Let's remember initial MR forum reaction to the iPhone

[jacinto45]

The post announcing the original iPhone in 2007 had almost as many "negative" ratings as "positive," 494 to 434 (https://www.macrumors.com/2007/01/09/apple-announces-the-iphone/). The fifth comment in the thread, typical of many others, was: "Wow, extremely disappointed that there's no MVNO. Talk about a letdown. "

Yup, the MR forums labeled the iPhone a failure for, among other reasons, its lack of an MVNO.

Here we go again with the iPad. People are saying it's not innovative because it looks like a big iPod touch. What did you expect an Apple tablet computer to look like other than an iPod touch that's larger? It doesn't have Flash. Beyond YouTube, which has terrific iPad support, is Flash really that important to your day-to-day life?

What major functionality can the iPad not do that you want it to do? Why are people so desperate to focus in on one small technology that it doesn't have to color the whole device a failure?

What this is is a device that does most of what a laptop does, including creating/editing documents, and even does many things a lot better than a laptop--except for it's so much smaller/lighter (1.5 lbs, 0.5 inches) than even crappy netbooks, and it has so much better battery life.

 

[Theclamshell]

Good point, i could not care less about flash. I block it on my computer so on a tablet i wouldn't care. I think that this tablet has some interesting games coming to it and i think that it also it demonstrated alot of gaming potential after seeing need for speed on it today also

 

[Phat_Pat]

i think the expectation was a fully functional OSX; something you would see on your laptop without the extras of a keyboard or something.

to some it may just feel like they increased the screen size of the iPod and replaced the O with an A.

 

[bzz]

There always be whining people

I'm super exited and selling my MacBook Pro for iMac + iPad

Flash is already disabled on my Pro and i don't need it at all! (Thank you Click2Flash)

This is going to be HUGE!

 

[iphonegeek786]

I believe the IPAD will have something. Especially because it runs iphone os. So it is jailbreakable.

 

[Puddinman]

Before the iPhone reaction, I'm sure the iPod generated some groans as well. If you think about it, there was nothing "revolutionary" about the original iPod's features either. Heck, my Creative Jukebox could do more. But Apple has a knack for filtering out the clutter and distilling a device to it's simple yet functional optimum. Then they put their polish on it and what they end up with is a product that revolutionizes the industry.

Mac, iPod, iPhone . . . all of these technologies had detractors when they came out. All of them revolutionized their industries. I expect the iPad will too. It just has so much potential. Sure, netbooks have all the function of a full laptop . . . the thing is that they are so underpowered that they can't run the OS or applications efficiently; they can do anything but not very well. Apple has distilled the netbook into a simple but functional optimum. It does everything that most people need (email, productivity, music, movies, web) and does it amazingly well. THAT's the revolution.

 

[patrickdunn]

My favorite is #259:

Gotta love Macrumors:

1. Hype builds to uncontrolled levels.
2. Product comes out to spectacular design and great innovation.
3. Product doesn't match hype. (i.e. no multiple carriers, no 120 GB HD, no 3 week battery life, too wide, too heavy, not available in white)
4. People complain, whine, yell, and scream that this is Apple's downfall.
5. Product releases and is embraced by the mass consumer.
6. Repeat step one.

P.S. AS of right now, it seems to be GSM only, because GSM is the only standard available worldwide. (Apple is looking at the Global market, not just the insulated U.S. market)

So true.

 

[eddiebrock]

I think this is an excellent device, I just don't want to buy it now because I did just that when the 2G iphone came out, and then the 3G was released a year later and I looked like an idiot after that. I have to admit I was somewhat let down, but not massively. I think this will do just fine and at some point I will buy it.

FWIW, I was hoping for this thing to serve as a replacement to my soon to be 5 year old 12" iBook with a 40GB HD. I don't want to spend more money on that thing just to replace the screwy pin power supply and the battery, which when you add it up, would probably total to almost half the price of the new iPad.

For me, the thing which would have sealed the deal is the webcam/camera/etc. Even if it wasn't a webcam and just a normal camera, I know the excellent jailbreaking community would have gotten Cycorder on it right away. And you can bet your bottom dollar that they are going to include a front facing camera in the next generation, particularly once they get this thing on LTE (Verizon), and you know it's going to support videoconferencing/et al with absolutely no issues by then. As of right now in all honesty, I just don't think any 3G network would be able to handle it, so if they felt that 4G was needed to be able to pull off video chat/intense camera based mobile computing, then I am OK with that.

To me, no flash is not as big of a deal as it's being made out to be. I mean, I've been fine without it for so many years now on the iPhone 2G and the 3G, I am pretty much used to going without it in the mobile/portable computing experience now.

