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So I watched the unveiling of the Apple iPad event. I was not surprised about the product, but I was very surprised at Steve Job's performance. Normally he's a really dynamic presenter who quickly grabs the audience and takes them on a thrill ride with him, but I guess his health issues have left him hollow, because he was flat out boring. He would offer some fact, then tell us that it's “amazing” or “incredible” or “unbelievable”, instead of letting the fact speak for itself, egged on by the thrilling way he would tell it. I was as embarrassed for his presentation skills as he would be of my bank account.
But how far he's fallen on the sound-bite stage was most apparent when he revealed the price. He mentioned that the pre-announcement speculation put the price at about $999, and he showed a slide with that price writ large, and all I could think was that he should say:
That would have had impact, and try as I might to will him to say it, alas, it didn't work, and he just came out and gave the price with as much excitement as a DMV worker telling you to wait in line. At least in his defense, his price was 50 cents lower than the two-for-$999 price I had tried to will him to offer.
I was pretty disappointed with the whole announcement – maybe I’m just getting old and cynical, but it’s hard for me to see a iPod touch on steroids as “magical.” I’m sure some feel differently, but I have zero need for yet another device, positioned somewhere between a laptop and a smartphone. Maybe The Steve himself is a little skeptical about the iPad’s prospects and it showed through in his presentation, don’t know.
I really like the “and that is the price…for two!” idea, though, I’m surprised no one at Apple thought of that…
This one (the iPad) will be interesting to watch. Although, unfortunately due to my job and industry I have to be a PC its always fun to watch what Apple does and to watch everybody steal their good ideas.
Many people are saying the iPad won’t replace anything they already have (cellphone, laptop, netbook, iPod) and that seems true… But then again I’ve seen the Amazon Kindle and the Sony e-Reader and they DO leave a lot to be desired. I wondered if I was the only one saying, “I’m not paying $200+ just to read books in monochrome beige and
blackdark gray. I’m not sure if the iPad is right but it is a step in the right direction. I wonder how many people who own laptops and or netbooks also own an Amazon-Kindle or B&N-Nook.This is a tough one. Not just for Apple but the entire e-book concept. The e-Book reader even more than the iPad is a solution w/o a problem.
I agree on the presentation being disappointing, not just for the content, but also for style.
The name isn’t very appealing to start with.. I keep seeing old MadTV clips floating around in fb about iPad.
As with most such devices it may well be months or maybe years until we see such devices and their download capabilities here in Canada. There are far too many issues to do with downloading and copyright here in Canada to even think the device will be viable.
Kindle is not in Canada, again copyright and download issues as well as taxation issues.
As a dedicated Mac computer person find the accessory market such as “i” this or that to be frivolous toys. The iPhone and the iPod are two that come to mind. My mobile is for my work so I use a basic mobile telephone. Having all the other information at hand means my Macbook Pro could be considered redundant. For me a pencil and a black book to actually write things on paper is for me far more practical.
I suspect the iPad may well be updated quite soon, or because of other possible marketing issues,
disappear over time. And yes Steve Jobs seems to have lost some of his zip; mind he did go through a major life battle.
Bryce Lee,
Burlington, Ontario,
Canada, eh?
PS the note about shutter speeds and falling snow was very informative!
‘
The iPad seems to have been designed from it’s very inception to be a device that funnels as much money from your pocket and into Apple’s bank accounts. It may be a nice device, but it will end up costing lots and lots of money to use the way that they advertise.
Price $500.. look again… as the old saying goes, it’s not the razors.. it’s the blades…
Want to make free phone calls with Skype? Can’t do it… need a regular iPhone and separate AT&T account for that. (You know that the Skype app is unavailable for the iPad??)
Want to use the Amazon store and book reader software (the competition)? Can’t do it… need to buy iBooks from Apple. (Did something change since during the announcement it was said that it uses an open standard e-book format?)
Want to watch Netflix? Can’t do it… need to buy movies via iTunes. (Does anyone pay Netflix or iTunes to watch content???)
Want to use an App that you already bought for the iPhone? Buy it again. (Did the policy change since they said during the announcement that you could sync the apps you’d already purchased?)
And so on and so on. It’s basically “Buy from OUR store or nothing”. (And given the iTunes/iTouch/iPod/iPhone history, in what why is this surprising?)
And the hardware limitations.
Want a real keyboard? We can sell you a proprietary one. (So, you know that a bluetooth keyboard won’t work?)
Want a USB port? We can sell you an adapter for that.
Want a card reader to view the photos that you just took? We can sell you an adapter for that.
Want to use a different 3G network? No way! You will use ATT because we get a cut of the business. (What happened to “all unlocked”? It was my impression that the AT&T thing was one deal you could avail yourself of, not the only possability out there)
Want to connect to a bigger external monitor? Sorry… maybe there will be an adapter for that, but it will be DisplayPort only, which means no cheap monitors, basically only Apple monitors.(You’re woefully informed here… I’ve got a cheap $100 monitor hooked up to my wife’s DisplayPort. The adapter cost almost a third of what the monitor cost, so focus your argument on the adapter.)
Want to listen to Pandora while you ‘work’ with the iPad? Sorry… no mutitasking… unless you buy music from iTunes… then it will play… (Are you suggesting that music added to iTunes from your own CD collection won’t play in the background?)
You hear that sucking sound coming from your wallet? It’s the iPad.
Most of your points are factually incorrect or just plain irrelevant, but it’s well known that Apple is one big wallet vacuum. It’s been that way for a long time. Personally, I’ll be happy to throw money at them (or anyone else) to make things that work well, do what I want how I want, or at least don’t suck. Doesn’t look like this incarnation of iPad will fit the bill. But then, I can’t imagine any “tablet computer” would fit the bill for me. Anyway, my post was not about the product, but about the unveiling. There are plenty of much better places to bash or to bash the bashers. —Jeffrey