Excitement about iPad: A Large Screen Multi-Touch Platform

[sohelpme]

Just a continuation of what Apple has always done

Apple has always dropped the old and replaced it with the new. And generally, they lead the pack AND force the issue. Things such as...removing floppy drives, replacing serial and ADB ports with USB ports...

Every time, hoards of people have been up in arms, primarily saying that Apple has to be more like the rest of the computer industry, and keep supporting old stuff forever [like how many computer STILL have floppy drives which never get used, and serial ports for mice/keyboard, and parallel ports for printers?].

Apple has realized that if the industry is to move forward, and make real progress, somebody has to drag it there, while its kicking and screaming the whole way.

With Flash not being allowed on the iPhone/iPod Touch and now the iPad [presumably], Adobe [primarily] keeps yelping that we aren't getting the 'whole' internet on these devices.

So what.

Millions of people have, and are continuing, to vote with their wallets that the Apple experience on these devices are that much better than any other 'similar' devices with Flash support that they would rather use the Apple product. And that's if they even NOTICE that their iPhone doesn't handle Flash.

10 years ago, heck, even 5 years ago, the best way to get video and interactive content over the internet was to use Flash. It was the most straightforward way, accessible to the majority of people as both Microsoft and Apple included a Flash plugin with their OS, and figuring out how to distribute video over the internet without Flash was insanely complex. Today, for people running older computers [say, still running XP with IE 6], it still is the easiest way to get video content to them.

But that's not the people Apple is aiming the iPhone/iPad at. They are aiming it at the people who still don't know all the in's and out's of their desktop. Who would need somebody sitting next to them to point out that they need to install Flash for x web site to work, so type this in, then double click this, etc... and then go back to the web site and now it works. Apple is going for getting enough devices out there, that all the web sites out that use Flash to create an HTML5 version just for Apple devices and see how they work. And then maybe use that version also for all the other SmartPhones with browsers based on WebKit, so they don't burn up their batteries with their Flash version. And maybe that web site owner will go, damn, it works pretty good. And I don't have to pay Adobe [or Apple] to create or serve that content, so I'm saving money. Then maybe some will decide to stop serving Flash at all, and for those browsers that can't display their content [like IE6/7/8], they can send a really cheap pay saying "Go to this web site [firefox/safari/opera/etc] and use one of those browser, and this site and the rest of the internet will work so much better for you".

If Apple were to cave and spend any amount of effort to alter their operating system to make Flash work [which is what Adobe seems to be saying that Apple has to do, so I guess Microsoft did this for Adobe, so maybe that's why Windows still is so lame?], it goes back to web developers having NO reason to move forward.

How many USB mice/keyboards/drives/printers do you think would have been released in the year after the first iMac shipped, if it still had SCSI, ADB and serial ports?

 

[cvaldes]

Their going to come out with a new version in 6 months called a iPad Pro, its gonna have a .5 MP camera and cost $1000

Based on Apple's history with both the iPhone and the iPod touch, your scenario is unlikely.

The more plausible path would be for Apple to add functionality and drop the prices. Apple did not increase prices when they released the iPhone 3G.

 

[SandynJosh]

It could be that this device heralds the first step away from the "typewriter" metaphor that's been with us since 1868.

For real work you still need a keyboard, unless you use the Macbook Wheel.

I don't disagree that business is not ready to toss the keyboard...I said, "the first step away...". The process is not yet complete.

In the early '80s business was in the process of converting more functions over to computer terminals and PCs. The excuses and reasons for some workers to hold onto their IBM Selectric typewriters were delivered loud and often. However, within less then 5 years the transformation was complete to nearly 100%.

"Real work" may be soon redefined to the point where inputting one character after another with a keyboard while sitting still in a good ergonomic position may become as archaic as carbon paper.

Just because we can't see the future doesn't mean it isn't there.

 

[cvaldes]

I can't stand all the people overly-voicing their negative opinions on the iPad. Did they miss the memo on what this thing is for? Were the black couch and coffee table not visible? This is a pick-me-up-and-get-to-it device, with comfort.

You aren't preaching to the choir, you are preaching to the blind and deaf.

Most of the people here have completely unrealistic expectations and have zero knowledge about what it costs to build these devices and what's conceivable possible based on Apple's overall business strategy.

 

[geofly]

Institutions

Agreed, this thing is gonna be huge. Developer's have burned some major calories making iPhone apps for the small screen. The possibilities on this new device are an order of magnitude greater.
I expect the institutional use of this thing will be massive. Schools and hospitals being the most obvious to me.

