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The State of iPad Satisfaction
harrymcc writes "We know that the iPad is selling like hotcakes, but how satisfied are the people who buy it? Over at Technologizer, we conducted a survey of 6,000 iPad early adopters. There are a few places where they were critical — the majority, for instance, aren't happy with Apple's App Store approval process. Overall, however, they're overwhelmingly upbeat."
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/11/dell-mini-5-we-have-it/
Dell tends to make pretty good devices (contrary to the article yesterday), that are very usefull and well designed. So hopefully this will start a good series of android style tablets. This probably wont hurt the apple market but at least it will deliver a useful tablet to those of us who don't want to fight the app store and want some more options.
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
Other than the fact that I'm stuck with AT&T, I really like it.
A bittersweet phenomenon. Much as I dislike Apple Computer, the iPad is a cool product, and it's unfortunate the Jobs went with AT&T. Then again, what are the options for a nationwide network provider? Verizon? Please. Sprint? I don't think so. I'm currently on T-Mobile (and I'm very happy with their services, both voice and data) but I doubt they could handle the load of millions of crazed iPad/iPhone users all crying out for their streaming this and streaming that.
... neither can AT&T.
Of course
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I haven't started developing for the iPad, although after being a user for the past 2 months I honestly think it's an outstanding platform to focus attention on.
The UI is buttery smooth. This is one thing EVERY other device I've put hands on doesn't even come close to getting right. Android is wonderful, and I love it - but the UI just isn't as fluid and responsive. This may not change how the device works but it certainly changes how you perceive the device is working. I see it every time someone uses an Android phone (myself included): click, click again because it didn't give you immediate feedback or response. Turn the device sideways, wait a couple seconds, flip it back and forth a couple times because the display didn't rotate. Things like that are minor in 'tech, but huge in usability.
The tougher process of getting an app INTO the iTunes app store I honestly think is helping weed out the lower grade fluff we find in the Android market. How many times have you gone looking through apps, found something that looked pretty good, installed it, and it was crap? How many reviews on the Android Market read something like this: Force closes, one star!. It's the same problem with all the various free Windows software that's everywhere on the net. You have more choice, but you have more choices of crap. If people are going to spend the time, money, and effort to get an app into Apple's store, they're more likely to make sure it's something that's worth being there. They want to get paid, after all.
Getting back to end-users, of which I've been exclusively since this thing launched -- it really is awesome. I carry it instead of a laptop nearly every time I would have taken my laptop. I carry it now when I wouldn't have carried anything before, simply because I can. Then again, if I had an iPhone I'd probably leave it home more often. Regardless, the beauty is being able to do real work on it (email, web-based enterprise apps, etc.) without having to take anything else with me. No power cord, no problem - I get a full day PLUS worth of power out of the battery. Battery life + 3G + usable screen size (1024x768 means my work webapps fit perfectly) + a very usable on-screen keyboard = happy camper.
Once again, Apple didn't choose AT&T because they were the best. Back in 2006, long before the iPhone release when Apple was shopping around for a provider Cingular was the only phone company that agreed to let Apple have complete control over the phone AND agreed to upgrade their voice mail system to handle visual voice mail. AT&T bought Cingular out and honored the contract. It was a Huge gamble, but paid off. It could have easily flopped and AT&T would have been screwed out of the money they paid to upgrade their servers and such.
After the failed Abortion that was the Rockr Jobs didn't want anyone else building an "Apple" phone.
Rumors are that Sprint respectfully declined while the Verizon CEO basically a huge asshole in declining. AT&T even declined, they just managed to pick it up when the Cingular 'merger/buyout' went through.
And what particular non-corporation made device are you surfing the internet with today? CPU was hand-crafted by an artisan was it?
Poor old iPad owners. Fancy buying something and finding some time later that you like 98% of the other buyers are satisfied with it. Must be truly awful. How terrible for them it must be to be so excited about a new piece of technology that they stand in line to buy it. If only they could have spent that time whining on Slashdot instead.
The story pulls a clever choice of data -- "the majority aren't happy with Apple's App Store approval process", when in reality the vast majority (85%ish) of people answered with the two answers that are the most positive towards the app store (Not a problem at all and minor problem). The fact is that the possible answers that they could give were skewed towards the negative:
Not a problem at all
Minor problem
Major problem
Unacceptable
So, your summary basically says that "of the four possible answers, the majority of people picked from three of them", which is not all that impressive of a feat. Suppose the possible answers were instead:
I prefer to have apps reviewed before purchasing or downloading them
I'm neutral on the app store
Minor problem
Major problem
Unacceptable
By adding a positive answer, rather than a slightly above neutral answer, you change the skew of the response. By have a great majority of negative answers, someone who has not completely formed their opinion will be more likely to say, "huh, I had never thought of it before, but since there are so many negative possible answers, there must be a problem."
FFS. These people are _early adopters_. They'll eat shit, thank you and grin happily.
fucktard is a tenderhearted description
Good sarcasm is timely, relevant, and factual. Yours meets none of those criteria. Oh and usually (but not always funny).
I am not sure you would find a single iPad buyer who felt they were sticking it to the man. Most of them were buying a consumer electronic device they felt would be useful and after using it for a month or two, they found that it was useful. This annoys the crap out of you because you had some strange unnatural urge to see it fail, so you denigrate all those people. Millions of people have purchased iPads and our happy with them. If you chose to believe it is because they are not as smart as you, they have medications that will help with your delusions.
What about it do you like? Despite an approval process, the app store is saturated with buggy, poorly designed, applications. Not to mention the spammers, who somehow get hundreds of cookie cutter apps approved daily. The only the the app store approval process does is make sure apps don't interfere with Apple's business interests. It has nothing to do with quality of apps.
*yawn* I don't know why you're worried, people like you keep telling everyone how much better Android is and how it's only a matter of months before Apple is eclipsed and irrelevant.
But whatever. If it wasn't for Apple and their iOS, Android would probably still be the same crappy blackberry ripoff that it was when Google bought it, actual useful tablets would still be years away, and the US mobile phone landscape would still totally suck, instead of just mostly sucking like it does now.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
I'm equally impressed with people's general inability to grasp that we are all individuals, with our own likes, dislikes, and priorities. What is a waste of money to you is a good choice for someone else. There is nothing negative about that, it means priorities differ. I won't be buying an ipad because the other priorities in my life far outweigh it, but I don't feel that people who make owning one a priority have some sort of problem. One man's junk is another man's treasure.