iPad

[naum]

Use cases?

√ reading the newspaper at breakfast time or on the couch instead of the computer… …or in my desire, my Google Reader feeds…
√ smart remote control sitting on the coffee table that can drive TV, music players and home computers throughout the home…
√ a slick gaming pad that makes the DS and PSP archaic throwbacks…
√ a textbook replacement, with color, hyperlinks, charts, graphics, images, sound, video, etc.… 
√ while unsuitable for heavy duty computing on business travel, certainly sufficient or vacation/leisure travel, with or without a wireless/dockable keyboard accompaniment…
√ while panned as "content consumption" with little use for "content creation", there actually is a whole realm of existing and heretofore realm of new applications suited for touch "drag and drop" UI — mind mapping, charting (OmniGraffle (or Visio for you Windows folk)), note taking, annotating, etc.…

How about using:

• a newspaper?
• your TV's remote?
• a gaming device with an actual selection of games?

To be fair, I can think of some potential uses, too.

• a coaster
• a serving tray
• a substitute to fine china for throwing during an argument
• a way to throw money away

Now you're just being silly…

√ subscribing to 300+ newspapers!? uh, I think the cost of an iPad is a fraction of that, let alone the mess of paper and print that would need disposing of or fish to wrap…

√ my TV remote doesn't talk to all the machines in my house (like iP(hoone|od|ad))

√ are you completely ignorant of the thousands of games (exceeding any handheld console) available already? yes, Sturgeon's Law and all, but there are gems to be found and the major game makers are eagerly embracing the platform…

[waffel]

√ my TV remote doesn't talk to all the machines in my house (like iP(hoone|od|ad))

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-Advanced-Universal-Remote/dp/B00119T6NQ

[Quinton]

√ are you completely ignorant of the thousands of games (exceeding any handheld console) available already? yes, Sturgeon's Law and all, but there are gems to be found and the major game makers are eagerly embracing the platform…

Do you really expect good, playable games that involve holding a 1.5lb tablet with both hands and tilting/tapping it while you play?

Eagerly embracing the ability to price war each other into the ground to sell $1-2 "casual" games...  but you know Steve doesn't give a shit about much as long as he gets his 30% cut.

[naum]

√ my TV remote doesn't talk to all the machines in my house (like iP(hoone|od|ad))

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-Advanced-Universal-Remote/dp/B00119T6NQ

Yeah, for $250, er marked down to $200 now…

Opposed to a device that will be < $300 a year from now that includes that as an auxiliary feature…

[naum]

√ are you completely ignorant of the thousands of games (exceeding any handheld console) available already? yes, Sturgeon's Law and all, but there are gems to be found and the major game makers are eagerly embracing the platform…

Do you really expect good, playable games that involve holding a 1.5lb tablet with both hands and tilting/tapping it while you play?

Eagerly embracing the ability to price war each other into the ground to sell $1-2 "casual" games...  but you know Steve doesn't give a shit about much as long as he gets his 30% cut.

Strategy games, board games, card games, etc.… along with all the other silly games…

Settlers of Catan, for instance, is a polished game experience on the iPhone that exceeds XBox 360 version and woeful Java implementations on the web…

[Lantyssa]

Now you're just being silly…

Of course I'm being silly.  You're going on and on about this thing like it's the next coming of Jesus.

[Mrbloodworth]

Now you're just being silly…

Of course I'm being silly.  You're going on and on about this thing like it's the next coming of Jesus.

There may be a reason for that.

[Ingmar]

a device that will be < $300 a year from now

Like hell it will be.

[Teleku]

I do agree that there could be some cool board game/table top type games that could be made for this.  Don't know if that helps justify all the other limitations though.

[AutomaticZen]

Opposed to a device that will be < $300 a year from now that includes that as an auxiliary feature…

Apple will add new features, call it iPad Gen 2, and keep the price the same.  That's generally how they work.

[Trippy]

Opposed to a device that will be < $300 a year from now that includes that as an auxiliary feature…

Apple will add new features, call it iPad Gen 2, and keep the price the same.  That's generally how they work.

They dropped the original iPhone price substantially within the first 6 months (and pissed off a lot of people in the process) so it wouldn't be unprecedented for Apple to drop the price on the iPad sooner rather than later. Also with tech devices they typically get more powerful over time *and* cheaper. E.g. iPod 1G was $399. Current hard drive iPod, which is far more powerful, is $249.

