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"When including the iPad as part of the NB [notebook] market," he writes, "Apple leapt over Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell in terms of global unit share."


Well...is this survey, then, ALSO taking into considerations of NETbook sales by those manufacturers?

The iPad certainly is not a notebook. If anything, the iPad is closer to a netbook. So if these charts/figures are going to lump the iPad into the laptop computer market, the author(s) should also include netbook sales to keep the playing field fair. It's hard to tell exactly how all these were compared.

Moreover, the iPad certainly is not a notebook or netbook. Heck, why didn't this report also include the iPhone or iPod Touch as comparisons...sheeeeez. I find it very hard to believe that when you take Apple notebook sales (X) and add in 3 million iPads sold (Y) that X+Y is greater than alllllll of Dell notebook sales. No way, Jose.

-Eric

Yes.
 
The iPad is considered to be a mobile computer? Their definition is pretty loose. It's mobile but hardly much of a computer.

Agreed. When I can develop iPad apps *ON THE IPAD* maybe then I will consider it a computer. The iPad is as much a computer as the iPod Touch is.
 
Its easy. I can not take photoshop or illustrator and install it on my iPad...

Of course you can't take an app compiled for some different OS and architecture and run it (unemulated) on another. You can't take some Solaris CAD program or IBM Z series app and run it on your MacBook either.

What you can do with the iPhone is run a lot of apps that fit many many many computer application categories:

Drawing apps: Several available (one used for a New Yorker cover!)
Photo editing apps: Several in the App store.
Spreadsheet apps: Check.
Word processing: Check.
SQL and other Database: Check.
Web browsers: Safari and Opera.
Email: Check.
Programming languages: Javascript built-in.
Communications: telnet, ssh, RDP, VNC, X11, & etc.
Text adventure games: Check.
Doom and other 3D 1st person shooters: Check.
Flight simulators: Several.
Audio spectrum analyzers: Several.
etc.
I even found a circuit simulator in the App store.

Try finding all that and more that runs on something that's not a computer (or has one built-in).
 
Its easy. I can not take photoshop or illustrator and install it on my iPad... i can however take those same apps and install them on my netbook... it will suck but i can still do it.... so there you go... the iOS is an OS, but it cant be compared to systems running ungimped versions of an OS.

My TI-89 fits that description.....

So does my Casio fx-7000G calculator from 1988. I still use it daily. And I STILL can't install Photoshop in it. JUST like the iPad! But, I can actually write programs with it, which I CANT do on the iPad.
 
Agreed. When I can develop iPad apps *ON THE IPAD* maybe then I will consider it a computer.

What you "consider" isn't too interesting or historically correct.

When the Mac first came out, you couldn't develop native apps on it (a Lisa was required for that). When MS Windows first came out, Windows itself couldn't be compiled on a PC (cross-compiled from a minicomputer instead). You could write programs for both of the above in interpreted Basic.

And you can also develop interpreted Javascript apps on an iPad (there are several JS editors in the App store, and you can run the resulting web apps directly on the device.)

Don't know why a device that could do that wouldn't be called a form of computer.


So does my Casio fx-7000G calculator from 1988. I still use it daily. And I STILL can't install Photoshop in it. JUST like the iPad! But, I can actually write programs with it, which I CANT do on the iPad.

There are several programmable calculator apps in the App store.
 

Well, the math doesn't add up: If Apple only has 8% of the personal computer market share, how can Apple possibly be in 3rd place among all personal computer vendors? The only way would be as if (I'm just throwing out examples here...nothing based on what I've read) Dell has 11% of the marketshare, Asus has 9%, HP has 7%?! No way. The math of the market share doesn't add up. Let's also remember that Apple's 8% personal computer marketshare is DESKTOPS AND NOTEBOOKS...combined. So to claim that Apple's portable computers are enjoying all 8% is untrue.

I'm glad Apple is selling lots of iPads. But to 1)lump an iPad into a "personal computer" segment like notebooks and/or netbooks is totally biased...and Apple would seriously disapprove and 2)the math simply doesn't add up where Apple as a company has 8% (if that) personal computer market share and yet some report is claiming Apple is in 3rd place (regardless of what the product is called) for vendor personal notebook/netbook computer marketshare. Again, no way, Jose.

-Eric
 
What you "consider" isn't too interesting or historically correct.

When the Mac first came out, you couldn't develop native apps on it (a Lisa was required for that). When MS Windows first came out, Windows itself couldn't be compiled on a PC (cross-compiled from a minicomputer instead). You could write programs for both of the above in interpreted Basic.

And you can also develop interpreted Javascript apps on an iPad (there are several JS editors in the App store, and you can run the resulting web apps directly on the device.)

Don't know why a device that could do that wouldn't be called a form of computer.

There are several programmable calculator apps in the App store.

You missed my point. Apple RESTRICTS the KINDS of apps I can put on my device.

The hardware and software MAY physically constitute a computer, but as long as it is locked down by Apple's policies, restricting what I can do with it, then I don't personally consider it on the same par as say a netbook, which has no such (artificial, I should add) restrictions. And since I consider a netbook to be a computer for these reasons, I don't consider the iPad to be one for the same reasons.

Once Apple comes out with XCode for it, or even lets me install a Python interpereter for it, then I'll change my mind.
 
I guess I missed the computer science where Photoshop was listed as the standard for something being a computer or not. If I recall, a computer is something that can execute programming code.

A computer is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer
 
You missed my point. Apple RESTRICTS the KINDS of apps I can put on my device.

