I think I know what Apple is going to do!

[fizzwinkus]

Re: Apple Ipad - IT'S HERE!

i see it as living in a place where you aren't at your desk. i see it propped up on a knee as they did, or on a pillow before you go to bed - all the times you want desktop access, but aren't at your desk. it's the connectivity glue for those hours away from the keyboard.

 

[js]

I see they're maintaining the iPhone's tradition of low-resolution screens.

What are you talking about!?! The pixels per inch is very high indeed! The screen resolution is 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi). The iPod Touch and iPhone are 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch. The 13" MBP is 1280-by-800! Low resolution? It has nearly the same resolution as the 13" MBP at a higher ppi.

 

[js]

I've read up on the specs of the iPad (stupid name, BTW)

It does not have a camera, it does not have a card reader for your camera, it won't do multi-tasking,

Wrong. It will do multi-tasking. Why do people always get this wrong?

it does not have a video output for your TV,

Wrong. It will do so through the dock and an adaptor.

it won't inform you of accepting a keystroke (key magnification, click or screen vibration)

Wrong. It clicks and has a visible indication, just like the iPod Touch and iPhone.

it does not have high enough resolution for 720P high def native

Wrong. It has a vertical resolution of 768 pixels.

and it won't display Adobe Flash.

This is true, it seems, and is a legitimate complaint.

MSI is coming out with a dual 10" touch screen netbook that can display both screens as stretched, individual screens or one is a keyboard image and the other high def display. When you type on the "keys" it will click and vibrate the screen to let you know it accepted the input. Flip it sideways and it adjusts the displays, it has a camera, card reader, HDMI video outputs, high def screens to display Adobe Flash. You can get a 128GB SSD for storage, it is upgradable, has an aluminum chassis and both 10" wide screen displays protect each other when you fold it up. The thing runs Win7 64 bit pro so no worries about buying everything from the Apple App Store. It is the same size when folded but gives twice the screen space when unfolded.

Since you have to wait until April to get the iPad 3G for $829, I'll wait for June to get the MSI dual touch screen netbook for around the same price but have all the capability of a laptop, the functionality of a touch screen dual-tablet and I can run Win7, Linux or Google Chrome OS if I like.

I guess the iPad is OK if you want a big iPod without a camera, it will do more than a Kindle but there is so much it won't do that I'll pass on it. Apple stock is dropping today, down around $8 (4%) so I guess I'm not the only one disappointed.

Yeah. Great. So get an MSI dual touch screen notebook! I sincerely hope you're happy with it.

 

[js]

In terms of flash, it looks like Adobe will have a workaround for that even if Apple doesn't end up supporting it.

Also, do you know why everyone is claiming that the iPad doesn't support flash? Tech specs from the Apple website? Nope. Validated reports from Apple reps? Nope. Reliable rumors? Nope.

A picture from the demo. A picture:

We're in the middle of Apple's special event, where Steve Jobs is showing off the much-anticipated iPad for the first time (yes, that name is now official). And judging by one photo captured during the presentation, it looks like the device won't support Flash. As Jobs showed off the iPad's browsing capabilities, Engadget captured a photo of the tell-tale blue missing plugin icon that shows up when you try viewing a Flash element without the plugin installed.

(from this link)

OK. I'm sorry, but this is jumping the gun bigtime. The iPad could be running iPhone OS 4.0 which is not released and which is still being perfected, and it is at least possible that it will have flash support. It is also possible that that missing item indicated by the little blue question mark was NOT because of a lack of support for flash.

Given Apple's past attitude, I agree that it's most likely that the iPad just doesn't support flash. But it is still just rumor and speculation at this point.

Thought that needed to be clearly pointed out.

 

[js]

I did some looking into the A4 chip and it appears that, yes, PA Semi engineers are indeed responsible for the design. It was fabbed by Samsung and is based on a 45nm process. It is a SOC, fully integrated chip. Other than that, little is known about it, which is not surprising given Apple's tendency to keep things like this close to the vest.

 

[js]

Re: Apple Ipad - IT'S HERE!