It will be a shame to pass this up, but I think I am going to have to. I'll wait for the second iteration, something I probably should have done with the original iPhone as well in retrospect (considering I have both an old 2G which I gave to my sister and my current 3G).

I am very pleased with the price point, and IIRC, the original 4gb iPhone started off at 499 as well. You can mark my words, this thing will be 399 by the holiday season as they prepare to launch the 4G iPhone, a possibly new MBP, and the second iteration of this thing which will in all likelihood also be on 4G. While I would love to get this product now, for those reasons, I have to exercise more common sense, patience, and caution than I did before and hold off till next year.

 

[rdowns]

I wasn't looking for OS X, I said many times Apple wouldn't put OS X on a mass market device. At least they wouldn't if they wanted it to be a mass market device.

That said, the iPad is too limiting. No multitasking (I think 4.0 will bring it) is ridiculous. If I'm on my couch watching something, I can't have my Twitter feed or something else running? Silly.

Not thrilled about lack of video files supported. I get it's about selling me iTunes content but I have a lot of content to watch that is in other file formats.

I hate Flash but would love to watch Hulu on a device like this. We can only hope Hulu does HTML5 like YouTube and Vimeo have begun.

Too many compromises for me.

 

[J the Ninja]

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/5276/

"Sounds very revolutionary to me.

hey - heres an idea Apple - rather than enter the world of gimmicks and toys, why dont you spend a little more time sorting out your pathetically expensive and crap server line up?
or are you really aiming to become a glorified consumer gimmicks firm?"

-MR User "Pants", on the original iPod.

 

[neiltc13]

Everyone expected a computer and what they got was a giant media player with a web browser.

 

[Anuba]

Before the iPhone reaction, I'm sure the iPod generated some groans as well.

Yeah, there's an old iPod thread from 2001 that gets bumped sometimes to remind people of how wrong they can be. The iPod was dismissed as a massive flop, useless, redundant, too expensive, "Steve has lost his marbles" etc.

You'd think people would've learned by now that a product is greater than the sum of its components. We all know that the iPhone looks underwhelming on paper when compared to some Nokia or Motorola soap bar (camera resolution, expandability, yada yada) but the product is not in the specs. The product exists in the mind of the user, not the product's physical space. You need the hands-on experience. I don't think the Apple dudes in the video are merely overhyping the crap out of this thing, I think they're genuinely stoked about the iPad user experience. Why, remains to be seen. No -- it remains to be felt.

 

[budselectjr]

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/5276/

"Sounds very revolutionary to me.

hey - heres an idea Apple - rather than enter the world of gimmicks and toys, why dont you spend a little more time sorting out your pathetically expensive and crap server line up?
or are you really aiming to become a glorified consumer gimmicks firm?"

-MR User "Pants", on the original iPod.

I love going back in time.

 

[dmr727]

Everyone expected a computer and what they got was a giant media player with a web browser.

Maybe you expected a computer, but just about everything I read said to expect a large screen iPod Touch. Which it essentially is.

 

[Eidorian]

Yeah, there's an old iPod thread from 2001 that gets bumped sometimes to remind people of how wrong they can be. The iPod was dismissed as a massive flop, useless, redundant, too expensive, "Steve has lost his marbles" etc.

I think we've come a long way since then.

Even with the infrastructure and blinding Apple sunshine we can't seem to find what Apple wants to do with the iPad.

 

[Maverick1337]

to some it may just feel like they increased the screen size of the iPod and replaced the O with an A.

That's exactly how I feel, but when they shout that it's the ULTIMATE ONLINE EXPERIENCE and you don't have flash...kinda contradicts itself.

 

[ceedees]

Let's go back even farther

Forget about all the bitching and moaning about the iPhone, I remember the first day the candy colored iMacs came out. The response? A guaranteed sure thing failure because there was no floppy disc. Steve definitely blew that one and Apple was done for. I think it was after the iMacs came out that Mike Dell said that they should close down Apple and give the shareholders the proceeds of the liquidation. Of course now Apple is worth 6.5 times as much as Dell, but what does that matter.

Or how about when they decided to open retail stores - even the usually supportive fanboys over at Business Week decided that this was a disaster in the making - after all, if a world changing company like Gateway couldn't make a success in retail, how could Apple?

And of course there were all of the articles about how the Zune was going to kill the iPod.

The idea that the iPad is an exercise in mediocrity, while being $200 more expensive than the Kindle while doing 1000 time as much is ridiculous. There are and always will be Apple haters out there, but I've learned over the years that the best way to handle them is to tell them to stick with their Zunes and their Kindles and their PC's. There is no accounting for taste.

 

[Mr. Specialist]

A New Born Baby!

