So about that. It's the INTERNET. We're all here, sharing access to it, ya know. Yes, I love YC because people here are much more mature, but the fact is that we all like a good bit of humor now and again.
My wife came home today and said, "hey, what's the gizmo from Apple called?". I told her and she made a face and said, "that's stupid". I have to agree, and also agree with people making jokes about it.
It was great how Steve fully acknowledged the problem with tablets, "So all of us use laptops and smartphones... the question has arisen; is there room for something in the middle. We've wondered for years as well -- in order to create that category, they have to be far better at doing some key tasks... better than the laptop, better than the smartphone."
Then he proceeded to introduce a device that underperforms vs either smartphones or laptops in almost every way.
The innovation was in the iPhone. The news apps, book apps, content consumption and games, all MOBILE. The i-pad makes these innovations PRACTICAL with a bigger screen, and that is something worth buying.
I don't know how I feel about this. Part of me wants to say this'll be a great light mobile device to carry around, and the other part says this is somewhat useless as I can do most of these things on my iPhone. I really don't see anyone using iWork on the iPad to create presentations or documents. You usually wanna crank that stuff out quickly, and the speed at which you can type up a slide title, browse the net for an image, copy and paste it over, etc, on a laptop is, I'm assuming, far greater than you'd be able to do it on the iPad. Not to mention, I'm worried that typing on this thing is going to be extremely awkward. The keyboard is too big to use while holding the iPad with your hands (unless you're a hunt and peck typer), and laying it on a flat surface will mean you'll have to hunch over to see what you're typing. The screen real estate is great, and I can definitely see myself using it to read books, but for $500, I'm not quite sure it's worth it. I would've loved to see them unveil some sort of medical charts app for use in hospitals. That would've been a wow moment for me. But they didn't, so I'm torn.
I disagree. The iPad is directly competing with netbooks, but providing less functionality at a higher price point.
A quick survey around the dev team here highlight this: They think it is too expensive and impractical. (and this is no anti-apple bias, a good 3/4 of the team have iPhones)
In 10-15 years, I can see most students carry an iPad-like device to school instead of a bunch of books many (esp in Asian countries) need to put in their bags today. It would also be a great replacement for brick-heavy textbooks. If we can collectively break the textbook oligopoly, the costs would be much lower as well.
Together with video lecture inserts to clarify difficult points and interactive & intelligent tutoring software, this could potentially change the way people learn.
The price would need to drop quite significantly, and/or the durability would need to increase drastically (children + strong, well engineered device = broken device in short amount of time!)
How many do you think are going to look at the Kindle at $250-500 and then the iPad at $500 and choose the single-purpose-does-one-thing-somewhat-better device?
If Amazon dropped the price to sub-$100, I think they'd sell them by the boatload, but at current price points... nah.
At 24 ounces, the iPad is a brick. There's no way you can comfortably hold that thing like a book for more than 30 minutes. No wonder Ives has arms like a prison guard.
Like I said, it's a fine netbook killer (though I think the segment was killing itself). But there is no way this thing is taking market share from the e-books.
I don't think it's going to impact the decision of people who care more about reading than anything else, but I think this will steal a large portion of more casual readers that would have gotten the kindle.
It's a bit heavier than the average book, but it's by no means a brick. This claims that it puts it at roughly the 75th percentile of books in terms of weight: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_1_book_weigh
$250 is still a big chunk of change for a lot of people I know, and they're not that compelled by something that just handles books. Yes, many big readers will still choose the dedicated device. My argument is that this steals a big part of its thunder.
And the majority of the general populace doesn't give two hoots about iPhone OS and App store limitations. You and I might, but I wasn't talking about technophiles - my mom has no idea that the restrictions even exist. She's just pleased as punch about how easy it is to use.
Fast page refresh makes it potentially very attractive for things like textbooks where you need to skim around. For linear novel reading, I'd think a Kindle is much better.
You also forgot that you can run office and other productivity software on it, photoshop, use it for live performance music mixing, composing, play real games, don't need to dock it to have a real keyboard and mouse and can plug in a DVD burner to watch more movies, etc. etc. etc. etc.