[Ingmar]

I think it will drop. I do not think it will drop that low, that fast. If they do that they'll be hurting their own iTouch product, the largest capacity iTouch is currently $399. It would take extremely deep price cuts across both the iTouch *and* iPad lines to get the iPad to under $300 and I don't see that happening inside a year.

[Samwise]

Opposed to a device that will be < $300 a year from now that includes that as an auxiliary feature…

But will it run the version of Windows that Microsoft is going to release next year that costs $5 and is more stable than Linux?

[Jeff Kelly]

If smart phones are too complicated for people, and the iPhone is a smart phone, and the iPad is essentially a bigger iPhone, then... 

...you are intentionally misinterpreting what I wrote

[Samwise]

If smart phones are too complicated for people, and the iPhone is a smart phone, and the iPad is essentially a bigger iPhone, then... 

...you are intentionally misinterpreting what I wrote

I swear I'm not.  It just seems to me like the goalposts are moving all over the place.  In this thread I've heard the iPad described as being both a full powered computer on par with a laptop and a simpler and more streamlined user experience than the iPhone.  It can't be both, and in fact I'm pretty sure it's neither.

[Surlyboi]

This will be my one and only post on the actual device.

Don't bitch or rave about it until you use one. When the time comes, drop by your nearest Apple store and try one. Then you can come back here and rip it apart or praise it to high heaven.

That is all.

[Sky]

This will be my one and only post on the actual device.

Don't bitch or rave about it until you use one. When the time comes, drop by your nearest Apple store and try one. Then you can come back here and rip it apart or praise it to high heaven.

That is all.

/internet

[MrHat]

Aren't there some networks (verizon, ATT) that were offering 3G enabled netbooks for free along w/ a cell phone subscription?

Seems like a logical offering to offer an iPhone + iPad + 3G service deal to both for 2 years sub.

[waffel]

This will be my one and only post on the actual device.

Don't bitch or rave about it until you use one. When the time comes, drop by your nearest Apple store and try one. Then you can come back here and rip it apart or praise it to high heaven.

That is all.

lol go into an apple store. Good one.

[Mattemeo]

When the time comes, drop by your nearest Apple store and try one. Then you can come back here and rip it apart or praise it to high heaven.

Oh, hai Mac traditional 'hands on' marketing technique - "DON'T ASK WHAT'S INSIDE AND WHAT IT'S FOR LOOK AT THE SPARKLY LIGHTS AND THE SEXY SLEEKNESS OMG YOU SO WANT ONE NOW DON'T YOU LOOK APPLESTORE IS NEAT WOW"

 

[Venkman]

Here's the thing people are still missing.

The announcement got people talking about this device as if there's this huge established mass market for netbooks and Tablet PCs. There isn't. People going on and on about "well, I can just get a netbooks/PC/laptop/converted-Macbook/etc to do that" aren't doing that. They say they can, but they're not ponying up to grow that industry. This not only means they are not the market for the iPad, they aren't the market for any of the adjacent devices that are already out there either. Because their needs are fulfilled already and/or they'll tinker future solutions.

The iPad is about introducing an otherwise alien concept for a lot of people who'll merely be attracted by ease of use. It's not easier than the iPhone. It's almost exactly the same, just with a larger UI. Along the way Apple is experimenting with the e-book market and that's fine because it could be a good device for that (unless eyestrain remains the problem as it usually is with backlit LCDs). The primary business is to get you to buy movies, music and apps.

I agree with everyone whose holding off until generation 2 or 3. That's when to do anything Apple, from buying a new computer line to installing a new OS buying a new CE device from them. Let the raving lunatic fanbois jump all over the generation 1 marketed beta device so their complaints can help Apple iterate into the full device it needs to be. The only difference with the iPad is that a lot of stuff has already been figured out over the multiple generations of the iPhone and its OS.

However, I personally am on the bubble. If they add full telephony functionality to this in the gen 1 device, I'll be all over it. I never use my iPhone by holding it to my ear, so that's not an issue for me.

[Baldrake]

I was in the "scratching my head trying to see what need the iPad fits" crowd until my mother of all people came up with a good one.

My aunt, who is nearing eighty and has never used a computer in her life, has recently expressed interest in getting into the whole email and photographs scene. I figured we could get her a netbook, but frankly my heart was sinking thinking how we would ever teach her to use it.

