iPad SDK 3.2 Details: External Display, File Sharing System, No Multitasking

[r88my]

Can I add one more category to your list? Those of us who've been using computers for so long that we remember the days of tape drives, use 'em in work daily and come home looking to relax, do the tasks you've already listed but, most of all, want something that puts the FUN back in computing! That's one of my main, in fact THE main reason I'm seriously considering this as my next home PC - it just looks like it's going to be fantastic and really enjoyable to use, not to mention a complete break from my work environment. Plus I've already got a whole device full of apps to run on it!

I think you've made a good point. Because it is fun and easy to use it will appeal to an entirely new audience. I'm beginning to think apple may have hit the jackpot with the iPad, it really is a great option for new and novice computer users. Instead of giving us mac users what we wanted in an apple tablet (the minority), they completely went the other way in order to reach out to the majority. I'm sure it will evolve over time anyway to appeal a little more to us. Still want one though

 

[frjonah]

Apparently they were thinking of how to make a device actualy, you know, USEABLE!

I keep banging on about this but the problem is people aren't thinking. You've got an OS X machine in your posession so try this: Fire up your favourite productivity app that you'd want to use on a tablet. Resize it to roughly a 9 to 10 inch diagonal. Now place a finger on the screen as if you're touching the UI... I'm fairly willing to bet you won't be able to access every element in that UI cleanly. Actually, a better example, set the screen to 1024 x 768 and try the same test wth the airport icon. On my 17" MBP I can just about get away with that. On a 10" screen? No chance.

Applications MUST be designed to work with the hardware they're running on. It's why Windows tablets have sucked so badly, the OS hasn't been optimised properly for styli let alone touch (Windows 7 is better) and the apps need a mouse to use properly. Make a tablet that just runs OS X and OS X applications and you've got a device that's a) horrible to use and b) pointless as it would cost about the same as a MBP.

The ONLY way a tablet makes sense is to build it around a slim OS with a custom built UI and apps. Apple would have been nuts to do anything other than base it on the iPhone OS and anyone that thought otherwise was deluding themselves. Will it work and find a market? I think it will, but either way it was the right decision to go this route as a desktop OS X powered tablet would have been a massive let down in the real world.

***... which, of course, does an excellent job of explaining the 9" hackintosh experience, with its throngs of devotees... In fact, maybe "touch" as the only interaction method wouldn't be ideal, hence the desire for a stylus or mouse for applications justifying such.

When Jobs said that they don't know how to make an Apple "netbook" that isn't "crap", we didn't expect that to mean that they didn't know how to make a tablet that would have ports (ie. Integrate with peripherals).

We all fully understand that many of you think that this device is great but, in fairness, product success will depend upon the population disposition to the device. With this article rating 80% negative due to the features the iPad left out, Apple will have an uphill climb to change the minds of the Apple fans that are feeling disappointed right now.

 

[cmaier]

Sounds like you need a laptop and an iPhone.

Lots of devices can do more than one thing at a time.

 

[Jason Lee]

Really hope Marvel and DC and others will allow comics on the iBookstore. It's perfect.

 

[Microsoap]

Hitler responds to iPad

Hitler responds to iPad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4&feature=player_embedded

iPad parody video.

 

[M.A.T.Macpro]

No flash either?

Watchin the demo i dont think there was flash player on it either just like the iphone?

anyone know for sure??

thx

 

[MacDav]

Here's the deal

Apple wants to have their cake and eat it too. For this device to be successful
it needs to replace the current macbook line. It must do everything a Macbook
does and more. In fact it should be called the new "Multi Touch Macbook".The iPad name is bad. Makes me think of a maxi-pad or something. Trying to position it as between an iphone and a Macbook is a fantasy. There is no room between them. It needs to run a full blown OS X. I think eventually this will happen. Right now they don't want to cut into their macbook sales, but they have no choice, this will be the new Macbook, it's just a matter of time.

RealDave

 

[NT1440]

Apple wants to have their cake and eat it too. For this device to be successful
it needs to replace the current macbook line. It must do everything a Macbook
does and more.

I stopped reading here. You really don't have any clue what this device is supposed to be do you? Hint: Its NOT a laptop replacement, its a companion device.

 

[cmaier]

Watchin the demo i dont think there was flash player on it either just like the iphone?

anyone know for sure??

thx

No flash. Never will be flash.

 

[jmontielmaillo]

About that iPad...

