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It wasn't Apple fighting for lower (than $9.99) book prices of us- the consumers. It was Apple using it's influence to INCREASE book prices that somewhat forced Amazon to give in (to HIGHER prices for us).

Wow, what else does that magic 8 ball tell you that you couldn't possibly know due to the fact that you were not present for the negotiations and have absolutely no idea what was going on in them?
 
Sadly, the lack of Flash, lack of a camera, lack of SD card slot and the need to be tethered to a "real computer" every once in a while doesn't make it better than a Netbook. Those are things that are important to many users that a netbook still does better.

There is an SD slot for those that need it, along with the USB port. There is no need to be 'tethered' to a real computer. This is not a computer replacement, it not a netbook replacement, it is a media consumption device.

Do keep up.
 
The thing for me, is how can the Ipad excel at browsing without support for Flash.

Don't get me wrong, I hate flash as much as the next man, but it is such an important thing for the many of the type of websites you are likely to want to browse with an Ipad. Very few sites are running Iphone friendly video options still.

I think that this lack of flash would seriously influence someone debating a netbook vs Ipad.
 
I know but flash is used on a lot of video on the internet. You can`t watch most videos on the internet without using flash. What if someone sends you a link to a video with flash and you can`t watch it. Flash needs to be added. It`s too much a part of the web to be neglected. Without the iphone we can live with it but not a device of this size and power.

Well Youtube and BBC iplayer content, very shortly to be joined by vimeo and hulu are all accessible. This isn't about anything new, you haven't 'needed' to present video using flash, it was never designed to present video, for a long time. It's not a major re-write to use a different technology for playback.

If flash is to be added, then Adobe have to fix it - you're complaining to the wrong people, go chat to Adobe.
 
Sadly, the lack of Flash, lack of a camera, lack of SD card slot and the need to be tethered to a "real computer" every once in a while doesn't make it better than a Netbook. Those are things that are important to many users that a netbook still does better.

Extremely valid point...

Only things is - Apple thought about this...

SD SLOT: I knew Apple would not include an SD slot on such a small storage device. This is a common 'play' from Apple as they are moving away from "making" products for the user (best features in their best products). These days, Apple Inc. like most other firms in this down economy are geared towards sales, and Apple ultimately wants you to spend more than the introductory iPad at $500. The 16GB iPad model is purely for market saturation & "marketing" a price point in general.

CAMERA: I think not including a Camera is the biggest flaw in the iPad. I have very high hopes for the iPad in due time. When the iBooks market has been well saturated & 4G(LTE) rolls out in the next year or so - Everyone will have or want one!

FLASH: That is just a pissing match! Jobs & Adobe both have sides that I could take, but I think on the whole, Flash is not the future. I mean Jobs is correct, when he talks about Flash crashing web browsers. But in the present, it is widely used & Jobs should know that and have already implemented this into their OS for the iPhone, iPad, & iPod Touch.

No matter what, they missed out on marketing this as a portable device that is great for video chat. I still think the underlying reason is that this is a marketing/sales ploy to have you purchase all three platforms - iPhone, iPad, and a Mac.

I'm still getting the iPad over any Netbook out there. If I need a netbook when traveling I will bring my MacBook. But, for the most part, all I need now is...

The iPad!
 
Yes, it does multitask.

It runs the OS, while playing music, while you ready your email, all while push notification sits in the background.

You can't interact with two apps at once, so what is the difference between multitasking in this instance and simply instantly switching between applications, each remembering the previous state they were left in?

This isn't a fully functioning computer, As long as you can play with iWork, chat, check your email or browse while you're listening to music, then what more does it need to do simultaneously?

I am specifically referring to 3rd party multitasking. This has been a complaint against the iphone OS platform and the noise has been getting louder. You know you have a problem when a company like Palm comes into the game and the whole hoopla about weboS is multitasking especially pertaining to app-switching This is a bullet point Apple should eliminate. They have things like expose which can be used and make it simple for the end user. The noise is getting too loud. It is only a matter of when Apple will update it. I have a feeling the unveiling of iphone os 4.0 in march will have it.
 
You do understand that by Amazon "backing down"- thanks at least in part to Apple's influence on this industry- that the result is that e-book buyers will now pay MORE for their e-books.

It wasn't Apple fighting for lower (than $9.99) book prices of us- the consumers. It was Apple using it's influence to INCREASE book prices that somewhat forced Amazon to give in (to HIGHER prices for us).

It's funny. When Apple used it's influence on music companies to sell all singles for 99 cents, that was almost universally seen as a positive: Apple fighting for us against the greedy music industry. Now here's a case where Apple is using its influence to increase prices of ebooks (even at Amazon) and this is also seen as a positive. What's up with that?

Apple didn't use it's influence to raise book prices. Publishers (or at least Macmillan) used Apple's influence to raise book prices. In other words, Macmillan said to Amazon, "hey we can make more money selling our books on the iPad...either let us raise our kindle prices or we're going to stop letting you sell our books...you wouldn't want Apple to have that over you, would you??"
 
Quote: "Lin believes, however, there is likely to be little overlap between the iPad and traditional notebook and netbook markets, suggesting that Acer does not view the iPad as a significant threat to its business."