Errr, guys, there is already a thread on this. I posted it over a year ago so you need to go to the last page(s) to see the most recent discussion, but why don't we move discussion over there?

I merged them together, Jim. -Empath

 

[BentHeadTX]

I don't want an adapter for my TV!

I want to view everything on the web...Flash included!

I wanted to use Skype (no camera)

Basically the iPad is a toy, a gizmo...a gee whiz thing. My brother who owns an iPod, iPhone, iMac, iBook and all that jazz was in shock. He just purchased an Asus 11.6" netbook, upgraded the memory and ordered a 128GB SSD to run Hackintosh OSX. He thought the iPad was cool but if he is going to carry around something that large, it better have more capabilities than it does.

I was expecting a tablet that would have the usability of a netbook. Alas, it is a giant iPod Touch without a camera.

The good thing about the iPad is the other manufacturers will include all the things Apple left out. The prototypes should be known by the time the iPad ships which will take a lot of wind out of their sails (sales)

AAPL is down $8.99 to 198 and change today, guess I'm not the only one that is bummed.

 

[TriChrome]

JS, besides alleged licensing issues between Apple and Adobe, most people seem to agree that the reason why all of these iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad devices won't support Flash is because Apple wants to maintain their strangle hold on what software their devices can run (and on a related topic, feel free to list a single computer that an individual owns which you can't load software onto it except from a single store that the manufacturer of the computer just happens to own).

Anyway, most/many of the Apps written for the iPhone (and thus the iPad) are written in the same language (or an extremely similar programming language) as Flash. With the release of Adobe's Flash > iPhone plug-in (I forget what it's called), many Flash programmers have entered the iPhone App arena.

So, if any of these Apple devices could run a full version of Flash (which my 300mhx Pentium III processor, with 128 megs of ram, circa 1997 can still easily run), Apple would loose their communist-inspired strangle hold on which Apps YOUR computer YOU own (iPad/iPhone) can run, and in the process it seems that they cripple their own products instead.

This is what makes many people dislike Apple and how they do business. It also makes every single one of their devices like the iPhone/iPad extremely outdated since Flash is an integral part of the web viewing experience. If you're following my logic, this also makes every single claim of Apple like "the best way to experience the web, hands down" -in reference to the iPad- and the other twenty key0phrases they spout like that, complete and utter B.S.

 

[js]

BentHeadTX,

If you didn't want to output to your TV, why did you complain that the iPad couldn't do it?

As for Apple's stock, I shouldn't have to point out that the market is hardly an all-knowing entity. But, yes, you're not the only one who is disappointed. As I said above, it was inevitable that people would be disappointed. It doesn't mean anything at this point. What investors should REALLY be doing right now with Apple stock is buying, buying, buying. Whether you like it or not, I am quite certain that the iPad is going to be big. It may not "change the game" or define a whole new category. But it WILL be a strong seller and there WILL be a lot of media sold to support it. Apple's stock is down due to FUD and reactionism, not intelligent analysis.

You think the iPad is a "toy, a gizmo...a gee whiz thing"? Why? 'Cause it can't do Skype? Because it can't do FLASH? Really?

My brother earns his living through the internet and his computer, and he is thrilled with what we know about the iPad right now. He can buy the 3G model and have access to email and the web while traveling. Despite what some have said, iWork and the email client will handle Microsoft Office documents just fine, so he can do his work on the thing, and it will also connect to projectors via bluetooth or through the dock for presentations. He's a professional and he is thinking about selling his Macbook and buying an iMac desktop for home and an iPad for when he is traveling.

As for the size, no matter what size a product is there will be people who will find it too small and people who will find it too large. I think it looks like it is a good size, but I will hold off on my verdict until I've actually held one first.

 

[fizzwinkus]

i could try typing a bunch of reasons and likely mangle any worthy ideas, so i'll just link to stephen fry: http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/01/28/ipad-about/

 

[js]

JS, besides alleged licensing issues between Apple and Adobe, most people seem to agree that the reason why all of these iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad devices won't support Flash is because Apple wants to maintain their strangle hold on what software their devices can run (and on a related topic, feel free to list a single computer that an individual owns which you can't load software onto it except from a single store that the manufacturer of the computer just happens to own).