How many of your average computers users really care about that? If I can access a shell and write some code on this thing, I'm sold. The battery life alone is worth it.
Edit: Sadly reading this thread is like reading Slashdot about the announcement of the iPod.
>| How many of your average computers users really care about that?
I'm sorry, but this is a terrible argument. None of my users care about having root on our file server either, but if I didn't have it, it wouldn't be useful as anything more than a very expensive paperweight. Most readers probably don't care if the authors have access to a typewriter, but they depend on that to be able to read books.
Similarly, most iPad users won't care about having root on the thing, but they shouldn't. They people that do care about this are the developers, and the work of the developers becomes the tool of the masses. The complaint about this thing not being open is that apple is restricting what sorts of tools can be made. While the end-user might not care about the specific mechanism of restriction, they do feel its effects.
Price looks really good until you think about the following:
No SD card slot, no camera (can't use it for video chats), no USB. And of course, the killers are: no multitasking support (yet) and no HDMI port (how are you going to hook it up to your TV?).
I still want one, though!
I see a platform that will let Steve do a lot of "and that's not all..." in future presentations. Maybe live hd tv, video calling, augmented reality, and other wow moments in the future that wouldn't have worked on a smaller screen quite so well and need either touch, or a sturdy portable device to be practical.
Presentation just finished. I have to say I'm disappointed. First point is trivial; they should have gone with a new name like iSlate. Playing off of your own products name (IPod) is weak marketing. It sounds like something somebody would try to knock off an iPod with.
Actual problems with the iPad:
1)It should have 128GB of storage available. I understand this would lead to a big price leap, but availablility would be nice
2) They should've gone 16:9 Aspect Ratio. EVERYTHING is that ratio now. Notice all the vids didn't fit the screen? Furthermore, the keyboard built in would be much more effective with the increase in dimensions.
3)Thank the lord they have 3G. If they didn't I would've lost it. But why can't they just put this on the same bill as my phone? THAT would've been a good contract negotiation. That way Phone providers get even more of our data usage and it's built in. This would help me use up my 6GB monthly dataplan. I want simplicity Apple, not another plan to activate.
The target demographic for this device may not be current iPhone, iPod or MacBook users. Consider the many people that want MacBooks but can't afford them. The iPad + keyboard dock is a lower-cost alternative, especially with iWork applications for $10 a pop.
I see this product as doing nothing but growing Apple's customer base.
Exactly. The iPhone put a smartphone into the hands of people who were not gadget freaks. If this device gets moms and grandmas surfing the web from the couch, then it'll outsell any netbook. There's still lots of blue ocean there.
Truth is between my laptop and my iPhone, there really isn't space left for another $500 device. If I can take the iPad around I can take my laptop too. IPad can't beat iPhone in terms of taking out of my pocket and quickly getting some info. Can't be my laptop because it can't run my work apps.
It's an entertainment device that can't fit in my pocket, and can't work like a bigger computer. I've got some space for it in my bathroom though, however doctor says I shouldn't sit there too long.
Seriously if it ran OS X it might be enticing, but why get an oversized iPod touch that can't fit in your pocket.
I'm going to wait for the iPhone with pico projector embedded.
All the flash (or lack there of) got me excited, but there are a few glaring questions left unanswered:
1) Support for multi-tasking? This is a must on something like this. Perhaps they want to ensure performance of single applications by restricting multi-tasking?
2) Flash support? When Steve was browsing the flash plugin was missing... another must on a device that is trying to act as an intermediary between laptop and phone, primarily for web usage.
3) All of the focus on the iPad as an e-reader is neglecting the fact that the screen will be difficult to read off of. The screens of Kindles and Sony e-reader products are the major attraction, in my opinion. There's no way I could read for several hours on a backlit screen.
It's a great multimedia device, and has some awesome practical implications. However, I think the things I listed above are big time issues for the intentions of this device.
One thing we have to think about with this is that Jobs is not afraid of a wholesale platform change.
