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iPad Will Beat Netbooks With "Magic"
entirely_fluffy writes "In a talk intended to woo investors, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said the iPad will win over potential netbook buyers, but not because of specs or features. No, Cook said, the iPad's magical properties will seal the deal. 'The netbook is not an experience people are going to continue wanting to have,' Cook said, according to Macworld. 'When they play with the iPad and experience the magic of using it ... I have a hard time believing they're going to go for a netbook.'" Another thing that would help would be a camera and a $100 discount, but hey Magic is cool too, provided they have enough mana.
Given mages constant grieving towards hunters, they will most likely stay away from this.
Apple has finally made the 'magic' API public. Using non-public API's was a big issue for developers but now it's gonna be all better. Really.
Apple already beat all estimations on what it'd cost. I think everyone on /. was estimating around $999 (as was everyone else on the net). All of the closest competitors are around that price point.
Why not just ask for it for free?
A camera would be nice.
I hope he knows I've got the patent on magic, and the magic blue smoke in devices.
Om, nomnomnom...
I guess Steve's Reality Distortion Field (TM) has finally begun to break down
Too bad Doug Henning isn't still around to promote it.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Even when shit is called magical, doesn't make it anything other than shit.
""When they play with the iPad and experience the magic of using it... I have a hard time believing they're going to go for a netbook.""
So your sales strategy involves a free trial for everyone?
Operator, give me the number for 911!
How much magic is left in the Apple Lisa?
I wouldn't depend on *that* for long.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
To a regular netbook person the magic is price... They are barking up a wrong tree, if the intend to compete with netbooks without competitive price.
So many people treat computers like a black box that I wouldn't be surprised if this does give netbooks a run for their money. It's doubtful that it will take hold in the more technically oriented community (closed as it is,) but in the "I don't care I just want it to work" arena it may do quite well.
As for what the hell the magic is, above and beyond being a giant iPod/iPhone, I do not know.
Netbooks aren't very resistant to magic. If they party with a PC for tanking, then it'll be a different story.
Nothing lasts forever but the certainty of change.
Great minds think alike:
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke
"We can do anything now that scientists have invented magic" - Marge Simpson
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
It's not that people will get tired with netbooks, it's that some people don't want/need a netbook form factor but there was no "affordable" tablet form factor. Oddly, I really wanted a tablet but now that I have a netbook I don't want a tablet as badly - I'd rather have an ereader. It's become clear that a tablet without a keyboard wouldn't serve enough functions for me. Actually, the Always Innovating convertable is still the closest to the form factor I'd prefer, but (as with the iPad) the lack of ability to run windows apps would prevent me from using several commercial utilities which are essential to my business.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Maybe they could get Penn & Teller?
If they did, I think I'd actually enjoy the advertisements.
NetBook > ipad
Why
1: netbook has actual keyboard
2: netbook is a actual pc Ie it runs windows or linux
3: netbook can multi task
4: nebook can be had for as cheep as 200$
5: netbook can close to protect screen.
I can keep going but sorry netbook is a real system, the ipad is just a oversized iphone.
Or, in business terms, "we could sell poop in a box and people would buy it because of their trust in Apple, also know as brand equity, which we will burn in exchange for cash with this product."
"Magic" is really a good description for trying to create the maximum user experience.
As a happy owner of the iPad Nano (aka iPod Touch) for over a year now, Apple has real potential here in the scaled-up version, and this really is a good description of why the iPad may sell and the iPhone has sold: a cohesive user experience.
And here's one of the big uses: VNC. Have the iPad be the remote desktop to your "real" computer.
Test your net with Netalyzr
What's wrong with netbooks?
I got one for $300 a few months ago, and it does pretty much everything I'd ask it to. Office applications, internet, chat (and it does have a webcam and microphone, something I believe the iPad doesn't), and it even does (some of) the games on my Steam account. Not to beat a dead horse, but it doesn't hurt that the netbook has a faster processor, four times the storage of the biggest iPad, Flash, and USB support, either.
I'm not going to deny that the iPad can do things my netbook can't and that it's a much sexier piece of hardware, but I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with "the netbook experience."
Goo goo g'joob.
Maybe they could get Penn & Teller?
I can see it now ... ... ::crickets:: ... at least he does impressions ... but not of the iPad ...
Penn: Hi, I'm an iPad
Teller:
Penn: Don't mind him, he's a slate device. They don't have much to crow about.
Teller: (makes sour face)
Penn: He looks like some guy who bought a slate device
Magic is great if you have 'spare cash' lying around. With people concerned about getting the best 'bang for their buck' they'll look for a practical device that's cheaper. If Apple is only targeting luxury buyers I can't imagine their market penetration will be significant enough to impact netbooks.
mu
The article doesn't really add anything new, it's just spouting the general opinion that's been floating around since the launch.
I would say Apple's own logo and buzz will make people want it. We have to keep in mind it isn't the geeks that make these gadgets popular, it's when the soccer moms are buying them for themselves and their husbands, or the middle-age blue-collar worker who can have all his Steven King novels with him where ever he may be. These are the people that make up the sales, they're the middle-class. It doesn't matter to them if you can 'alt-tab' to an already running program. Camera or not, it's still a great device that is priced to sell to a large audience. I would have never though of buying a Kindle after seeing one, E-Ink doesn't offer enough for the price. Now there's a easy-to-use E-Reader/Netbook that would fit a lot of people, it's as simple as that.
Then again maybe I should just blog my opinion and put it somewhere where I can make revenue for ads like this site.
[J]
Magic?? Are the same gremlins that steal left socks from dryers also invloved the iPad's development? If so, Apple owes me some socks.
You read it here. Apple is infringing the Harry Potter Business Model patent.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Apple reallllllly need to stop mentioning netbooks.
The cheap, gimped, version of the iPad is twice as expensive as a netbook. Every time they say netbook it reminds people that there's a perfectly adequate device that is in many ways more capable than their device for far less money. Everyone was initially amazed that Apple had produced a tablet computer for $500, their amazement waned when they realised Apple hadn't produced a computer.
Puzzle Daze is now my job
A disk less DVD player... a method to allow major publishers to jack up the costs for books and movies I want to buy and download. I am curious how much Apple gets for each sale, it has to be substantial if they are willing to sell us out to the publishers. We knew it was coming when they broke the 99 cent price limit on songs trying to convince us it was okay because the quality was better.
When I saw it had a TFT screen I realized, it ain't going to work for books let alone outside.
Never buy the first revision, especially this time. It is so obviously rushed and missing features people want that version 2 will come all that faster if version one tanks.
Beat netbooks? At what? Playing movies, maybe.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
How much magic was in Apple III?
People like to bash this thing, and the lack of Flash is a bummer, but the fact is that when I use the browser on my iPhone I think it works amazingly well... except that you deal with having to zoom in and out and being able to see everything. A larger screen would make this a pretty damn spiffy way to browse the web. I think it's that that's going to get people to buy it, but they won't know it without being able to try it out for themselves. This will sell if people come to the stores to try them out.
--- What?
