wow.

I thought it looked cool, at least in the email I got sent from apple. I almost posted about it here.

I was going to use some title like "the future is here." The world is looking more and more like Star Trek all the time. Steve Jobs is going to have to pay Gene Roddenberry some royalties.

So why is it disappointing?

Challies has some examples of problems with it. I dunno - even if it had everything and worked perfectly, I'm too backward - I'm all "where's the keyboard"?

To me it looks like a big, expensive iPhone, except it's not a phone.

My guess is they are really, really cool. But I wonder how easy it would be to, say, comment on Thinklings with this thing. You either have to hold it with one hand and type one-handed with the other, or buy the keyboard and then prop it up so you can see the screen while you type, etc.

It will probably give the kindle a run for its $$$ though. Just not for me.

And, of course, I may be wrong. In case you haven't noticed I've been getting grouchier and more curmudgeonly with each passing year. It won't be long until I'll be standing on my porch shaking my fist and shouting imprecations at passers-by.

Cards on the table here: wasn't planning on buying it. I'm really trying to develop the ability to not want everything Apple releases, so I was already determined not to get this, at least in the first generation.

I just never expected Jobs to make it so easy on me. As I read about this thing, I just don't understand who it's for. What need does it fill? What does it do that something else we already own doesn't? It's just a bigger iPhone, without the phone as Bill said.

If someone gets tired of the small screen of their iPhone, they're just going to pull out their laptop. I don't know what the iPad really has to offer for the area in between.

The iPad is only a disappointment if you had built up unbelievable expectations for what it would be. If you're like me, and you didn't know about it until yesterday, it wasn't disappointing at all. :-)

I agree with Challies and when you have one maxed out you have the price of a PC laptop with which one could do more stuff. But not with a cool touch screen. ohhh,ahhhh


Bill you are too kind with the ht but thank you!

Who is it for? I see it working amazingly well for college students, for example.

The thing is 1.5 pounds and half inch thick. It's much easier to tote around campus than a laptop and books. The onus of the backpack is almost completely erased. If you have a presentation in class, load your keynote file onto the iPad and go wow the world (or, at least, your professor).

I think when this thing will reach its tipping point is when they release the next hardware version, about a year from now (this is speculation). If this thing has a camera on it, and you can skype/talk to anyone in the world simply by looking into what amounts to a thin, electronic picture frame, generations outside of the college set will want (and use) one.

Apple has a history of saturating the educational market and expanding outside of that into the world. If they are a mobile device company, as Jobs mentioned, and there are mobile devices out that they have nothing on the market for, they're close to not fulfilling their mission.

Keep in mind that the Kindle has sold millions. Barnes & Noble ran out of their version of their E-Reader (it's name isn't so memorable) and they are on backorder through the end of this month, if I remember. Who is buying these?

Well, I don't know who is buying all of those E-readers, but the iPad is far better (albeit more expensive) than what we've had the opportunity to purchase, so far. So, if you want a grayscale, 10-inch kindle which is $459, it's worth it, in my opinion, to spring the extra $40 for a device that's in color, touch-screen, runs apps (including office software) that allows you to watch movies, tv shows, youtube clips, etc. while staying connected to your various social networking sites.

Who is this for? It appears that it may be for a younger generation. (And I would bet that their parents will buy it for them - if the things are not announced as a part of the next stimulus package . . . ahem, excuse me . . . the New Foundation)

IMHO, the iPad is the Conan O'Brien of electronic devices. Somewhat dissappointing with those who have been around for a while, but in it's time, it will win the war. You can be iDissappointed, but in the world of MacCrap, I slot this device far closer to the iPod than I do the MacBook Air.

Well, you may be right. But I think where I'm coming from is that for years (and years and years and years) hardware companies have taken shots at "tablet computing". The great Rubicon many of us have to cross is getting used to doing anything productive without a keyboard. Again, and for instance, how easy would it be for me to type this comment into Thinklings using an iPad?

But, yes, if I wanted a Kindle (and I don't, but let's pretend :-) - plus, I will probably eventually come around on that score, but I digress . . . ) if I wanted a Kindle I'd probably pony up a bit more and get an iPad instead.

But, back to my point: Can a College student do everything she needs to do with an iPad? Or will she also need a laptop to write reports on - meaning, this will be a nice additional device for the more well-to-do college students, but for most of them it will be a choice - Laptop or iPad. I may be missing something, but that's the way I see it.

I guess my bottom line is this: the iPhone was, most def, revolutionary. The iPad has - my opinion only - a good chance of being a footnote, a failed device that Apple will learn from on the way to the next revolutionary step.

We'll see.

On more side note - you wrote:

"Apple has a history of saturating the educational market and expanding outside of that into the world."

Keep in mind that I'm a Mac fan. But this strategy of theirs has been less than successful, I think. I've been hearing that "we'll get it in the schools, and from there, the world!" for two decades. The problem is that most College graduates, saturated as they may be with Macishness from College, don't start their jobs with the power/clout to change the technology direction of their companies. So they get assimilated into the Wind'ohs borg of most places they work at, and that's that. That's been my experience, at least (I've worked at several companies of various sizes and the Mac was only used as a fringe/specialty machine at any of them).

