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iPad - meh...

 
Bert Bates
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Kathy's psyched, I'm on the fence...

A few unknowns still...

- can I read a book a spread at a time?
- usb-esque port(s) ?
- multiple windows ?
- a terminal ? (I suppose I can find a cloud compiler)
- a finder ? (must be)
 
Bear Bibeault
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I'm more intrigued than I thought I'd be. Especially with the reader aspect...
 
Pauline McNamara
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add to the list of unknowns (to me)

- can I sketch notes on it? (with a 3rd party thingie of course)


Oh, and this is what I came up with when searching "sketch" and "ipad", check it out (depending on your job, mabe not safe for work):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/ipad-video-madtv-predicte_n_438880.html

 
Bear Bibeault
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There's an app for that! (Or if there isn't ask Gregg or Mark to make one!)
 
marc weber
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I won't have a chance to read up on details until tonight, but I like the price points!

(Kinda weird there weren't any rumors about this device prior to the announcement. )
 
Gregg Bolinger
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Bear Bibeault wrote:There's an app for that! (Or if there isn't ask Gregg or Mark to make one!)



I'm honestly interested in finding out if they are going to market it to developers like the iphone and itouch. Can I write apps for it? I haven't read one way or the other.
 
Bear Bibeault
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http://www.apple.com/ipad/sdk/
 
Gregg Bolinger
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Bear Bibeault wrote:http://www.apple.com/ipad/sdk/



Interesting. I wonder how much of a port process there is for existing iphone apps. I'll have to do some reading tonight.
 
Bear Bibeault
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Existing iPhone apps run unchanged (I've heard). And you can run any that you've already bought for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
 
marc weber
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iPad Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for $9.99 each: Apple Insider - Apple unveils new multi-touch version of iWork created for iPad
 
Mark Spritzler
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iPhone apps run as is. Either is native look/size, or it can also take full screen, and supposedly still look good.

To be honest, I was watching a "blogger" at uStream, with just the audio. Then I was watching the engadget blog live.

I was a bit bummed by what I was seeing. Obviously I was expecting more features.

But when I saw CNN had a 20 minute delayed live video version with good clean video. I am totally impressed by the device. This thing rocks.

Yes it is 1.0 and in later version they will start adding features like a camera. But you have to consider the usual triangle with price, features, and time and realize they had a price point they wanted to reach, which meant a couple of less features, and the time to create. I don't think time was as much an issue as price point.

Wait to completely pass judgement till you have had a chance to touch it yourself. I am still going to buy one and upgrade when a newer with more feature version comes out. I am also going to start thinking of new apps that will be better on the iPad, then my iPhone apps. I think my current apps are too small for this device, but good for the iPhone.

Personally, I am waiting for killer technical programming books.

Bert, I expect you and Kathy to come up with a great "Head First" like book in the iBook store. You can add videos to end of chapters, or just in certain sections.

Mark
 
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Pauline McNamara wrote:Oh, and this is what I came up with when searching "sketch" and "ipad", check it out (depending on your job, mabe not safe for work):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/ipad-video-madtv-predicte_n_438880.html


Entertaining!
 
Gregg Bolinger
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Yes it is 1.0 and in later version they will start adding features like a camera.



That's quite an assumption. Apple is notorious for doing what they want to do regardless of what consumers want. Sure, their products are still purchased. The whole multitasking thing comes to mind. How long have iphone/itouch users begged for multitasking? And yet, the iPad was developed without it. Obviously, if it had gotten it, so would have the iphone/itouch due to sharing an OS. I love my iphone but my droid is way more powerful.

I could care less about a camera or USB slots, etc. The biggies for me are:

1. Not being able to run more than one app at a time
2. Not being able to install anything that doesn't go through the app store. This doesn't bother me on the iphone but on a device that is basically a netbook, come on.
3. No flash support. Again, doesn't bother me on the iphone but really bugs me on this device.
4. No real support for what tablet's are actually supposed to be good at, which is drawing/sketching
5. Not wide screen. This is a small issue and not a deal breaker by itself but piled on to everything else, bleh
6. Laying it flat on a surface is impossible due to the shape, making typing on the soft keyboard a PITA

I was going to hold off on forming an opinion until I actually used one but I am totally un-thrilled with it after watching a lot of videos of it being used. To me it feels kind of like the Air hype. Everyone was all excited until they realized there's so much more you CAN'T do over what you actually CAN do.

Please don't interpret this as anything personal to those that like it. These are just the reasons I won't be buying one anytime soon.
 
Pauline McNamara
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4. No real support for what tablet's are actually supposed to be good at, which is drawing/sketching



Ditto. That's number 1 for me. Hope from 3rd party devices? (Any word from the makers of Pogo stylus?)

