iPad: A shift in computing?
When I was filming this week at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View for a TV piece on the iPad, I couldn't help but be struck by the very obvious fact that computing has come a long way in a short time. So too has our acceptance of and adaptability to it.
First off, sitting centre stage at the Museum is the Babbage Engine, the world's first computing machine that was designed in the late 1840s by computer pioneer Charles Babbage - though never built at the time because of rising costs.
It is a thing of sheer beauty with its heft, its brass coloured rows of numbers and its swirling columns. In comparison, nearby is a device that is pretty ugly by today's standards: the first Macintosh computer.
It is a boring beige colour and all sharp edges and jutting corners. It looks clunky and very plastic. It was of its type for that period in 1984. What went on under the hood was very different, as Apple tried to point out at the time with its highly stylized advert that aired during the SuperBowl.
Just around the corner from the first Macintosh is a Newton message-pad or tablet-computer that the company made in the 1990s.
The cameraman I was working with recalled getting a sneak peek of the device at Apple HQ and filming it at the time. When he remarked that he couldn't see the screen, he said the mood in the room changed instantly. It appeared the Apple bods were taken aback by his less than fulsome praise for a machine that Wikipedia notes was billed as being "intended to be a complete reinvention of personal computing".
Where have we heard that sentiment of late?
Yes, in connection with the iPad, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs has said "creates and defines an entirely new category of devices".
Mulling this question as I wandered through the Computer History Museum, it is easy to see that the leap from the Babbage engine to say the Macintosh is indeed great, as is the leap to smartphones and hand-held devices.
Both shifts underscore the way computers have gone from workhorses to something we rely on in our daily lives, inside and outside of the workplace.
Can the same be said for the iPad, a tablet computer often thought of as bridging the divide between laptops and smartphones?
I think it's a bit of a stretch, but I guess in some part the sales figures will be used as a justification, if of course they really are worth talking about.
The same will be true of the visual message of people lining up to both collect their pre-ordered device and buy on-the-spot. These images will be used time and again as a form of shorthand that the next shift in computing has arrived.
But will it be any more than a mirage?
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~21~RS~)
Comments
The iPad will change the world - it is the biggest revolution in home computers yet.
The reason for the lukewarm reception from journalists is that the iPad is not very good for creating content on, and creating content is what journalists do.
The rest of us - the vast majority - consume content. And the iPad is the best device ever invented for consuming content.
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Its only good for consuming content if you like doing so in apples way. Many of us really dont. It wouldnt be so bad if it wasnt so expensive.
I fear for computing at the moment. The push for closed systems and limited functionality and power is a step back not a step forward. I cant see any advantage to an iPad like device except battery life, which wont be an issue for long, and of course most alternatives have replaceable batteries..
I simply dont like the app based method, its better to just have better core functions and power rather than single purpose apps that you need to buy. Very little on the iPad cant be done by a free browser, calculator or a few freeware apps.
I realise netbooks get criticised but they are still much more functional than the iPad and they are cheaper, the issue was intels poor choice of chipset, which isnt an issue now. I see no reason to change the format really, and you can buy totally touch only netbooks.
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I'm sure there are those who don't like Apples way. They will have to stick with the awkward netbooks and laptops balanced in their laps, trying to move a pointer around the screen by moving their fingers over a trackpad, and clicking the right or left button as required.
The rest of us will use the natural touch screen method of the iPad - enjoying the content without having to concentrate on operating a computer.
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The museum has a nice selection of Apple computers. It's just a shame they haven't been relevant from a mass market point of view for the best part of two decades. We ended up with Windows based machines because they met the needs of the businesses and public of the day and that's really the point - that's still the case today.
I think the iPad is an interesting device and clearly has a few niches to exploit. For example, as a second computer used to browse the web - provided you can live with the content restrictions - whilst watching TV or in bed or perhaps to read a book then, yes, definitely. Totally replaces the need for a laptop.
However, to watch movies? Not really. Most people have 32" plus flat screen TVs with on demand programming. It might be useful for travelling I suppose so I guess it depends on how much of that you do - gut feel is most people are going to travel light and use their iPhone/Legend/X6 for this.
Gaming? Again, no. Today's console propositions offer a far better experience. Mobile gaming is growing but it remains a five to twenty minute diversion again for travellers. Would most people buy this product specifically for games? I doubt it - after all it's not the reason why people buy iPhones.
Education? Possibly as a reader but you're still going to need something to do your essays on. You could buy the dock but I'm not sure that size of screen is going to cut it.
After initial scepticism I like this device but in reality it's a device that does a few things well but can't do everyhting it needs to do to well enough to replace a Windows PC or a Mac or a Linux box.
I may still get one because, as I said, it completely removes the need to keep my Macbook as a secondary browser - I have a Quad Core Windows 7 PC for productivity and gaming - and, with that in mind, one wonders how much impact this will have on the sale of these devices?
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It's a game changer only in so far as it's generating markets for Apple to exploit. When there's only one candidate, there's only one choice.
Apple definitely missed a trick with not using a slightly-more-open cut down operating system model rather than the glorified smartphone OS.
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The iPad may herald a new era in computing to come, but for now it is just a big iPhone without a Phone.
It's total lack of connectivity means that it can only really be a second computer, for without a second computer to hook up to, you can't view your holiday snaps on it, you can't do very much at all.
Then there is the lack of a user changeable battery, how comfortable will you be 18 months down the line returning your pristine iPad to Apple and being given someone else's refurbished iPad in return?
It really is style over substance. There is a terrific parody of Apple's products over on the satirical Onion News Network, anybody who is considering buying an iPad should watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
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@nametheguilty
There is little that is natural about the iPxxx (pod, pad, phone)interface for me. I really hate it, and i bet i can use a trackpad faster than most can use a touch screen, besides as i said there are already netbooks with touch screens, and some with ONLY a touch screen, no keyboard at all. Windows 7 is very simple and easy to use with a touch screen. They are more powerful and useful and dont need apps in the sense that the iPhone interface does.
A full desktop OS doesnt need to wait for an app to be able to accomplish a task or see some content, it just does it.
Rather than advancing technology the iPxx are dumbing it down. Easier to use is one thing, plain stupid is another. The effect is already infecting other devices. Blackberrys touch screens are awful, Symbian touch is dire, Windows phone 7 is just microsoft iPhone and while its a big improvement in the interface dept it loses the things that windows mobiles current fans like (customisability, open file system, unlocked application sources, SD card handling, business functionality).
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My netbook has a 500gig HDD, 2gig RAM, a full qwerty keyboard, a 10.1" TOUCHSCREEN, Bluetooth, WiFi, built in 3G modem, 6 hour battery and run Windows 7 HP. It does EVERYTHING that the iPad can and more. And it cost about £150 less.