Now, I'd love to have all Macs at work. But the cost of the Mac, plus the slightly-less-geared-to-business-than-wind'ohs vibe, plus the fact that, as cool as Macs are, most people still buy Wind'ohs at home because it's cheaper (and improving, finally) has kept Mac from ever really breaking into the business world in a big way.

Now, the genius of Jobs was when he got Apple to start doing the iPod/iPhone thing. Brilliant - because that got people hooked on Apple and it's excellent devices. Add to that the fact that Mac OS X is based on unix, not the old Apple OS, and has come closer to PCs in price, etc, coupled with their awesome commercial ad campaign, has really gotten Apple more market share and new legions of Macheads.

But the issue I have with the iPad is . . . what is it? Is it a computer or a device? Apple makes awesome personal devices, and really good (albeit expensive) computers. But what is this thing?

(I know, I know . . . I can hear you say it now: "Bill, Bill, Bill . . . kicking and screaming will the foolish be dragged into the 21st century) :-)

Concerning expanding from education: Point taken and granted.

Concerning need for laptop/desktop in addition to the iPad:
I think that the iPad is an add-on, but consider cost of textbooks.

The average college student will spend (I would guess) app. $750 - $1000/year on textbooks. (I think this depends on the field of study, of course) If Apple can help drive these costs of electronic textbooks down through publishing partnerships, the iPad pays for itself, (even the highest end iPad with 3G) nullifying only the "well-to-do" segment. It's possible that a student could not afford to not get an iPad.

This is why I think that the device will hit with college students and expand from there into High School and into business. What the iPad will be used for in six months and what it will be used for in six years will be vastly different, I expect.

In time, Sony, Dell, HP and other brands will take what we've seen Apple do here and add to it. Still, I expect Apple to stay ahead of the curve, as they are wont to do.

I think as soon as college students start realizing that it is much cheaper to buy a ebook device once and spend a fraction of the cost on books, the ebook market will explode. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple led that charge, simply based on name. Will it be the iPad? I don't know.

I'm with you, in that I don't want one, but I don't quite understand the vendetta against the iPad. I saw it on CNN the other day, thought, "That's kind of cool," and then ate dinner. Literally the only people I've heard talk about it are people who say it's the most disappointing device in the history of the world. But companies release things that people don't need all the time. Should we be mad at the iPad? Should we be mad at Steve Jobs for trying to market a product? I thought you guys loved capitalism. :-)

I'm indifferent.

Ha - "vendetta" - kind of a strong word, perhaps :-)

Quaid - I don't think tablet computing is the future, but - as always - I may be wrong.

I do think there's a future for good ebook devices, so there's that inroad, certainly

I would take an iPad if it was offered to me (or even if they cost less, possibly) so I'm not hating on it.

On "biggest disappointment in the world" - pretty sure Challies was being hyperbolic. But I'm voting that it's not the revolutionary device many think. It's def cool, though. We'll see. In six months I'll post a retraction if I'm wrong.

I just got my first personal Apple product for Christmas, an 8gb Itouch, and have to say I love it. In addition to the music, movies, and games, you can freely get a portable ebook reader with Stanza, a Wifi phone with Skype, as well as all sorts of other great apps. And the key for me is you can carry it in your pocket anywhere and the battery lasts much longer than a laptop.

The small screen is obvious not great for reading and watching video, but the portability and battery life is the positive trade-off for those limitations.

The problem I see with the Ipad is that while the big screen makes watching movies and web browsing much better, you lose portability and battery life. In addition, my understanding is that just like the Itouch, you have no multitasking on the Ipad which means that you go through the same clunky "close one app to open another" process that you have to on the Ipod. On a tiny device like an Itouch that is understandable, on a full screen Ipad it seems ridiculous.

So I agree with Bill, an Ipad makes little sense to me. There is a solid market for laptops. There is a solid market for portable handheld devices. But a hybrid that merely mixes and shaves some of the pros and cons of those two? Not the worst thing in the world, but I'll pass.

I think this would be a perfect replacement for Obama's teleprompters. It would cost less to transport and he could still use it everywhere he speaks even in front of those 10 person focus groups/whatever that he still needs/uses his teleprompter for.

Just want to say that my husband got me a Kindle for Christmas (which I L-O-V-E and I'm a huge book person so I didn't know if I could do without the smell and touch of a book - but the ability to get a book in 15 seconds is hard to beat for someone who reads 3 or 4 books a week) and he didn't pay $459. It was $300 so the Ipad is more than 40 or 50 bucks more and I still have the convenience of throwing it in my purse because it's small enough to do that.
However, a college kid at my church asked me to look up one of his college text books to see if it was available and it wasn't so guess that would make the whole pay-for-itself for college books thing an iffy bet.
Anyway, I don't know anything about the Ipad, but if it's anything like a Kindle its AMAZING. AND its a Mac.