Is anyone else excited about the Apple announcement tomorrow (1/27)?

[mp29k]

Yeah, the more I read about the stupid stuff they left out, I think this is a fail.  I mean no webcam?  no multitasking?  weaksauce.

This makes the HP Mini210 look very good indeed and a real bargain.  At least I can plug in a decent keyboard to it if I wanted to.

[itlnstln]

They could have come strong, but they really hamstrung this thing by making it more iPhone/iPod Touch than computer.

[hyperlinked]

They could have come strong, but they really hamstrung this thing by making it more iPhone/iPod Touch than computer.

Why would they want to rehash the Tablet PC? That's already gone nowhere several times over. I think the point is to specifically try to reposition the Tablet PC as a different class of device.

[Mr.6502]

This is a really good way to sell people a store front that stays in their house and constantly sells them more.  It takes the best part of the iPhone (from Apple's perspective) and eliminates the unnecessary (like being a portable music player or a phone).  

Its probably good at browsing the web too as long as you don't have to type on it much.  

But really, it seems like the most stylish selling mechanism Apple has ever created.  And the potential is huge since, unlike the iPod and iTunes there isn't an RIAA equivalent in the app world that will fight them for a larger cut.  They can dictate to app makers in a way that they just can't do to the mass media creators.  

So now people can go to the iPad store and buy an iPad that they can use to go to the App and Multimedia store to buy Apps and Multimedia.  

You pay them money for the right to pay them money :-D

[hyperlinked]

This might be telling of what the iPad may really be aiming at:
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/01/25/50-tablets-detected-on-apple-campus/?CNN=yes

Analytics data of devices thought to be iPads being tested showed that the most common activity on the devices was gaming related.

Gaming on the iPhone/iPod Touch has been a surprise hit and selling point of the devices to the point that Apple has been devoting more and more resources toward cultivating gaming on their mobile devices. PC gaming is dead, but perhaps is pseudo PC gaming rising from its ashes?

To be able to play games regularly again would be one reason why I might buy something like this. I know it wasn't intended for people like me whose hands can't tolerate the repetitive and fast scrambling and clicking of PC or console gaming anymore, but because of my limitations, I see some potential in this... but it could be a passing fad like the Wii.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Apple sucks!

[zwmalone]

Apple sucks!

Then you're free to leave this conversation anytime you see fit.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

I will, I was just making my opinions heard.

[Rajagra]

Boy, the display and responsiveness look good on the Official Video.

"it just feels right to hold the internet in your hand as you surf it."

Tossers.

[itlnstln]

Why would they want to rehash the Tablet PC? That's already gone nowhere several times over. I think the point is to specifically try to reposition the Tablet PC as a different class of device.

Then what are they trying to do?  That's the problem with this device.  It's great to surf on and maybe read a book (that sounds like torture to me on an LCD), but that's it.  Since you don't have drive access, you can't stream videos, you still have an incomplete web experience w/o Flash, and you still can't multitask.  On a device that powerful and big, you should be able to multitask.  I can multitask on my Palm Pre.  This thing is lost.  It has no identity.  I can't use it as a computer, I can't use it a phone, (in certain ways) it doesn't even have all the functionality of an iPod Touch or iPhone, so what are they doing here?  No USB, no camera, no handwriting support, etc., and it's not even widescreen like its iPod Touch/iPhone brethren.

[elbowglue]

Then what are they trying to do?  That's the problem with this device.  It's great to surf on and maybe read a book (that sounds like torture to me on an LCD), but that's it.  Since you don't have drive access, you can't stream videos, you still have an incomplete web experience w/o Flash, and you still can't multitask.  On a device that powerful and big, you should be able to multitask.  I can multitask on my Palm Pre.  This thing is lost.  It has no identity.  I can't use it as a computer, I can't use it a phone, (in certain ways) it doesn't even have all the functionality of an iPod Touch or iPhone, so what are they doing here?  No USB, no camera, no handwriting support, etc., and it's not even widescreen like its iPod Touch/iPhone brethren.

All this could be yours in the next version of the Ipad.  For a price of course.  Don't worry though, if you buy the first Ipad that comes out, your battery will have so much memory that it won't hold a charge for 1 hour, and you'll need to buy the new version already.

[Mr.6502]

Then what are they trying to do?  That's the problem with this device.  It's great to surf on and maybe read a book (that sounds like torture to me on an LCD), but that's it.  Since you don't have drive access, you can't stream videos, you still have an incomplete web experience w/o Flash, and you still can't multitask.  On a device that powerful and big, you should be able to multitask.  I can multitask on my Palm Pre.  This thing is lost.  It has no identity.  I can't use it as a computer, I can't use it a phone, (in certain ways) it doesn't even have all the functionality of an iPod Touch or iPhone, so what are they doing here?  No USB, no camera, no handwriting support, etc., and it's not even widescreen like its iPod Touch/iPhone brethren.

