competitors must be pissed

[Acorn]

There was alot of talk that competitors were waiting for apple to see what apple had come up with first. Thats why everything that was announced by everyone else seemed incomplete and like they just ripped the screen off a laptop with no innovation. almost like a quick mockup done in a few hours. They were waiting to see what apple would come up with.

Then when apple did show, they couldnt do much of anything. They cant improve over the iphone os. The iphone os is one of the most widely supported touch interface (development wise) in the industry.

they cant even improve on it cpu wise. its not a intel or amd chip. they cant throw something in faster and say ours is better. even if they did come up with something faster, there is no widely accepted benchmark that will run on both iphone os and them to prove it.

They would be lucky to even copy the actual design itself since you could never make a device that thin with no ventilation with a atom or ulv intel chip. they would have to have their own custom processor made.

there really isnt nothing for them to improve on or do better then on what apple has already done. other operating systems were designed with a pointer in mind. so unless they think they can improve and make a better touch interface with better development support (good luck with that) i dont really see what could be improved to make a competitive product.

The only think that could possibly be improved is flash and multitasking. which falls under a new os. because osx and windows and linux and all the other programs that were designed with a pointer device in mind can never be better then a os built from the ground up for touch. so you would be building a better touch os better then the best in the industry? plus they would have to have better dev support then the iphone os. sadly i dont see that happening.

 

[WytRaven]

i dont really see what could be improved to make a competitive product.

There's always room for improvement That said Apple has set the starting position for the bar pretty damn high, just as they did with the iPhone. I would expect to be waiting for iPad 2.0 to see any improvements over the initial design; not from anything designed by others to compete with it.

By the way does anyone still doubt that little-ol-no-market-share-apple drives the evolution of the computing industry?

 

[darngooddesign]

...there really isnt nothing for them to improve on or do better then on what apple has already done. other operating systems were designed with a pointer in mind. so unless they think they can improve and make a better touch interface with better development support (good luck with that) i dont really see what could be improved to make a competitive product.

Windows 7 was designed with touch inputs in mind. Combine that with a Bump Top-style finder replacement, which really does lend itself to finger inputs, there is a lot a full-fleged tablet can offer.

 

[polotska]

I would hope that, rather than be pissed, potential competitors would be driven or inspired to create a product of their own that is even better.

 

[Acorn]

2.0 may bring a camera. however i still dont see how someone can make a real competitive product to it

 

[Acorn]

Windows 7 was designed with touch inputs in mind. Combine that with a Bump Top-style finder replacement, which really does lend itself to finger inputs, there is a lot a full-fleged tablet can offer.

there is a video with win 7 and a touchpad on you tube. the new upcomming convertable asus tablet. its horrible and unresponsive

 

[NT1440]

Windows 7 was designed with touch inputs in mind. Combine that with a Bump Top-style finder replacement, which really does lend itself to finger inputs, there is a lot a full-fleged tablet can offer.

Windows 7 has touch input support. If it were truly more than a side project to throw up on the old checklist for spec junkie buyers the whole UI would have been reworked.

 

[shakenmartini]

Windows 7 has touch input support. If it were truly more than a side project to throw up on the old checklist for spec junkie buyers the whole UI would have been reworked.

Yes Vista and Windows 7 touch implementations are absolutely horrible.

This is why I have given up on my UMPC's. MS kept promising that the touch OS in Windows 7 would be completely awesome. Instead it is a huge pile a buggy crap.

I have a couple of great Samsung Q1's with various hardware specs that are exquisitely designed (hardware wise), but the OS (XP Tablet, Vista, Win 7) is just horrendous on these things.

Good thing I have been fetching a good price on these on CL, so my wife and I can get iPads.

 

[t0mat0]

Yup - Win 7 has touch support. And Surface has been out since... how long?

 

[ravenvii]

there is a video with win 7 and a touchpad on you tube. the new upcomming convertable asus tablet. its horrible and unresponsive

Agreed. Everyone keeps harping on how they're getting a PC tablet because Windows 7 is so wonderful and supports Flash!!!1!eleven!

But I've seen Windows 7's touch interaction in action. In an presentation by Microsoft for programmers no less. It is indeed horrible.

 

[sushi]

IMHO, to be successful, a tablet interface must be different than a desktop/laptop interface. Simply adding pen input does not change a desktop/laptop interface into a tablet one. This is why Apple is ahead of the competition at this point in time.

I see the iPhone OS as they call it, becoming much more powerful as time goes on. We will continually see more full featured applications being developed for the iPhone OS.

Sweet.

 

[Jaro65]

IMHO, to be successful, a tablet interface must be different than a desktop/laptop interface. Simply adding pen input does not change a desktop/laptop interface into a tablet one. This is why Apple is ahead of the competition at this point in time.

I see the iPhone OS as they call it, becoming much more powerful as time goes on. We will continually see more full featured applications being developed for the iPhone OS.

Sweet.

I very much agree with your opinion. MS has tried to make the Windows OS fit everyone. The Windows can still be an effective platform for a tablet, but only if one were to use a stylus. For a truly mobile (and modern) platform, one needs to get away from the limitations imposed by a desktop GUI. MS had plenty of time and financial resources to move in that direction. They didn't and Apple did.

