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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.
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.
"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.
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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.
You're making the same mistake as the rest of the industry, in supposing that the features you list actually matter to the majority of the consumer base.
1. If Apple can replicate it closely enough with an onscreen keyboard, then most people won't care. It won't suffice for many (which is why my phone has a physical keyboard) but it may for most.
2. Someone who would reasonably debate an iPad vs a netbook would likely not make this a consideration.
3. Same as 2.
4. Considering that nearly every netbook is the same, often with varying (and low) build quality, yes they can be had for cheap.
5. Apple's selling that slipcover thingy, I suspect they'll have huge sellthrough on it. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't also a pile of 3rd party covers available on release day too.
As I stated in a previous post it likely won't catch on among more technical audiences, but it has a fair chance (especially considering Apple puts thought into the UI unlike every netbook vendor) among the "I just want it to work" audience, which is far, far larger.
In reality, you can get significantly more functionality for less if you compare it to any other company that exists.
This one looks promising imho.
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A couple points:
First, touchscreen technology has come a long way in recent years (largely thanks to the iPhone showing what's possible in a consumer device), so provided the screen is just large enough to fit both hands on it I could see touch typing working out fine - my little HTC Hero picks up my keypresses amazingly well, and I have fat sausage fingers. Lack of actual keys will be a bit unfamiliar, perhaps, but consumers will get over any initial difficulty with the "coolness" factor.
Second, keeping the first point in mind, touchscreen PC's have been around for years and have always been a niche device precisely because of its form factor. They just aren't that useful except in certain circumstances. For example, they are easier to use while standing, but much more awkward while sitting at a table, and quite frankly a bit absurd while resting it in your lap. They are great for hand writing notes and drawing, but no matter how well they do an on-screen keyboard typing will never be as good on a tablet as on a laptop or even a netbook, for the simple fact that the screen will be in a much more awkward position.
That's not to say it won't do well, I'd just be very surprised if an iPad style touchscreen class of devices became anywhere near as popular as the netbook has been.
Now, if they were really good they'd ship it with a stand and a built-in projector keyboard. That wouldn't fix the lap-issue, but it would do a lot to make it a more versatile device like the netbooks are, and it would have massive coolness factor.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
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.
Me and my business partner have been running a small coffee shop near a college for a couple of years now. I used to be a programmer, and he used to be a DBA, in our past lives. So we're familiar with technology.
Anyway, due to our location and business we get a lot of the so-called "hipster" crowd at our establishment. Don't get me wrong, they're great for business. There's little better than selling a specialty coffee at an 800% markup to these fools. But it's hilarious to hear them discuss Apple products.
When the iPad was first announced, you wouldn't believe the excitement these hipsters harbored. Some of them were literally crying when Jobs first showed it. My and my partner thought it was sort of fucked up how our customers were reacting to a pretty dismal product announcement. To these freaks, it's a religion.
this type of comment comes up every single article on slashdot. Enough already.
I just read 2 books recently on my ipod touch. Its an experience I will repeat. I have absolutely no problems with lcd screens. I read them all damn day as I code. I get absolutely no eye strain whatsoever. I can lie in bed comfortably with the lights off and have a nicely lit book that isn't too bright to read from.
This comes down to vision I think. Some people will get eye strain from LCD, others will be fine. Just because you can't tolerate looking at an LCD for too long, doesn't mean its a bad device.
So it IS an eReader and a damn fine one. For some people. You go buy your kindle, I'll go buy my iPad. To each his own.
The problem with the cost of the iPad is more than the hardware cost, it's the fact that you'll need to buy a bunch of little apps to do stuff with it. The elegance of the netbook is that, despite being a tiny crap machine, it is usually bundled with a software suite that's tailored to the small screen and expected usage patterns. You don't need to buy special software to run on your netbook, you just fire up your favorite package manager and load whatever you need for free, or if it's windows you can install the same apps you use on your full-sized laptop or desktop computer.
With the iPad, not only will we need to buy all these stupid little 5 dollar apps, but it will still be tethered to a regular computer running iTunes.
-Billco, Fnarg.com