The user experience with a netbook is the same as with a notebook PC except... worse. The keyboards are small and generally terrible, the track-pads are generally small and terrible and the screens are generally small and terrible. If you don't have a table to set it on, you have to hunch way over in order to use it because it requires 2 hands to operate. The iPad takes care of all of those issues, plus it has a really great UI. No, it's not a full-blown PC. It's not supposed to be, but I think that there is definitely a market for a device like this. Go ahead and call me an Apple fanboy if you want. I am a Mac user. I already have a MacBook, though, so I don't have a need for an iPad. But if I had a desktop PC, the iPad would be a nice mobile device for me.
...Dispel Magic..... Mordenkainen's Disjunction....
More evidence to prove my case calling for Apple to be burned at the stake!
It's a lot of time that I believe the reason that pushes most users towards Mac/iPhone/anythingapple is the "coolness" of the interface, that is so funny, maybe also because it's in a certain manner different from everything else, but doesn't necessarily mean that is better, or anyway, not SO better as most mac fans claim. But every time I express such an opinon, a religion war begins. Now an Apple man tells us quite explicitly what's their marketing strategy. Maybe some people will begin to open their eyes? I'm a bit hopeless anyway.
Make it $200 off, and jailbroke so i can use a REAL keyboard, install my own software, and then we can talk. Until then its just a big ipod touch ... and i already have one of them, and it fits in my pocket to boot.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Since they are bred for their skills in magic?
But Apple sure wants you to think so. As for me, I simply want a mini-laptop, which looks and acts like a regular laptop, only smaller (at the cost of performance if necessary). That's exactly what a netbook is.
In contrast, the ipad is definitely NOT a mini-laptop as I just described. Not only does it look and act differently, but you can't install your choice of open source OS like you can with any old laptop. That's an absolute show stopper for me.
Teller: /puts on robe and wizard hat.
Penn: Oh no, not you again!
Sent from your iPad.
Once you start to think, magic stop working. If OS market share teach us something, is that they will sell millons.
This is a direct marketing approach to non-technical users - i.e. it will just work - like magic.
Most of the posters I've seen on Slashdot seem to believe that the success of any new gadget has some direct bearing on the number of features or its "openess" or hackability. Sorry, but I don't buy a refrigerator because its easy to swap out the compressor or because there are 10 different sources for the compressor or because the compressor also lets me hook up and drive my compressed air tools. Real humans that live on earth buy refrigerators because they match the color of their kitchen and can keep their food cold and frozen. If they want their friends to really drool, they buy a built-in refrigerator with high-end styling.
And that's exactly why the iPhone will continue to kick Android butt and why the iPad will be popular and make Apple tons of money. No one really cares about those antique build-it-yourself component-based computers anymore except an ever-dwindling group of geeks like us - and it would probably benefit us all to try and evolve into evaluating technology in a way that differs from the past focus on speed, components, and interfaces.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law)
My guess is that Apple is betting that they can advance tablet technology far enough to make it indistinguishable from magic. I don't think I'm alone when I say that I feel extremely skeptical of this claim. We'll see when it's released how "magic" it seems.
Personally, I think a magic tablet would be one that is holographic AND can do everything my computer can, plus everything I would like it to do.
A tall order, but that's what you get when you start making claims about magic.
I'll start with magic missile, please. (Also, sleep is a popular entry-level choice.)
And I believe read magic, write magic, and cantrip are bundled.
I can see the fnords!
Ok, I'm actually really excited about the iPad (hate that name) and will probably get one (not sure if I'll get a 1st gen or wait for the 2nd) but, even I, an Apple fanboi, am getting sick and tired of hearing "magic", "magical", or any derivation thereof when discussing the iPad. Enough. Please, move on. Please.
This reminds me of a carton I once saw.
Basically, it was a picture of a guy drawing a flowchart on how to resolve an IT problem. It had all kinds of things happening, then right at the end there was cloud there that said "(((Something magic happens)))" in the middle of it, and then everything was fixed!
Cook doesn't invoke confidence with such an ambiguous statement.
The idea that the iPad's "magical properties" would render it superior to netbooks reminds me of a stand-up comic/magician in Japan whose act consists of the usual parlor tricks with the gag that he plays the character of a smiling con man:
The original (Magi Shinji, I think his stage name was) retired and left his "disciple" to run the act, but unfortunately, the disciple doesn't do the con job quite as well.
The jury's still out on whether a big iPod Touch would be superior to low-cost netbooks, IMO. Sure, Jobs might like the iPad a whole lot better, but as I recall, he also designed the G4 Cube and Lisa. No one's perfect.
"We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
"This isn't the netbooks you are looking for. Move along."
People believe what they want to believe. "Magic" is one kind of belief reinforcer.
Imagine two identical products. Q: Which one sells best? A: The one with better advertising.
People don't just want advertising: they need it, to experience the joy of ownership as richly as possible.
Apple knows this. Apple is very good at creating belief ... and if Apple calls this "magic", then they're just stating the obvious.
-kgj
Steve sipped his magic water, brow furrowed, listening with his head cocked to the side to the blather the record execs across the table were vomiting at him. The barfing had been ongoing for the better part of three hours, and Steve was bored. As he set his water bottle down, his mind meandered from the meeting to more interesting things. Dammit, Steve thought, this is my boardroom. It's about time they heard my speech!
Beside Steve in his stupor sat none other than Phil Schiller, mulleted and wearing his typical denim button-down, and John Rubenstein who was wearing a blue polo, collar-up, with iPod headphones snaking up over his hairy chest and pouring out the front of his collar. Not only was John the Senior Vice President of the iPod division, he was also a member.
As the meeting droned on, Phil noted the glazed look in John and Steve's eyes. Without moving a muscle, Phil fiddled with something underneath the table and a random burst of music exploded from John's neck. Before John could look down, however, the music stopped. Steve hadn't noticed and Phil looked over at John and smirked. John wondered when Phil had managed to take his Shuffle.
Clearing his throat, Steve rose from his chair, interrupting the record executives across from him. They looked up at Steve's blue-jeaned form, surprised. They watched as Steve strutted to the corner of the room and grabbed a new bottle of water out of a mini-fridge, uncapped it, and took a sip. He looked around him at all the expectant eyes, like baby birds held captive in a nest, and smiled.
"I have a little something to share with you today," Steve said, the fire coming back to his eyes. "We all do, in fact, and we're really excited to present this special Stevenote with you today."
Phil looked over to John and rolled his eyes. Having endured one too many Stevenotes, he wasn't what could be called very excited in the least. Stultified was probably a better term for what Phil was experiencing at the moment. John too had witnessed several private mini-keynotes where Steve Jobs had paraded around a boardroom and drove a point relentlessly home for hours on end.
Phil and John shrugged, helpless, and turned to Steve. At least it wasn't record company rhetoric.
"Gentlemen, today we stand here over two years after Apple and the recording industry made downloading music easy and legal," Steve began, not missing a beat. "And in two years we've grown in a really impressive way, and we've got some really impressive numbers to show you."
