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Answers to the naysayers please?

craig1410

craig1410

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 22, 2007
1,130
911
Scotland
Hi,

Anyone else getting fed up with the same critical remarks about your iPad from those who have never even been within 10 feet of one and don't have a clue what they are talking about?

Here are some recurring remarks:

1. It's just a big iPod Touch isn't it?
2. What's it for?
3. What's wrong with a laptop/netbook?
4. It's not got a proper keyboard - you can't type on that can you?
5. It's expensive isn't it? A netbook is cheaper you know...

So, what sort of responses have you guys come up with for the above (and other) annoying remarks?

What I find quite sad is that some people react in a completely negative way and attack fervently that which they know nothing about. It's almost as if they are offended in some way that I have had the audacity to "waste" *my* money on such a device. I'd have a lot more respect for their criticism if it was actually based on conclusions born from factual analysis rather than bigoted intolerance. Really quite sad as I said... :(

Anyway, I'm loving my iPad and there are many with enough curiosity to overcome any prejudice which may exist to take the iPad at face value and enjoy it for what it is. I think the key to this is a "can do" attitude and some imagination.

I'm interested to hear any good, snappy responses to help put the "glass half empty" brigade on the back foot without sounding like Apple's press officer... :p

Craig.
 
I honestly don't give a crap what other people think. I got the iPad for me, not them.
 
craig1410 said:
Me too - I just feel a sense of responsibility to try and open their minds a bit. Maybe I need a crow-bar (pry-bar)??? :eek:
Click to expand...

I hear ya. I don't understand the negative connotation behind the "It's just a bigger iPod" comment. No duh it's just a bigger iPod, but now I don't have to pinch and zoom and swipe and whatnot just to read a single webpage. It's a magazine-sized doohickey that can hold thousands of magazines, or play games (even head to head!), or surf the web or whatever.

Yes, laptops can do this, but the iPad to me is like hunkering down with a good book.
 
They're fine toys for end users and internet web surfing.

They're not powerful enough to handle heavy computations. They're not designed to be used to generate content. They're designed for folks who consume, not create; and that's a huge portion of the public.
 
ItsThatKush said:
agreed 100%. people that say it's a waste of money don't have the money to waste :D
Click to expand...

Not quite true, they just waste it in other ways which don't seem 'real' to them.

For example, one of the guys at work doesn't believe that depreciation is a 'real' cost of vehicle ownership when in fact it is usually the single largest cost of ownership. He'll happily waste thousands of pounds by buying a car which depreciates badly without even thinking twice.

These same guys think nothing of blowing hundreds of pounds on football club season tickets or golf memberships and yet get all sanctimonious when I buy an iPad. It's even more ironic because we all work in the IT industry as programmers and software consultants so you'd think we would value IT stuff more than cars, golf and football. I certainly do but I think I might be in the minority.

My biggest problem is that I won't shy away from an argument and in most cases end up making matters worse... :eek:
 
Just agree with them , e.g.:

1. It's just a big iPod Touch isn't it?

**** Of course, WTF did you think it was?

2. What's it for?

**** My pr0n stash primarily, here, I should have wiped that off before I handed it to you...

3. What's wrong with a laptop/netbook?

**** Nothing, why do you think there is something wrong with laptops and netbooks?

4. It's not got a proper keyboard - you can't type on that can you?

**** Of course you can't type on it WTF are you thinking? You just copy-n-paste the words you want out of the dictionary app.

5. It's expensive isn't it? A netbook is cheaper you know...

**** Well of course they are, but I bought this iPad to keep my Pippin, Lisa and Newton company.
 
craig1410 said:
Hi,

Anyone else getting fed up with the same critical remarks about your iPad from those who have never even been within 10 feet of one and don't have a clue what they are talking about?

Here are some recurring remarks:

1. It's just a big iPod Touch isn't it?
2. What's it for?
3. What's wrong with a laptop/netbook?
4. It's not got a proper keyboard - you can't type on that can you?
5. It's expensive isn't it? A netbook is cheaper you know...

So, what sort of responses have you guys come up with for the above (and other) annoying remarks?

What I find quite sad is that some people react in a completely negative way and attack fervently that which they know nothing about. It's almost as if they are offended in some way that I have had the audacity to "waste" *my* money on such a device. I'd have a lot more respect for their criticism if it was actually based on conclusions born from factual analysis rather than bigoted intolerance. Really quite sad as I said... :(

Anyway, I'm loving my iPad and there are many with enough curiosity to overcome any prejudice which may exist to take the iPad at face value and enjoy it for what it is. I think the key to this is a "can do" attitude and some imagination.

I'm interested to hear any good, snappy responses to help put the "glass half empty" brigade on the back foot without sounding like Apple's press officer... :p

Craig.
Click to expand...

Someone else on this forum came up with a good one;

Bathtubs hold water like pools, but you can't swim in them... (or something to that effect)
 
Safari King said:
Someone else on this forum came up with a good one;

Bathtubs hold water like pools, but you can't swim in them... (or something to that effect)
Click to expand...

I think it was more like 'a swimming pool is just a big bathtub, why would you want a swimming pool?'

I think the main thing with the iPad is not necessarily what it can do, but how well it does it, and the experience of doing those things. Yes a netbook can do more, but it doesn't do the things the iPad does as well as the iPad does them.

Plus, the pleasure of using the iPad is far and beyond anything you could get with any comparable device on price.

I do think that many people are incorrectly classifying the iPad as a netbook replacement, when even Apple place it between a fullyfledged computer and a smartphone. It's a content consumption device, which is basically what 80% of most peoples computer use is, content consumption. The iPad does that better than any other device currently on the market.
 
martynmc7 said:
I think it was more like 'a swimming pool is just a big bathtub, why would you want a swimming pool?'