Open Letter to Steve Jobs,

I took the liberty to write you a letter after yesterday’s announcement of the iPad to express my concerns about the future of your product and also why I’m unsatisfied by what the iPad has to offer.

Yesterday the iPad was announced as a possible market penetrator that, as you said, would fit between an iPod touch/iPhone and a Mac. I certainly agree with that, I think that there is room for one more product as long as it is affordable (and in my opinion, it turned out to be so, given the $499 entry price of the iPad). On the other hand, I’m disappointed due to the lack of innovation on the software side of this “magical and revolutionary device”. Let’s be real, there is little innovation when talking about software on the iPad (which is basically the iPhoneOS), and I think the iPad has yet to demonstrate it’s a “revolutionary” device. As you said on the conference, there are 75 million people who already know how to use an iPhone and/or and iPod touch, and at the same time, there are 75 million people who already have a sort of portable iPad on their hands! I know, I know.. this has a bigger screen so watching a movie, browsing the web is much easier. Listening to music? not so much... but the fact is that the lack of software innovation is, unfortunately, going to keep me away from buying one of these things (even though I already know how to use it - I feel like I already have it or at least doesn’t offer anything truly new). In my humble opinion, there so much room for creating a better UI that gives you something that the iPhone or the iPod touch could never give you.

You have probably already heard about the complaints of what the iPad is missing and why it’s a disappointment. According to PC World there are twelve things the iPad should have had. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want those twelve issues fixed before buying and iPad, but there are two that keep me from doing so having already an iPhone or iPod touch. These are, the lack of a revolutionary UI, and the lack of a video camera for iChat.

Let me start with the second and least important one. I’m the user of a netbook. Yes, those cheap computers that aren’t better at anything. The fact is that netbooks, even though they’re slow, let me video chat while I’m in the University, or on a trip, or in anywhere else where I don’t carry my MacBook Pro because I find the netbook a lot lighter. Certainly the iPad is lighter than the netbook, but it won’t let me video chat.

Now, about the UI. Please please pleaseee! get rid of the iPhone OS and start a new iPad OS! Not that the iPhone OS isn’t any good (it’s actually excellent and I love my iPod touch in terms of hardware and software), but it was developed for the iPhone, a device with a limited screen size, with limited processing capabilities. The iPad has a much larger screen, and certainly has much better processing capabilities. In a way, I feel that the UI is being underused. Having such a beautiful screen just to display the same icons that the iPhone has? There so much more that could be done, and there is so much more the iPad could and should offer in order to say: wow, I need that!. I have a few ideas, but the purpose of this letter is not to sell them (I bet people at Apple have tons of great ideas) but to let you know that the iPad has to be much more than just an “iPhone on steroids”. As you said, the iPad needs to better at certain things in order to fit an already crowded market, and in my opinion, it’s only partially better. Let me explain why the UI is underused to me. When I get home and I lift the screen of my MacBook Pro, I ALWAYS do the same things first. These are, checking my email, checking the weather for the next few days, checking the latest news, checking the currency values (which are of particular interest to me) and opening the calendar to see what things need to be done or where do I need to be today or tomorrow. I do all of this by opening the dashboard, the calendar application and safari, and I do it all more or less at the same time. The problem with the iPad is that it offers no multitasking, meaning that I have to open (and close!) five different applications in order to do the same that I do on my MacBook Pro. Is the iPad better at doing those things? I think not. I wish there was some sort of iPad Dashboard/Home Screen where you could organize the most important things you need to see with many widgets (or whatever) to choose from (created by the same people who create the applications). In the end, having such a screen just to display icons of applications that open independently is not the most efficient way to display information. As I said, there’s much more to be done in order to the iPad become the device I need, and not just want.

Sincerely yours,
Jesus Montiel Maillo

P.S. By the way, the fact that it doesn’t have Flash, a rear camera, HDMI, etc, is not an issue to me, but those two things I mentioned earlier are, and will keep me from buying.

 

[Stevamundo]

I really think that Apple missed the boat on the iPad.

1. iPad should have had a hybrid OS, one where that BOTH of its iPhone's AND Mac's applications could work on the iPad. To me, that would have been a HUGE breakthrough! Don't tell me that they couldn't have done this if they really wanted to. They make both OS's. They have already made their iWork suit work on the iPad.

2. no USB ports on the iPad? Sorry that's plain dumb.