Bert, I expect you and Kathy to come up with a great "Head First" like book in the iBook store. You can add videos to end of chapters, or just in certain sections.



The potential here is HUGE. The education market would be theirs. Little touchable exercises interspersed throughout learning books would be awesome. Like simple Flash thingies... oh. Nevermind.
 
Bert Bates
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Don't imagine for a minute that brainstorming is not happening
 
marc weber
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An interesting observation/perspective...

The thing is, Apple didn't omit a camera or multitasking by accident. An engineer didn't come up to Steve Jobs on Tuesday saying, "I don't know how to tell you this, Steve, but we've forgotten about the camera. No, please, not the head! Ouch!" They've omitted all these things on purpose, and this purpose tells you more about Apple's plans than the things they did put in.

Once again, it becomes clear that Apple doesn't want to sell devices that can do everything; they want to find the best form factor to consume some types of digital content, and then focus on them...


Ref: CNN - Insanely great, or underwhelming?
 
Ulf Dittmer
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Once again, it becomes clear that Apple doesn't want to sell devices that can do everything; they want to find the best form factor to consume some types of digital content, and then focus on them...


... thereby ensuring that people need more than one Apple device to satisfy their needs (not than fanboys need an excuse... :-)
 
marc weber
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Actually, I'm more impressed than not. I didn't expect this to be a super-miniature laptop (at least not without a price that would have deferred me anyway), and I had very few assumptions about what a "pad," "slate," "tablet," etc. should be. So everything it's not doesn't bother me. This strikes me as an insanely cool device for what it is. At $499 (plus $9.99 for an iPad version of Pages), this should make a great little coffee shop companion! (In that context, 16 GB without 3G works just fine for me.)

Side note regarding USB: There's an accessory called the iPad Camera Connection Kit that "lets you import your photos and videos to iPad using the camera's USB cable" plugged into an adaptor for the iPad's 30-pin slot. They're careful about describing this for camera/video use only, but perhaps with some hacking...
 
marc weber
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Bill Gates is reportedly "not impressed by what he's seen of Apple's iPad."

Hmmm... Recall Gates' 2001 assertion: "within five years I predict [the Microsoft tablet] will be the most popular form of PC sold in America." Does anyone remember this pen-enabled flop? It amounted to "less than 1% of sales in 2009."

Ref:
Apple Insider - Bill Gates unimpressed by keyboard-less Apple iPad
Guardian UK - Office was blocked from Microsoft's tablet, says former chief of development
 
Bear Bibeault
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And remember that fad, the Internet? Who thought that would be an idea that would last?
 
chris webster
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"Meh" is pretty much my take on what little I've seen of the iPad so far. I'm a great admirer of Apple's cool technology (except for Quicktime, which nags me constantly about updates and still doesn't work right half the time), I'd love a high-end MacBook if I could afford one, and I might well switch to an iPhone when I next upgrade my phone.

But I can't quite see what this thing is for. What does it do that I can't already do with my netbook (which costs about the same but offers far more functionality and flexibility) or my smartphone (which actually fits in my pocket)? Sure, the UI is really cool - as you'd expect - but the iPad also looks pretty easy to break, kind of clunky for a portable gadget and kind of small for a serious working platform.

I dunno, maybe this will turn out to be the version 1.0 prototype of something that will be really cool and genuinely useful in version 2.0, but right now it looks more like a solution in search of a problem. In the meantime I don't seen any need to add to the world's growing mountain of electro-waste by ditching any of my current gadgets for an iPad. Even if I could actually get my hands on one...

And don't get me started on ebook readers - ever dropped one in the bath or spilled coffee on one and simply dried it out on the radiator? No, I didn't think so...

Meh.
 
Ulf Dittmer
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He seems exactly as impressed by the iPad as Balmer was about the iPod...
 
Gregg Bolinger
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http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/steve-ballmer-laughs-off-the-iphone-deems-it-most-expensive-i/
 
marc weber
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chris webster wrote:... I can't quite see what this thing is for. What does it do that I can't already do...


That's valid, and I wouldn't try to convince anyone else to get one if they're not already excited about it. But for me, this has value, and I want one.

It's not that the iPad "does" anything I can't already do. It's "how" it does these things, and that matters to me. As Jobs described it in the keynote, this is a different kind of device intended to fit between the smart phone and the laptop. It's not intended to replace either, but instead offer a midsized alternative for certain activities that are particularly suited to that middle ground. No, it's not a small, cheap laptop. Yes, it's basically a large iTouch, but I think that's the point. It's for all those things people enjoy doing on a smart phone, but would be so much more enjoyable on a larger touch display.
 
