The iPad Questions Apple Won't Answer

snydeq writes "Apple's reticence to reveal details prior to a product's launch is legendary. But when Apple extends this silence beyond a product's unveiling, historically this has meant that the product cannot deliver the functionality that analysts and journalists are asking about. InfoWorld's Galen Gruman lists eight key questions for the iPad, about all of which Apple has kept silent. Can you save and transfer documents to the iPad? Does the iPad support Microsoft Exchange email? Does the iPad support VPN? Configuration management? 'I have no doubt the iPad will be compelling to some users. But I now have major concerns that it will fulfill the potential beyond being an iTunes delivery screen that I and other industry observers saw,' Gruman writes."

Comments

Re:Answers

[AliasMarlowe]

The whole iPad is completely locked.

Even a locked device can be very useful, if it accomplishes an attractive set of purposes economically and well. If it does not, then it needs to be unlocked, so that people can rectify its deficiencies or add other features that they want. Alternatively, the device needs to drop down the price scale until its locked performance is economically sound. The value proposition of the iPad is very questionable, IMO, but could be improved in a number of ways even while remaining locked.

Just pollin'

[bytesex]

I know I could Google it, but I'd much rather have an expression of US 'sentiment' if you will - perhaps things are different across the ocean. I don't see a market for this thing and it leaves me puzzled. My question is this: does anyone there actually own something that could be seen as a precursor to this machine ? Is every other person in the US walking around with an e-book reader, that they are ready to replace with an iPad or something ? I mean, the iPod was launched in an existing portable MP3-player market, the iPhone was launched in an existing (even crowded) mobile phone market. This makes me wonder, since I do not have anything that looks like an iPad already (I don't need it) - is there a widespread need for this product ? I mean, I have a netbook, but i wouldn't compare that - it is much more capable.

Re:Just pollin'

[jo_ham]

If the iPad, a solid, working, real world object that has been seen in person by many people outside of Apple is "vapourware" then what is Duke Nukem Forever?

This story is really a non-story, and is pretty much an Apple-bash. It has no purpose being on /. but such is the nature of Apple's products at the moment (for every fawning 'change the world' story, there's one like this).

7 of the 8 "unanswered" questions are in Apple's literature, or are directly comparable to the iTouch and iPhone that run the same OS. The article is just another FUD piece that is having its desired effects - getting people on /. pissed off about "apple stories".

Will the iPad "change the world" - I don;t think so, but it might just fit into a niche for itself and become popular enough to make it useful. It's not a replacement for a netbook, or any other sort of computer, although the bulk of the complaints about the form factor seem to be that it isn't a netbook.

If the only thing it ever does is become the way college students use textbooks it will be a huge success. I would kill to have my copy of Warren (Organic Chem) on an iPad. It may be 10" across, but it doesn't weigh 3kg, and is a lot thinner. For the price of 5 textbooks, I could get the cheapest one, and the price is only going to come down.

What is the purpose of the ipad?

[Beelzebud]

That's the key thing I still haven't heard anyone explain. What is an Ipad for, exactly?

Maybe it's just me, but the ipad seems like a monumental waste of money.

If you're trying to sell me something for $300 minimum, and you can't tell me with a straight answer what the device is for, then you have a problem.

But that's not the most important question

[91degrees]

The most important question is "Has Apple found a niche for this product that other Tablet PC manufacturers have been unable to find?"

Re:Real Answers

[10Ghz]

Would it really hurt apple to put a usb or sd card slot on to the ipad. I mean seriously people like to take photo's and the iPad screen is a useful size.

Well, the iPod-connector is USB plus other bits and pieces. And they have a camera connection kit which does allow you to hook the iPad to a camera or plug in a SD-card.

there has to be i/o someway of connecting to a printer at least.

I have heard rumours that iPad will support printing to networked printers.

I'm struggling to see why the iPad has any potential to be a popular product if its going to be so limited.

iPod touch is very succesfull product, and iPad is order of magnitude more capable than the touch is.And quite often offering the user maximum amount of flexibility and adaptability usually increases the amount of complexity and opportunities of failure. Apple wanted iPad to be a simple device. Hell, it's so simple that I could see my mother using one, even though she has never used a computer!

The mistake people are doing is staring at the hardware-specs, and proclaiming the iPad as "nothing but oversized iPod touch", when the key thing is the software. You can do things on the Ipad that would simply not be possible on the iPod touch. It's no surprise that the people who complain about the iPad are people who haven't used one. The ones that have used one, seem to have an opposite opinion. And that's because you can complain about the specs even if you just saw them listed on a piece of paper, but in order to have an opinion regarding the software and actual use of the device, you have to actually USE the device, as opposed to stare at a bunch of specs in a website.

I bet that when people actually use the iPad, it becomes quite obvious that it's a lot more than just "oversized iPod touch".

Re:Answers (This old saw again?)

[proxima]

And none of it was purchased through your iPhone. You can purchase music on a computer and transfer it to the device, but there's no way to get non-iTunes music through the device itself.

Having never owned an iPhone, what does Apple do to restrict web downloads of mp3s from Amazon or any number of other online services? The only thing I can think of is that the ipod app is incapable of adding news mp3s to its index without itunes on a computer, but I'm just asking...

Re:Answers (This old saw again?)

[ciroknight]

Not only can you not save arbitrary files (mp3s included), you couldn't use an Amazon-specific downloader app, because Apple would have to approve it through the App Store, which, let's face it, is not going to happen (unless the Justice Department goes all Sherman act on their asses, but they're too impotent to ever do that, just ask the 'Corporations are People Too' Supreme Court). So no MP3 purchases from an iPhone for you. Sorry for your troubles.