Except, your laptop isn't the same thing and you interact with it in a completely different way. Comparing an iPad with a laptop is a horrible comparison at best.
I generally get asked why not a laptop when people see my iPad 3G. I then ask them what they use a laptop for in particular when they are not at home. They generally reply that they surf the web, check emails, watch movies or listen to tunes, look at/store photos when on vacation.
That's when I will take an if time permits show off the Photos, iTunes, iBooks, Safari, and Pages Apps for starters for those that are more simple use folks. And if even more time is available love showing off these Apps - Alice, Emerald Observatory, Star Walk, and Elements.
Then I finish off with letting them hold it.
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That generally wins them over. (BTW Steve Jobs - I need my commission check here as well. LOL)
Why wait for 2nd gen iPad? It's a toy, who cares. It's only money.
I bring mine to work everyday and people talk sh*t about it and say there waiting for a price drop in 6 months... lol
That 6 months I'm enjoying something that you can't have or afford. Jealous much?
Ah... the one stumble that Apple made with the iPhone 1G - dropping the price so soon after launch. Don't think Apple will make that same mistake twice.
The only way I see that happening is if sales totally drop off by lets say October. Which I don't see happening. As more folks get the iPad, the Hype Machine is only going to build.
At work the reaction to my iPad has been different - I work in a camera shop. And they like what I have shown them so of my iPad. One Applehead did say he was going to wait for the iPad 2gen - but reminded him of what he could loose out on in that years time. We both shrug. I still love my iPhone 1G - does what I need and want even three years later. He has either the 3G or 3Gs and never uses it for more than I do - so what if I am on Edge Networks... it is enough for me on the iPhone.
1) Set said friend on your couch
2) Put your MBP in his lap
3) Wait for the smell of burning flesh
4) Exchange the MBP with an iPad
5) Watch him run off to the Apple store to buy an iPad
Sadly I have a very bad burn mark from a Christmas Eve nod-off after a hard day at work.
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Not to take this thread down a different road - I stand behind Apple's choice of HTML5 over Adobe Flash on the heat and power use side - I do have the scar to prove it! Will never be able to be a underwear model ever! ROFL But really it was a bad situation.
Great quote, and that sums up its appeal.
Usually, I just tell people "it inserts its way into your life in a lot of ways. I use it for hours most days." I give more details on request.
The iPad happens to perfectly fit my needs/goals. That doesn't mean it fits everyone's, I don't have the right perspective to make that claim. But in my case, I happen to spend a lot of time sitting at a bar hanging out reading, because a) I read a lot, b) the bar is attached to a restaurant so not many people come to it as a bar, c) it has a good menu due to the restaurant part of the business, d) I am friends with the bartender.
So basically, I spend quite a bit of time there with - formerly a Kindle 2, now an iPad. I've brought a laptop a time or two, but it's such an ordeal, and you have to plug it up to use it at length (which is possible but a hassle).
The iPad is a dream for that use. At home, I mostly use my PC. I haven't booted my laptop up for weeks.
The iPad is also great for travel.
To me, the iPad's killer apps are Internet anywhere (wifi or 3g), battery life (9 hours plus), and pretty screen. I l like the touch interface, but to me, that's a side effect of the other factors I just listed. It would be hard to make a device that's as portable and has as nice a screen if you also gave it a keyboard. That would require larger total size, or clamshell, or smaller screen, or some combination of two of those things.
A lot of people here, including me, say this a lot ... but if you know what the iPad is, you will know if one will be valuable for you. In my case, it fits perfectly. But I am pretty sure most people will never get in the habit of sitting at a bar using a Kindle or iPad either one, some people may not find the advantages big enough to outweigh the device's limitations, etc.
Hear you there in some ways. I know folks are tired of the "magical and revolutionary" catch phrase.
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But in some ways that fits the iPad. Haven't touched my MBP much other for some Hulu watching on it. Most of my time is with the iPad now for books (rediscovered reading the free classics), keeping up on a few magazines on PixelMags, watching the few TV shows I do watch from ABC (are you listening NBC, CBS, and Fox?) with the ABC App. Turning in to less of a news hound - I get that on my driving around the DC area listening to WTOP News and then browsing the web for news I want to read in-depth.
I love people watching, so I may have to find a cafe or bar/restaurant to hang out and chill out at with my iPad in tow in my area. In particular if there is free wifi - I have found that Netflix is the greatest to see films that I would have never seen before without their view on demand for some films.
I will simply say:
"it's like a GPS system, you don't need it and can get by without it... But once you have it, you can't imagine being without it."
And some of the car mount solutions for the iPad offer promise for the right GPS navigation company to help us on that end as well.
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