This makes me think that his is really a quiet thrust back into general computing, from a platform, hardware and software ecosystem that's been very successful and is wholly owned and controlled by Apple.
The current Mac ecosystem is basically no different, or just a variation on, the PC open platform. Jobs has stated many times in the past that he prefers to "control the end-to-end user experience" which is code for "prefers to control the margins on Apple products, from hardware to software".
Everything in the iPhone ecosystem allows Apple to control the end to end margins retrievable from the consumer. The Mac ecosystem lost this message a long time ago and this seems to me like a soft-shoe effort to turn the Apple consumer onto a new computing platform that's on the Steve Jobs "margin controlled" message.
It also cleanly gets the moved away from the Wintel style computing and back into proprietary and incompatible land. Within two years, people will be using these things for general computing, with mice and keyboards and webcams and all kinds of specialized docks and iPad 2nd monitors and such. Within 5 years they'll offer a complete out of the box computer running in this constrained ecosystem and traditional Macs will be relegated to some type of "Pro" offering targeting writers and artists.
Already it's principle release feature is the presence of 140k apps, ready to roll with it that you can purchase only from the Apple controlled online store. And there's discussion on porting more traditional productivity apps (iWorks) to the platform.
Effectively, this puts the iPod/Phone/Pad derivative products into direct competition with Apple's own products, which already have plenty of competition from traditional Wintel boxes, Netbooks of all varieties, other tablets, the upcoming Chrome OS machines, and Android computing platforms. But because it's so tightly controlled the intersection in the primary computing ecosystem is minimal.
If they include a pull-out or pluggable physical keyboard, arranged to allow the pad to stand like a frame, it could be a great replacement for most netbooks and allow for hands-free reading--therefore a Kindle killer as well.
Wonder if they have ever considered the idea and reject it simply for the aesthetics of having the simplest, smoothest device possible. Aesthetics is good, but if a small compromise can be made for much greater functionality, it would be a good trade-off.
I think some other companies might have come up with a device I described above. Anyone here knows of one? I would consider buying it. A link would be appreciated.
What would also be nice is that if it has a USB port so that you can download movies/books from your PC to the tablet. And it also should charge through USB...
So far, I think ill stick to getting a netbook, just because im not a fan of depending on the iPhone OS on anything but a phone, and even that is a deal breaker for me. Maybe if it came with Mac OS
Your words make no sense. You don't like the OS except on a phone but not on a phone but this isn't the iPhone OS whatsoever.
Also: Can we not say stupid things until Steve finishes telling us everything? As I type this they're just announcing iWork. I don't fucking see iWork on my fucking iPhone, or on a netbook for that matter, so let's not conflate the two.
Can't wait to see what other devices like this will be out there in a matter of months based on Nvidia Tegra - and at what price. Could this be the downfall of netbook growth?
Charging $100 extra per 32GB must be a big money maker for Apple. I just bought a 32GB USB stick off newegg for $70 and considering Apples buying power, it probably costs them a lot less.
I was in the same boat. I went with the DX. Not making my eyes bleed after all day looking at lcd screens, transfer things with usb, (don't need iTunes), and last more that one day on a single charge made my choice easy.
This device looks interesting, and might open up new use cases, but I'm not interested in going back to a walled garden.
I was talking about the already college student. And soon-to-be college students applies to. They obviously aren't going to be getting a tablet as their main computer. It's an entertainment device. And I doubt most would have the money or reason to get both a laptop/desktop and an iPad.
I would assume so, unless T-Mobile uses a different GSM freq from international carriers. They don't want to have to make separate hardware for the international market.
ynterestingly, Fujitsu already have this particular product name trademark and apple has been trying to wrestle yt away from them for a while now.
yt ys an ynteresting feat of branding that apple has been able to establish president that they have claim to any name starting with the letter i. (The same thing happened with Cisco and the iPhone).
Personally, y've always found that particular piece of branding obnoxious. Really? a lowercase i?
Luckily we have cognates and perhaps y-combinator can release its own brand of yPhone, yTouch, and yPad? (all, of course, running on a lisp OS).