 

[shakenmartini]

I very much agree with your opinion. MS has tried to make the Windows OS fit everyone. The Windows can still be an effective platform for a tablet, but only if one were to use a stylus. For a truly mobile (and modern) platform, one needs to get away from the limitations imposed by a desktop GUI. MS had plenty of time and financial resources to move in that direction. They didn't and Apple did.

I still laugh that MS totally missed Apple on the iPad.

If you look back to the old Origami/UMPC group at MS, their target goal was an ultraportable touch based device with a full PC experience. The origami project struggled for years to meet the main goal of $600 price point, literally begging OEM's to lower prices.

Turns out not only did MS get destroyed on price by Apple (of all companies!), but in addition, Apple blind sided them with iPhone OS as the OS choice.

MS was always trying to shove Windows into an intel ultraportable platform and the problem always was cost and battery life couldn't meet targets.

Apple on the other hand, had exactly the same goals as MS, but instead of constraining themselves to Windows, chose the best software experience possible to meet their goals (iPhone OS) and probably will now in good position to win the ultraportable market that MS has been trying and failing to open up for years now.

I think this goes to Apple's old tag line of "Think different" and incidentally why I think MS doesn't innovate near like Apple, Google and a bunch of other big companies.

 

[mrsir2009]

Remember this is only the first generation iPad, imagine what its going to be like in... 3-5 years time? A LOT better!

 

[Smacky]

Thinner bezel

 

[shakenmartini]

Thinner bezel

So how are you supposed to hold it then?

 

[Smacky]

Im sure I'll be able to manage by cradling it in my palm

 

[shakenmartini]

Im sure I'll be able to manage by cradling it in my palm

You are either an idiot or have some giant monkey hands?

 

[yodaxl7]

Windows 7 has touch input support. If it were truly more than a side project to throw up on the old checklist for spec junkie buyers the whole UI would have been reworked.

I watched a short video of the Lenova Thinkpad Tablet. They krafted some software to do some multi-touch app and tweak the broswer to allow it. However, the navigation of the window 7 start menu and such was horrible to use. It had some 1st or 3rd party software for stylus use to write. That was cool. I am sure that the iPad would have that too. Sure, it would have been nice if Apple could have done that for us, but I guess Apple want others who have a better background in handwriting experience to develop that software. I won't be surprise if someone comes up with where we could use the iWork or something to do the noting taking,etc experience. They may even come up with a digitizer capacitive stylus pen for that. I hope the pen is multi-functional though.

 

[maflynn]

there really isnt nothing for them to improve on or do better then on what apple has already done.

That's patently false, of course other competitors can improve on a tablet computer. Apple isn't the end all/be and there's always room for improvement.

While you mention the CPU that apple is using is the best there ever is, I suspect that intel chip sets can and will give it a run for the money. The thing is you're equating perfection to a device that isn't even available for sale yet. No one has it in his hands yet.

Overall competitors are not pissed but rather see an opening to market their devices where apple cannot. A true tablet computer, not an over-sized iPod Touch.

 

[Jaro65]

I still laugh that MS totally missed Apple on the iPad.

If you look back to the old Origami/UMPC group at MS, their target goal was an ultraportable touch based device with a full PC experience. The origami project struggled for years to meet the main goal of $600 price point, literally begging OEM's to lower prices.

Turns out not only did MS get destroyed on price by Apple (of all companies!), but in addition, Apple blind sided them with iPhone OS as the OS choice.

MS was always trying to shove Windows into an intel ultraportable platform and the problem always was cost and battery life couldn't meet targets.

Apple on the other hand, had exactly the same goals as MS, but instead of constraining themselves to Windows, chose the best software experience possible to meet their goals (iPhone OS) and probably will now in good position to win the ultraportable market that MS has been trying and failing to open up for years now.

I think this goes to Apple's old tag line of "Think different" and incidentally why I think MS doesn't innovate near like Apple, Google and a bunch of other big companies.

You're absolutely right. Look at these comments by Bill Gates: http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/02/10/bill.gates.wants.ipad.more.like.tablet.pc/

He'll be most likely rethinking his comments as much as Steve Ballmer made a fool out of himself for predicting the "success" of iPhone.

 

[SchneiderMan]

Everyone now will start to copy the iPad's design, that how it works because those other companies just don't get design.

 

[bozzykid]

Everyone know will start to copy the iPad's design, that how it works because those other companies just don't get design.

I highly doubt it. The iPad's physical design is hardly unique. There is only so much you can do with a slate type device as far as physical design. Moving forward, you will probably see designs that contain smaller bezels.

 

[shakenmartini]

I highly doubt it. The iPad's physical design is hardly unique. There is only so much you can do with a slate type device as far as physical design. Moving forward, you will probably see designs that contain smaller bezels.

I hope not, this is my biggest complaint about the newer tablet PC's (mainly the lenovo X) is that the bezel on the opposite side that you hold is too small and makes access to this part of the screen a PITA.

 

[oneeach]

You are either an idiot or have some giant monkey hands?

Because Apple picked function over form with the bezel?

My hands are not large and my thumb is almost an inch wide when I'm holding something. Try it yourself with a book about the same size and weight (perhaps not thickness) as the iPad. Imagine holding it for an hour or so. From that point of view, the bezel is the right size to keep your thumb off the screen.