The hardware and software MAY physically constitute a computer, but as long as it is locked down by Apple's policies, restricting what I can do with it, then I don't personally consider it on the same par as say a netbook, which has no such (artificial, I should add) restrictions. And since I consider a netbook to be a computer for these reasons, I don't consider the iPad to be one for the same reasons.

Once Apple comes out with XCode for it, or even lets me install a Python interpereter for it, then I'll change my mind.

There are thousands of computers that are way more locked down the iPad.
 
I guess I missed the computer science where Photoshop was listed as the standard for something being a computer or not. If I recall, a computer is something that can execute programming code.

Then, as others have correctly pointed out, calculators, digital watches, digital thermostats, anything with a PIC chip in them, are computers.

Taking those kinds of devices into account, do you think Apple's pitiful iPad numbers are even relevant?

No, we have to draw the "is it a computer" line somewhere useful, and most people say that a computer is a "general purpose" device, with no artificial restrictions as to what we can run on it. The iPad does not fall into this category.
 
Then, as others have correctly pointed out, calculators, digital watches, digital thermostats, anything with a PIC chip in them, are computers.

Taking those kinds of devices into account, do you think Apple's pitiful iPad numbers are even relevant?

No, we have to draw the "is it a computer" line somewhere useful, and most people say that a computer is a "general purpose" device, with no artificial restrictions as to what we can run on it. The iPad does not fall into this category.

And how many years have Apple been selling the iPad?
 
Which ways? I have always view the iPad a computer. Seeing how its my most used computer.

The article topic how Apple is supposedly the third-largest "mobile computer" manufacturer do to the iPad. People use this to say that the iPad is a "mobile computer" and site the Wikipedia definition of computer.

By that definition, then pretty much any other electronic device with a programmable chip should also be considered a computer.

There are millions and millions of non-Apple devices sold each year with these "computers" in them.

Since they are not included in the "statistics" that are the basis of this very article, then either:

1. Apple is NOT the third-largest provider of mobile "computers"
or
2. The iPad is a not a "computer"

You can't have it both ways.
 
You missed my point. Apple RESTRICTS the KINDS of apps I can put on my device.

No, egocentric one....you miss HIS point.

Once again, the product does not define the market. Consumer uses define the market.
 
Then, as others have correctly pointed out, calculators, digital watches, digital thermostats, anything with a PIC chip in them, are computers.

Taking those kinds of devices into account, do you think Apple's pitiful iPad numbers are even relevant?

No, we have to draw the "is it a computer" line somewhere useful, and most people say that a computer is a "general purpose" device, with no artificial restrictions as to what we can run on it. The iPad does not fall into this category.

Yes, it does.

It's just that your notion of "general purpose" is much more idiosyncratic than other people's. (And being idiosyncratic, that probably means it doesn't pass the "general purpose" test. Heh.)
 
You missed my point. Apple RESTRICTS the KINDS of apps I can put on my device.

No they don't. They restrict the products that they will carry in their App store (just like any other major retailer).

With a developer certificate (cheaper than what MS originally sold Visual C++ for), you can compile and put all kinds of weird apps on your device (and the devices of a hundred friends). I once put a LISP interpreter on my iPhone.

Plus, the Library of Congress recently said that you can legally jailbreak to install apps as well... if you want to screw up your device's security (more than it already is :eek: )
 
Its easy. I can not take photoshop or illustrator and install it on my iPad... i can however take those same apps and install them on my netbook... it will suck but i can still do it.... so there you go... the iOS is an OS, but it cant be compared to systems running ungimped versions of an OS.

There are probably hundreds and possibly thousands of applications on the App Store that you cannot take and install on your netbook. So that means your netbook isn't a computer? Same goes for applications built for a Macbook Pro that can't be installed on a Windows netbook. And like someone earlier mentioned, you can't install Photoshop or illustrator on Linux machines. I guess that means they're not computers then.

See how that works?
 
... I think that competition to/from

Apple, Android(Google), MS is only good news for the consumer. Some folks cry about apple not letting them do this or that - well, there are other products to choose from. Vote and be heard with your wallet/purse/pocket change/credit card etc. Crying about it on forums is silly at best, just annoying and pointless at worst.
 
The iPad is considered to be a mobile computer? Their definition is pretty loose. It's mobile but hardly much of a computer.

It's really a matter of what you think a mobile computer should be I guess.

For instance, show me any one netbook or even notebook with built in GPS, Digital Compass, WIFI, 3G radio, blue-tooth, accelerometer, 1024x768 9.7 inch touch screen, a fast touch UI built on a solid OS, 10 hours of battery life, etc.

Compared to specs like that it could be argued that most netbooks and many laptops are not mobile computers. They are computers... but hardly mobile.
 
The article topic how Apple is supposedly the third-largest "mobile computer" manufacturer do to the iPad. People use this to say that the iPad is a "mobile computer" and site the Wikipedia definition of computer.

By that definition, then pretty much any other electronic device with a programmable chip should also be considered a computer.

There are millions and millions of non-Apple devices sold each year with these "computers" in them.

Since they are not included in the "statistics" that are the basis of this very article, then either:

1. Apple is NOT the third-largest provider of mobile "computers"
or
2. The iPad is a not a "computer"

You can't have it both ways.

They state in the survey what they are counting. And you if you count everything that has a microprocessor in it, surveys would become meaningless. My only point in the whole thing is people were stating the iPad wasn't a computer because it can't run Photoshop. To me that is a very weak argument. Seeing how there is no Photoshop for Linux. What is Photoshop but a bunch of 1s and 0s. How is that different than the thousands of apps that run on iOS?
 
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