Why Is Every Non-geek In My Family in a Froth About the iPad?

[Lemur]

I'm kinda bleh about the iPad announced today. It might be cool, I'm sure it's well-designed, but I can't get all worked up about it. My extended family, on the other hand ... hmm. I've had not one but two relatives call me in the middle of my workday and demand to know what I thought of the thing. They're watching the unveiling on CSPAN. No, really, they are.

What do Orgahs think? Is this really a big deal, or is it just crazed hype? From what I've heard the iPad is just a supersized iPhone. Which is cool, and nice, but not really earth-shaking, y'know?

It's still being announced, so here's a kinda-live link if you want to read up. And here's the Apple product page.

[TinCow]

It's a product without a market.

16gb drive? An iPod Nano has a 16gb drive. With an OS installed, that means the iPad won't even be able to hold the full playlist of an iPod Nano, but it costs $500. The 64gb drive is acceptable if still poor, but that's $730/$830. That's into heavy laptop pricing areas right there. It's thin and light, which is nice, but the 10" screen means it still requires a bag to carry it around in... so if you're carrying the bag, why aren't you carrying a laptop? If you want to do serious word processing, you'll get the keyboard attachment, and suddenly it's no longer as light and portable anymore. No flash capabilities. No USB ports. Can't play DVDs because there's no DVD drive.

If you can have this for $100 less than the most basic iPad and this for less than the top of the line iPad, why would you buy an iPad?

[Lemur]

TinCow, I am reminded of a couple of years ago when I posted the brand-new Asus EeePC, asking what Orgahs thought, and was roundly told by Whacker that netbooks made no sense, had no market, and would never succeed.

So based on your post, I'm guessing the iPad will be a colossal hit.

[TinCow]

TinCow, I am reminded of a couple of years ago when I posted the brand-new Asus EeePC, asking what Orgahs thought, and was roundly told by Whacker that netbooks made no sense, had no market, and would never succeed.

So based on your post, I'm guessing the iPad will be a colossal hit.

Netbooks succeed because of price and functionality. The bottom level iPad is too underpowered for a netbook and the top level is too overpriced for a netbook. Everyone thinks that everything Apple touches turns to gold, but that's not remotely true. Apple have had several big flops in recent years, most notably AppleTV and the Macbook Air. Both times it was because Apple butted into an existing market with a product that was over-priced for its functionality. The iPod and the iPhone were huge hits despite their price tags because they essentially created new markets. That's not going to happen with the iPad, because the market already exists via netbooks and laptops, both of which will be direct competition for the iPad. Apple are even competing with themselves, since a basic Macbook only goes for $999.

Every non-geek I know is getting a little bonkers about this. Consider that before posting yet another Apple IZ teh suxxx0rs thought, please.

I share an office with 3 non-geeks. None of them care at all about the iPad.

[Lemur]

The iPod and the iPhone were huge hits despite their price tags because they essentially created new markets.

You're referring, of course, to how the iPod was the first MP3 player, and how the iPhone was the first smartphone? Except, of course, they weren't. I'd say your analysis is heavy on grump and light on fact.

[TinCow]

You're referring, of course, to how the iPod was the first MP3 player, and how the iPhone was the first smartphone? Except, of course, they weren't. I'd say your analysis is heavy on grump and light on fact.

Of course they weren't the first, but they were so far ahead of the competition in ergonomics and functionality that they single-handedly changed the market for those products. MP3 players had almost no market share in portable music players before the iPod, and afterward the industry exploded. People quickly started buying MP3 players in general, even other brands, because of the impact the iPod had. For the iPhone, there was almost no consumer market for smartphones before it was released. It was used a lot for business work, but the consumer market was practically non-existent. Now, consumer smartphones are huge money.

Netbooks and laptops are already gigantic product sectors. There's no market niche missing from that picture for Apple to exploit. So, instead they're going to be going up against the established products that everyone knows and everyone already uses. Which is exactly where Apple failed with Apple TV and the Macbook Air.

[al Roumi]

If you can have this for $100 less than the most basic iPad and this for less than the top of the line iPad, why would you buy an iPad?

'Cos you've got more money than sense?

Isn't it just an Apple e-book with extra functionality?