Anyway, most/many of the Apps written for the iPhone (and thus the iPad) are written in the same language (or an extremely similar programming language) as Flash. With the release of Adobe's Flash > iPhone plug-in (I forget what it's called), many Flash programmers have entered the iPhone App arena.

So, if any of these Apple devices could run a full version of Flash (which my 300mhx Pentium III processor, with 128 megs of ram, circa 1997 can still easily run), Apple would loose their communist-inspired strangle hold on which Apps YOUR computer YOU own (iPad/iPhone) can run, and in the process it seems that they cripple their own products instead.

This is what makes many people dislike Apple and how they do business. It also makes every single one of their devices like the iPhone/iPad extremely outdated since Flash is an integral part of the web viewing experience. If you're following my logic, this also makes every single claim of Apple like "the best way to experience the web, hands down" -in reference to the iPad- and the other twenty key0phrases they spout like that, complete and utter B.S.

These are good points, but I think you went too far in the last sentence. As for Apple's philosophy, I think there are some counter points to be made to your position, mostly in reference to DRM, but yes, there's definitely something to what you're saying.

However, it can also be seen from the point of view of the upsides involved. If Apple controls hardware and software you have greater stability. Also, I can buy digital music or video from anywhere and put it into my iTunes library and synch it to my iPod. The only monopoly is on the app store, which is the software stuff. Which gets back to controlling (or overseeing) software and hardware and stability.

Doesn't negate your point, but is a legitimate counterpoint, I think.

 

[js]

i could try typing a bunch of reasons and likely mangle any worthy ideas, so i'll just link to stephen fry: http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/01/28/ipad-about/

Nice. I love this bit:

I know there will be many who have already taken one look and pronounced it to be nothing but a large iPhone and something of a disappointment. I have heard these voices before. In June 2007 when the iPhone was launched I collected a long list of "not impressed", "meh", "big deal", "style over substance", "it's all hype", "my HTC TyTN can do more", "what a disappointment", "majorly underwhelmed" and similar reactions. They can hug to themselves the excuse that the first release of iPhone was 2G, closed to developers and without GPS, cut and paste and many other features that have since been incorporated. Neither they, nor I, nor anyone, predicted the "game-changing" effect the phone would so rapidly have as it evolved into a 3G, third-party app rich, compass and GPS enabled market leader. Even if it had proved a commercial and business disaster instead of an astounding success, iPhone would remain the most significant release of its generation because of its effect on the smartphone habitat. Does anybody seriously believe that Android, Nokia, Samsung, Palm, BlackBerry and a dozen others would since have produced the product line they have without the 100,000 volt taser shot up the jacksie that the iPhone delivered to the entire market?

Spot on.

 

[js]

Ah! I see StephenFry has the same point to make in regards to Apple's controlling nature as I did:

2. It is made by Apple. I'm not being cute here. If it was made by Hewlett Packard, they wouldn't have global control over the OS or the online retail outlets. If it was made by Google, they would have tendered out the hardware manufacture to HTC. Apple — and it is one of the reasons some people distrust or dislike them — control it all. They've designed the silicon, the A4 chip that runs it all, they've designed the batteries, they've overseen every detail of the commercial, technological, design and software elements. No other company on earth does that. And being Apple it hasn't been released without (you can be sure) Steve Jobs being wholly convinced that it was ready. "Not good enough, start again. Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough." How many other CEOs say until their employees want to murder them? That's the difference.

Nicely said.

 

[BentHeadTX]

I want output to my TV but don't want to carry around optional adapters and such.

Apple stock was booming lately because of the iPad, it was supposed to change the world, or so it was thought. The hype machine for it was huge, the expectations were very high and it did not deliver.

The iPhone has a camera and so does the iPod touch. Why no camera with the iPad? There is no card reader so you can easily check out the pictures from your camera. This is not something I would call the way to view pictures. Sure, I can upload them to my email then download them but why?