Without a word, Steve yanked a small device that looked like a black iPod Shuffle out of his pocket and clicked a button. Silently, metal armor appeared from the walls and covered the windows. The lights dimmed behind them, and a solid metal panel slid shut with a sucking sound over the doorway. One wall was lit by an unseen projector and down-tempo electronica started playing softly in the background.
The record executives looked around, frenzied, not sure what had just happened. Some grabbed for papers and shoved them into briefcases while others swung around in their chairs feeling for something to grab onto. They began muttering, asking one another what was going on, nerves on edge. One exec took his mobile phone out and opened it. He looked hysterical in the dim light.
"You'll see that your mobile phone's signal is jammed in here, as are all other means of external communication. Bluetooth and WiFi don't work, and the Ethernet cables to your laptops have been cut," Steve said to the executives. "You're all alone in here. All alone with just me, Phil, John, and the numbers."
Phil and John shook their heads in dismay.
Steve wasted no time in barraging the executives in an ejaculation of numbers. Tracks available through the iTunes music store: 500 million. Projected iPod sales for September quarter '05: 7.1 million. New countries the iTunes music store was available to in '05: 7. The list went on and on, the execs — as well as John and Phil — were wide-eyed and swe
I guess you should ask them again once they have used the ipad to type in twenty email messages or blog comments.
You guys bashing don't get it. Your Netbooks will do more. That's the point. Apple is all about giving you the 50% of functions you need, and polishing the hell out of it.
My grandmother won't get a netbook. She will get an iPad. She's not encroaching on your geek demographic.
For you logic types, iPad potential customer base > Netbook targeted customer base.
It will win because it does less.
Until you understand that concept, stay in your sheltered Netbook world. Oh, and update your virus definitions. And defrag your disk. Be sure to reboot today. Oh, update those drivers, too.
To technically adept people, a netbook is much more functional and capable than an ipad. To technically inept people (the vast majority),
a netbook is too complicated to learn and use effectively, but an ipad isn't, and so for them the ipad actually delivers more functionality than the netbook. That's the magic of usability.
Doubt it. It's more likely you'll see the iPad on their show "Bullshit".
I just recently bought a schoolmate PC. Netbook with touchscreen/webcan/windows XP. Extremely lightweight and I can flip the screen, pull out the pen (or use my finger) and surf, chat, listen to music, watch videos - really whatever I want. Oh - and as a bonus I even get to do more than one at once! What a novel concept!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Not having to deal with the inherent complexity of an OS that allows you to do all of the above.
No, no, NO! First level spells:
1) Sleep
2) Charm Person
End of Story.
Magic missile: one arrow. Buy a freaking bow!!!
Read Magic: pointless. Use it at home.
Hold Portal: WHY do you want to keep a door shut for a couple of turns?
Floating disk. GET A PONY.
Shield. If you need this, you're already fucked.
Read Languages: "Sign says: you've wasted a spell. Huhuhu"
Light: Wha? If you can't afford torches, you're in the wrong business.
At first level:
Sleep: you can "kill" 5-8 critters in a small room without your fighter dying, leaving him for the Big Bad
Charm Person: use it on the second in command and have him beat the c*ap out of everyone you need. Each hit is worth more than your magic missile.
Really, the first level spells are, apart from those two, POINTLESS.
In the telecomm industry, we have an acronym: PFM. It stands for "Pure Fucking Magic."
Who knew the iPad utilized PFM?
I have a bad feeling about this...
Its the same thing that the CEO has said, and its the same thing their official product announcement said, and its the same thing the current project page said. "Magic", "Revolutionary", etc. -- its all fuzzy hype, and no "feature, functions, benefits".
And that's a bad sign for a new product.
I have a Netbook, and I still think this'll be useful as heck. Keyboard seems about on par - my 10" netbook gives me cramped hands when trying to do anything for more than 5 minutes. Screen seems a bit larger than my netbook, so that would be REALLY nice. For what it is (not a computer), it sounds ideal. Betcha my folks would love it. Let's see if I can justify it to the wife.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
I think it would be great if Apple's website releases the iPad and it says "And by the wayit also runs OSX." Of course, we all go to the Store page for it and see the OSX version is $999. But still ;)
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Price is everything. I think this will be a net gain for netbooks.
In the one corner. We will Apple who will sell you a stripped down iPad for $600 or a decent iPad for $800. Or you can get the Striped down unit with 3g added to it from AT&T with a wireless contract for 2 years. Very cool, very slick, no flash, no cam, just great working apps you have to buy but integrate well. Apps and data will not move in/out well unless you own a 1500 mac.
People with want one, people will desire it and think that they need a portable wireless device. So the netbook they never cared about before becomes a must have device. Becuase....
In the other corner is the netbook. For the most part under $600. I am sure a netbook with detachable keyboard, touch screen, cam, 3g and 2gis of ram can be sold for under $500. Every other wireless carrier in the country who can't offer an iPad can offer one of these with a better priced wireless plan.
So I WANT an iPad that will end up being the low end scrungy one that will cost me $80.00 a month for 2 years and I will have to change cell phone companies or have 2 cell phone compnaies. And I will have to live without flash.
Or I can get a unit with a 2 year plan from my current cell phone company for $50.00 a month AND have flash and a cam.
I think when people have the money to liberate $200 to $500 for a netbook but can't really come up with $600-$800 for an iPad the netbook will be looking pretty good.
The under 22 crowd will be the ones interested in a device that costs more than a laptop but can't sync with their other computer.
Lets also not forget the very thing that drives innovation on the Interet...Porn. The small screen on an iPhone/iTouch is a little to small to decently view porn. The iPad is a better size. With no flash player and Apple blocking any decent porn app that would come through the app store and even a $200 netbook supports a 7 to 9 inch screen AND flash. Lets not forget no cam for taking pictures of the girlfriend. Where is a red blooded young American boy to turn for some gripping single player action?
vi +
Of course most of the people here don't get it. To most geeks, who suffer a minor form of stockholm syndrome when it comes to using computers (if you don't suffer, you're not a true power user), a user interface is a handful of UI buttons which postpend the correct command-line switches to the underlying command-line application.
Actually using a usability designer is foreign to most developers. And creating an environment which my mother can grok without a Ph.D. in Computer Science? Magic. Black fsckin' magic.
The sad part is that most developers I know don't have any interest in learning this form of magic, despite direct evidence (in Apple's growing coffers) that connecting to your users (and not calling them 'lusers' behind their backs) causes your users to want to throw gobs of money at you.
Many of you don't get it. Apple "iPad" isn't a general-purpose computer. It's an entertainment device.
It doesn't need a camera, and it doesn't need a keyboard, because it's a mostly-output device. It's an improved "e-reader", not a "netbook". It's not a "convergence" device, it's a "divergence" device.
It's overpriced. The price will drop, of course. Look at the price history of Apple's music players. The entry level device there is now $125.
It will succeed or fail based on what content it can access. If Apple and News Corp. work out a deal, and you can view all News Corp. content on the thing, it will be a big success.
And when that "Magic" wears off you will be stuck with an oversized iPod Touch.
What the hell is all that crap? I just want to browse the web and update my facebook status from the couch without looking like a nerd.
