ipad hit or miss?

[Homer_simpson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g92Yg79Of1s
comments and opinions...

[andrew.]

I really don't like it and I don't think it will catch on. One big thing I hate about it is that they tout it as being the "best way to browse the web" and it is so fast and can do so many things, but in reality it's not the best way to browse the web (Flash isn't even included), it isn't fast (if it was, there would be multitasking), and the only apps for it come from the Apple-censored App Store.

[faethor]

andrew. @ Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:50 pm wrote:

I really don't like it and I don't think it will catch on.

I think it will catch on because many people who are really computer illiterate will find it extremely attractive or use the computer for media purposes only enjoy it. Apple makes computers for media purposes.

[rdrake]

Miss.

[wtd]

I suspect we'll see something similar to the iPhone's sales: successful with the first wave of early adopters, and then wildly successful when they figure out how to sell it subsidized.

I mean, $499 will sell quite a few, but I think $300 + a 3-year contract at $30 per month will sell a lot more.

Yes, the lack of multitasking is lamesauce, but I suspect this may be a "let's get something out the door" while we work on it, and it'll be incredibly polished by the time rev. B rolls around. In the meantime, it provides tremendous incentive for devs to work on persistence, which would be rescuing the best of a less than ideal situation.

[wtd]

andrew. @ Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:50 am wrote:

(Flash isn't even included

Flash is terrible. It's exclusion on products which sell in high volume can only put pressure on web content providers to shun it to the betterment of the entire internet. See HTML5 video for an example of this.

[TheGuardian001]

Huge miss, although honestly it's exactly what I was expecting. It's basically some odd cross between the Kindle, a netbook, and an iPod touch into something nobody really wants or needs.

Also:

[wtd]

Of course, this thread will be somewhat skewed. We're geeks. Geeks who code. We needs keyboards, and we need control. We need to see hierarchical filesystems all the time. We need multitasking.

Think about the technophobes you know. Can you think of two people you know who would benefit from a product like this?

[jbking]

Depending on what target one has for this, it could vary between hit and miss. For example, will this generate profits for Apple? Probably. Will this make Apple's App store take a bigger hold in the world? Maybe. I'm not sure how well the web browsing is without a keyboard, that would be part that would trouble me as I generally type in various addresses or visit forums like this and would want a keyboard, though generally one bigger than 10" across which is the screen size. Does the iPad even have speakers? That's another factor for some of what I do. I wonder if Apple will buy some Social Media company so they could have their own version of Twitter out there.

I have no desire to buy one and will be curious to see how this impact Apple's earnings as that is the bigger concern to my mind. Not the coolness or edginess of it, but rather does it make money? What does this do to the iPod Touch? That's what I'll be watching to see.

[wtd]

It will almost certainly make money. Apple's smart enough to consider failure of widespread adoption into investments in R&D. Everything invested in the iPad can be directly applied to other devices that are already quite successful. IPS LCD panel manufacturing can go directly toward either iMacs or MacBook Pros. The customer ARM SoC they've designed can be worked into a future iPhone or iPod Touch. Investments in Cocoa Touch are already well paid for by future iPhone sales.

No, I suspect that even if very few people buy these, Apple will still make money.

[DtY]

wtd @ Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:21 pm wrote:

andrew. @ Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:50 am wrote:

(Flash isn't even included

Flash is terrible. It's exclusion on products which sell in high volume can only put pressure on web content providers to shun it to the betterment of the entire internet. See HTML5 video for an example of this.

Heh, I was about to say this is the reason it will be the best way to browse the web.

[Dan]

miss

[wtd]

One guy standing there with a placard, while hundreds in the background are clearly not caring. I'd hardly use that as evidence to call it a miss.

The same people said that the iPod and iPhone were misses.

[apomb]

it looks rediclous, because we're not used to a device this big. I actually think the apple on the back should be rotated 90 degrees, just so it doesnt look like a stupid big iphone.

[wtd]

Well, look at where they put the dock connector. Portrait mode is clearly what they had in mind for most use. People use the iPhone in landscape mode to get extra horizontal resolution and physical width. It's less an issue with 768 pixels across in portrait mode on the iPad.