Not using Flash is obvious, Apple wants to be the gate keeper and control everything that is on their devices. Is this the way to have the best experience on the internet? Not for me it isn't!

The expectations were for it to include those mind numbingly simple additions to the iPad. Their glaring omission from it change it from the ultimate netbook to the ultimate iCan't.

It will do very well against the Kindle as an ebook reader, works great as a web device as long as you work within it's limits (not yours) and it has great battery life and is very thin.

Will it succeed like the iPod and iPhone? No...it could of but it won't.

Apple, Microsoft and Intel all HATE netbooks. My brother uses a netbook running Snow Leopard (he has been running Mac networks since 1984 along with Linux, Windows and Sun stuff) He wanted the iPad to run OSX, run everything on the web, have a camera for web conferencing and do everything that his "Hackintosh" Asus 11.6 inch netbook does.

I told him that the MSI dual 10" touch screen netbooks will be out by June. Throw in a 128GB SSD with Hackintosh OSX 10.6 on it, maybe Linux or Google Chrome OS and press on. The dual-touch screens fold up to protect themselves and with the ION2 chipset coming out, he can do 1080P, play basic video games, Skype, take pictures and anything else he wants to do. If you want it to be an e-reader, it opens like a book and you have two screens for the two pages like a book (bonus!) Basically two iPads with a hinge in the middle with all the capability of a notebook and none of the downsides.

Although the iPad is a fail for me, I'm sure they will sell well. On the upside the A4 processor kicks butt so maybe when Apple copies MSI....errr, comes out with a dual screen tablet running OSX 10.6 (it folds!) They can stuff two A4 processors in there and I would buy one...if it does flash native...if it has a camera...if I don't need optional adapters to output to a TV or monitor...if it has a card reader for loading pictures from my camera...

Then again, I can get what I want with an MSI dual touch screen netbook with ION2 graphics, the Snow Leopard 10.6 disc I have sitting on my desk and hack it in there. Already have the operating system, now to wait till June for the hardware.

To sum it up, the iPad was supposed to obsolete netbooks...to "do more than a netbook" as Steve Jobs said in the introduction. Maybe Steve should of purchased a touch screen netbook to see if the iPad would beat it. I know Asus has dual core Atom netbooks with nVidia ION video chipsets out now, with touch screen stuff, more powerful processors and ION2 graphics rolling out in two months. So now the battle lines are drawn, iPad VS touch screen netbooks VS touch screen tablets. Competition is good!

Then there is that video on youtube that came out a few years back, wonder if Apple has to pay for the name iPad considering it has been used before in a comedy sketch?

BentHeadTX,

If you didn't want to output to your TV, why did you complain that the iPad couldn't do it?

As for Apple's stock, I shouldn't have to point out that the market is hardly an all-knowing entity. But, yes, you're not the only one who is disappointed. As I said above, it was inevitable that people would be disappointed. It doesn't mean anything at this point. What investors should REALLY be doing right now with Apple stock is buying, buying, buying. Whether you like it or not, I am quite certain that the iPad is going to be big. It may not "change the game" or define a whole new category. But it WILL be a strong seller and there WILL be a lot of media sold to support it. Apple's stock is down due to FUD and reactionism, not intelligent analysis.

You think the iPad is a "toy, a gizmo...a gee whiz thing"? Why? 'Cause it can't do Skype? Because it can't do FLASH? Really?

My brother earns his living through the internet and his computer, and he is thrilled with what we know about the iPad right now. He can buy the 3G model and have access to email and the web while traveling. Despite what some have said, iWork and the email client will handle Microsoft Office documents just fine, so he can do his work on the thing, and it will also connect to projectors via bluetooth or through the dock for presentations. He's a professional and he is thinking about selling his Macbook and buying an iMac desktop for home and an iPad for when he is traveling.

As for the size, no matter what size a product is there will be people who will find it too small and people who will find it too large. I think it looks like it is a good size, but I will hold off on my verdict until I've actually held one first.