Tell me if a person already has a iPod or a iPhone and a MacBook, who in the hell wants to spend $499 on the iPad? I just don't get it.

 

[ctakim]

Tell me if a person already has a iPod or a iPhone and a MacBook, who in the hell wants to spend $499 on the iPad? I just don't get it.

Clearly you don't and you won't.

I have an iPhone and a MacBook and I will be getting and iPad, too. I nearly got a Kindle but held off because of the iPad. In truth it is a dedicated media playback device (books, multimedia, Internet, movies) with the potential to be much much more. The true value of this device will only be apparent when ther e are 100,000+ dedicated iPad apps out there.

 

[NT1440]

<snip>

Just a quick question, why a "revolutionary UI" ? THIS type of computing is exactly what the iphone OS was built for from the ground up at the very beginning. Why does it have to look different? I take it you know by now Apple's love of product unity?

 

[RedBen]

Not quite the right way to look at this. You need not look at the competition. You need to step all the way back to "What is the problems/issues that people want to solve with the device". When you examine the dimensions of their problems you are a grounded problem definition. From there you put together a solution.

When you start by looking at everyone else's solutions first, you typically just end up with a variation on their solutions.

There is a slippery slope here. Don't want to re-invent the wheel. So should be familiar with other solutions. However, shouldn't be confined by them either.

Actually, I was not considering how Apple came up with the idea, but more along the lines of considering what market niche the Ipad actually fits in to in order to more objectively consider its merits. Like I said, when compared to the Kindle DX, which has a similar form factor and price, the Ipad blows it out of the water. One of the things that has been in the media quite a bit with regard to the Ipad is related to the ebook market, which further suggests that the competition to the Ipad are ebook readers. Although the Ipad definitely is more expansive than the ebook niche, all other players in the ebook niche are going to have to up the ante either by making their products MUCH cheaper or following Apple's lead. Who is going to buy a Kindle DX when you can get an Ipad for basically the same price?

 

[pistolero]

I respectfully disagree. This is a niche product. Why would someone go to the store and choose the iPad over a netbook when they see them side by side? What does the iPad bring that a netbook doesn't? A netbook is cheaper and more versatile. In my opinion, the iPad is just like the AppleTV - another product to act as an extension of your desktop.

well then, why do so many people keep buying iphones when there are so many phones that have more features?

why do people keep buying mac computers when there is always a substantially cheaper model from HP/Sony/Toshiba etc that does the same things or has more features and readers, hdmi ports, etc

The answer is that a lot people see value that goes beyond a feature list. thats why a lot of people will look at those netbooks which are just simply cheap ultra small laptops, most running xp or a crippled version of win7, nothing unique or interesting and then see the ipad with its appealing interface and choose it. No need for stylus or mouse, trackpads, etc,, just your fingers.

Yes they can't do "multitasking" with third party apps at this moment. (you can listen to the ipod app when youre using other apps), but it wont make much a difference with a device designed to be used for a dedicated task at a time,

 

[jmontielmaillo]

Just a quick question, why a "revolutionary UI" ? THIS type of computing is exactly what the iphone OS was built for from the ground up at the very beginning. Why does it have to look different? I take it you know by now Apple's love of product unity?

I don't know (or care) if Apple loves product unity. There is so much more that you can do with the iPad that you just couldn't do with the iPhone and, in my opinion, the iPad doesn't take profit from that.

I'm not saying "change it completely!" I'm saying that there should be something that distinguishes the iPad from the iPhone, and unfortunately there isn't.

Obviously not everybody thinks as I do..

 

[LagunaSol]

I'm not saying "change it completely!" I'm saying that there should be something that distinguishes the iPad from the iPhone, and unfortunately there isn't.

Did you watch the parts on iWork, mail, calendar, photos? None of that UI looked anything like the iPhone I know and love.

 

[batchtaster]

Open Letter to Steve Jobs,

I took the liberty to write you a letter after yesterday’s announcement of the iPad to express my concerns about the future of your product and also why I’m unsatisfied by what the iPad has to offer.

[...blah...]

Dear Steve,

I like it. Good job.

Me.

 

[NT1440]

I don't know (or care) if Apple loves product unity. There is so much more that you can do with the iPad that you just couldn't do with the iPhone and, in my opinion, the iPad doesn't take profit from that.

I'm not saying "change it completely!" I'm saying that there should be something that distinguishes the iPad from the iPhone, and unfortunately there isn't.

