of use on my MBP, and that's not streaming video - just lots of email, RSS, web, etc.)

 

[puppyflightclub]

takes me 2 seconds to "type" the word acknowledge

take me 4.5 seconds to write it...

iPad>my wrist.

*in regards to taking notes in class*

not to mention, predictive text...

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

What better way to hasten the death of the Flash-plagued Web and institute HTML5 by not including Flash in your market-leading devices?

It's a painful move, but a necessary one.

I can't bear to browse the Web on my Mac without ClickToFlash doing it's thang. I say the sooner we break the chains of Flash the better. Kudos to Apple for making this short-term-unpopular yet long-term-wise decision. ¡Via la Flashless revolución!

I want html5 as much as the next guy, but apple crippling their modern devices isnt going to make any rush to update their sites. For the most part it just costs too much for most sites to rewrite everything, and it offers them little benefit because IE (which is still like %60 of the browser market) doesnt support HTML5, so they will have to have 2 versions of their site so everyone can enjoy it. Why go through the headaches when sites can just use flash and have it done with. Its not their fault that flash games are a threat to the App Store games (few of which are more advanced than a basic flash game).

 

[LagunaSol]

I want html5 as much as the next guy, but apple crippling their modern devices isnt going to make any rush to update their sites.

Believe me, you get enough millions of eyeballs that can't view your website (hence your products and your ads) on their red-hot pocket gadgets and they'll be coming up with standards-compliant sites.

Besides, not being able to see Flash on my iPhone hasn't proved crippling at all. In fact, I find it surprisingly liberating.

IE (which is still like %60 of the browser market) doesnt support HTML5

Sweet, even more reason to dump Flash and push HTML5.

 

[0092762]

Believe me, you get enough millions of eyeballs that can't view your website (hence your products and your ads) on their red-hot pocket gadgets and they'll be coming up with standards-compliant sites.

Besides, not being able to see Flash on my iPhone hasn't proved crippling at all. In fact, I find it surprisingly liberating.



Sweet, even more reason to dump Flash and push HTML5.

Millions of eyeballs complaining about flash pale in comparison to billions using computers and not complaining. Apple is a niche player, always have been. If Microsoft banned flash from IE, you'd actually see change, but not with Apple.

I don't care much for flash on my iPhone either, that's because 3G speeds are a joke and so I don't bother waiting for viewing a video with the iPhone.

But iPad will mostly be used at homes with wifi connections, and it will need to support flash. I don't like flash myself either, but about half my home browsing is on sites with flash videos, so iPad will fail badly for me. If it supported flash, and at least multitask with an IM client, I'd be buying it day 1.

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

Apple: The only company that can make an omission look like a feature.

 

[Mad Mac]

I can't bear to browse the Web on my Mac without ClickToFlash doing it's thang. I say the sooner we break the chains of Flash the better.

Please. I find that browsing on my iPhone with no adblocker a thousand times more annoying than browsing on my MBP using Firefox with flash and Adblock Plus. Fact is, ads are what slows things down. Maybe you should bitch about Apple not providing an ad blocker.

A locked down browser sucks. And a locked down browser with no flash sucks even more. A media tablet that can't play flash media? Can't even multitask when phones can? Amazing.

 

[Eidorian]

Shazbot, did you just imply something positive about Apple by saying something not negative about Apple? The End is nigh!

You should see DDR3 prices. Apple's BTO prices seem cheap now.

 

[zotes24]

For all the people that are speaking terribly of the iPad, back in 2001 when the iPod 1st came out receive some of the same negative comments and worse, and we know how that turned out.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.500/

 

[AidenShaw]

For all the people that are speaking terribly of the iPad, back in 2001 when the iPod 1st came out receive some of the same negative comments and worse, and we know how that turned out.

One difference, though, is that we all know what an Ipod Touch is.

And the Ipad is just a "super-sized" Ipod Touch - but less.

 

[zotes24]

One difference, though, is that we all know what an Ipod Touch is.

And the Ipad is just a "super-sized" Ipod Touch - but less.

i agree but one can say that this is the ipod touch for adults etc. apple is not trying to steal people away from other devices just everyone else like they did with the iPhone. i think the ipad software wise could use some changes, but it is a great thing. this article explains it better than i could
http://gizmodo.com/5458531/the-ipad-is-the-gadget-we-never-knew-we-needed

 

[blybug]

Upon watching the keynote opening again today i thought a lot about this slide:

Steve said the iPad would have to be better than both the macbook and the iphone at each of these tasks, while he criticized netbooks for being better at none of them.