Its purpose is to sell Apps.  It is better at selling apps to mobile users than any other mobile device.  It has all the apps they are already buying in droves, now with more screen!

[dusanx]

Looks like Big Whoop to me.

[Rajagra]

Wait ... is it the case that when they show it playing a movie (the latest Star Trek was in the demo) it isn't playing from internal storage? That would be pretty pathetic if true.

[ricercar]

display and responsiveness look good on the Official Video.

The pundits who have used an iSteve have pretty much all said you have to hold one to appreciate it. This is not new to Macintosh marketing. In 1984 they had a test drive program in which you home a mac free overnight; they had a 98% closure rate.

You know how everyone who has ever done Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? always says, “It’s not the same when you’re actually here. So different from when you’re sitting at home watching.”? You know how often you’ve heard that? Well, you’ll hear the same from anyone who’s handled an iPad. The moment you experience it in your hands you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it’s not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device.

Linky

[D-EJ915]

Veronica Belmont.  If you google search and the 2nd suggestion is "Veronica Belmont Cleavage" that means Google thinks you are a pervert.

lol as if

suggestions are drawn from searches you've done, searches done by users all over the world, sites in our search index, and ads in our advertising network. If you're not signed in to your Google Account, no history-based suggestions are displayed

[Rajagra]

The pundits who have used an iSteve have pretty much all said you have to hold one to appreciate it. This is not new to Macintosh marketing. In 1984 they had a test drive program in which you home a mac free overnight; they had a 98% closure rate.

You know how everyone who has ever done Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? always says, “It’s not the same when you’re actually here. So different from when you’re sitting at home watching.”? You know how often you’ve heard that? Well, you’ll hear the same from anyone who’s handled an iPad. The moment you experience it in your hands you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it’s not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device.

Very eloquent as always.

He also says:

Ulysses is the greatest novel of the twentieth century. It is is wise, warm, witty, affirmative and beautiful. it is less pretentious than a baked bean. Read it. read it out loud to yourself. It won't bite. It wasn't written either to shock or to impress. Only pretentious barbarians believe artists set out shock: and how these philistines delight in revealing how unshocked they are. Those who attack it are afraid of it and rather than look foolish they prefer to heckle what they don't understand. Ignore all this childish, fear-filled criticism, Ulysses will be read when everything you see and touch around you has crumbled into dust.
Stephen Fry, London, UK

Draw from that what you will, but my point is simply that many (most) people do not share his opinion.

But if you're the kind of person that thiinks James Joyce's Ulysses is unpretentious, you might like the iPad.

[majestouch]

The big secret is that the iPad actually runs Windows CE

http://www.currentdirections.com/hardware/fujitsu/ipad100.html

Let the trademark lawsuits begin...

[dusanx]

Must see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4

[kishy]

The big secret is that the iPad actually runs Windows CE

http://www.currentdirections.com/hardware/fujitsu/ipad100.html

Let the trademark lawsuits begin...

Funny, same thing happened with the iPhone (Cisco owned...maybe still owns that one)

[In Stereo!]

The pundits who have used an iSteve have pretty much all said you have to hold one to appreciate it. This is not new to Macintosh marketing. In 1984 they had a test drive program in which you home a mac free overnight; they had a 98% closure rate.



Linky

OMG how much I detest such techno-romanticism. It is a commercial product god dammit. And even surpassing that, he at the same time states that it will change the world and that ok, maybe it won't change the world--> one of those statements will surely come true, won't it.

And I may add that this product is clearly NOT ready for the market as it does not have some key features, that you'd expect from such a gadget and this presentation was done so soon just to create confusion on the market and maybe shadow some upcomping products in the same niche.

[msiegel]

ever own a record player?

[In Stereo!]

Recently I almost bought an SL1210. But the seller changed his mind and I kind of did that too.

But I definitly will have it someday!

[itlnstln]

Originally Posted by stephen fry
You know how everyone who has ever done Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? always says, “It’s not the same when you’re actually here. So different from when you’re sitting at home watching.”? You know how often you’ve heard that? Well, you’ll hear the same from anyone who’s handled an iPad. The moment you experience it in your hands you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it’s not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device.

Right...  I'm sorry, but I have never creamed over electronics like that.  It is what it is.  That's a bunch of crap.  Even people that have handled it disagree with the "whole new experience" part.  Still, even if he did see Jesus using this thing, it still a "third wheel" and doesn't replace either a laptop/netbook or phone (at least in its current offering).
 
 
 
... And it still can't multitask.

[In Stereo!]

The multitasking thingy is not something they are not able to fix IMO. It is just a half finished product.

[itlnstln]

IIRC, the hardware (including the iPhone and iPod Touch) can do multitasking, but it's not implemented in the OS.

[kishy]

They already did TV.