Obviously not everybody thinks as I do..

From a UI sense, there is plenty. Did you not miss the rebuilt UI's for ical, safari, etc. There was definitely thought put into all the new pop up menus and such.

 

[636363]

Having some time now to mull this one over, I think its a awesome little piece of hardware. Of course, usb, card slot, dvi out, and camera all seemed to me like no-brainers.

The big disappointment here, is the OS. NO, it shouldn't be full fledged mac os X. I think people are insane for thinking that this thing should replace your laptop or even desktop. There is no way I'm going to want to run Photoshop, AE, or any other hefty app on here. I DO think it needs to be some hybrid. iPad specific apps are fine by me if there is a reasonable "crossgrade" pricing structure. Pages and Keynote for $10 each is nice, i'd rather they were free if you owned the full versions but WHATEVER...I get it...

At this point, this thing isn't powerful enough for me to leave the laptop at home for pratically any purpose. I don't want to replace my laptop at all. I just want to be able to walk out my door for the day and to be able to handle some of the things that might crop up while i'm out. I want a file browser, I want to be able to set up printers, connect to network shares, download files from the web and store them wherever I'd like. Open folders, windows...ya know finder. Hell take away any sort of admin rights, I don't need them on here anyway. BUT simple stuff that I don't need a whole computer for! I think there is really room for something more than an iPhone/Touch but is way, way less than a computer.

I don't think "phone" capabilities are all that important. I don't know about anybody else, but I have a phone, it makes calls and sends texts. Why do I want this thing to make calls? Even if it did, I wouldn't hold it to my head! Skype or something is cool with a headset, but I don't want to pay for two phone plans.

The file sharing thing is a little dumb. Having to "Sync it" is dumb. I hate just waiting for my iphone to go through it's backup/sync ritual and I fear I'd have to wait for that just to transfer a few documents. You should just be able to file share over wifi.

Multitasking? Kind of a big deal. I think apple avoids it to keep their claims on battery life. BUT if i'm in a keynote document lets say and an email comes in. I'll have to save the document, go to the home screen, open an email and respond, go back to the home screen, open keynote (which is probably on a different page), find the document i was working on in the document gallery thing, and open it. I don't care how fast and zippy the ipad is, but that's a lot of freaking steps!!!

Anyway, I could go on and on. I just don't think it should be a big iTouch that you can read books on, and I don't think it should be a replacement for a laptop. Unfortunately, most of the things we ever wanted from iPhone OS haven't come into fruition...yet. AND the ones they did took FOREVER and a day. So, I'm not holding my breath for the iPad either.

oh and jailbreaking? I do it. BUT it's a hack, a band aid, and it's usually fairly buggy!! It gets us by, but it doesn't really make it an acceptable solution.

The hardware is pretty rad mostly. But it doesn't really let me "Think Different." It doesn't really let me think at all...it's more like TV in my hands. Just sit back and consume...but not actually do much of anything.

my .02

 

[sconnor99]

At this point, this thing isn't powerful enough for me to leave the laptop at home for pratically any purpose. I don't want to replace my laptop at all.


The file sharing thing is a little dumb. Having to "Sync it" is dumb. I hate just waiting for my iphone to go through it's backup/sync ritual and I fear I'd have to wait for that just to transfer a few documents. You should just be able to file share over wifi.


my .02

IT'S NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A LAPTOP! It's NOT meant to be a productivity device - it's a turbocharged kindle with lots of extra features, it's an all media viewer with web browsing, e-mail and some productivity functionality

Why would Apple bring out a product that puts a dent in their laptop sales?

As for the OS, why would Apple "start again" with a hybrid OS when there are hundreds of thousands of Apps that will run unmodified on this device

As for syncing over Wifi there are plenty of Apps that do that!

 

[Romanesq]

hmmnn...

It's kind of funny seeing this in relation to the earthquake in Haiti. Millions of people have no home and Apple releases a product that is not a necessity and replaces nothing. It's just more bloat.

Hopefully ten years from now there will be a fully-functional touch based Mac OS computer that isnt't closed.

Well if Iran and its friends Russia and China don't toss an eletro magnetic nuke our way, it'll probably be only two years.

But Steve Jobs said this is a tweener and I've never seen a bigger bunch of crybabies. The device is elegant. It's a mere pound and a half not a netbook clunker. And I suspect the multitasking ability to some extent is resolvable with software.