But for her, the "weaknesses" of the iPad could actually be strengths. Only one app at a time, no windows to worry about, no folders, no mouse with left, right and double clicking. She can type well, so getting her a version with the keyboard dock could work out very well.

[Engels]

Yep, that is the crowd. And once the tech goes mainstream, we probably all will end up with similar devices for every day use. Its just vital to understand that this is an appliance, like a microwave or a tv, rather than a computer.

[Lantyssa]

Yes, the elderly.  An awesome target market which is growing in number every day...

The thing can certainly have uses, but if we're looking at niche markets to find a use for a product, then it is pretty telling about how prevalent it will be.

[Tebonas]

Not that his to do anything with the iPad, but the elderly ARE an awesome target market with is growing in numbers every day.

[Baldrake]

Well, it would be amusing if the latest product from the company that advertises with annoying hipsters turned out to be a hit with the geriatric set.

[Samwise]

Not that his to do anything with the iPad, but the elderly ARE an awesome target market with is growing in numbers every day.

The computer-illiterate elderly, however, are a rapidly shrinking market. 

At this point I've only got one person in my family (my 89-year-old grandmother) who doesn't have an email address that they can check on a regular desktop machine, and an entire side of my family is composed of militant luddites who don't drive cars or watch TV.  But except for her they've all either given in and learned to work Yahoo Mail or died off.  And I can't envision that grandmother getting an iPad either -- she won't even have a flatscreen TV in her house, and insisted when her old tube TV died last year that it be replaced with a new tube TV (which are really hard to find these days).

[Baldrake]

I basically agree with you Samwise. But at least judging from my family, while nearly all use computing technology, many are really struggling with it and would be much happier losing functionality in return for simplicity. I think we have at least another 20 years with a huge market of people who find Windows and the like really, really hard. And in computing, that's an infinite amount of time.

[Prospero]

I went back to school 3 years ago to finish my BS. There were a LOT of students at the school, a private school at that, that were barely computer literate. They weren't dumb; many could talk your ear off intelligently about history, literature, or fashion, but they were nearly useless on a computer. Just because kids are growing up with PCs doesn't mean they are good with them. As long as they can get get to Facebook on the iPad, they might be happier that way. I'm not trying to say that the ipad is the future, but I wouldn't discount it or other machines like it.

[Pennilenko]

I am happy for the iPad, it will get every moron who doesn't belong on a PC off of a PC.

[Samwise]

I am happy for the iPad, it will get every moron who doesn't belong on a PC off of a PC.

I thought that was the iMac's job?

[Pennilenko]

I am happy for the iPad, it will get every moron who doesn't belong on a PC off of a PC.

I thought that was the iMac's job?

There are people who don't even belong on an iMac. Trust me, my customers are scary people around technology.

I will gladly sell one of them to any of my customers that wants one, and charge a hefty markup for the convenience of them not having to go to the store themselves.

[Samwise]

I am happy for the iPad, it will get every moron who doesn't belong on a PC off of a PC.

I thought that was the iMac's job?

There are people who don't even belong on an iMac. Trust me, my customers are scary people around technology.

Build something idiot-proof and they'll breed better idiots.  I can't wait to see what comes out in another ten years for people that can't handle one app and a touchscreen.

[Venkman]

Why do people think the Mac OS is any easier to use than the PC? It isn't. It's still double click. It's still folder structures. It's still utility programs for doing just about anything. It's still logins, installations, bugs, viruses, etc.

Except that Macs look prettier, there isn't enough difference for anyone to accurately claim the Mac is "easier to use". The same people that would struggle with Windows will with a Mac, for most of the same reasons.

And yes, the Baby Boomers are a huge ass demographic entering retirement and a good chunk of them were not in office jobs surrounded by Windows all day. This is not the only audience for the iPad, but it's a pretty good one. Well, those that didn't take a path on hedge funds or devalued homes anyway...

[Prospero]

While the core concepts are similar, there are subtle differences that make Macs easier to use for some people. Applications are organized in a more straightforward fashion. The computer settings are all in one place, well labeled, and easily searchable. Application installs and uninstalls are very simple for most apps. The photo and music apps pretty much manage themselves. I've had a lot of luck moving family members to Macs. My tech support load has gone way down as a result.