1. Save the Quote above to your computer.
2. Wait until the end of this year. (10 million iPads sold)
3. Post quote here.
4. Make people laugh.
5. Be happy.

Where is everyone getting this 10 million number. I doubt 10 million iPads would be sold by the end of the year.
 
Wait...wait...wait...

A windows OS can't compete because of the [lack of] apps? The multitude of available "programs" are one of the biggest reasons to go Windows in the first place.

I have a Windows PC and Mac at home. Guess which one has more "apps" on it...

The one that needs more "apps" to do one thing well....? :D
 
You do understand that by Amazon "backing down"- thanks at least in part to Apple's influence on this industry- that the result is that e-book buyers will now pay MORE for their e-books.

It wasn't Apple fighting for lower (than $9.99) book prices for us- the consumers. It was Apple using it's influence to INCREASE book prices that somewhat forced Amazon to give in (to HIGHER prices for us).

It's funny. When Apple used it's influence on music companies to sell all singles for 99 cents, that was almost universally seen as a positive: Apple fighting for us against the greedy music industry. Now here's a case where Apple is using its influence to increase prices of ebooks (even at Amazon) and this is also seen as a positive. What's up with that?

Dude why whould all ebooks cost 9.99. When you go to a bookstore do you see all books priced the same. With Cd`s and digital tracks it makes more sense because in real life most CD`s cost about albums cost around the same price these days.
 
Could you imagine if Google blocks all Apple devices from viewing YouTube? Oh man... that'd be a heavy attack...

And completely unnecessary, youtube can be accessed without the need for flash - you should try it, it's soooo much better.
 
The ONLY way to compete with iPad....

I think Acer is making an error in judgment to ignore the significance of what Apple has done here... the iTunes ecosystem needs a competitor for other device makers to center around! I think Amazon.com, for instance, should emulate the iTunes ecosystem for media distribution and open it up for licensing to all the other device makers out there! Acer should be trying to partner up with an experience media commerce company... then get to innovating some new hardware.

Or perish!
 
Amazon already has backed down on forcing publishers to accept a fixed $9.99 price for e-books. Now Acer is not entering the e-reader or tablet market because on the iPad.

That's only for McMillan - not all publishers. Amazon even temporarily pulled all their stuff to fight them. This could end up being a total fail for McMillan also. Just because it's sold there doesn't mean people will buy it for that price.

I doubt Amazon can compete with Apple on the hardware and software front.

You might be right on the hardware front. However, Amazon has already made iTunes drop DRM, lower prices, and up the music quality. Amazon again has made Apple keep the price of the iPad low enough that it can compete against the kindle.

When I download something for the iPhone or iPad from Apple's app store, I know that I'm download an app that was specifically designed to be used on this device.

LMAO. 99% of all apps I download get deleted within 5 minutes because they're ***** and don't work on the device they were designed for. I really wish there was a way to get a refund.

I see the iPad having little or no threat to netbook sales - however I see this forcing other companies to produce better tablets.
 
And completely unnecessary, youtube can be accessed without the need for flash - you should try it, it's soooo much better.

You understood me, or misread, or both... if Google stops all Apple devices from viewing YouTube it doesn't matter if all of YouTube was written in JAVA, or Caramel, point remains, a lot of us would be upset. It'd be a smart move since they are warring.
 
During the iPad's introduction, Apple CEO Steve Jobs built the case that a product targeting the space between smartphones and notebooks needs to do some things better than either of those types of devices, pointing to browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks as examples of tasks at which such a device might want to excel. In addressing the current popularity of netbooks, Jobs claimed that netbooks "aren't better at anything" and are just cheap notebooks, opening the door for the iPad to define the new product category.

And he couldn't be more correct. Netbooks are popular only because people don't know what they want. They want the versatility of a notebook and the portability of a phone. Netbooks try to be everything a notebook is, but due to being underpowered, fail miserably. Anything that considers itself a "netbook" and is over $500 is just stupid.
 
Don't be so narrow minded. Lazyness has nothing to do with it. Like it or not, but Flash simply is the de-facto standard when you want to play a movie, or add interactivity on the web.

When a web developer gets an assignment to develop such a website, do you think their customer will pay for a html5 solution that doesn't work in all browsers? Or alternatively, do you think their customer will pay double the amount for a solution that works BOTH with Flash and html5?

The same thing applies to Internet Explorer 6. Why do you think so many developers are still supporting this buggy piece of garbage? Because 13% of the 60-something percent of IE users is still browsing with it.

Well as a professional developer, head of a large company and with many government and corporate clients who strictly forbid the use of flash (security, stability, standards, accessibility issues). I can assure you that video is easy to present (in a more stable fashion) without flash, and interactivity (smooth, processor light, accessible interactive) is easy when done properly.

Just because some people are still using ie6, does that mean we have to hold up progress? Maybe some people still have black and white televisions and we should stop colour broadcasts...

The internet is a moving technology, if people don't keep up, they will get left behind. That is their issue. A web browser is free, standards and open source software is free. It's really a very simply choice.
 
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