Gimme, gimme, gimme. It's a first generation product for cripe's sake. Anyone recall the differences in the first iPhone and the 3GS?

 

[diamond.g]

From a UI sense, there is plenty. Did you not miss the rebuilt UI's for ical, safari, etc. There was definitely thought put into all the new pop up menus and such.

I think they were referring to the OS UI, not the UI of some of the applications.

 

[smiddlehurst]

***... which, of course, does an excellent job of explaining the 9" hackintosh experience, with its throngs of devotees... In fact, maybe "touch" as the only interaction method wouldn't be ideal, hence the desire for a stylus or mouse for applications justifying such.

When Jobs said that they don't know how to make an Apple "netbook" that isn't "crap", we didn't expect that to mean that they didn't know how to make a tablet that would have ports (ie. Integrate with peripherals).

We all fully understand that many of you think that this device is great but, in fairness, product success will depend upon the population disposition to the device. With this article rating 80% negative due to the features the iPad left out, Apple will have an uphill climb to change the minds of the Apple fans that are feeling disappointed right now.

Uh, I've got a Dell Mini 9 with OS X on it, it's a very nice system but it'd be utterly useless with just a touch screen. As soon as you add a stylus or mouse to a tablet then you've utterly borked the reasons for buying one in the first place.

Think of it this way: for a stylus driven OS X on a tablet you would need roughly the same guts as a low-end laptop. Atom really wouldn't cut it for full productivity apps which is the reason people seem to want this form factor so you're looking at a CULV processor at a minimum (preferably an i3 though), plus a decent loadout of memory and an SSD hard drive. That pushes the price up by at least a couple of hundred dollars, probably a lot more than that. Now you're directly competing with the Macbook or, worse, the Macbook Pro. At the same time battery life goes down, heat goes up so you loose the thin profile, weight goes up and you end up with a product that offers nothing over a laptop and also doesn't do anything new or interesting. Who's going to buy that other than a tiny handfull of mac fanatics?

Basically this was always going to be a device for the consumer sector and anyone that thought otherwise was, forgive me, a fool. Apple have their professional users, business or otherwise, very well catered for and launching a tablet to meet their needs would have been pointless and a flop as there's no compelling reason for them to buy it. Microsoft have tried that for YEARS with Windows and gotten nowhere for precisely that reason. Instead Apple have, once again, gone their own way and created a device for, gasp, non-geeks. This seems to have the denzens of forums and gadget websites the world over up in arms but it was the only way this market sector makes any sense at all.

Personally, I really think a lot of people are scared. There's a lot of echoes here of the fear in hardcore gaming when the Wii took off: concern about being left behind and forgotten. That fear is unfounded of course, there will always be computers built around desktop OS's to allow power users the flexibility they need, but when is fear ever rational? Will Apple pull it off? Hmm, I don't know, but I think they've got a pretty good chance of talking to all those who've been ignored or ridiculed by the tech industry for years now. The first gen device is clearly a toe-in-the-water while they wait for a couple of key bits of tech to get cheaper (SSD hard drives being the obvious one) but I can see them turning this into a full-blown standalone computer at some point if it's popular.

To wrap up: Apple have done what they've been doing for a while now: produced a product based on their belief of where a certain part of the market should go. They've been proved right in the past, they've missed the mark in the past. We'll have to see where this one fits in but I think it's got more of a chance to hit than miss right now if only because it's a device that can sell itself. Show someone one of these in the flesh (uh, metal) and they are going to want one, even if only for a second. After that it just depends on whether that initial rush can be supported by the functionality of the device and I really think there's a good chance a lot of people, possibly who wouldn't normally look at a computer or who are fed up of dealing with what they see as needless complication, will do just that.

Phew, sorry, didn't mean for that to be so long.

 

[gnasher729]

Actually, I was not considering how Apple came up with the idea, but more along the lines of considering what market niche the Ipad actually fits in to in order to more objectively consider its merits.

The iPad doesn't fit into a _niche_. It fits right bang in the middle of what all the consumers want. They don't want a powerful but complicated computer, or a netbook that is just the same old complicated computer just with less power except netbooks start getting bigger and clunkier until they are laptops again. Consumers want an _appliance_ that does all the things they want to do at home.

For 70 percent of the _whole_ home computer market, the iPad is the best match to what people actually want and need. That's not a niche.