Basically it boils down to this.
The iPad is great at what it does. I can pretty much do everything on it most 'non techie' people do everyday on their net book/laptop or desktop.
Its fairly safe to say that the majority of pc users are not gaming on sli setups. Are not debugging kernels and programming algorithms. Most are not video editing. Most are not running Photoshop or designing layouts in indesign.
Yes there are plenty of folks who do so and they have a work tool. This is not what the iPad is aimed at.
Most folks are watching movies, flicking through YouTube. Keeping connected with Facebook. Checking emails. Buying gifts and stuff online, buying holiday/plane tickets etc, Listening to their music, Writing the odd document or two, messing about with v.basic photo editing or drawing packages.
The iPad can do all that. It is for those things the iPad is targeting.
There is a big disconnect between specs of a machine and what people actually use the machine to do. I've seen many many folks walk into a store, be advised they should buy this machine as it has dual processor, DVD burners, lots of ram, 600 USB ports etc, oh and of course 'free virus protection for 6/12 months)...
However.. When you look at what most of these users end up actually doing with the hardware once purchased it often falls back into the same category as I highlighted above. So often the hardware specs are irrelevant because they are not using the full hardware regardless. But they were told this is standard spec requirements, this is what is needed in a computer in this day and age. These are the important things that we all should use to purchase a good computer or a bad computer. 6 USB ports has to be better than 2 doesn't it. Even if you never use them??
People are told to think inside the box. The iPad is outside the box.
I imported an iPad and nearly everyone I know who has seen it have realized it pretty much would do them. Yes there are sacrifices, having to buy dongles to plug their camera in etc.. But these are small sufferings compared to benefits.
When they realize they can finally surf safely and quickly. Not worry about boot up times and start up applications that are now slowing the computer to a crawl. Erroneous software and applications they don't need that insist on installing themselves. When they see they can checkI their emails without worrying an attachment is a virus, that they do not have to worry about installing drivers, and actually not worry about installing full stop or more importantly uninstalling procedures. How quickly it responds in a logical 'what you see is what you get' manner. How they don't have to be spending annual subscriptions on virus protection with the device and it wont slow down the computer thats super specced to a crawl.
Yes a netbook can be cheaper and 'technically better specced' but user end user experience and specs are not mutually inclusive.
After the ghz myth was bust open, the next big step is the specification myth. People will eventually realise that there is far more to actual usability than a spec sheet and a myriad of USB ports.
Yes the iPad won't be for everyone, yes there will be things a computer will be a better choice for. However I imagine there are more folks out there that the iPad would actually fit with than they realise themselves.
HP have realized they now have to think out the box. That specs belie user experience. The iPad if anything has highlighted tis disconnect. Hence HP taking the slight back to the drawing board. Hence the sudden investment of companies looking at Android.
The amount of folks I also know that are attending computer classes which boils down to simply learning 'the operating system' and basics like surfing and email, but are bogged down learning about installing, control panels, virus updates etc.. rather than using the software to email, to read, to listen to music, to simply keep in touch. These folks are not learning to be Photoshop experts, they want to feel confident to do basic most useful things, and the iPad could revolutionise that area. Because it does away with the nonsense, and let's people get on with the things they want to do very easily and in a logical common sense manner. With the iPad and the iPhone OS they learn how to do things in a simple painless way that does away with decades of 'windows thinking'....
Those that rile on the iPad the most, tend to be those that have never actually used one. It's quite silly really. Would you ask someone to review a book, movie or song without reading, seeing or listening to it?
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