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Why it Doesn't Have a Camera.

4

4DThinker

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 15, 2008
2,033
2
Steve Jobs designed it to please himself.

Who here has ever had a video chat with him? How about received a video Skype call? I'm sure if he wants to he has a netcam on one of the other macs his house must be filled with.

Steve Jobs is also the reason it doesn't do Flash. It's HIS personal opinion that Adobe is slow and flash is awful.

Of course if I owned Apple the products would be exactly what I wanted too. Problem is it's a publically owned company.

Just a theory. I'll bet money on it though.
 
It doesn't have a camera so you don't accidentally show your bong collection off to your mom via video chat.
 
4DThinker said:
Steve Jobs is also the reason it doesn't do Flash. It's HIS personal opinion that Adobe is slow and flash is awful.
Click to expand...

Uhh… it's not anyone's personal opinion. Open your Activity Monitor and start browsing the internet to see for yourself.
 
Gav2k said:
Did we need another thread on this??
Click to expand...

Seriously....

On the other hand, even if it did have a camera the iPad is sitting on your lap and your going to want to bend over it so someone can see your face? It just doesn't seem ergonomic to have a camera.
 
I am so tired of hearing about missing features on the iPad. It is what it is. You can either buy it or not. Only time will tell if it is a successful product.
 
No camera because they couldn't get enough of them from the mfgr to fulfill demand and meet their shipping time frame. Next version will have it.

Flash is well-known to be the buggiest piece of software Adobe has ever put out, especially on OSX. It's on its way to becoming another failed standard. Like .dng.
 
BklynKid said:
Sorry but that's not an opinion, that's a fact.
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How can you manage to convince yourselve that it's better to have a big blue question mark on your screen instead of a video playing?
Is it that you'd feel too guilty thinking at that poor defenseless chip doing all the work while you relax and enjoy a movie?
 
Hmac said:
No camera because they couldn't get enough of them from the mfgr to fulfill demand and meet their shipping time frame. Next version will have it.
Click to expand...

Not sure if I buy that, it appeared the camera was the exact camera that it's in Macbook Pros, so I doubt it's of short supply.
 
Yeah, I don't think I've used my iSight on my MBP since I got the thing two years ago. When all my friend's bought theirs, they would post silly facebook photos at first using photobooth but you quickly grow tired of the gimmick. I don't see many people actually using it, but since it's so cheap to add, and there is already a spot for it, I don't see what the problem is. Probably need something to convince people to upgrade. So will the iPad be updated yearly like iPhone / iPod Touch, or bi-annual like most Mac lines?
 
This thread pointed out how every phone in Europe has a front facing camera but nothing over here has one.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/859751/

Given that Apple was in last minute carrier negotiations, I believe that AT&T probably went "fine, we'll do $30/mo no contract, but take out that camera!" Since Verizon didn't put down a reasonable offer, Apple had no choice but to take it.
 
vannibombonato said:
How can you manage to convince yourselve that it's better to have a big blue question mark on your screen instead of a video playing?
Is it that you'd feel too guilty thinking at that poor defenseless chip doing all the work while you relax and enjoy a movie?
Click to expand...

because there isn't any video in flash format worth watching
 
Sketh said:
Not sure if I buy that, it appeared the camera was the exact camera that it's in Macbook Pros, so I doubt it's of short supply.
Click to expand...

Well, here's the theory: Cameras for Apple laptops, cameras for iPhones, iPod Nano, they want to add them to the iPod Touch (ongoing rumor), now we see shipping delays on the iMac (which also has that camera), and Apple has had this job posting up for awhile for a "Global Supply Manager - Camera Module".

There are a lot of camera modules out there going into a lot of different and new devices. What cell phone doesn't have a camera? And it doesn't have to be the exact form factor of the one in the MacBooks/MacBook Pros...they all need a lot of the same components. Maybe the 5 mp sensor wafers are in short supply. Maybe Apple wants to use a different/better camera module and is looking to beef them up across the line. How many iPod Touches do they sell a year? How many more cameras do they need to cover the iPod Touch with camera in the spring, then also the 1 million-plus iPads they need for expected sales of revision 1. That's a lot of cameras suddenly added to the the mix...

Just a theory...
 
not including a camera keeps down manufacturing costs and means apple doesn't need to design a video chat app until rev b. plus att's network could not handle this.
 
Actually, Steve does iChat calls with employees all the time.
You can ask any person who has ever worked for Apple.
He does that very often.

And, I REALLY doubt that Steve is the one engineering the iPad. It might have been his idea to start with, but he didn't make most of it.
It was the engineers at Apple that actually did all the work.
OP, you're making it sound like Steve Jobs is the only one person working for Apple and making all these products and decisions. He may be the head of the entire company, however, ever product goes through hundreds of people.

And Flash is slow and buggy. That's actually a fact.
It's like saying that it's MY opinion that cars can run faster than horses.
Flash does use a lot more power than HTML5. I'm sorry, but that's not really anyone's opinion.
 
I think it's obvious why flash is excluded. Apple couldn't brag about battery life if they added flash support.

And the camera... I use it all the time on my iMac. My parents love to talk to my kids. I'd prefer it, but it's not a total deal breaker. Give me FileMaker for the thing and I'll buy that iPad.
 
Thanks for all your responses!

Of course Apple devices aren't Jobs creations alone. He's the one that gives them a final thumb up or down though. Hail Caesar!

Ultimately he's the one who says "no camera". He's the one that says
"No Flash". He's the one that said this would be the tablet they would sell, as opposed to all the prototypes that came before.

That's it. Really. Simple. Love it or hate it, you have to blame Steve. I do. ;)
 
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