Apple does not produce computing devices for nerds. They produce computing appliances for people.
For every action your normal joe wants to do, there is a relatively stable, secure, and predictable application to do it, which integrates well across the entire Apple platform. They deliver a candy coated information experience, not a platform for geeking out. I despise some parts of their business model, but it does seem to work out well for them.
I snarfed a Lenovo X41 tablet last summer. It's not an iPad killer - uses a Wacom stylus, of course it's a Pentium M, 12" screen, but it gives me an interesting adventure into the tablet world. My experience?
- Touchscreens will be a little awkward at first. You have to be careful not to graze the surface, or you will be selecting that pr0n site you didn't want by accident. With a stylus, this is less a problem, since I only deal with waving the stylus too close to the screen and moving/selecting by accident. I have to press (click) to do damage, unless I'm moving something I didn't want to.. Of course.
- Holding a tablet in your lap sucks. the screen angle is wrong. So you cradle it somehow. Remember Die Another Day, when the Elliot Carver character was prancing around with a touch tablet, furiously typing tomorrow's headline of world destruction? Trust me, he doesn't do that for very long before he gets tired of the crooked arm and gets comfortable. But that's just a movie. You won't do that for more than 20 minutes. And not on a bus, or train, or any crowded place. It's not as comfortable as it looks, at least not for me.
- Touch-typing will suck bigtime, more than on a iPhone. The tablet in the crook of your arm moves more than you think it would. You will miss keys. The iPhone you can control the movement of. And do you often have your palm or another finger on the iPhone while you use another finger on the same hand to type with, and of course thumb-type? The iPad is too big to do that well. I have G1 also, and touchtyping is tolerable on it, but I love having a keyboard when I need to ssh in and get something done.
- Browsing on a table is very cool, so long as you go to sites you already know about. Entering search terms means you stop touching and start typing. See above. But once you're idly surfing around Google results, well, it's actually easy and fun-ish. Scrolling will be sweet on an iPad, since Lenovo doesn't have multitouch for stylus-bound tablets. Now, if I could get a fingertip stylus, well... But this is a win for the iPad, mostly.
- Setting it up and using a real keyboard? Well, that will probably mean a Bluetooth keyboard and a stand. Another thing to lose. Or someone will come up with a snap on carry case that houses a keyboard.
Compared to netbooks, an iPad gets you OS X, iPhone-like interface, a bigger but 4:3 screen. I bet Android netbooks will deliver a similar experience.
Fight's on!
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
This is as close as we will ever get to Apple admitting their cult of personality is the primary (but not only) driver of their sales, not their products.
you totally don't get it. What they're saying, is that the netbook is very frustrating to use for many tasks. Those same tasks on the iPad will be much easier to do. For example, typing using a netbooks' keyboard sucks, the keyboard is just slightly too small for actual 10 finger typing. Also, the screen is too small. Windows is meant for larger screens, and the experience on a netbook is less than pleasing. Apple is saying that they have not only addressed what they consider to be the shortcomings of the netbook, they feel they have improved on them so much, the iPad will seem like magic compared to doing the same things on a netbook.
I think "magic" is a marketing term for "marketing"..... Theres a reason companies invest large sums of money in advertising and brand recognition, it's because it works. The iPad will outsell every netbook out there. Probably combined... In comparisons, keep in mind a netbook is a tool, an iPad is a toy, so which one is your kid going to want?
This is the "touch it" in the shop experience. Wait till you close the deal. Warranty to the church doors.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Without the reality distortion bubble (massive delusion and viral marketing), nobody with a healthy mind would buy those overpriced Apple products anyway. (Or MS products for that matter.)
I only think, that their own delusion made them fly a biit too high, so that they think they can take over the whole netbook market.
I’m sorry Apple. You’re good, but not that good.
Because of the simple fact that most of us simply don’t have the money to buy in iPad, when a cheap Taiwanese netbook or a smartphone will do the job for a quarter of the price, AND offer more freedom.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
"It's not just me who's too stupid to deal with a real OS, everyone is!"
Apple fanboys, gotta love those constant rationalizations.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
if winning means, that some company creating netbooks will sell more of its netbooks, than apple will sell ipads: nope, netbooks won't win that.
in the end, what makes iStuff a winner is: ppl just buy it, even if they can't use it for all they dreamt about, because they don't dream - and all the money is not split amongst many manufacturers, it goes to apple alone.
And don't tell those ppl, you can do things on your netbook your iPad / iPhone / iWhatever can't do, because if I had an iPhone, I sure as hell would play around with it, too.
That's the only magic: they sell people stuff, which does that stuff pretty well, which it does, but can't do all the stuff they might could have done with a pro system. But since we are geeks and buy our gizmos because we WANT them to do stuff, we can't understand the big consumer base, which buy things because they want to see the stuff it does, nothing more.
The whole "we attack the netbook market" is the same slogan as the iPhone attacked the mobile phone market, which it didn't really. mobile phones still do everything they are supposed to do, and smartphones still do more than the iphone, but the iphone is an iphone, you know.
I use a good old X41 for couchsurfing. I call it the iX41. I spent the money on that thing, which I would have spent on an iphone. no GSM of course, but it is not handy anyway to run around with a book sized electronic thingie pressed against my head.
All shortcomings aside with the Ipad... It is designed for the masses. It's slick 'to them' and will sell like crazy. Your average person doesn't care how it works just as long as it works.
And in reality Apple is truly gearing up to sell a lot of TV shows over the Ipad... It will be a new TV watching experience.
Torontoman
Apple has a lot of convincing-sounding rationalizations for why the iPad/iPod/iPhone should be appliance-like rather than computer-like.
Some of them, maybe you even agree with.
But go ahead and look at them, and ask, "Why shouldn't this rationalization just as easily apply to the Macintosh?" Find one that doesn't apply. You can't.
The consequences to this line of thinking are obviously abhorrent. You know it's wrong. And yet, if you don't follow the logic all the way to desktop PCs, then it doesn't seem so bad, huh? BUT IT'S THE SAME LOGIC.
What makes it ok for a handheld? Magic, that's what. Nothing you can measure, talk about objectively, or get people to agree on. It's pure religion in its ultimate dogmatic form: Steve said so.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
Usability isn't magic. Its having the right set of features to provide functions that produce definable benefits in particular applications. If you've got a real usability advantages, you can sell them with the tradition "this feature provides this function which produces this benefit" way, you don't have to wave "magic" around.
So, for that matter, will my smartphone (which, as it happens, is an iPhone, but any modern smartphone would be in the same position.) And, either of those things will do the things they do better than the iPad, which is to big to excel at the things that a smartphone is good for, and too feature-limited to excel at the things the netbook is good for.
That's a nice theory, and sometimes Apple hits a home run trying to do limited-functionality-but-polished. But, also, sometimes it makes the Apple Pippin.
Most of the people I've seen with netbooks aren't geeks.
If anything, an expensive, limited-functionality computing device that is designed to rely on another computer as a primary device has a narrower target market than a less-expensive device that can operate just fine as a primary device.