 

[cvaldes]

In the early '80s business was in the process of converting more functions over to computer terminals and PCs. The excuses and reasons for some workers to hold onto their IBM Selectric typewriters were delivered loud and often. However, within less then 5 years the transformation was complete to nearly 100%.

I will point out that as a text-entry input device, the superiority of the physical keyboard is virtually unchanged. An experienced touch typist should be able to pound out over 120 words-per-minute blindfolded or with his/her hands shielded.

I love my iPod touch. I hover a little under 100 wpm on my normal full-sized physical keyboards and there's no way I could get to that speed on my iPod's virtual keyboard.

And frankly, the IBM Selectric's keyboard blows doors on my Microsoft Natural Keyboard tactile response. There was an ALPS keyboard in the mid-Nineties that was the closest thing to a really good computer keyboard, but those days are long gone.

 

[JohnDoe98]

People complain about the lack of USB and Camera. Here is a very simple solution. Build a case as sleek and as beautiful as the Apple one but have it had a connector that goes into the docking connector and have the case have built in Camera and USB. Problem solved now your ipad does everything and is only missing multitasking. No problem, jailbreak it and wait till Apple makes it available. Ez way to make good money; I'd develop one myself but have no time to make money.

 

[RobBookPro]

mac mini running at 1024x768 somewhere in the house with a wifi vnc connection and you have a portable touchscreen imac.

 

[toneloco2881]

Then it would cost $499 more and everybody would complain. Again.

I find it amusing that not too long ago, people were ooh-ing and aah-ing and getting all moist about Jeff Han's video of multi-touch on a large surface. Then, Apple releases a product that is capable of exactly that (albeit a little more economically sized) and they start calling it iFlop. Apparently people get complacent or forget.

Me, I'm glad the developers get it. The haters will look foolish in a few months time (although they'll conveniently forget it) and with a little luck, through the power of their apps some developers will imbue me with the power of Han-ness.

Moist.

That made me LOL because you conveyed my thoughts exactly. Everyone needs to imagine if this product was introduced by Apple 'before' the iPhone. The tech world at large would have had a heart attack from the sheer amazement. The problem is that the iPhone was introduced first, and now the iPad just seems like a copy of what was a revolutionary idea. Just imagine how your cellphone looked 3 years ago. Is copying the iPhone truly so horrible?

I believe Apple did themselves a disservice(in regards to most peoples assumptions) with having the iPad look SO similar to the iPhone in both physical appearance, and interface. The grid arrangement on such a big screen looks plain silly, and disallows persons to think of this as anything 'but' a huge iPod Touch. It's capable of sooo much more imo, but it's presentation conjured thoughts of yesteryear, and made Apple seem unimaginative. I think that is why it has garnered such a polarizing reaction because whether you like it or not--Apple usually leads then everyone else follows. I say this because for me it's perception, not reality, that has most people hung up.

I for one am thinking of the apps that such a larger multi-touch screen can enable, and am salivating. I never thought a word processing demo could look 'sexy' but iWork did, and should make people take notice of what this platform can do. With Apple now allowing file sharing between apps; the ability for apps to register themselves as the default opener, and the ability to wirelessly mount the iPad as a hard-drive; it is enough computer that most people need. Add in the ability to print and it can replace a lot of my utility that is now relegated to my MBP. The quad core iMac in my office can handle things like Handbreak and Photoshop.

 

[MacTheSpoon]

With the launch of the Apple iPad, there has been no shortage of reactions and opinions on the device. We feel the most promising aspect of the iPad is there is now an relatively inexpensive full-sized multi-touch platform that is open to a massive audience of developers.

However, the tablets running Windows 7 will be even more inexpensive and open to an even more massive audience of developers. Plus, they will not be crippled with a phone OS focused on "media consumption." Apple blew it by not putting OS X on the iPad.

 

[MacGuffin]

Several forum readers have expressed excitement

My god, that's astounding.

Well, if fanboyz are excited there can't be any problem, can there.

Say, maybe the Daring Fireball itself is excited? And glowing like a can of sterno on steroids? Have you checked? Maybe there's a post in that, too.

 

[nagromme]

The most common complaint about the iPad is that it’s just a faster iPhone with a big screen and long battery life.

That’s not a complaint: that’s the BEST thing about the iPad! A “super iPhone” is something I’ve wanted ever since I started using an iPhone. At $999 I wouldn’t have bought it, but at $499 I certainly will. It will replace a laptop for many of my outings, and I’ll use it constantly at home.