So tell, how is my device a low powered, low quality, badly designed computer that doesn't meet today's requirements like his Highness Steve Jobs claims?
I can swivel the screen round to convert it into a tablet for notetaking during lectures. I can use full applications like MS Office or Adobe CS4 while on the bus using the touchscreen. If I need to bang out an essay, I have a full hardware keyboard which is much easier to type on that any onscreen keyboard I have ever used, and yes, I've tried the iPhone's "excellent" keyboard.
The only reason why the iPad is going to by a hit is because a picture of a fruit on the back. To everyone else, the iPad (or iPodXL / iPhoneLite as some are starting to call it) is just going to be another tablet with cut-down, garden-walled features.
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I can't wait to try it out, just as I can't wait to try out any new thing. Once I've tried it out, then I'll judge.
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Its an Apple device, it will sell. People like Mr Fry keep on about how great they are and how we should all use them but here is the bottom line: Apple devices mould you to them, it should be the other way round. A truly good device should adapt to suit you, Apple product do not do that, you adapt to them. Once broken you are theirs.
I will challenge anyone with an iPad to a content race. Who can get something on their device first, who can get the most complete version, who can do it cheapest? The winner is never Apple, EVER.
I actually saw a person in a restaurant buy and download an app to calculate a split bill. Why wasn't this person able to add 15% and divide by 6 with a calculator? Is that the sort of person who buys these things?
Why do you need a specific app to read a news website? Whats wrong with a decent browser?
There might be an excuse on an iPhone for such a model, just about, due to its rather pathetic screen, but on a screen the size of the iPads there is no reason for the limited app based model.
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It's more of a landmark, rather than a shift.
The people who call it "just a big iPod" aren't wrong but miss the point.
It's designed to be an always on, rapid communication and content access device.
It's lightweight OS and fast hardware platform are design to out pace a netbook which if anything is trying hard (and failing) to be what it's not a full blown laptop.
Good luck to Apple for designing yet another well engineered bit of kit that does exactly what it says it will do.
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Francis, yes but it wont out pace a Netbook. Why would it? Atom is faster than A4 for general purpose computing and even if it wasnt the iPhone model just isnt efficient on a larger screen device, it only just works on HVGA.
You still need one app for each individual thing you want to do because the browser or base OS is incomplete and is limited. Yes yes ive heard the argument that flash is dead etc, but it isnt dead yet, and wont be for several years, by which time the v1 iPad will be old hat. Flash isnt just about video.
Those who accept the app model might well like the iPad, the rest of us will find it over priced, inefficient, ineffective and limited.
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Microsoft released a tablet about a month before Apple and now it's never mentioned. The adoption of technology is not purely about it's functionality, it is also about lifestyle and consumer choice. That's why the iPhone with its combination of slick interface and look was a consumer success.
The iPad may lead to the development of the eReader/eBook market and there are a number of companies besides Apple hoping that this happens. That would be a sort of paradigm shift.
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How on earth is the IPad a game changer. It is a product which is based on consumers not producers. As a production tool it is limited, no convenient method of input, typing on the screen is not convenient, nor is drawing with a finger particularly convenient.
I am not a journalist but use computers every day in my work and know that If I had to produce my normal work on an IPad I would be stuck.
This is just another pretty gadget which does things that other gadgets already do. It's not even as if its the first ever tablet P.C. and if it is indeed the future then who is going to provided the content that we are all going to consume... not the owners of IPads I bet.
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ChrisM you make my point for me when you say the "Atom is faster than A4 for general purpose computing", assuming this is true, (I have not seen any stats to back it up. The point is the iPad isn't a general purpose computer in the MS PC sense, it's an optimised for its own OS and running it's own apps.
It's claim is that it picks up from where the iphone leaves off (too small to really run say your business from) and stops at the gate of a a "general purpose" PC/Mac (the thing you do the computer heavy lifting with).
You pays your money and takes your choice, both of us are right in our own world.
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The problem is it doesn't even meet its own market. No one has explained to me why a device with limited file support, no blu-ray or DVD support, a limited browser that cant display large sections of the internet, and has rather small storage, makes a good device for a content consumer. My mobile phone does more than the iPad.
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Having read all the disparaging comments re the iPad what comes accross loud and clear is fear and negativity. The whole raison d'être of truly ground-breaking technological developments is the birth of a forward thinking approach that will change things for ever. People who buy Apple don't care that their product costs more than a PC and that some anorak will quite correctly find large areas where the iPad will be outperformed by their clanking dinosaur of budget plastic. Apple users like being criticised. They enjoy the fact that they fawn over their leader Jobs and respect his marketplace confidence and ability to push forward new technology with Jean Luc Picard boldness.
If you are an Apple customer then chances are you are already a more creative person than the average Joe. Financially more equipped to splash more cash and ignore the dull fact that style over content helps to bulge the pockets of Johnny Ives and Steve Jobs. But at the end of the day there will always be a sensible car driver versus an outrageously desireable luxury car.
There really needs to be this division. I don't want a world full of Apple fans. I want to be a member of the more daring Mac brigade and to strive to be able to afford the best. As a musician and teacher I simply couldn't create with such freedom without a Mac. I am forced to use a PC everyday for all the humdrum dull business reports that my PC confined school uses. If you gave away Aston Martins and Lamborghinis free to people then criticisms of them would rapidly dissolve as people would simply revel in the joy of driving. This will be the case with the iPad. So go ahead PC users. Stick your head in the sand and allow people with more cash and creativity to have some fun. After all, if you end up saving money and having a longer battery life than us then wooo hoo ! You win !
(I always wondered why there were so many flash cars parked in council estates...!)
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@ Daniel
Funny, I had a Mac once, back in 96. When it came time to upgrade to a new computer, didn't have the money to by the luxury, elite new power macs so I get a PC.
Does that make me fearful of change? Less creative than a mac user (gee, could you have sound more elitist and snobbish)? No.
If I compare what I use my computer for now than what I used it for back then, I'm way more creative now. Do I tie this to owning a windows based machine? No.
In this modern-era of platform-neutrality from the major software houses, what platform you use doesn't make a blind bit of difference anymore, it's all down to personal choice.
However, to bring it back to the topic at hand, the iPad, Apples new machine won't help the creative, as you can't use it to create content other than snapping a few pictures for facebook (and other such activities).
Some of us want to use our devices to both create AND consume content. Something that the iPad specifically cannot do. And I'd have the same opinions if this device was from Microsoft or Sony and had the same drawbacks. The criticisms of its failings have nothing to do with it being an apple machine.
When Apple announced a revolutionary new device that will change computing forever, we were expecting something ... well more than what they delivered.
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@ChrisM
"A full desktop OS doesnt need to wait for an app to be able to accomplish a task or see some content, it just does it."