 

[Benson]

What are you talking about!?! The pixels per inch is very high indeed! The screen resolution is 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi). The iPod Touch and iPhone are 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch. The 13" MBP is 1280-by-800! Low resolution? It has nearly the same resolution as the 13" MBP at a higher ppi.

:sigh:

I'm talking about practically every smartphone in the Japanese market having 848x480 in 3.5" (or so) at 280 ppi.
I'm talking about the whole crop of Nokia and Archos tablets, a couple other high-end smartphones, and the Pandora (a crazy Linux game machine) all running 800x480 in 4-4.2" at 225 ppi, and the new N900 (finally!) catching up to the Japanese at 800x480/3.5=265.
I'm talking about standard 8.9" netbooks having 1024x600 -- 133 dpi.
I'm talking about serious netbooks, like various HP kit, having 1280x720 or larger at 150-170ppi.
I'm talking about real ultraportables like the U820 -- 1280x800 in 5.6" -- 270ppi

IMO, touchscreen devices that will always be held in one hand (phones, PDAs, 3-5" tablets) should be at significantly higher resolutions -- 300ppi is not excessive, and 200ppi is barely adequate. Laptop screens that mostly live at arms reach to allow typing comfortably on the keyboard can get by with 100-133, although more would definitely be welcome. Large tablets with no keyboard will be used at an intermediate distance, and so they should logically have intermediate resolutions -- 170-200 would be about right.

I get that (despite talk of Jobs's reality distortion field) Apple has got where it is by two things: great marketing and providing a really shiny user experience in all areas, hardware and software, which a lot of people want. While I generally prefer raw functionality over polish, and realize this makes me not part of their target market, I'd have thought the one thing we could agree on was high-resolution screens -- they have great impact in person, with the added crispness of lines, and smoothness of anti-aliased text, and they also should be easy to market (something like the Flip vs. Nano w/camera slides last year). So ever since the iPhone came out, with no better than high-end laptop resolution, and worse than top-shelf phones and PDAs, this has been one of my pet peeves. True, I wouldn't have gotten an iPhone if it did have 848x480, but I'd have been eternally grateful for the kick it would have given the rest of the market, and it is quite possible I might have gone for an iPad at some point if they'd broke 150ppi. But with this screen -- not interested.

it does not have high enough resolution for 720P high def native

Wrong. It has a vertical resolution of 768 pixels.

That it does. It also has a horizontal resolution of 1024 pixels -- not adequate for 720p, which is 1280x720.

 

[BentHeadTX]

If the iPad is not for you...

MSI is releasing a 10" touch screen tablet with a dual core 1GHz nVidia Tegra2 processor running Google Android. Yes, it does Adobe Flash and high def stuff native. They did not say if it had a camera but I know their dual 10" touch screen netbook (folding tablet?) sports HDMI outputs, has a camera, solid state hard drive etc so the single tablet version most likely will follow suit. It will arrive this summer at a price of $499 and there will be more than one in the series. Maybe a 7" tablet, 10" tablet and 13" tablet?

Will I buy one? No, I don't like the idea of the thing falling on it's face and tearing up the screen. When I drop my toast, it always lands jelly side down so I take that as a warning to stay away from tablets. I'm sticking with the dual 10" touch screen "netbook" version since I can fold it up, thow it in a backpack, briefcase etc without being worried about scratching up the screen.

Besides, if I blew my money on every gizmo coming down the pipe, how could I buy flashlights?! I'm more excited about the SST-90 than tablet computers so...

 

[Saaby]

there is a reason apple started using intel processors instead of their own.

"1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip"

It's already been covered a little bit -- but this is distinctly a mobile device, the iPhone doesn't run an Intel chip either. Apple isn't going to go away from using Intel chips in their computers.

Apple stock is dropping today, down around $8 (4%) so I guess I'm not the only one disappointed.

I have 6 stocks on the Stocks widget on my dashboard. Apple, another tech stock, a market index -- all 6 are red today. Stock prices do not always correlate with news stories, contrary to popular belief.