I love the iPad and plan to get one even though I have an iPhone and a MacBook Pro. Admittedly I am the guy who buys all things Apple and shiny, but it will have its place and its use in my Apple ecosystem.

However, I wonder if the product would have been better defined had Steve stuck with the line of reasoning based on the introductory history lesson about Apple inventing the laptop in 1991, reinventing the smartphone in 2007, and now setting out to reinvent the laptop in the form of the iPhone. The way Steve set up the argument by clearly stating the device had to do some things better than either a smartphone or a laptop or else it had no reason for being, left me anxiously anticipating what and how it would do anything better than either...and I was left waiting and wondering if he had convinced even himself of its reason for being.

Had he gone with the historic/evolutionary argument, he could have pointed out that every laptop from every manufacturer since the original PowerBook in 1991 has been a variation on the same L-shaped screen-hinge-keyboard form factor. This includes netbooks and tablets which have been trying to cram a full-fledged OS made for a desktop with lots of horsepower, a giant screen, keyboard, and mouse into a midget version of the same tired flip-tablet or L-design with cramped uncomfortable input devices and too much OS overhead for the underpowered components. And since many users simply want a lightweight web-browser email-checker facebook-updater movie-viewer, they're often frustrated and disappointed with the performance and ergonomics for even these simple tasks.

He could have gone on to say that Apple flipped the problem upside down. If what people want is a lightweight web-browser email-checker facebook-updater movie-viewer with great performance, little OS overhead, and a comfortable intuitive interface, they need look no further than the iPhone and iPod touch...which already do all those things but on an often too-small screen. So Apple, rather than cramming a legacy desktop OS and archaic input techniques into a smaller less powerful device, has put its already familiar optimized-for-touch OS and its library of applications onto a larger more powerful device.

There'd be no avoiding mentioning that it's simply a giant iPod touch with a fancy fresh big-screen appearance update, an eReader, and some more advanced productivity apps. That's exactly what it is and the unwashed masses would understand that...and I think buy it with exactly that in mind. As it is the definition of the device and where it fits is somewhat muddled because Jobs went out of his way to make it appear as if it were something totally new, magical, and revolutionary.

Steve Jobs should have said "It's a giant iPod touch! BOOM!" instead of leaving uncertain people wandering around today going "So, it's just a giant iPod touch, right?"

 

[Eidorian]

There'd be no avoiding mentioning that it's simply a giant iPod touch with a fancy fresh big-screen appearance update, an eReader, and some more advanced productivity apps. That's exactly what it is and the unwashed masses would understand that...and I think buy it with exactly that in mind. As it is the definition of the device and where it fits is somewhat muddled because Jobs went out of his way to make it appear as if it were something totally new, magical, and revolutionary.

Steve Jobs should have said "It's a giant iPod touch! BOOM!" instead of leaving uncertain people wandering around today going "So, it's just a giant iPod touch, right?"

I need to do some more investigation but from what I've surveyed even the unwashed masses are confused.

 

[cmaier]

I need to do some more investigation but from what I've surveyed even the unwashed masses are confused.

Or he should have said "it's the world's best ebook reader." At least that's arguably true.

 

[Eidorian]

Or he should have said "it's the world's best ebook reader." At least that's arguably true.

People around here seem confused and underwhelmed. To be honest most just saw it on the news and moved on with their lives. I was expecting to get a barrage of e-mails from friends but I got nothing. I sent out a mailing and everyone told me I was right for calling it a big iPod Touch. It was somewhat depressing for me.

 

[HyperZboy]

Shazbot, did you just imply something positive about Apple by saying something not negative about Apple? The End is nigh!



What better way to hasten the death of the Flash-plagued Web and institute HTML5 by not including Flash in your market-leading devices?

It's a painful move, but a necessary one.

I can't bear to browse the Web on my Mac without ClickToFlash doing it's thang. I say the sooner we break the chains of Flash the better. Kudos to Apple for making this short-term-unpopular yet long-term-wise decision. ¡Via la Flashless revolución!

There's only one problem with your theory...

Steve Jobs does not control the universe.

He only controls the Apple Fanboys with his infamous Reality Distortion Field.

Andy Richter Controls The Universe! LOL
(bad joke, but leads to my point...)