Really ? I think you'll find that an OS without any applications will do very very little. Just about everything you think you're desktop OS is doing is actually down to the applications that are running.
An application is a computer program designed to help people perform a certain type of work or task, it is very different from the operating system which runs the device.
Why do people insist on commenting on things they blatantly don't understand ?
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Why do companies like Microsoft & Apple bring out such strong feelings in people ?
I work in IT and regularly come across people who are totally anti one or the other. Some places will do everything they can to avoid having to buy any Microsoft products whilst others can't see the point of paying out for Apple prices.
I use Microsoft, Apple & Linux and find that each has it's place.
The iPad will be very successful with people whom want such a consumer based device and from the large numbers of people that I see using their smart phones for web and content browsing rather than having to start up a more heavy weight device there are quite a few of them.
If you want a device for creating content then you're going to want to look elsewhere.
And yes I do own an iPhone. After trying a number of smart phones (including a Blackberry) I found that the iPhone was best for what I needed. Will I buy an iPad, maybe.
Many people are now commenting on how closed Apple is and yes they are very closed on both their software and hardware sides but how open is Microsoft with it's OS and software. Their getting better but I still don't see the source code of Windows or Office being open sourced anytime soon.
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Do we really need an iPad?
What is the exact benefit of this.
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@17:
You've successfully summed up the image Apple has created.
What Apple fans do is, instead of putting forward the "pros" for iPad they attack the character of those who don't like Apple.
I'm yet to see a single point as to what the iPad is good for. I know for a fact, it doesn't suit me. I have a smartphone and a laptop. I use the phone to check my emails and to occasionally reply to some of them. For everything else I use a proper laptop, I have to add that I couldn't use a netbook neither, I have tried.
"iPad is good for consuming content".... I think that's as close as it gets to what it's good at, but then again I watch lots of avi/divx, and flash videos in my spare time. iPad won't support flash the foreseeable future, so, for someone like me, iPad would be waste of money...
To answer the question if iPad is a shift in computing, my answer would be a big NO.
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I can summarise in four characters why the iPad is irrelevant:
No 3G.
EOF
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It's funny how so many people just don't get this device. Comment no 1 sums it up perfectly, the vast majority of people who use these blogs are content creators, whether journos or tech-heads or designers. As such, they are completely bemused by a device that does less than THEY require from their technology. But millions of people out there in the big world are currently forced to buy devices, such as laptops, that actually do far more than those people require. This device is for them, and as they outnumber the content creators in their millions, I'm willing to bet than within 3 years, most people will be viewing our content on one of these devices (or at least a similar one, as once Apple leads the way, everyone else will jump in).
It is a big shift, in my opinion, possibly a huge one. It's essentially a passive device, rather than an active one, and that's actually what most people use technology for: the passive enjoyment of other people's content, whether that be music, games, films, whatever. I foresee one or more of these in most homes within 5 years, and while the teenage hacker is still locked in his bedroom, the rest of the family will be sitting together in the living room, each with their own iPad.
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@BothXP
You seem to misunderstand what is meant by the app based model.
Yes any OS needs apps to work, but the iPhone OS on the iPhone/pod/pad is incomplete. It doesn't have many features a full OS has, as such it needs specialised targeted apps for each occasion the user wants to do something that the OS is not capable of providing.
On a full desktop OS you only need a fully featured browser, calculator, or music app/codec pack to do most of the things the 140K apps on the iPhone OS do. Because the iPhone OS is limited you need an app that gets around the problem (youtube apps, apps for bank login, apps for flash sites etc), but you need one for each individual situation the limitation shows itself.
On the iPxx you NEED 140k apps, on a desktop OS you dont. Thats why the iPad is so inefficient and ineffective for the end user, but a great revenue generator for apple.
Ive already seen the effect. The ever improving facebook and youtube apps get a lot of attention, but with a desktop class os and browser you just log on to facebook and youtube. Its so much simpler, faster, and efficient. Rather than having to fill the storage with apps to accomplish a task you can fill it with the actual content you want to consume.
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@Graphis
But the iPad doesnt even work with most content, so what use is it??
I do see that a stock desktop OS may not be the most friendly experience on a touch screen only content consumer device, but there are alternative interfaces that get around that that anyone can download and use. The iPad is just far too limited to be credible though.
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You have to laugh at all the fanboys commenting on this article -- they stand out like a sore thumb.
Comments like, "the iPad will revolutionise mobile computing," really ought to win an award for their sheer hyperbole.
So, pray tell, how will the iPad transform computing?
Because it's got a touchscreen?
Because it's made by Apple, and people will by any old shiny metal gear, so long as it's made by Apple, as a very funny video by the Onion lampoons?
Or because it's genuinely revolutionary?
It's just that the last time I checked, touchscreen mobiles aka tablets are nothing new, and have been around for the majority of the decade and have yet to set the heather on fire.
Sure, the iPad may sell a lot better than other devices on the market, but this doesn't make it revolutionary, just a better gimmick than the rival merchandise.
So, let's not kid ourselves, the iPad may look good but does it do any more than its rivals? And the answer is no.
Case closed.
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like most people, i do not see the big deal about the iPad.
I am also led to believe that some websites will need to be tweaked to allow iPad users to view them, is this true?
My view on this, is that all the die hard apple fans; and a few of the iPhone fans will buy it, and then it will just fizzle out.
I mean, the thing won't play flash, very cumbersome to use (from initial impressions) and if the thing requires website content makers to update their sites to accommodate it, then it won't be much of a content machine either as most content makers took an age to get round to make their sites iPhone compatible and i am guessing that they will be reluctant to go back and redo the things again for the iPad.
Just a hunch.
@17
Why is it when i was reading that, i had an image of a self indulgent ignorant bigot, with a portrait of Steve Jobs hanging over fake decorative fireplace in a 1960's Council block?
I bet you had the biggest smirk on your face while writing that. This is why i hate apple users: they all seam to think their better than anyone else.
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>> This is why i hate apple users: they all seam to think their better than anyone else.
No I don't think they really do. It's just that, like most minorities, they feel they have to shout louder, and ooze bravado, to get a hearing.
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The Apple fan boys will love it as they prey to the great god Apple the rest of us will carry on using our pc's laughing as the people realise just how rubbish Macs ipods/phones/pads really are and how much money they have spent ......Sorry to sound so negative but ive used macs/iphones before and always gone back to pc's and blackberrys because there more reliable cost less to use and run and do things so much faster and better than any apple product ever will and don't tie you into the Apple way of thinking
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ChrisM@ 26
"But the iPad doesnt even work with most content, so what use is it?? "
That will change. The divide between Apple and Adobe over Flash won't continue forever. I don't know the outcome, but either Apple or someone else will find a technical solution that allows Flash to work on the iPad/iPhone without compromising Apple's security fears, or alternatively, the sheer numbers of people using iPad/iPhone will cause developers to drop Flash from websites (which I'm already seeing start to happen).