I think the main thing with the iPad is not necessarily what it can do, but how well it does it, and the experience of doing those things. Yes a netbook can do more, but it doesn't do the things the iPad does as well as the iPad does them.

Plus, the pleasure of using the iPad is far and beyond anything you could get with any comparable device on price.

I do think that many people are incorrectly classifying the iPad as a netbook replacement, when even Apple place it between a fullyfledged computer and a smartphone. It's a content consumption device, which is basically what 80% of most peoples computer use is, content consumption. The iPad does that better than any other device currently on the market.
Click to expand...

Agreed! Thanks for the clarification!
 
JazzCollector said:
They're not powerful enough to handle heavy computations. They're not designed to be used to generate content. They're designed for folks who consume, not create; and that's a huge portion of the public.
Click to expand...

Just to tweak this a little; they're designed for content consumption, not content creation. And sometimes, even content creators like to use the right tool for the right job....
 
I'd just like to come back to that whole negativity the OP mentioned. There's been a LOT of that this time round, way more than normal even for an Apple product, and I've got a pet theory there's three main reasons for this:

1) It's an Apple product. Fanboys are the bane of so very, very many potentially in-depth and sensible discussions in all walks of life these days and boy oh boy did they strike in numbers when it came to the iPad. Still a common reason but getting less so as the sales figures and initial user reports mount up and the entire industry races to catch up.

2) Those who genuinely don't understand it largely because they haven't had a chance to play with it for themselves. Think it was Stephen Fry who said you really needed to get hands-on to start understanding it and without that chance it's understandable that there's been a lot of genuine confusion. Again, it'll die down a bit now demo units are in stores and the early adopters start showing off. Which reminds me, any chance of an iPad Salesman t-shirt for anyone that buys before iPhone OS 4 comes out for our new shiny devices Apple?

3) Now this is the one that's going to cause trouble but what the hell. I think some people, geeks especially, are TERRIFIED of the iPad. No, not because it's shiny enough to reflect their unwashed visage back at them but because of what it represents. Computing without the need to be computer literate. Not quite there yet but it's coming and very soon, certainly within the next few years, you'll be able to own a computer like the iPad that'll just... work. No maintenance beyond accepting an over-the-air update once a quarter (or monthly, whatever), sync to the cloud, remote seamless backups and an interface without any abstraction layer or need to dive into settings.

The problem is a lot of folks seem to react rather than thinking these days and extrapolate that concept of consumer computing to mean their way of life, the desktop OS and hacking around problems and being able to do a thousand and one things with your computer just for the hell of it, is all coming to an end. They don't realise that the desktop OS isn't going anywhere for a looooong time yet, that Windows and OS X and Linux are now mature products so release schedules are naturally going to slow down a bit, that the hardware race we've been running ever since the PC came along all those years ago has basically been won now and attention turns to things like battery life, quality displays and well-built machines instead of pure performance at the expense of all else. And so they panic and attack the iPad not because of what it is but because it is the herald of consumer computing and the destroyer of worlds.

Or that could all be bollocks and it's simple us v them, either way :D
 
A clock's just a big watch really.

A cinema's just a big telly.

A lion? Just a big cat, innit?

A marathon: merely a long jog.

And you, sir, are just a big baby.
 
"you're not ready to understand yet. But don't worry, there will be a time where even you will understand... just have faith in yourself."
 
Safari King said:
Someone else on this forum came up with a good one;

Bathtubs hold water like pools, but you can't swim in them... (or something to that effect)
Click to expand...

Some enjoy a bath once in a while (and some hope that one day, the hair dryer will follow).
 

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Ive had the opposite reaction to my iPad, I took into work last Friday (launch day in the UK) and got the usual questions...so I let them touch and use the device and now 4 out of the 7 have ordered theirs lol

U will always get the usual doubters and critics but as mentioned previously, u bought the device for urself...not them!
 
the_fellowship said:
Ive had the opposite reaction to my iPad, I took into work last Friday (launch day in the UK) and got the usual questions...so I let them touch and use the device and now 4 out of the 7 have ordered theirs lol

U will always get the usual doubters and critics but as mentioned previously, u bought the device for urself...not them!
Click to expand...

I tried not to appear to be too "look at me, I've got an iPad!" but for anyone that looked remotely interested, I was more than happy to let them have a shot of my iPad. There are a few guys in the office who are either Mac users or just plain old gadget freaks who appreciate the iPad but there are also those who, as one of the posters above noted, may feel that technology like the iPad is de-mystifying the computing industry. This may well be making em feel uncomfortable.

Personally, as a Software Consultant with 28 years of Personal Computer experience, I am happy to see this level of computing maturity. Others may disagree...

Thanks to all who have posted on this topic so far.
Craig.
 
smiddlehurst said:
2) Those who genuinely don't understand it largely because they haven't had a chance to play with it for themselves. Think it was Stephen Fry who said you really needed to get hands-on to start understanding
Click to expand...

This is exactly it. I was a complete iPad sceptic but after I'd used one for 20 minutes in Apple store I really understood it and ending up buying it on the spot! I can't remember the last product like that, and I really think that people may play with one in an apple store out of pure curiosity and then they'll really start to understand it.
 
i explain that i want to get an e-reader but the ipad does more, is streamlined and portable and i'll get to leave my laptop at home more often

netbooks are clumsy and not a good solution (for me)
 
I can certainly understand ~some of the backlash after the obnoxious hyperbole that SJ and Apple were spewing when they announced the iPad.

The iPad is perfect for what I bought it for, but I'd have a hard time convincing all-comers that it is some sort of must-have gadget.
 
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