I don't think the iPad is perfect! The event felt a little underwhelming, and it seems like they could have done more. I'm not talking about unrealistic amounts of more, like MacBook Pro power in a iPad sized device, the technology just isn't there yet, I'm talking about...they didn't even mention MobileMe. Am I going to share this among the whole family? I have 8 calendars in iCal just for me...how am I going to share this 1 device with the whole family, and share something like iCal? It felt like they did the bare minimum that they needed to do to announce this.

That said, I think there's a TON of potential in the thing, and I truly think it will be a success. Here are my blog entries:

Why I think the iPad will be a success
5 more quick ideas on the iPad

Let me pull a few excerpts for you.

As an Engineer, I have come to accept that the design of any product is a byproduct of the tradeoffs you're willing to take to make something. This is a blog post on the tradeoffs Apple made in making the iPad.

...

Instead of stretching something to it's limits, Apple put the iPhone OS on a processor that' more than capable of handling it. A snappy and responsive UI is the result.


...

The iPhone went for over a year without copy paste. It eventually got it. iPhone OS will eventually get multitasking. This I am sure of. Apple can only do so many things at once, and to them it was more important to get the iPad out to market than to add multitasking to iPhone OS. Give it time. It will come.

...

Imagine having Final Cut Pro running on your Mac, and FCP Remote on your iPad. On your Mac's screen? A split view of the viewer (Where you preview video clips) and the canvas (Where you preview the actual project you're working on). On your iPad? You'd have all your other FCP stuff, like the timeline and clip bin.

...

Did I mention that the $99 iPhone 3G sells like hotcakes, even though you can do a lot more with the $199 iPhone 3GS? Did I mention the iPad 16 GB is only $20 more than a Kindle DX.


...

The iPad could be -- and I actually hope it is -- a trojan horse to bring a $15/250 MB plan to iPhone. If they offered it, I would take it up in a heart beat. I could then easily justify another $15 monthly plan for my iPad. I upgraded to an iPhone 3GS in the middle of September. That was 4.5 months ago. I have used 1.2 GB of data, or just a hair over 250 MB per month. I am frequently in WiFi range, but because of the hassle BYU's WiFi login, I never ever turn my WiFi on. That usage number also includes some heavy tethering action during CES.

What I am saying is that I could easily get away with 500 MB of data shared between 2 mobile devices for my $30 a month.

...

I wouldn't be surprised to see the iPad sold through the iPod sales channel. This means you could pick up an iPad at places you wouldn't be buying a MacBook at -- like WalMart and Radio Shack.

 

[BentHeadTX]

Apple just added VoIP to their app store

At least you can make internet calls on the pad now. With mounting pressure on Apple, they do have two months to add the missing camera to the iPad. Even my Apple fanboy buddies wonder why they don't have a camera on an internet device so they will wait for revision 2.

Like the A4 though, it should make a very powerful iPhone update this year. With Apple buying 10 million touch screens, it will drive the price down on those things so I can get the netbook with touch screen at a cheaper price (bonus!)

I am very thankful that I don't use AT&T, with all those iPads about to clog the network further, it will kill everyone else. I live in an area that does not get 3G so it is not an option for me anyway.

How does that stock saying go? "Buy on rumor, sell on..." There is love and there is money. I want the Saints to win the super bowl but would I place a bet on them? Uhhhhh, the money part cuts the emotion out so I find stock prices to be a more reliable indicator than internet babble.

For all the flashaholics that want a flashlight that gives perfect flood, get an iPad and run the flashlight app. That app works great on an iPhone so when the iPad gets released, can somebody do beam shots and run time charts?

 

[LuxLuthor]

They should add a REALLY effective voice recognition software program that types as you talk and launches command driven programs. Even if they started with their MacSpeech which I think uses the Dragon Naturally Speaking software...would make it a more useable package deal.

 

[ElectronGuru]

it does not have a card reader for your camera

There is no card reader so you can easily check out the pictures from your camera.

Check out 0:48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1prGIw9H-X0


If we're going to laundry list knock what it can't do, perhaps we could wait until we know all that it can do.

I was hoping for an OSX device, but such software is resource intensive (and more $$). Perhaps with enough software development, this will do. The big question: can we get a CPF/Ready® sticker??