(The sheer magnitude of mindless, panicky trolling reminds of other past Apple blockbusters. Clearly this is big!)

However, the tablets running Windows 7 will be even more inexpensive and open to an even more massive audience of developers. Plus, they will not be crippled with a phone OS focused on "media consumption." Apple blew it by not putting OS X on the iPad.

A desktop OS with only fingers (or worse: requiring a stylus) is a TERRIBLE experience, and has made tablets a failure for years. A NEW OS was called for, with a NEW way of interacting, and that’s what Apple did (albeit based on OS X under the hood).

Two ways to make a tablet:

* Try to be a laptop, running a laptop/desktop OS, and do it badly.

* Be something NEW and do it well.

I’m glad Apple chose the latter. (And after the iPhone, it’s hardly a surprise.)

A MacBook Air (or even a plain old MacBook) makes a better portable Mac than any tablet could ever be. A portable Mac (or Windows laptop) is not a need that needs to be filled: we already have that.

 

[SandynJosh]

So? You could run 2 os's and access shared data - why boot into mac os just to play your iTunes library, for example.

Thanks, glad to see you "got" it...and if the new MBP didn't have a touch screen (just a large touch pad), then the price wouldn't jump up $499.

The thought here would be to "wean" people off the idea that they need a power hungry Intel processor and/or a full sized mechanical keyboard to get "real work" done.

 

[firewood]

I will point out that as a text-entry input device, the superiority of the physical keyboard is virtually unchanged.

Before the ThinkPad became a status symbol, no rising executive wanted a keyboard on their desk. That was for secretaries and other lower class workers.

The iPad may be the first of a new breed of executive status symbol (which have no physical keycaps).

 

[admanimal]

However, the tablets running Windows 7 will be even more inexpensive and open to an even more massive audience of developers. Plus, they will not be crippled with a phone OS focused on "media consumption." Apple blew it by not putting OS X on the iPad.

The tablets running Windows 7 will also have an OS that in no way was designed to run on a tablet, which would be the same if Apple chose to use OS X. While these tablets might be more powerful in the sense that they do have a desktop OS, they do not solve the problem that the iPad is trying to solve, which is providing an experience that relieves the user of dealing with common PC (or Mac OS) issues while still providing essential functionality.

iPhone OS is the premiere touch-based mobile OS in the world. I don't know how anyone expected Apple to use anything else on the iPad.

 

[FightTheFuture]

I agree the MLB at bat is amazing i almost wonder if this would Finally Convince Hulu or Netflix to make a App now.

supposedly Hulu has been working on the App for close to a year and plans to release it when their pay-subscription begins.

They are aiming it at the people who still don't know all the in's and out's of their desktop.

i would like to add that there are a ton of Gen Y'ers out there who really don't care about anything but facebook. this is why the iPad may become more important then what we're actually making it out to be. people won't have to 'learn' how to use a computer or new OS anymore.

Me, I'm glad the developers get it. The haters will look foolish in a few months time (although they'll conveniently forget it) and with a little luck, through the power of their apps some developers will imbue me with the power of Han-ness.

i hope this happens. i hope the people who have better things going on in their lives and aren't reading these sites, walk into an apple store and watch a movie, or read an eBook, or check their facebook status all without a specialist to show them what to click on. those are the people that are going to 'get it'. those are the people who are going to use this thing more then we ever would.

 

[firewood]

However, the tablets running Windows 7 will be even more inexpensive and open to an even more massive audience of developers. Plus, they will not be crippled with a phone OS focused on "media consumption." Apple blew it by not putting OS X on the iPad.

OS X is on the iPad. If you mean the desktop versions of OS X and Windows 7, the best way to run apps on these heavier OSes may be virtualized and remote, from your iPad. Put all the power hungry stuff in the closet, instead of having to carry a heavier battery around with you. 90% of the time, 90% of users don't need all that legacy OS cruft, and the battery and maintenance to support it, following them around.

 

[Eric S.]

You're not buying laptops for 1000 employees, and worrying about what happens to your companies data when somebody (at least one) loses a laptop. With a remote desktop viewing app on an iPad, none of your valuable disk drives ever have to leave the building.

The point was that for VNC you need more than just a screen. You need a keyboard. A real one, if you're doing real work.

I don't disagree that business is not ready to toss the keyboard...I said, "the first step away...". The process is not yet complete.

If there was a first step, it was the iPhone/iPod touch. This is really no different in essence from what they offered.

 

[firewood]

You aren't preaching to the choir, you are preaching to the blind and deaf.