And, like the iPhone, the iPad will evolve.
Also, this is a new product. It hasn't really found its proper niche yet. Remember when we all laughed at the idea of mobile phones you could access the internet on? "Who on earth would want to look at the internet on such a small screen?" we all hooted. Lots of people were proved wrong over that one, and I strongly suspect the same will happen again.
Personally, I won't be getting one. As I'm a content creator more than a consumer, it doesn't answer my needs. But I'm not going to stick my head in the sand and refuse to design content for it.
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Its not just flash, its also java. Flash wont die for a few years yet, so the iPad is pointless. Java dont work properly with it, thats VERY common and going nowhere. Blu-ray is here and wont work either. My netbook can mount BR images and play them because it has the space, software support and power to do so. It also has an HD screen and can output to a large TV if needed.
The real problem i have it that content creators will have to create content for it. You shouldnt have to, it should just work already on all devices. Its dumbing down and compromising the market for the rest of us, thats why this is such a horrible device that is simply not wanted.
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ahh i wonder why you even bother to write an article about the iPad as its clearly read by non apple people. No one and i repeat NO ONE is forcing any of you to go out and buy and iPad. Just like no one forced my females colleagues at work to buy an iPhone and after a week there words were "i don;t know how I lived without it". No for me the next wave in computing will be women buying lots and i mean lots of Apple iphones/iPads/iMacs. That's something everyone seems to have missed but dare i say it not the guys at Apple!!
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With the emerging problems of flakey recharging over usb and poor wifi connection (Apple do seem to have a problem with Wifi), the product is looking less revolutionary and more a case of a product being released before it has been properly tested.
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Is there a Luddites blog that these posters can subscribe to? thank heavens that they weren't around for the wheel being invented!! Motorcar? Lightbulb! steampower! I am sure they all must live in a cave somewhere!!
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Any time a blog here even dares to mention the word 'Apple' it is hilarious how many people (presumably insecure in their own choice of tech) feel compelled to post (often ill-informed) bile over and over again.
Apple (usually) make fine products that for the average user perform many functions better than competing brands. For other users the opposite will apply. Game players for example should look elsewhere. People who care about price more than anything else should do the same, as Apple don't do budget computers (that isn't an attack on anyone, as a budget machine is all many people ever need so it's a reasonable choice to make). I use computers with OSX and Windows. My preference is OSX. I find the greater initial outlay (which is less than most will have you believe if you honestly compare like-for-like including bundled software) on an Apple computer to be more than worth it in the long run, as I spend far less time keeping it running smoothly than a Windows PC, and more time actually being productive.
If you can't see the point in an iPad then you clearly don't need one. Why feel the need to attack both Apple and those who do want one just because you don't? By all means pity the fanboys who come out with the rubbish about it changing the face of computing. That is clearly nonsense. But it does look to be a nice product that would suit an awful lot of people that need something bigger than a phone but less powerful than a laptop.
Yes there are netbooks, but every single person I know that has had one has been unhappy with the experience. That's because the makers shrink an existing form-factor and then shoe-horn in a desktop OS without any thought of what kind of user experience that product will give. Clearly no-one moaning that the iPad OS isn't a full desktop OS ever used a tablet PC with XP or whatever installed on it. It's awful. Although it's a touch screen the OS is still very much intended to be mouse-driven, on a large screen. Apple have done what no-one else bothered to do when coming up with a tablet device (including that clumsy mock-up by HP and Steve Ballmer earlier this year), and actually come up with an OS (based on the iPhone version) that reportedly* makes it nice to use rather than a chore.
Personally I won't be buying one. I have an iPhone and a laptop, and the occasions where something in between those would be really useful aren't enough to justify buying an iPad. Unlike most here though I am not arrogant enough to think that my own requirements must apply to everyone else.
*Let's face it, no-one commenting here has actually used one yet have they?
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It's too early to say whether the iPad is as big a step change in computing. The very idea of an A4 size mobile 'phone device with the attributes of an iPhone does set the imagination of someone in the graphics industry like myself, going. The lap-top has never been truly portable, to use one for more than a couple of hours it needed plugging in to the mains. Evidently the iPad will run for up to 10 hours on its battery. The screen size lends itself to all sorts of business uses. I could put a portfolio of work on it, instead of lugging around a heavy folder. Books, magazines and newspapers could all be virtual. Think of all the paper that could save! Photograph albums could also be virtual. In all the idea is a brilliant one, and will I am sure eventually happen. Whether the iPad is the one to start it all off remains to be seen, but I will probably buy one later in the year (at least three months after the introduction when the bugs have been sorted).
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If the iPad had been out when I was looking for a computer to buy my grandparents, I wouldn't have decided on the Windows Vista laptop that they have now. It's way, way too complicated for their needs - web browsing and online shopping mostly, and the occasional email with photo attachments.
We'll be at the stage soon where internet access, like a telephone or access to a post office, is a necessity for daily life, yet computer interfaces are still too complex for a lot of users (particularly older users) and the vast majority of that functionality is unnecessary. There are people who need to be trained to use a mouse, and people who need to be taught which key is the space key and which is the enter key. For these people, a netbook with Windows on it is not a viable solution, and something that goes down the iPad route is necessary.
As for the Flash debate...
I'm guessing not many hardcore Farmville players will be queueing up at the Apple Stores. But most sites that use Flash use it just for video streaming, which is already being replaced by HTML5, most notably by YouTube who are running an HTML5 beta site. Others use it for games - well, just last week a demo of Quake II appeared which used HTML5 draft standards, which dispels the argument that games like Farmville can't be done without Flash.
And as for the truly dreadful websites that require Flash for no good reason (car manufacturers, I'm looking at you)... the designers should be shot.
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For many years we have been promised that interacting with computers would be made easy i.e. not having to worry about the operating system, or interacting with it in any way.
iPads and iPhones offer this and OSX needs a lot less user interaction than Microsoft Windows.
Seems a lot of people don't like this 'no operating system interaction' and want to be able to 'tweak. or mess' with the OS.
I love the way Apple products leave me to get on with being creative and using a computer for what I want - rather than defragmenting disks, or checking for viruses, etc, etc.
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What is the iPAD but Apple Newton version 2.0? The Newton may be all but forgotten, so how long will the remake last? Maybe it will make a decent e-book when they fit it with an e-ink display.
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I've said it before. The iPad is not a computer, its a multimedia consumption and personalised organiser device. I'm not slating the iPad at all, I'm sure people will have purpose and reason for it.
Its great at the web, email, videos, games and music I'm sure. I'm sure as a device it has a market, but for those who already have an smartphone and a laptop, its not aimed at them. The problem with the device as I see it is a lack of multiple user profiles. Its great ability will lie in it being a family device that can be left on the coffee table, and you can quickly read the news or check your emails. Without having multiple profiles, the device is already hamstrung.