Edit:

LOL Apple IZ teh suxxx0rs

[Lemur]

Okay, maybe I was unclear in my OP, but here's the thing: Non-geeks are in a tizzy over this thing. Yes, as computer geeks we an weigh the netbook alternatives on NewEgg, and we can expound at length on the foolishness of using a custom-designed CPU, but that's not really the point, friends.

Every non-geek I know is getting a little bonkers about this. Consider that before posting yet another Apple IZ teh suxxx0rs thought, please.

-edit-

Engaget gets the first hands-on. If this gets adopted by a few hospitals, a few universities, this could be a very large phenomenon.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Perhaps it's the fact that they aren't geeks that they're in a tizzy.

We know that it's very meh, that you can't get better, more capable things for cheaper, that the functionality is very limited, that the HD is abysmally small, that Jobs is a liar for saying it's better than a laptop at anything but mobility and size. Heck, laptops can have VOIP and webcams and USB camera connections.

But the non geeks? Those ones who are in awe at this, I suspect, don't know all that. They see a very slick device, something that doesn't look like any other computer, something with touch screen that's much larger than the iPhone. Because of all the hype, they're interested in a way they aren't usually interested in new electronics. They perhaps saw the demos and the "magical and revolutionary device" quote and even if they don't fully buy it they do think it is new and does all these amazing things.

In short; Apple has very good marketing.

CR

[Xiahou]

It's a product without a market.

I agree. It's too big to be truly portable, and too limited to be a PC replacement. If I were in the market for such a device, why wouldn't I buy an Iphone/Ipod instead?

They're much cheaper, more portable and do a lot of the same things.

As for use as an e-reader, something like Kindle with its electronic ink type display is much easier on the eyes for extended reading.

[ICantSpellDawg]

I'm kinda bleh about the iPad announced today.

It isn't what I would have hoped it would be. It's a larger screened Ipod Touch.

The idea that you can add a small keyboard and make it an effective mini pc is getting there, but I think they've intentionally missed the boat. Back to the drawing board, there is nothing new here. This made the Ipod touch and new kindle much better options in my opinion, seeing as true innovation is a long way away. I don't get the idea of this as a backlit e-reader. Those have been out for ages. The kindle is a hit because it doesn't burn the eyes.

[Furunculus]

I'm kinda bleh about the iPad announced today. It might be cool, I'm sure it's well-designed, but I can't get all worked up about it. My extended family, on the other hand ... hmm. I've had not one but two relatives call me in the middle of my workday and demand to know what I thought of the thing. They're watching the unveiling on CSPAN. No, really, they are.

What do Orgahs think? Is this really a big deal, or is it just crazed hype? From what I've heard the iPad is just a supersized iPhone. Which is cool, and nice, but not really earth-shaking, y'know?

its very cool, but for me it is unnecessary, i have a Nokia n900 maemo tablet/phone. it does everything for me that i want it to.

Customisable background - I can customise my phone's background
Web browsing - My phone has the internet too
Rotatable display - My phone's display rotates as well
Email - My phone has the net so obviously I can send email
Viewing photos - My phone can even take them, and geotag them, and upload them.
Calendar - My phone has a calendar
Contacts - Well dur
Google maps - It has Ovi Maps
Music - Very few phones now can't play mp3's
Youtube videos - Full flash 9.4 support
TV - Guess what, the n900 comes with a TV-out cable too

No multi-tasking = No Way - after using my n900 i would never go back to a non-multitasking device, way too 20th century!

----------------------------------------------------

ipad gets islated by the engadget team:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/e...t-on-the-ipad/

[Fragony]

But is there anyone you can call

[Furunculus]

But is there anyone you can call

que?

[Subotan]

HYPE-BUSTERS

[Beskar]

HYPE-BUSTERS

[Skullheadhq]

Why does everything starting with an i get hyped immediatly at announcent, it isn't of exceptional quality, it only looks good, but that doesn't do it for geeks.

Anyway, women and non-geeks will still buy it because it's fashionable


LOL, when I clicked technical specs, it just said how thin it is, why care?
Also, the processor is only 1 ghz and is thus useless for everything else then reading, and with 12gigs you won't be able to install much, and with 1ghz processor and a filled hard drive, the boot time will be long, very long.