If doing less (or even doing less, but doing it better) meant you win, the iPad would be killed by e-Ink based dedicated readers, which do less than the iPad and do it better. From its price, size, form factor, and what they highlighted in the demo, I think Apple's hope is exactly the opposite of "It will win because it does less (and does it better)". I think they are hoping to win in the exploding market for digital reader devices by doing more, not winning in against netbooks by doing less.
All of those functions happen automatically (or, in the case of rebooting, with a reminder that you click on when an update requires it, which is maybe once a week -- and the only time, except when I'm switching to use Linux [hardly something a non-geek user is as likely to need to do], that I reboot my netbook rather than just closing the lid and letting it hibernate), except defragging which is almost never needed.
And, with a netbook, you don't have to have another computer to plug into to get OS updates.
Well, I think I know what the counterspell is: most workplaces (those that are non-Mac shops) have an aura of Dispel Magic upon them. That turns the iPad's magic on itself so that it can't connect to Exchange or store MS Office documents on the device.
Wizards must know not only their own spells, but the spells other wizards will cast against them.
Unfortunately for Apple, this counterspell is an older, deeper magic than that which is in their device. The'll sell a bunch of these to the media user and fanboy markets, but I don't think it will have staying power (without significant changes).
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
Apple is in a particularly unique situation that they have a base of rabidly loyal consumers. Having worked in the design industry for years I constantly deal with this sort of thing and I have a hard time thinking of an instance when any of these people were openly critical towards Apple. Go online and any time someone is critical others are quick to pounce on them. So basically, what Apple has is a legion of evangelists. Inevitably all this positive will towards Apple filters down to your average consumer who picks up on it.
Another amazing quality Apple possesses is their ability to make even bad ideas palatable. The combination of good aesthetics and great integration just make their products appealing. Apple obviously puts a lot of thought into every product they decide to develop. They don't innovate so much as excel at implementation. They don't rush to implement new technologies and instead wait until it's mature enough they can do what they want with it; the touch screen being a good example of this. Even their designs haven't changed much in nearly 10 years; they've done little more than go back and forth between the metal and white or black plastic shells.
In addition to simply sticking to what works they've created a strong visual identity for themselves that reflects their approach to the technology. They take a more evolutionary approach. Other companies would be obsessed with reinventing their products every couple of years instead. They're always trying to spark some kind of revolution with some kind of killer product they hope will carry the rest of the brand but which never works out in the long run. And others aren't as willing to commit to a potentially good idea if it doesn't pay off in the short term.
Then they have their marketing which really just capitalizes on all these attributes and throws in subtle hyperbole for good measure.
Their products aren't the best on the market for overall use, but no one has yet been able to compete with them on integration and design. You could call it magic simply because few others are willing or capable of doing the same.
with Business Advanced Touch features.
You know, I'm probably going to get modded down for this, but i have to say it anyway. To all you people keep saying how horrible the iPad is and how it's going to fail. You are wrong. Way wrong. Not only is the iPad going to totally succeed, but it's probably going to change computing as we know it. As people start using the closed iPad architecture, Apple will introduce more and more gadgets that use this architecture until they completely replace windows machines for most users. Sure they'll always be us geeks that prefer an open architecture, but for most users (my mom, your mom, etc.) the iPad does enough. You shouldn't stand in the way of this transition. It means no more tech support calls. No more 'my computer is full of viruses, can you fix it?' questions. This is the best thing that could ever possibly happen. Oh, and the iPad has a keyboard add-on, so all you people that say it has no keyboard, shut your holes. Disclaimer: No, i don't have a mac, No, I don't have an iPhone. I do however have an iPod touch and love it. However, nothing could ever replace my blackberry.
Sometimes I wonder if the Ipad was the original design for the Iphone....They were just like, we have to make this thing smaller... No one would want to carry this around... And now someone pulled it off the shelf and was like... HEY! Great idea! lets repackage this dev phone into some kind of tablet...
you know you can fry stuff putting things into things that dont like the things you put into it...
nothing says "I have a small penis" like owning something from Apple.
I don't want to be thinking things like that about my girlfriend...
My netbook does whatever I want it to. I can install any software that the hardware is capable of running, and it just works. I also don't have to pay extra for basic functionality like the ability to use it as a glorified wifi dongle when the situation requires it. It has a camera and it was $258!
I don't understand this fad of buying crippled devices and then being charged nickles and dimes to restore functionality.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Free Martian Whores!
For some people here at /. Apple could give you money for taking an iPad (or any other Apple device) and they'd still complain that they didn't get enough money.
It takes time carrying out that transaction. Maybe I could earn more doing something else with my time.
Maybe I have to fill out a contract with Apple to get the money, and I'm worried about the contract. Maybe I'm worried enough that I need a lawyer to read and understand it for me. That costs money.
Apple of course needs to compensate for that, and the transaction time, and a little more, for me to accept.
Okay, I'm stretching the argument thin, and it only works for unrealistic values of transaction cost and donation size, but there are rational reasons for saying no to free money (with or without the extra free iConsumerElectronics).
And doesn't it go the other way around as well? Aren't there a few Apple lovers who'd complain about getting too little money if someone gave them money and a Windows/Linux CD?
You call it a big iPod Touch. Fine, but have you considered that this device has the small screen for a reason? Because these type of devices have to fit in your pocket?
This ain't rocket science. It is NOT just a big iPod touch, that would be like saying the portable LP player you once had was a walkman. No. A walkman fitted in your pocket, an LP player no matter how small does not for a very obvious reason.
And so, the two devices, simply because of their size difference are completely different.
It will be intresting to see what is going to happen to. A lot of people use their netbooks als portable media players to hook up to tv's for some reason. They might be well served by the iPad. But people who use a netbook as a small highly portable computer, will not.
Make no mistake, those who complain about slow netbooks got the crappy models with HD's. Stick a proper SSD in one, get a dual core and it is a fairly powerfull machine easily capable of holding up to early dual cores in user experience. For me it is a PC without the size constraints, because frankly my real desktops are running at 1% even when I am using. So what if my netbook then does 10% (at half clock speed)... yeah it is slower, but who cares?
You end up saying you snag out the iPod more often... exactly. But the iPad would be in the same place as your laptop.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Snow White had a magic apple. Look what happened to her.
Reality Distortion Field
3UU
Sorcery
Sell target player an Apple product. (Target player gains control of an Apple product you control. You gain control of all lands that player controls.)
As long as there's a "More Magic" switch I will be happy, and I'm not even going to buy one!
-
You're on the cutting edge of technology, so nothing seems magic to you. But my less technical family members thought many computing tasks were magical the first time they saw me do them:
Some people can't program their VCR's (and don't even know the difference between a VCR and a DVR). A portable box that does 80% of what they would do on a PC but without needing me around to make it work would be magic.
Hell, she picked up the iPhone and figured it out in a few days. She isn't stupid, she just dosn't understand crap interfaces:P
She has a box that was upgraded from 98 to XP. 256megs or ram, slow cpu, the works. The problem is that it took SO long to teach her how to do things. When Windows 7 is the only upgrade path, I really didn't want to turn her off computers for an upgrade.