Apple's answer would of course be "Buy another one", but that misses the point of user-friendly entirely for a cash grab.
I have an iPhone, a personal device thats mine and no one elses. I have a Macbook that has multiple user profiles. If the iPad wants to sit in between the middle of the two, it needs to be able to offer the best of iPhone OS, and Mac OS X.
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@23
This release is the Wi-Fi only device, and the 3G and Wi-Fi version of the device is due in a few weeks time.
The one thing Apple has got entirely correct is the ability to buy Wi-Fi or WiFi + 3G, and make the device Pay As You Go directly off the device for 3G access.
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And on the second day Steve Jobs rubbed his hands together and was the lord of creating money... Ah how he loved that people would buy whatever he wrapped up with an Apple sticker on the box.
However, many of us wept.
Seriously. I still don't get it. don't get me wrong I am not going to rave about netbooks being great. Frankly you can keep netbooks and iPads or even the new HP touchpad. I just don't think they are needed in the market place. Of course consumers are proving me wrong, my cousin in San Francisco being one of them, but I don't care I still think they are pointless.
Let's all get joint disorders in or fingers having no recoil from touchpads!!! Let's all do it and pay for the right to. Those in favour give me a thumbs up!
...Oh wait you may not be able to due to the lack of keyboard recoil and your fingers pounding into a touchpad for hours on end.
Also I know people will say... "But if I'm on a train I can watch my videos blah blah blah". What ever happened to watching the world go by? Or reading a book? Are we that incapable of amusing ourselves we need to waste money on more and more gadgets?
Frankly, I have to say, we are steadily becoming a Ben Elton novel, we will be burning books next. Okay maybe not, at least not until Steve Jobs tells us and it is sooooo cool cause he said so.
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I feel that the iPad completely missed out on being the next awe-inspiring step in technological advances because of the type of operating system it uses.
This is not a gripe about Apple's operating systems but the choice to use the one they employ in the iPhone and iPod touch. I feel that this severely limits the utility of these devices as you cannot insert DVDs or CDs of any kind, and you cannot install software like you can on any laptop.
You are limited to apps from the app store, which, while being all fine and dandy on a phone or iPod, are really quite limiting on a laptop or laptop-like device, which I think the iPad should have been. If it were my choice, the iPad would either have used an operating system like the ones they use on their laptops, or it would have been a laptop with two screens, one where the usual screen is and one where the keyboard is usually situated, with both of them being touch-sensitive.
As such, I believe the iPad to be a slightly better and larger iPhone or iPod, better only in the fact that there are inevitably going to be more apps or more varied usage. Yet it truly missed out on being the revolutionary device that Jobs and his cult following have hailed it to be.
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Just think outside the box.
No USB!
No DVD Drive!
No Flash!
NO PROBLEM!!!!
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The launch of the iPad into the computing world is similar to the introduction of the DVD player to the Video market. It was said back then it will never catch on, look you can't even record on it. It turns out 90% of people who owned a video recorder didn't know how to program it so it didn't matter.
So with this in mind I think the techie experts who think it's missing essential features will be proved wrong again. The consumer market doesn't ask for features it's looking for rewarding solutions that make you feel good. I think the iPad will do this extremely well.
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"The launch of the iPad into the computing world is similar to the introduction of the DVD player to the Video market."
Actually it's more analogous to the launch of the DVD recorder - a device that was supposed to herald the future but failed to capture significant share and was quickly made obsolete by more agile devices.
It's a start but it's not the end product.
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What bothers me is that various reviews and comments of journalist and "experts" are very unprofessional. To this day no one answered:
Why iPad is better than other tablet PCs that have been arround for some time?
Why iPad is better than for example netbooks equiped with tuchscreens?
Everyone talks about consumers and about what iPad offers (by the way the name is actually ripped of from an unsuccesfull tablet PC from beginning of millenium) and no one really compares them to things that are already available on the market. Of course the iPad can sound revolutionary if you conveniently "forget" that there were others before it.
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For me the ipad is just another apple gimmic for the apple fanboy, serving no real purpose other than to look cool. For me it will never replace the netbook as the netbook is far more capable and practical. Plenty of better ereaders out there. Even microsoft is bringing on out. Just the next step in personal gadgets. Apple just making it available and cool for people to buy.
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It's amazing what the Apple war machine (and I'm referring to the blogging community :), not the Fruit-Based Cash Machine®) represents, and how far along we've come in this technological age.
Tell you what I think. I feel that Apple represents a point of view that, in some small way, affronts us who grew up writing boot disks so we could make our 486 play games, played with BASIC & 'graduated' to C, taught ourselves to write HTML before accepting that you'd might as well do it in Dreamweaver etc... and the many who have not so dissimilar back stories which have become a grounding, if not for what we now do with our lives, then at least for what we expect from a machine. In short, those who want to be able to DO stuff with OUR machines.
Everything on the Apple is handed to you & that's the end of that story. You can't do anything with it beyond use it. Which is perfectly fine for a large section of the current generation who have no real interest in making something your own besides rearranging icons and changing background images. Nothing wrong with it, I suppose, I was just looking forward to a bolder future than that.
The iPad is not revolutionary in the true sense of the word, not like the iPod (for which I am eternally grateful for them forcing Sony to make a better product which I wholeheartedly enjoy), though I will agree that it may be fundamental in kickstarting the market for tablets, a market which ironically, it only aims to attract a very small niche.
peejkerton (Comment 41) has actually provided me with the first &, to date, only reason I would even play with the idea of getting one: put it on your coffee table, next to your latest novel & a newspaper. Before you switch on your TV and to replace your Laptop/PC/Mac in terms of simply checking Facebook; ie. when you're not looking to interact, just to consume (for those thinking it, yes, I concede FB as a method of organising Pub crawls, but Farmville is not a valid replacement for a cold Belgian blonde fresh off the tap). I'd consider it more if the half of the web I want to look at was accessible.
Clearly it will sell like hotcakes to ppl like Damian (comment 17) (who's comments I believe shouldn't be looked on as anything more than a social case in need of study, no offence buddy, but that's just me). All I'm saying is that people should stop throwing around the word 'revolutionary', else it will become meaningless, & accept the iPad for what it is; a party piece, a talking point, a status symbol & yet another gadget aimed at those who enjoy their life simplified, are not interested in involvement on certain levels & the money to indulge themselves.
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Ah the debate continues.
To iPad or not to iPad? Well for me it's a no. It always was a no though as this technology is not going to do something that my existing laptop or iPhone can't already do.
More importantly though would I buy/recommend one for my wife or children? No. Why not? Well I feel I would be paying for style over substance here. A netbook can do more for far less. For me it's that simple.