Anyway, for performance it's a no go

[Crandaeolon]

According to most preliminary reports it's blazing fast at what it does...

Lastly, there’s the fact that the iPad is using a new CPU designed and made by Apple itself: the Apple A4. This is a huge deal. I got about 20 blessed minutes of time using the iPad demo units Apple had at the event today, and if I had to sum up the device with one word, that word would be “fast”.

Web pages render so fast it was hard to believe. After using the iPhone so much for two and a half years, I’ve become accustomed to web pages rendering (relative to the Mac) slowly. On the iPad, they seem to render nearly instantly. (802.11n Wi-Fi helps too.)

The Maps app is crazy fast. Apps launch fast. Scrolling is fast. The Photos app is fast.

...

But: everyone I spoke to in the press room was raving first and foremost about the speed. None of us could shut up about it. It feels impossibly fast. (And our next thought: What happens if Apple has figured out a way to make a CPU like A4 that fits in an iPhone? If they pull that off for this year’s new iPhone, look out.)

Apple doesn’t talk much about the technical details of the iPhone. They never talk about CPU speed or the name of the chip being used. They don’t tell you how much RAM is in there. Part of their vision for moving computers from technical culture to popular culture is about getting away from defining these things by their technical specs. So the prominent talk about A4 is telling. This is something they want us to notice.

Original source (one of many): http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/ipad_big_picture

[Skullheadhq]

If compared to a cellphone (what your sauce did) it is quite fast, but AFAIK you can't call with a phone, it's more of a computer, and compared to a computer the iPad is dead slow.And for the same money, you could also buy a (cheap) notebook which is much better.

[CBR]

Here is a video of it in action: http://www.slashgear.com/apple-redef...-ipad-2871864/

Seems pretty fast to me. I guess that is the consequences of having an OS and apps that fits the machine (and the newly developed A4 cpu) instead of a bloated OS that is not needed for such a machine anyway. It will be interesting to see if Windows Mobile 7 can compete with it. Android is another option although I don't know much about that one. The latest Intel Atom should be able to compete with the A4 or can it?

So has Apple created a winner? It does look like it for now.


CBR

[Husar]

LOL, when I clicked technical specs, it just said how thin it is, why care?
Also, the processor is only 1 ghz and is thus useless for everything else then reading, and with 12gigs you won't be able to install much, and with 1ghz processor and a filled hard drive, the boot time will be long, very long.

Bad comparison, it doesn't have a hard drive, it has flash memory, the GHz alone doesn't say much, it's not running vista but a version of the iPhone OS, my iPhone(3G, not GS) can run that with only 412 MHz AND my iPhone can run run games as well. So why would the same software not run on a device that has more than twice the CPU power? You're completely forgetting that all the software that you can get on the AppStore is pretty much optimised to run on the device (or an iPhone/iPod Touch, both of which are slower, the 3GS has 600MHz). Now of course the graphics cards are another issue but I'd expect it to have at least the same as the iPhone 3GS(which is faster than that of the 3G), haven't seen that mentioned anywhere though.

[Crazed Rabbit]

The Onion, as always, delivers:

Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet

CUPERTINO, CA—Claiming that he completely forgot about the much-hyped electronic device until the last minute, a frantic Steve Jobs reportedly stayed up all night Tuesday in a desperate effort to design Apple's new tablet computer. "Come on, Steve, just think—think, dammit—you're running out of time," the exhausted CEO said as he glued nine separate iPhones to the back of a plastic cafeteria tray. "Okay, yeah, this will work. This will definitely work. Just need to write 'tablet' on this little strip of masking tape here and I'm golden. Oh, come on, you piece of shit! Just stick already!" Middle-of-the-night sources reported that Jobs then began work on double-spacing his Keynote presentation and increasing the font size to make it appear longer.

CR

[Crandaeolon]

compared to a computer the iPad is dead slow.

Proprietary silicon, proprietary OS, custom software, no multitasking. Any monkey could optimize applications to run fast on that environment. And, Apple's target demographic is non-geeks; people who care about out-of-the-box functionality and, incidentally, "looks" and "sleekness."

[CrossLOPER]

A massive, fragile, low-battery life ipod touch with a easily misused name...

Oh, and the $30/month charge for the 3G coverage.