They remind me of a quote from Henry Ford: "If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse".

The netbook is heading towards being a pony, something that only girls and country cowboys want. Every body else is getting on the new highways with their iPhones (and jumbo versions thereof).

 

[SandynJosh]

Before the ThinkPad became a status symbol, no rising executive wanted a keyboard on their desk. That was for secretaries and other lower class workers.

The iPad may be the first of a new breed of executive status symbol (which have no physical keycaps).

You are so spot on!

While the iPad was not aimed at the business market, it does allow an executive to regain his distance from typing. In fact, with the Dragon app, he/she can dictate their thoughts just like in the olden days of 1950.

 

[CFreymarc]

I don't want to buy a whole new device in order to enjoy multi-touch apps. I want multi-touch on my Mac which I'm comfortable with and which I'm going to use most of my time anyway.

Apple, please don't invent new devices in order to make us pay more. It's a shame to waste your wonderful technologies by separating them from each other.

With the iPad becoming a grown iPhone instead of a shrunken Mac, the Mac that we know and love has its days numbered. Let me explain.

For the last twenty years, desktop computers have had to deal with the lag of virtual memory. While running massive spreadsheets and word processors with the half to three second pause every minute or so was acceptable back then, apps have become more and more user interface intensive in dynamics requiring faster memory responses.

The biggest problem with moving desktop OS'es to a hand-held device has been this disk drive emulation on top of flash memory that has slowed down performance. Anyone using Windows Mobile with the "wait" icon is annoyed by it since virtual memory swaps is what the kernal is doing most of the time when you see that icon. Modern desktop OSes are built with the expectation that a disk drive is present for virtual memory.

A time will come soon where Flash memory will get cheaper than hard disks. Those in the memory storage business know how close these two GB / dollar lines are getting. When Flash memory cost hits parity, Flash memory access time is going to have hard disks go the way of paper punch cards and magnetic memory tape.

From that, Steve and company at Apple see this trend. This is why they are pulling all development resources, CPU, hardware, software, etc. in house so they don't have to talk about trend to suppliers 'til they are blue in their face. IMO, their goal in a few years is a totally solid state Mac with no hard disk, no virtual memory and with that, very quick memory response.

In the new few years I expect larger screen iPad like devices and and OS XI or whatever they call their next generation OS to run smoothly scaled up and down from an iPhone to and iPad to whatever they call thier totally solid state desktop computer.

Then you will see the computer of the future when this outdated virtual memory paradigm obsoleted and retired.

That is my crystal ball view!

 

[p0intblank]

This is exactly why I'm very excited about the iPad! I seriously cannot wait to see what developers come up with. And to think this is just the beginning... Bring it on!

 

[agkm800]

I couldn't agree more. I hated the iPad on the first day, but I have since realized its huge potential.

Ingenious 3rd party apps will save the device and make the iPad a big success despite of many annoyances -- i.e. lack of multi-tasking, flash, USB, camera, etc.

 

[bossxii]

how much does iPad cost?

$499 iPad has 16gigs flash mem + Wifi
$599 32gig + Wifi
$699 64gig + Wfi

Same 3 models with a 3g chip add $130 to each

Wifi models 60 days out, 3g ones 90 days out

 

[crash8130]

I have been saying for months that web devolopers are putting stuff out meaning for it to have one purpose and gets used for something else entirely. I.E. Twitter.

Apple has just done the same thing. They put out a device that is suppose to revolutionize the print media world** And maybe it will. NY Times app looked amazing and I will buy the tablet for this reason alone. But the MLB app gives you another look at what the unexpected result may be.

During the world series MLB.com couldn't stream the game because it was being shown on National Television. So instead they gave us the audio feed and something called Quad Mode. Quad Mode had four different camera angels that you could watch at the same time. I thought to my self if my iphone was a little bit bigger this would be awesome to have while watching the game on TV.

What i'm trying to say is this device could accommodate TV. Make it more interactive for the viewer. Idol discussions happen on Twitter while the show is live. What if idol put out an app that as the person was singing you got a bio. A list of songs that person previously did. The information on how to vote for them. A link to the their twitter feed. Alternate camera angles. Ect. Ect.

Now apply that to every sport possible. NFL. Racing. Boxing. Ect. Thats just one unexpected result.

We have no way of knowing what this device will turn into. But I know in the short time that it has been out I have a laundry list of things I want it to be able to do. All of which is possible just waiting for the developers to write the program.






**NY Times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFSxJIw_HLg