This device is not going to sell enough units to kill FLASH by any stretch of the imagination because it doesn't do anything that an iPhone doesn't already do hardly except being BIGGER and it doesn't do what most netbooks can do.
And the importance of FLASH on a netbook or laptop is a whole other story than the importance of FLASH on a phone!

And I think someone said something like "E-books are selling like hotcakes and this is the best E-book reader ever!" Wow, if Apple's only goal with this device is to outsell the Kindle, this product will be a colossal failure.

This device should have been designed with a slightly scaled back version of Mac OS X, not a PHONE OS with a few hacked added features!

I think Steve Jobs is infected with his own Reality Distortion Field.
This device is not better than a netbook or Macbook, nor a replacement for either except in some limited user situations and has less features than an iPhone!

When the iPhone came out, I had to have one THAT FIRST DAY!
Flash and other iPhone limitations were not a deterrent nor did they cross my mind BECAUSE IT'S A PHONE, DUH!
But this device is NOT A PHONE, yet does LITTLE MORE THAN A PHONE!
I'm thinking generation 3 on this device right now.

It's hard for me to say it, but I think Apple dropped another Newton egg here.
I just cannot believe the device is so limited and underpowered and runs a phone OS & not Mac OS X!

 

[cmaier]

People around here seem confused and underwhelmed. To be honest most just saw it on the news and moved on with their lives. I was expecting to get a barrage of e-mails from friends but I got nothing. I sent out a mailing and everyone told me I was right for calling it a big iPod Touch. It was somewhat depressing for me.

I've gotten a lot of facebook questions, emails, and stop-ins asking what I thought. As I told everyone else, I'll buy one because I was going to buy a nook or kindle anyway, and I need one to test my code on (so it's partially tax deductible). Plus, when i travel for my day job, I think I actually will be able to get away with taken it instead of my 17" MBP - on the road I mostly look at documents, light annotations, keynote presentations, email, web, slingplayer, etc. All that should be doable. (The reason I have a 17" MBP is for desktop replacement, not travel, and my iPhone is a little small for some of those functions).

Then I tell them they probably don't want to buy one, at least until rev B.

 

[Eidorian]

I've gotten a lot of facebook questions, emails, and stop-ins asking what I thought. As I told everyone else, I'll buy one because I was going to buy a nook or kindle anyway, and I need one to test my code on (so it's partially tax deductible). Plus, when i travel for my day job, I think I actually will be able to get away with taken it instead of my 17" MBP - on the road I mostly look at documents, light annotations, keynote presentations, email, web, slingplayer, etc. All that should be doable. (The reason I have a 17" MBP is for desktop replacement, not travel, and my iPhone is a little small for some of those functions).

Then I tell them they probably don't want to buy one, at least until rev B.

I was going to buy a new iPod Touch and write that off as a business expense too.

We all know how that turned out.

You guys send emails to each other about company product launches?

I've had a few people here at school mention it because they happened to come across it here or there, so far everyone things "that thing is crazy cool". Yes they do say its a big ipod touch, and it seems like thats what they love about it.

Remember, just because we tech nerds become jaded instantly by always looking down the road, doesn't mean regular people are. I know tons of people that are still blown away by the ipod touch, and I have let them use it several times.

I try to keep people up to date on Apple's hardware to make the best purchases. I predicted it would be a big iPod Touch awhile back and well it turned out that way.

I've talked to the "average folk" as well and they're not really interested in it compared to an iPhone or iPod Touch.

 

[NT1440]

People around here seem confused and underwhelmed. To be honest most just saw it on the news and moved on with their lives. I was expecting to get a barrage of e-mails from friends but I got nothing. I sent out a mailing and everyone told me I was right for calling it a big iPod Touch. It was somewhat depressing for me.

You guys send emails to each other about company product launches?

I've had a few people here at school mention it because they happened to come across it here or there, so far everyone things "that thing is crazy cool". Yes they do say its a big ipod touch, and it seems like thats what they love about it.

Remember, just because we tech nerds become jaded instantly by always looking down the road, doesn't mean regular people are. I know tons of people that are still blown away by the ipod touch, and I have let them use it several times.

 

[LagunaSol]

I need to do some more investigation but from what I've surveyed even the unwashed masses are confused.

The unwashed masses know nothing about this thing, and won't until it actually ships and Apple starts advertising it.