And before some fanboy says "but it's Apple so it just works" let me say this. For me that statement means "but it's Apple, so there is less risk of me breaking it". If you are not confident with technology and/or you want to have a fashionable gadget then this is totally for you.
Don't try and pretend that its for some higher purpose though. Just be honest about it. You like the style of Apple products and/or you just want to click and go. There is nothing wrong with that.
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It's ironic isn't it...
...that the company that launched the Mac with the "Big Brother" advert aimed at IBM has now become Big Brother itself, with its acolytes in the adoring press who utterly neglect the fact that it controls everything about the devices it produces - the apps they allow you to run, the fact that you can't change the battery if it fails, etc...
I think I'll stay a refusenik if that's all the same to you...
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As someone who has actually used an iPad (albeit for 5 minutes) I'd have to say it's both an amazing product and at the same time a big disappointment.
From a content consumer point of view it's got a brilliant interface, is stunningly fast and is a beautiful thing to hold. As a product to pick up and use instantly for consuming content it's fantastic. This is where Apple have got it absolutely right.
But......... as lots of people have pointed out it lives in it's own world and if you need to do much else than consume content it's deeply flawed. Some of this may change over time but boy will you pay for it.
I'd say with my five minutes use if I needed something I could just pick up around the house (using wireless) to browse the web and check mail etc that had a nice screen then it's absolutely the best product on the planet for that. And for me that's about all I use the net for at home so I can see a lot of people going for it.
When I leave my house then a decent Smartphone is better for casual use and a laptop for serious use. And I'd want something better for games.
However I still give Apple credit for creating something beautiful and I'm sure that many consumers will love it.
Just don't think it's a revolutionary product - it's not - but it may evolve and pull other makers along with it to become something truly great.
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Personally I wish people would stop including this gadget into the world of "home computing". This is as about as much a Home Computer as the iPhone, Wii or DAB radio is. It just performs a finite number of tasks that are within the scope of a home computer.
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I used to use Mac computers when they really were good and then I started using PCs and didn't look back.
Lenovo have been making pure touch-screen tablet computers for a long time now but the BBC will never mention them as game changers. In fact I can't remember the BBC mentioning them once ever despite them producing computers that outperform Macs. They will also run any professional software you can care to mention, not mobile 'apps'.
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People seem to be missing the point. Apple is anticipating that from now on we won't be using software in the way we have done for the last 25 years. Everything relating to computing is shifting to an online environment. This is the shift in computing many have been watching for since Windows went mainstream. Eventually it won't matter what capability your current "beige box" has because it's days of running programmes are numbered. What will matter is an instant connection to the online world and an ease and speed of access to your info (work documents, spreadsheets, games, photos, music, movies), which will all live and run in the web "cloud".
The iPad will be one way of accessing that content. There are other machines capable of doing the same thing - and good luck to them - but Apple is already ahead of the curve having created the App Store. It will now be interesting to see how Google and Microsoft react. My bet is they'll have iPad copies out within 12 months.
Apple's iPad solution appears to be the antithesis of current netbooks, which simply insist on trying to run standard Windows software on underpowered machines. I know, i have to use one for work...ugh.
The iPad is typically version 1.0 but that will change, the flaws will be fixed and personally i think Apple have nailed the next generation of computing.
You may not like the iPad, or Apple's methodolgy, and that's fine, there's plenty of room for choice, but within the next 3-5 years you'll no doubt be blogging using devices very, very similar to the iPad...
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the iPad is a typical Apple product - lots of hype, expensive, and in 6 months it will be obsolete because Apple will release the iPad2 Gwhizz and all the apple idolaters will rush out and spend even more money at the altar so they can continue in their worship, Steve Jobs will be laughing all the way to the bank, in fact he probably owns the bank.
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I think you'll find that windows 7 is set up for cloud computing already. It's not a game changer it is an advert maker. I'm sorry but most of these apps I have seen in the apps stores have been toys and gimmicks.
I use an Andriod phone which is much of the same except much of these apps are free. Which is the much better if you ask me. Not that I want to use these apps much. I have proper work to do...
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Well, the Apple iPad is a total game changer.
I just don't like the way Africa is so behind in this.
The iPhone haven't penetrated the African market yet, and so we won't expect the iPad to ship here any time soon. And by the time it gets shipped here the price will be so inflated.
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Good grief. Still no end to the hilarious anti-Apple bile!
It's just a tech product. If you want one buy it, and if not, don't buy it! If it is as bad as many claim (despite the fact they haven't even used one) it won't sell. If it continues to sell well because people like it, well obviously most of you were wrong.
As for being 'closed' have any of you even bothered to take notice of what Microsoft are doing with Windows Mobile 7? One source to buy apps from, with MS taking a 30% cut? It's strange how little outrage there has been on that front. Also straight out of the Apple playbook, no third-part multi-tasking, no copy/paste, and no flash support at launch (with some serious doubt it will be added later).
However many Apple fanboys there are out there that drool over everything Jobs does, there is beyond doubt many times more who have an insane rage against anything with an Apple logo on it. Seriously, both parties need to get a grip (and a life!). It's just a tech company. If you don't like their products, don't give them your money!
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I agree with JN. I don't understand why people get so upset about this.
If Ford sell a new car few would complain because it doesn't have the number of seats they want, or say that it's no good because there are other makes they might buy.
I bought my first gen iTouch because I thought I would listen to BBC podcasts on it. I rarely did, but I still use it many times a day to read the newspapers and check email, and wouldn't be without it. It's not perfect: syncing is terrible and the pin-head size volume control and lack of Fast Forward mean it's a poor iPod. But, it's far more useful than I thought it would be, and I think iPad users will find the same.
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Personally I think the reason so many people get annoyed when Apple products get released is down to people saying things like
@59 "Well, the Apple iPad is a total game changer."
@56 "Apple have nailed the next generation of computing".
Seriously?
The computing world is a multi-faceted place. One product is not going to do everything and that is why the PC (running Windows/Linux/OS-X or whatever) is such a great tool. It can be adapted to fit any scenario and there are a world of options. What businesses are really going to use this product in a serious way? Is this going to replace the desktop PC? No. And why? This is a consumer gadget and nothing more.
Do any of you remember when CD-ROMS were going to change the world?
Get your paper on CD-ROM!
Enyclopedias on CD-ROM!
Books are dead!
The internet came along and killed that idea and books still sell rather well even with the Internet. JK Rowling isn't short of a bob or two.
It may influence "home computing" in the next few generations. Think of the way the games console made a new market from the 8-bit computer for home-gaming but didn't replace the PC. But hey that's a long time away.
In the meantime lets get this into perspective. It's a gadget! Apple is fashionable at the moment but fashion is a harsh mistress. Time will tell.