So she is getting this Mac Mini. The AOL desktop interface is very similar to what she had, only ONE mouse button to worry about and I don't have to worry about all these random "trash ware" applications wanting updates.
Powered by Mana huh? I did a quick web search, and have been unable to find any reliable source of Mana, I even tried to see of there were any Mana fuel cells. I find some sites referring to Mana, but they all offered incompatible solutions. Maybe the iPad is powered by Steve's RDF, though I am not sure that it can be considered a class off magic? Maybe its uses Quantum power, so it is simultaneously flat and charged at the same time. Hmm, I think I need to patent such a device, though its possible that the Arctic already provides the necessary conditions.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Said it before and will again. The iPad currently does not look remotely viable as a replacement to the activities I use my current Tablet PC for. (Yes, I've got what the iPad should be)
Its absolutely brilliant for taking notes, or just doing any form of work while moving about. The iPad regretably looks to offer absolutly zero of the abilities I personally look for in a tablet. What the iPad can do, will be done by the iPod. Everything else will be done either by my laptop or Desktop.
Watching a movie on the tablet isn't as comfortable or convenient as many appear to think though, not because of the interface but because of the form factor itself. You have to constantly keep a hand on it or it'll slip away or fall over and you can't see shit. Or, you have to sit/lie down in extremely awkward positions.
Some people here are claiming the "trust" that people have in the Apple brand justifies the higher price.
How'd that work for the people who trusted the Toyota brand?
Why is it that the unfortunate comparison between the iPad and a netbook keeps being made? The iPad isn't trying to be a netbook - and a netbook doesn't try to be an iPad - that's not where the iPad is really targeted.
To become more clueful, visit Amazon and right there on the main page they're promoting their "number one selling item". Review the specifications and then take a look at their "bigger" model. Review those specifications and check the price. That should produce a state of understanding in even the typical Slashdotter.
There's also Barnes and Noble's weak offering in the brand new (and very rapidly growing) e-reader market. And let's not forget Sony's offering - once again, check the features and pricing. In that market, the iPad is a very, very strong entry. The music playing and video watching and email (etc. etc.) is just icing on the cake.
I've got an iPod Touch, a notebook, and a netbook here at home. Each does what it was designed to do and I like all of them except the netbook - that hateful little thing should never have been built. The writing is on the wall (so to speak) and digital books are going to be just as important as digital music. So what are you going to use to read your digital books? You can disagree with Mr. Jobs all you want - but he usually knows what he's doing. These will sell like hotcakes.
I was talking with a non-technical apple fangirl right after the iPad announcement. She was curious as to my opinion about it, given my geek status.
I told her I wasn't that interested, mainly because I'm not that interested in apple products. I'm more concerned about controlling my means of production (I build stuff on free software) and in protecting/fostering software freedom. I went into a short diatribe about how more and more our lives are dependent on software, and if that software isn't open you're beholden to the interest that created it, etc. Apple is no friend of software freedom in my opinion.
Her response was "I don't care about freedom, I just like how the pretty my iPhone is. What do you say to someone like me?" She didn't say it confrontationally, it was a sincere response.
My response was "I'm really the wrong guy to talk with you about this." She's totally bought into the "magic", and all reason is out the window. I happen to think there are better devices on better networks, but suggesting that to her would be tantamount to blasphemy.
You can't reason with this kind of emotion. Apple's good at engendering it. In the face of fanboy fanaticism, I find myself just giving up and saying "I don't really care what YOU use as long as you don't force it on me."
I can see very few needs that can be solved by the iPad best.
Assuming you are going for all Apple products:
You want to listen to music. Get an ipod
music + games + emails/browsing on wifi. Get an ipod touch
phone + all the above: Get an iphone
Actual work: get a laptop + some phone that tethers when no wifi is available
So the ipad would be great if somehow you want something to browse lightly on or email without typing too much and you don't need/own a laptop. Otherwise any laptop is light enough to bring anywhere you would bring an iPad.
One place I see the iPad shining is as a car device. cheap, big screen, tons of apps and 3g. You could get as many apps as you can possibly use in a month and still be cheaper than car's integrated nav units. Add a little device and you have the backup camera too.
Maybe also as some kind of work terminal when a phone is too small and a netbook too big. Not that there is much of a difference and the keyboard is a big +
You guys are all missing the potential. You build a Linux box that controls all the stuff in you house - lights, HVAC, whatever. Add a bunch of sensors. Build some web pages to control it all. Then use your iPad (or iPod touch) to wirelessly network to it and control everything.
Sure it may not be a great standalone computer, but I bet it would work quite well as a front end controller to some other system.
un-ALTERED reproduction and dissimination of this IMPORTANT information is ENCOURAGED
Wanting to be the first to hack the IPad broke out my STM and started tinkering with the TPM when low and behold I stumbled on what makes the Ipad so special...
They sprinkle Apple fairy maggot dust on all their components. This special compound actively blocks neural receptor sites in the brain normally responsible for laughing in discust as one cruises past the Ipad display at wally world.
"When they play with the iPad and experience the magic of using it ... I have a hard time believing they're going to go for a netbook"
I dunno, I can think of a few reasons -- no memory slot, lack of a forward facing camera, no flash support, no memory slot, no gesture for mouse-over interfaces, and last but not least, no memory slot.
But mostly, cost. Cook shows a profound, almost deliberate misunderstanding of the netbook market, where affordability is at least as important as portability. Apple doesn't compete well in the cheap commodity market. It's alien to their business model. They create exquisitely designed, top shelf products at premium prices, which is anathema to the netbook market.
One could say, it's cheap for a mac. That's true. And I wonder if the ipad will dig into the macbook market. That would be an interesting irony. But it's still expensive for a netbook, especially when comparing price to capacity, as Apple still appears to believe that 16 Gbytes of non-replaceable storage should cost $100.
Of course the ipad will be a success. As usual, Apple fanbois will line up for it, just like they line up for every shiny new Apple product. That doesn't make it a replacement for the netbook.
If one includes the ipad in the total netbook market, (which I would not -- it fails on price and a few other things, is essentially a bigger ipod touch, not a netbook replacement) the total size of the market increases, but I think you'll find that the demand for conventional netbooks will grow at about the same rate.
Cook's comment is very revealing in another sense -- Apple's true product is magic and fairy dust in a very attractive package, and there is definitely a market for that. More power to them. And maybe, when other companies start making similar devices without the ipad's limitations and at the netbook price point, we might eventually see a reduction in the traditional netbook market, as netbook manufacturers find that a less complicated form factor with fewer moving parts can be made for less money, and more users realize they don't always have to have a keyboard with them.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
"Another thing that would help would be a camera and a $100 discount, but hey Magic is cool too, provided they have enough mana. "
Wow, we get the device priced in at about $300-500 cheaper than we expected, with even the top end iPad below the $1000 potential price tag people thought it would and people are still complaining about price.
And no, it does not need a camera. Stop asking for one. My netbook has a camera, I've used it 0 times. My macbook has a camera, I've used it 0 times in 3 years. Business is still driven by the cell phone, and it reasonably can pull off that functionality with a bluetooth headset, 3G and Skype.