Mark Spritzler
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It is amazing, but the iPad really does fit right in between those. I am trying to come up with a great idea for an iPad app, and I have a couple ideas, but most of my ideas aren't good fits for the iPad. They are either for the iPhone, or should be desktop apps. But the types of apps that will be on the iPad are of a special kind. One that I wouldn't want to try to see if I could fit it on a small screen like an iPhone, and one that I definitely wouldn't want to lug around a laptop with.

It is very easy to not see what isn't in front of you. That is fine, but I think millions of people will see it soon.

The more I am thinking this way, the more amazed I am at the iPad and how this is the best thing to come out since sliced bread, or since the iPhone.

Mark
 
marc weber
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The New York Times reader version is currently priced at $3.45 per week (i.e., $13.80 per month). But a new rumor suggests that there's an internal battle over NYT pricing for the iPad.

According to Apple Insider - NYT execs struggle over iPad edition subscription pricing - rumor...

...those on the print side would like to see users charged between $20 and $30 per month to have the daily edition of the Times delivered to their iPad. Those with the company are allegedly 'afraid people will cancel the print paper if they can get the same thing on their iPad...'

On the other hand, those with the digital side of the Times would rather see users be charged about $10 per month for the iPad edition...

"The internal fight might also determine how relevant -- and profitable -- the nation's most prominent newspaper can remain in the digital future," Gawker's Ryan Tate wrote. "Which is probably why there's reportedly so much sniping over who gets to control the iPad edition internally."


Well, duh.

Using the iPad as a reader for the NYT is an important feature for me, so I hope they get a clue on this. It's no secret or mystery that all papers are losing revenue on print circulation, and digital circulation is key to survival. And I have no problem paying for quality content, but if they think they can price digital subscriptions based on a print model...
 
Vinod Tiwari
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Anyone read about ADAM. Its getting great reviews.
 
Mark Spritzler
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OK, for those "meh" people. You can't honestly tell me that this video

http://theappleblog.com/2010/03/04/penguin-plans-to-make-books-shinier-with-ipad/#more-41880

doesn't make you go, OH MY GOD!, this thing will revolutionize the way we read, watch, interact, learn than anything that has ever been created, you must just be a real negative person. I mean I watch this and almost weep.

Mark
 
Bear Bibeault
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If the available e-book content is deep and rich, that's going to be the "killer app" for me.
 
marc weber
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Apple Insider - Apple's iPhone 4.0 software to deliver multitasking support:

People with a proven track record in predicting Apple's technological advances tell AppleInsider that the Cupertino-based company has developed a "full-on solution" to multitasking on the iPhone OS...


And since the iPad runs the iPhone OS...
 
Ulf Dittmer
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People with a proven track record in predicting Apple's technological advances...


That's a good one.
 
marc weber
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Ulf Dittmer wrote:

People with a proven track record in predicting Apple's technological advances...


That's a good one.


Maybe someone has a really good Magic 8 Ball.

Alternatively, if 256 people each flip a coin 8 times, we would "expect" 1 of these people to get heads every time. Then we could point to that person and say they have a proven track record.
 
Mark Spritzler
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There already is a solution for multi-tasking on the iPhone. People who have jailbroken their phones can do it already, so maybe Apple just idd the same or purchased the code to do it.

Also I just pre-ordered my iPad. I just got the base model, because I will also buy the 2.0 version when they do those in about a year from now.

Mark
 
Bear Bibeault
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WANT
 
marc weber
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Bear Bibeault wrote:WANT


Nice! Landscape does show a 2-page spread.
 
marc weber
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Just ordered a 32GB wi-fi model.
 
Pat Farrell
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marc weber wrote:Just ordered a 32GB wi-fi model.


You didn't wait for the usual Apple "$100 cheaper" after a few months trick? You are willing to pay the early adopter tax?

I don't see any value it it, yet. Then both my wife and I have laptops on the sofa. Not sure that giving up the keyboard is attractive.

Less than a month until real people get real production units for some real evaluations.
 
Mark Spritzler
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A lot of people don't see it yet. That is fine. It isn't supposed to replace your laptop/computer, and trust me, it won't. And it isn't a replacement for your iPhone/iPod, or just an enlarged version of it.

It is something completely new, that will blow everyone away. You can't even look at is as a eBook Reader, or a iTunes player, or even a video watching player. It is even way beyond that.

Mark
 
marc weber
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Pat Farrell wrote:

marc weber wrote:Just ordered a 32GB wi-fi model.


... You are willing to pay the early adopter tax? ...


Absolutely!
 
Bert Bates
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How much is this thing like the thingy that Capt. Picard used to look at in his ready room?
 
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