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Do you know, it's so easy to put down any new invention. So easy to suggest that it's too open and unreliable, too closed and overly controlled. I smiled and thought it funny about the hype of the original iPhone when it first appeared - it was well known that for less money you could get more for your money. More in terms of memory, battery, processor performance, camera facilities etc....
After over 15 years of using PCs, Nokia and SE phones I opted to buy a iPhone 3GS. Having already owned a Nokia 5800 the one thing that struck me was that like most Apple products - it does exactly what it promises. The phone works reliably, the camera takes video and photos (albeit without a flash). Its plays music. It has the App store and iTunes to fully support the platform.
The phone doesn't do multi-tasking, but guess what - the freeze and resume when you 'switch' between apps works fine. How many apps would you want to keep running? The huge benefit it that when you do run an application it runs perfectly - no contention for resource, no memory leaks.
As for the whole applications all cost money. I have in the space of one year only bought a handful of applications. Some games for my kids (less than a pound) and a satnav app for £55 that covers all of Europe, the scores of other applications are all free.
My Nokia 5800 running symbian - try and get hold of a free PDF viewer. Try and get hold of a free VNC or RDP program. Try and get Telnet / ping / ftp - its not just that they cost money, but more the fact that they are simply not designed with actual phone in mind. Even trying to install the applications are fraught with complications, many symbian applications not installing due to invalid security certificates, not supporting the touch screen interface. All of these applications can be sourced free and easily for the iPhone.
Infact even without looking at the other applications, the Nokia symbian 5800 has issues all of its own. The screen rotation is iffy and sometimes fails to work at all unless the options are toggled in settings and the handset restarted (yes - latest firmware is installed). The text entry using full screen qwerty means that over 90% of the screen is taken up by the keyboard and you cannot actually see much of what you are typing. The integrated email simply does not work properly, IMAP implementation is wholly unreliable if you have a large mailbox. My point is that the Nokia promises a whole lot, and then struggles to deliver any of it in a reliable fashion. The cut and paste doesn't work between some applications.
If the iPad was only a larger version of the iPhone I believe it would be a huge hit. For consumers wanting a fast easy way of accessing the web, email and video content either at home or away it would offer a virus / malware free method of what people take for granted with TVs / Radios / Microwaves - simply switch on and it works. As it turns out, the iPad promises more than just being a supersized iTouch or iPhone. I personally can't wait for the device. Yes it would be great if it had a front facing camera for video conferencing, yes wouldn't user expandable memory be great - but these omissions like many others doesn't detract from what it is marketed as. I suspect there will be issues (wifi), and I know there will be fixes. Unlike *ALL* of the other smartphone or laptop/pc operating systems Apple cannot hide behind the excuse that the operating system and hardware manufacturer are different companies and therefore point fingers at each other. OSX and Apple devices are one, and for me that is a powerful combo. Perhaps Android will turn this around in the fullness of time - but until you have given any Apple product a fair crack of the wip I would suggest holding back on opinion.
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The iPad is nothing new, but it is crippled and over hyped. Nokia have been producing always on communications tablets for years, the N770, N800, N810 and now a slimmed down version the N900, which doubles as a mobile phone (something the iPad won't be able to do until later in the year!). The Nokia tablets multitask, run a real operating system (Debian Linux) and have a whole host of completely free open source applications avaialble for them.
As with the iPhone, Apple have spotted someone else quitely making money doing something, jumped on the bandwagon with an overpriced, second rate product and told everyone it is something new, something wonderful and that they are the only people that do it.
Come on Mr Jobs, try doing something original for once!
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Nice piece Maggie to get the blogger juices flowing from Apple & 'other' bloggers. Can you honestly say that, as the resident BBC technology correspondent in California, you don't have an iPad?
The iPad is an evolutionary step in the build out of the Apple eco-system.
Yesterday, Steve Jobs announced that 450,000 wi-fi iPads have been sold (in four days), so 300,000 day 1, 50,000 a day thereafter. By the time Apple do their financial update on 20th April 2010, the total no. of iPads sold should be around 1 million. Later this month, the iPad comes to these shores, plus other larger European countries, Canada and Japan & Australia. 3,500 iPad specific apps are now available in the App store; 600,000 e-books downloaded in under a week from the iBooks store ... and so these impressive metrics keep coming!
Also, yesterday, Apple announced iPhone OS 4, which is being widely publicised, including here by the BBC. Key point for this particular blog is that iPhone OS 4 will also be available for the iPad later in 2010. Apple are very consistent in how they are evolving their platform (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, iTunes, iBooks etc...).
Coming back to some of the points you make about the iPad. I am wondering about your true credentials as a technology journalist if you are unable to see the direction Apple are going with the iPhone & now the iPad. They are fundamentally changing the user experience and the consumption experience of information. Clearly, the iPhone is truly mobile (in the pocket), but does not provide the best visually consuming experience (websites have to be pinched to expand etc...). The iPad changes that, by providing a form factor that allows full eyeball consumption of a webpage, scaling up of games, A4 size reading of a book etc...
The iPad is here to stay; from May onwards, iPads will be visible on our public transport, in cafes, parks & sitting on coffee tables in peoples sitting rooms. As for some bloggers stating that you cannot create content, suggest they reserve judgement until they themselves have tried one out. Just because the iPad does not have a physical keyboard, a USB port or a confusing file system does not mean it cannot allow what I would call 'traditional computing functions'.
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It is not a game changer as such but it is a new way of consuming digital media.
There is a video on youtube of a two year old using the iPad, she knows how to navigate through the pages of apps and open them. She opens a kiddie app and starts to move the icons around on the screen. It is so intuitive. A friend's daughter tries to move menus on the TV thinking that is how you interact with them.
When I first got my iPhone and after a few hours surfing I went to my desktop and instinctively tried to click and drag the webpage to move it up and down, it just felt like the right thing to do. I know scrolling with a modern mouse is not exactly rocket science, but I did surprise myself as I have been using scroll on a mouse since they appeared 14 or so years ago, yet after a short time I was expecting to interact in a different way.
I am often sitting on the sofa and use my iPhone to check what is on TV and even set it to record (way faster than using a Sky or Virgin interface) or quickly check the news or my favourite blogs and social networking sites. I can see this device on the coffee table, where me and my partner just pick it up and browse, maybe play a game then put it back down.
I will be able to read the news next to me on the table when eating breakfast rather than at my desk. Be able to pass around photos rather than making everyone gather round my laptop or desktop. And my toilet time will increase dramatically.
It is what it is, a big iPhone, yet the size will give you a totally different experience (in the same way your new 24 inch monitor is way nicer to use then your laptop's 12 inches). You will not need to use a designated app to view a news site or IMDB, as the browsing experience is so much better you can simply use the original website. Whilst the iPhone has the best smartphone based internet experience, it is a little tiresome navigating around a large page, with lots of double tapping and pinching to find your way around. It is on smart phones where specific apps to view a website's content are beneficial and are needed, you will find less and less for the iPad as the browsing is better.