Go away, you're complaints only fuel a fire of stupid arguments.
The "magic" is the logo. The marketing is wrong. It seems strange to say this about Apple, because marketing is how they get such a strong foothold in the markets they fill.
I recently left the market for a compact portable device with a reasonably sized screen and long battery life. I bought a netbook. I bought it AFTER the announcement of the iPad and did not even consider it.
I have had a laptop for some years. My last one was a 14" laptop with very good specs. I decided I didn't need such a large laptop with so much power and only just under 2 hours battery life when I'm really nice to it. Instead, I wanted something a bit more compact and portable. But I wanted a computing platform, not a peripheral device.
The iPad, simply put, is a peripheral device. It is akin to a media player. For many people, this is all they need, and an iPad may fit their needs. However, if you are looking for a computing device, the iPad will fail to meet that need, whereas a netbook fits it, provided you do not need a lot of performance.
I think what I'm saying is, as much as Apple wants to make the iPad a netbook competitor, it is not. They are very different devices with very different uses and markets. I can very much see someone with both an iPad and a netbook simply because they fill different needs.
I might, someday, get a tablet device, but I'm really more drawn to the Android platform. My phone is an Android phone, and we'll be seeing Android tablets soon. I can see myself getting an Android tablet, but not to replace anything.
Magic eh? Good magic -- like Glinda finally telling Dorothy about the magic ruby slippers or DARK MAGIC that enslaves Death Eaters to the Dark Lord who determnes what apps they are allowed to buy from the AppStore in Diagon Alley?
This is not at all surprising, Apple magic is exactly what made everyone goo goo about the iPhone as well. if the oroginal iPad has a camera they will not have any major new feature for the next version that comes out 9 months later. the iPhone had some basic efunctionality missing but they include more functionality every new release, makes people buy the new product. It's not like they couldn;t put all the features in the original release, thats the genius of Stevo.
http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/feb/goldmansachs10/goldmansachs_ref.mov
When I saw the iPad came with no Flash support, it did not surprise me at all. I love my netbook (ASUS 701, the first one they shipped to US) and I cannot think of why you would want Apple magic, unless you have good voodoo to keep it from harming anything...
"Another thing that would help would be a camera and a $100 discount, but hey Magic is cool too, provided they have enough mana."
Geez. The original price people said it need to be under was $1,000. It is half of that and you are demanding another $100 off? You'll never be happy even if you were paid to take one.
I hope he did jazz hands when he said "magic".
If that's all you see this thing as good for, you need to open your mind a bit. The fact is people are already using iphones for a lot more than this, and even if this is just a large iphone, that means a hell of a lot more than a "glorified ereader." I probably will wait for the price to come down but I'm interested in getting one of these for the various music production applications already present on the iphone. As a touchscreen MIDI controller even the most expensive iPad is about a third the price of the Jazzmutant Lemur, and the latter only performs that one function. I'm not saying you couldn't replicate this sort of functionality with a Windows tablet computer, but nobody has yet, and certainly not as elegantly.
If they manage to play the content tune as they did with the whole Ipod thing, they'll win and indeed it will be "magic" to a lot of people. Before the Ipod there where (and still are) many an mp3 player. The silly thing about them is that it was "hard" for too many people to get decent content onto them, so they made their ITunes service. I personally would not need a device that gives me that kind of service, but probably this thing will hook into all mayor written media outlets and try to replace books, newspapers, magazines, whatever. The only thing that would make an Ipad an actual valueable asset is if they can turn it into a book you can surf on. All the stuff I've picked up about it so far is actually pointing in that direction. It's not aimed to replace netbooks, it's aimed to replace books, while still giving some other usage options. Isn't this an E-reader you can surf on? Something you can lay in bed with and read from? I bet the next step will be an introduction of an IRead service that in due time will try to do the same with written media as it has done with music.
That's a completely obvious and very annoying fail. Sorry but I'm beginning to suspect a conspiracy here due the the iPod Touch also lacking this obvious important (potentially killer) feature. My eee pc has one (Asus doesn't sleep with AT&T) and I can take skype with me anywhere like Dick Tracey. I also think due to the cameras uncapped usability to linux that my netbook will not become obsolete in 2 years.
...potential to be the ultimate porn entertainment device. However, before this day comes, apple needs to realize a few things. For a fully immersive porn experimence....the ipad will requre a few upgrades. 1. Flash 2. Webcam 3. non-smear screen The touch screen is a huge bonus (interactive porn...can I patent that????)
technology is indistinguishable from magic. Maybe the iPAD is sufficiently advanced for most consumers?
There is already a netbook which can beat iPad on all claims, including its 'tabletness' and touchscreen-ness - Asus t91. And it's around $450 in the US, methinks.
It's flip-screen netbook, with multitouch, and - guess what - alternative UI (similar to iPad) for the tablet mode. And It runs Windows 7.
And that's a low-spec netbook (slightly slower processor, low-capacity SSD instead of hdd), but I guess that if Asus can do that, any high-profile netbook vendor can produce similar product, with better specs and HDD, at the same or lower price. It has everything iPad has, and (nearly) everything average netbook has. It looks promising, considering that until a year ago a flipscreen laptop cost more than $1000.
If only he hadn't tested positive for HIV, I think he would have won as many rings as Jordan (which was really only half as many as Bill Russell after all).
M$'s Courier has a better name and some impressive features (if the youtube video can be believed).
Both iPad and Courier need to be good "hybrids" though--i.e. book reader, notepad, wifi browser platform--to beat out the 13 in. laptops, like MacBook Pro which seems more like the gadget they're trying to replace.
I'm surprised that anyone (even Steve Jobs) thinks netbooks are the target; seems like apples and non-apples.
Apple's iPad is a luxury eBook reader
It isn't comparable to ebook readers, that have better displays and long battery life. (Yes, you can still read on an LCD, but by that logic, any netbook, tablet or phone is a "luxury ebook reader".)
Apple does not makes computers for most people. Apple makes luxury devices that
Indeed, they make money by selling high priced products to a niche. Annoying that the press is all over them all the time, even for a product that doesn't exist, whilst bigger companies in the market (e.g., Nokia) get ignored even when they release actual new products.
Yes, why would anyone want something that has USB ports? Also, with a netbook, who is going to tell you which programs to install? I would be so lost without Apple holding my hand every step!
Hostes futuri sint socii.
OK, I am Mac fanboy, call me that, if you like. I use iMac at office/job (I required from the company one), I use macs at home everywhere. Sure I have some Linuxes and some OpenSolaris around and zero Windows (at least you can respect me for this). :-) Now, there was lots of debates for the iPad is an XXXL iPod-Touch with some little iPhone capabilities. Fine, let's summarize for a various market targets all together.
This kind of folks browsing an Internet, watching videos on the webs, writing emails and might use some office suites.
What we've got here? A device, that is designed for fun, but completely unable to do so.
Definitely, only a black magic can help here to enjoy that poor thing... But Tim Cook must smoke something very strong. I want to smoke that stuff too: must be a good shit...