Just remember that this is the 1st Gen & Im sure that Apple is going to make some changes to it, like they do with almost every other product. I personally love the iPad.

 

[Anuba]

I think we've come a long way since then.

Even with the infrastructure and blinding Apple sunshine we can't seem to find what Apple wants to do with the iPad.

Well, let's put it this way. Right now I'm on my couch, and on my lap is a 17" MBP on a laptop rest to keep my legs from being burnt to a crisp. Attached to this package is a charger, and in my hand I'm holding a mouse. And what am I doing with all this stuff and this capacity? Rendering 3D animation? Crunching numbers? No, I'm in Safari gabbing with people online. Is the iPad not better suited for what I'm doing right now...? It's compact, it's nifty, it runs for 10 hours on one charge. The iPad is exactly what I wanted it to be. In fact, this is what I wished for it to be in April last year...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7506974#post7506974

"C'mon. You can smell the iPad coming in June. It's an OLED tablet netbook and a jumbo iPod Touch and a giant AppleTV/Mac remote, with built-in 3G"

...and in July...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8137544#post8137544

"I'd love to have a tablet as a living room/bedroom device for mindless browsing on the couch, checking TV schedules, looking up pointless trivia on Wikipedia, playing timekiller games like solitaire, using it as an iTunes DJ at parties, or the most sophisticated remote control ever... An oversized iPhone, basically."

...and in March 2009...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7376989#post7376989

"There'll probably also be a tiny desktop stand to dock with so you can turn it into a baby iMac with a real keyboard."

It was indeed a giant iPod Touch for couch potatoes, it was called iPad and it has a keyboard dock -- exactly the product I wanted, so no complaints here.

 

[sikkinixx]

and just like the original iPhone, it's worth waiting until the first revision. I'm excited to see what that brings.

 

[Eidorian]

Well, let's put it this way. Right now I'm on my couch, and on my lap is a 17" MBP on a laptop rest to keep my legs from being burnt to a crisp. Attached to this package is a charger, and in my hand I'm holding a mouse. And what am I doing with all this stuff and this capacity? Rendering 3D animation? Crunching numbers? No, I'm in Safari gabbing with people online. Is the iPad not better suited for what I'm doing right now...? It's compact, it's nifty, it runs for 10 hours on one charge. The iPad is exactly what I wanted it to be. In fact, this is what I wished for it to be in April last year...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7506974#post7506974

"C'mon. You can smell the iPad coming in June. It's an OLED tablet netbook and a jumbo iPod Touch and a giant AppleTV/Mac remote, with built-in 3G"

...and in July...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8137544#post8137544

"I'd love to have a tablet as a living room/bedroom device for mindless browsing on the couch, checking TV schedules, looking up pointless trivia on Wikipedia, playing timekiller games like solitaire, using it as an iTunes DJ at parties, or the most sophisticated remote control ever... An oversized iPhone, basically."

...and in March 2009...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7376989#post7376989

"There'll probably also be a tiny desktop stand to dock with so you can turn it into a baby iMac with a real keyboard."

It was indeed a giant iPod Touch for couch potatoes, it was called iPad and it has a keyboard dock -- exactly the product I wanted, so no complaints here.

I think someone people have too much money and not enough to do. Then again what do you do with money that's idle? Gadget time or yacht.

 

[VenusianSky]

I thought the iPhone was a great idea at launch being that I owned a cell phone and an iPod but hated carrying both. The iPad, as it is, just doesn't have the same affect on me.

 

[deckwalker]

I fully agree

Any time there is a huge amount of hype and expectation, reality never quite matches with what we hoped and so we're always disappointed. This is repeated endlessly on Macrumors (Powerbook G5's on Tuesday!) and is normal. It's also funny to watch.

But you know what? I'm buying two. I bought my wife a Kindle at Christmas and then showed her the video of the iPad this morning. Her response? "I want one." She pointed out, correctly, that she won't need her Air anymore. We have an iMac and all of our 'heavy lifting' (photography for me) is already done on that at home. She uses her Air, and I use my first gen MacBook Pro, basically to sit on the couch and do internet. The iPad does that and does it much better.

So even though I'm disappointed that there's no front facing camera, no GPS (at least not that I've seen), and no standard camera, I'm still buying two.

 

[Airforce]

So even though I'm disappointed that there's no front facing camera, no GPS (at least not that I've seen), and no standard camera, I'm still buying two.

I want your disposable income

I think it works fine if you do most of your stuff on an actual computer. This is just an iPhone with a bunch more screen room. Lack of power and memory isn't going to affect you if you just surf the internet with it. Lack of flash plug in will

Damn it, stuff the Macbook Air's internals in there!

 

[generationxwing]

The lesson here is simple. If Apple fanboys hate the device, it will be a success.