Kinda cool the iPad is the only one with a positive sales growth on the chart and it's a steep one.
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iPad Drives Apple to Third Place Among Global Portable Computer Manufacturers
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The only Mac that is _not_ dismissed as a toy by some people is the Mac Pro, but only after you drop one on their toes from two feet height.
Of course it's possible. You'd just need a graphical pointer slightly offset from, but still controlled by, your finger.
It's a bit obvious though with it being a newly released product that's selling like hot cakes.
That is odd I have seen several artist that have done artwork on the iPad. I also have this slick little app called ColorSplash. You paint away the color with your finger and my finger has never gotten in the way. Example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spazzcat/4857299792/
And that is fair enough, but not everyone needs the same things from a computer. I been programming for 15 years and I don't use every computer I own for programming.
The difference is you could if you want to. iPad has so many hurdles I would not consider it a "computer". Its an appliance and thats just fine. Where others see a blurry line I see it very clear.
I bought an iPad to compliment my MBP. If I had to chose between once device over the other, the iPad would get the boot ASAP. The form factor is amazing but the functionality of my MBP just isn't there. Until the iPad can match that, it will always be a secondary device instead of a primary one.
It seems to me, you are saying its not computer because it doesn't meet your needs. However, you do not defined what is and what isn't a computer. The simple fact it is cutting in to netbook and low end laptops is enough proof it is a computer.
You are mixing up your "facts". Apple said that the iPad was not a laptop replacement. They did not say it was not a netbook replacement. In fact, they went out of their way to explain how cheap netbooks didn't offer much of anything compared to real laptops and desktops because they didn't do anything better than a real notebook. They were only cheaper.
They even put up a graphic showing a macbook pro, ipad, and iphone to explain how the three make sense for a typical consumer rather than the traditional scenario of a desktop or laptop, netbook, and smartphone. The point being was if you have a laptop already, you would be better off with an ipad to supplement rather than a netbook.
So Apple in fact were going strictly after the netbook market not the regular notebook market and it has worked. They probably had planned this for a while which is why they never released a netbook even when the market took off. Without cannibalizing their own sales since they don't sell cheap low powered netbooks, they were able to satisfy a need in the market by gaining sales that otherwise would have gone to their competitors in the form of netbooks.
That will never happen, Apple decides what the consumer wants, not the other way around. Jobs has decided that you don't need, or even want a usb port orflash. If apple had the slightest concern for the consumers opinion, a Blu-ray drive would be an option for macbooks.
Netbooks can't/won't go away until the iPad can be sold in non-Apple branded BestBuys where the netbooks are over offered. Also, the iPad needs to be able to PRINT natively before it's a fully viable offer. Office for iPad would help too since Apple can't get 100% compatibility with iWork.
Only the most hardcore apple zealot would ever believe this. I highly doubt their is enough apple flavored kool-aid on the planet for any intelligent person to believe this.
The way I see it, the iPad displaces sales of netbooks that would be otherwise used for just entertainment purposes. I definitely don't see people buying an iPad instead of a notebook for serious work. I'm a perfect example. I bought an HP Mini 2 months ago to try it out, it didn't suit my purposes so I returned it for a refund and bought an iPad instead.
BTW - I don't really care that the iPad doesn't have a USB port for copying non-iTunes media onto. I bought it mainly for Netflix and streaming video, with occasional web browsing.
BTW - I don't really care that the iPad doesn't have a USB port for copying non-iTunes media onto. I bought it mainly for Netflix and streaming video, with occasional web browsing.
This I mostly agree with.
On the iPad, I can both write and run web apps which use the Javascript programming language. That makes the iPad a user programmable computer.
But I do most of my programming using the latest Xcode 3 and Xcode 4 beta, which do not run on the iPad, nor on my old iBook or PowerMac G3, so none of those latter 3 Apple products are enough computer for me.
But they are all computers, for some people, for some computer applications.
The real question is, where does the iPad fit into the spectrum of devices? Is it a laptop, a netbook, or a computer at all? It's certainly not a phone. A major problem that these analysts will be forced to deal with in the coming months & years is how to understand the computer market generally. If they stick with "desktop-laptop-phone" as the only paradigm, they will not understand what is happening in the computing space and they'll become very confused eventually.
The iPad is currently not a "notebook as desktop replacement" due to 2 factors:
* no USB ports
* the current Apple docking station does not allow for portrait orientation
Remember Steve Jobs always said this is a companion device!
Also never forget that the iPad doesn't have the horsepower to compete with i3/i5/i7 machines. Never was intended to.
Apple decides what Apple sells. They don't decide what you want. Why is that so hard to understand?
I thought the question of whether or not the iPad was an ereader or a tablet computer was settled when it debuted. And no one called it a computer. It's not even that capable of an ereader let alone a computer. Calling the iPad a tablet computer is like calling the old Motorola Rzar a smart phone.
A netbook is also hardly a computer. If you are going to include netbooks, you might as well include iPads.
Things actually get more interesting if you look at dollar-share instead of market-share. Apple would easily be number 1 by that metric.