Flash would be nice, but only due to video, when have you needed to visit a Flash site for anything other than games or video? Your day to day internet use is all about content, doesn't matter how pretty it is or how it animates towards you after waiting 2 minutes for it to preload, you want the content and you want it fast. HTML5 video will quickly become the norm and Flash with fade further away and become a niche product used only for marketing sites for sports brands and car manufacturers needing to provide a few bells and whistles. (I say this as a web designer/developer working in the industry for over a decade who used to think Flash was going to take over the world. Yet I and the internet grew up and evolved)
Apple's way of having to approve apps and the way you have to use the app store to obtain them is for the best at this stage. Like anything popular if people could use it to exploit, they would, dodgy apps would appear everywhere doing who knows what with your information and location. It also encourages people have to buy apps and gives developers a genuine reason to make an app and get paid for doing a good job. If you could simply transfer an app to your friends in the pub you would, you wouldn't search for the app on google, filter through the reviews and other guff eventually finding the developers website. Then enter your credit card details before finally downloading and installing the untested unapproved app yourself (not even mentioning the hassle of finding bugs and then having to obtain updates manually). Piracy and poor quality would kill off any reason for decent apps to be made. Yes, there are thousands of rubbish apps out there, but the user based review system allows you to make better decisions.
Rant over.
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I think the iPad can be useful in the music production industry and all virtuell key instruments.
[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]You can found more Info at the German iPad Site
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Have apple come yet to say how much the basic iPad will be for the UK market?
And how much will it be for the top-of-the-range iPad
To all the iPhone users, don't worry you will soon have an iAd appearing everywhere on your iPhone soon :P
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There is no question that the iPad is a brilliant mobile device that epitomises Apple's superiority at technological development, design and consumerism. Practically speaking, it is the perfect device for traveling, for keeping up with business affairs whilst on the move; with limited access to Internet, power and development resources (and limited luggage capacity!). It is also less of a liability and concern for theft.
That said, Apple's rapid expansion and control of a closed mobile browsing environment is certainly a significant concern for the health of our open Internet, the freedom of information and the ability to innovate laterally. For me, as an owner of an Internet business that builds and markets software, Apple's "closed box" application system is a grave danger to my business and its ability to reach the largest possible audience (that is, without becoming yet another iPhone/iPad app developer who is confined to the same system limitations). Being subjected to these limitation inhibits gives one less ability to improvise, to devise new USPs, and to get ahead and to stay ahead of your competition in an increasingly competitive market.
If the iPad is a device that can bridge the gap between the mobile market and the desktop market and aids in bringing new people online, then that is huge benefit to our global society. It is also important that a company other than Google shows ability to dominate multiple spheres of the Internet and provides competition. If however, the iPad results in a decline of the average user's knowledge of technology, the Internet and variety of online discover + exploration then it will only result in a step back for the Internet and the human race.
Time will tell I guess!
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My family has a powerful i7 PC with XP, for video editing and music-making and also an iMac - I have a Macbook Pro plus a Lenovo Win XP from work. My wife has an iPhone (when I first got it for her she didnt want to give up her Nokia with the B&W LCD screen, now she cant live without the facebook on iphone!), my 7 year old has an ipod touch for games, a nintendo DS, my 9 year old has a Sony PSP and a Sony mobile and I will be getting her an iPad as its so cheap and she can use it on holidays. Oh, I got myself a Samsung netbook which is so slow that I will be giving it away free to the kid next door. We live in the country and spend time outdoors. We read a lot of newspapers/books.
Whats the POINT of this note? Technology is just like books. You can't just have 1 book. You need different types of books for different moods, for different uses. Those people who are, should STOP WHINING and just be grateful they have access to this huge variety of incredible technology. The iPad will be supreme, I believe, for casual email, web and video.
I for one can't wait to get my hands on the first iPads that arrive in the UK. The real problem is that I just don't see HTC, Samsung, HP etc getting close to the user experience of an iPAD in 2010/11. And that is what Apple's brand is about, a good user experience.
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Anyone who is complaining that you cannot create content with iPhone OS should first look at the Brushes application. This application has been used by one artist to create the cover for an issue of The New Yorker magazine. It's fabulous. And Brushes art is available on flickr. Check them out. Moreover, with the app you can see a video of all the brush strokes taken to create the piece. It's extraordinary to see a piece of art being constructed.
Also, you can buy an excellent word processor that does about 99% of what most people want from a word processor for US$9.99. And there's also a Spreadsheet and a Presentations package for the same price.
Those people raging about the alleged inability to create content, what is it you'd like to do that you can't already do?
No one is arguing that the iPad gives us everything we want, but the iPad is addressed at the Netbook market. Who uses a Netbook to create content beyond eMailing, word-processing or spreadsheeting - all of which are available on the iPad.
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I totally disagree with almost all the junk written online about the iPad. Personally, I think the device looks inferior to Amazon's Kindle and even the iPod Touch is better. But I love Touchgrind and think it is the best thing about the iPhone and iPad. So, it is good to see that ipad reviews index www.dozenipad.com ranked Touchgrind as a Top iPad game site. Touchgrind is a cool game – I love the playability and I hope that on iPad it will also be amazing. Other apps that interest me are the video apps such as Netflix and Vimeo.
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I was one of the lucky few to get my hands on an iPad last week and I must say, so far so good. It is an incredible piece of technology and I think it will change the way we read, watch movies, listen to music and more. I just want to find more apps and sites related to iPad, which seem to be hard to trace online. I bought the iPad at an online store listed on shopping index Online Store so it was delivered. The best thing about iPad is going to be video and HTML5. Most of the video sites such as YouTube and vimeo can be accessed by the iPad and I think it will improve the ultimate viewing experience.
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What a lovely little puff piece for the iPad!
The way you write, anyone would think there was only ever one personal computer manufacturer...namely Apple.
I bet Steve Jobs just LOVES your writing.
Now, remember who pays your wages *hint* licence payers & try to report on things other than you beloved Apple products...if, of course, the BBC are the only ones paying you.
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I think the iPad has a great potential. It is definitely the future of cloud computing and HTML5, which seems to be more stable, open and faster.
I am against using flash based content, overheats my PC and it's pretty insecure as a platform.
Besides that iPad offers a visually appealing and interactive interface, engaging users a lot more.
There are some great educational apps available.My 5 year old son has learned so much(math and languages)..it is a game to learn on the iPad.
It is all about the applications and the engaging interface of the device. For example Sketchbook or iKorg have some amazing features that would cost much more sold as PC software...here is a nice collection of the best iPad apps that one might find useful.
iPad is great choice for traveling, for the one on the go and a helpful tool in education and medicine.
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