But wouldn't Apple be pretty stupid for NOT super-sizing their french fries and marketing it as a whole new category? You people are so offended but this is a no-brainer for them.
Schrodinger's Cat, that is.
It's so close either way, we're simply going to have to wait and see.
It could be Apple's "Vista" -or perhaps more accurately, Apple's "X-Box" (recalling that MS's gaming division has been a money pit for years).
Or it could be the next VHS medium. -Technically inferior to the competition, but just happened to win over the Jonses.
Personally, I think it will flop.
-The tech consumers have nearly all written it off. So in terms of herd mentality, the opinion crystallizing seems to be that you'll be a giant loser if you show up with an iPad at the watering hole. I'm not sure Apple has enough marketing muscle to overcome that kind of popular trend. Consider: Many of the people who love the iPhone hate the iPad. Many people here have an iPhone and were very excited about it because of its clever design. But those same people are at best rationalizing the benefits of the iPad, but most often are simply disappointed. Not good.
-The uninformed regular consumer isn't going to be charmed by the iPad. A phone is easy to carry in your pocket. You can carry that around as well as a laptop and not feel like you're being redundant in your computing choices. But an iPad occupies the same kind of mind-space as a laptop, and having to choose between the two will not go favorably for Apple. You need a keyboard and some computing muscle to get anything real done in this world.
But I could be totally wrong. Never under-estimate the buying power of the unwashed masses and idiotic popular trends. Remember, "Crocs"?
Brr.
-FL
That's something that always amazes me coming from the anti-ipad camp: You compare the ipad to the cheapest of netbooks. That's like comparing a BMW to a Toyota Yaris. Fine, if all you have to spend is $300 and want a gimped machine and gimped user experience, then by all means, buy the netbook.
I dont like how the Apple iPad or other products have no keyboard.
ma homes
The right price for the iPad should be $199. Way too inflated!!!!!!!!
ma homes
I think its sooo ironic that they call it magic because its all an illusion!
ma homes
man, that's a funny way of spelling "marketing."
I don't know why they are targeting netbooks as their competitor. iPad like all other apple products is kind of a luxury product rather than an affordable one. I don't like the netbook because of their form factor (I call it the 'crampbook') but the lack of multitasking is enough to keep me away from the iPad (come on! even the relatively advanced mobile phones can multi task!!) I wouldn't call that Magic. (Maybe their mana bar has a lower limit after all :) )
Well, that racks up about 1,000 comments in this thread. They sure know how to generate buzz. iPad is not a netbook, not a floor wax, and not a dessert topping, OK?! Let's discuss what iPad IS. I think iPad is my Sunday NY Times, my Wired Magazine (Have you seen the demo...?), my John Stewart show, my iTunes remote control, my ESPN, and my photo viewer, among many other things, which no netbook or cheapie laptop can hope to do nearly as well. It is not a netbook, it is a coffee table book, and the irrelevant fraction of the market which is slashdot is scared to death of it and morbidly discussing it to death. I wonder why? Launch a discussion about your favorite netbook and see how many comments you garner here.
signed,
someone who remembers when slashdot was a cool site....
As someone who has limited ability to access a broadband wifi connection at work (corporate restrictions) to check email, bank balances, etc., I find the $30 data plan the ipad offers to be the best solution.
One major reason that the iPad will be more like an iMaxiPad is because it's a closed platform. Apple wants you to drink their Kool-Aid, not your own. And that type of mentality simply won't work with the public in the long term. Apple has to step outside of their ego and try to work with the public, not the reverse.
All iPads are personally belssed by The One.
Eventually they have come around to the consensual view of this venerable website in many important points about their devices
- More memory on the devices? Check.
- Remove DRM from iTunes? Check.
- Play videos in iPods? Check.
- Radio receiver, voice recorder in iPods? Check.
- Using open source for all their strategic platforms? Check.
They will ignore us at their own peril.
When people here an elsewhere claim that Linux does 90% of what most people need, then some others (most likely souls in your image) retort that the 10% it does not do is the one that is most needed by every person.
But now we have you claiming that doing less is better, and the geniuses at Apple can second guess everybody.
Freedom is slavery!
The ugly truth has to do something with the above: the charisma of Steve Jobs, a relentless marketing, and the pursuit of the control of everyithing you do.
If that is the world you want, all the power to you. In the meantime my elderly mother is happily using Ubuntu and asks me what the fuss is all about the iPad, which she has declared "looks pretty useless" (so it does not have a card reader? How would I send you piccies? And no webcam? How are we going to chat!).
I think the Apple jugernaut may be hitting a stop here....
Certain people will buy anything from Apple just because it has an Apple logo on it. GIF animation here
Wow. People are STILL getting trolled by this, days later? This was perhaps the best I've ever done.
However, after taking the handicap for the obvious ease of trolling Apple fans, the final score isn't my highest. I'd give it a 42 'cause it's got a good beat and I can dance to it.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
... was not subtitled "The Young Lady's Illustrated Netbook." Why not? Because that would SUCK. The device in The Diamond Age is a "book" not a "computer". Same exact thing with iPad. Any technical hurdles at all are like putting a lock and key on books. Like you have to do a Rubik's Cube to get into a dictionary. It shuts people out from knowledge. Technical people are not shut out from iPad, either. There is a Cisco app that lets you VPN into any computer on the Internet and pull up its graphical desktop, this will be the very best platform for all the huge computer books with optical discs in the back, it will hold 10,000 of them for you. The 2-page book view on iPad is the first eReader that can show 100% of the books in your bookstore or library just as they were meant to be viewed.
It's really strange how many nerds are such traditionalists these days. If it's not a clone of the 1991 PowerBook form factor with a clone of the 1995 Windows operating system, they're all crotchety like "get off my lawn you kids!" It's actually only Generation X that feels this way ...people who are 20 or 60 right now want the computer to go away, they want it to be totally transparent, they want to do Facebook or look up recipes, not compile anything or run anti-virus. But people who are 40 and use a computer can't get their head out of DOS and BIOS and other nostalgia they feel they have hard-fought knowledge and mastery of. It's like "I spent all these years learning how to use a computer and now Apple is going to make it easy? Fuck no!" Intel EFI is like 5 years old and only Apple is using it.
The $499 iPad is going to last people for 2 years and cost them $0 in IT consulting, $0 in software upgrades, and $0 in anti-virus and security software. That is $1 per business day. It's going to ask the user to spend almost no time configuring it or troubleshooting it. For a nerd to say that is expensive when nerds know full well how much IT hours cost is disingenuous at best, malicious at worst.
Me personally, I think making IT hours go away is magic enough. The fact that so many who have used an iPad describe it as a magical experience is icing on the cake.
And I think the iPad's Web browser is magic enough on its own, and is what all Web browsers will be in a few years: HTML5, GPU-accelerated graphics, world class typography, color managed images, ISO audio video, Unix networking, buttons/links you can press with your finger, pinch zooming, and flicking to scroll with physics. It makes the Web extremely rich and natural. It's magical compared to IE and the mouse cursor and scroller and + and - keys that most people are using right now, that's for sure.