Newsweek iPad cover story!

[str1f3]

It's not a monopoly. Do you know how many other tablets are coming out this year? Every company under the sun is releasing one. Steve Jobs preventing you from buying those? Nope. Do you have to buy an iPad to get on the internet? Nope. Is it a computer? Nope. It's a media appliance that can replicate a lot of computer functionality.

My PS3 can play movies, play games, show pictures, play music, browse the web, and run Linux. It also has dedicated processors preventing me from running any non-approved code. So if the iPad is a computer then my PS3 is a computer as well and by your definition Sony should open it up. But they don't and they won't. And that's perfectly legal.

Wow, a lot of replies. Since I'm typing on my iPhone I'll reply to two posts and try to answer all replies.

It is irrelevant how many other tablets come out. If the iPhone OS dominates the field, it will become a monopoly like MS was or still us if you talk to the EU. If you've paid for a movie or downloaded a music track before iTunes went DRM-free that means you are locked in. Sure you can either upgrade your music (for a fee) or use the analog loophole but most consumers don't know about that which makes it irrelevant. They average user may not even know tat current tracks are DRM-free.

Video games and e-readers keep being mentioned. This is not the same thing. The iPad is meant as a computer. Look at what is happening with Google vs China. China is censoring and taking authoritative control over, not really the web, but web content access.

Apple has been doing the same thing. Apple has recently told a well-respected European mag that they had to change their content because they viewed it as explicit. Check out the story by Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo. This is why it is dangerous for any one company to control the filter of content. Right now other companies don't have a chance. Apple is the most respected brand out there. When someone spends their money, they will trust Apple first because of reputation and experience with their products.

 

[str1f3]

OS X is never going away. OS X will never be replaced with the iPhone OS. Don't start getting irrational fears, they are entirely different classes of devices. I am not going to even begin to compare an iPad to my 17" MacBook Pro, they are two entirely different classes of devices.

No it won't just go away but I can tell you what will probably happen. In 5-10 years the iPad will become a true computer and 90% of all Apple computer purchases will be an iPad. This means that Apple will nix the laptop line, which is over 60% of their current computer purchases and OSX will be left for the iMac and Mac Pro. Chances are those products will only be used by professionals an the prices will high as well as OS upgrades because most will not purchase it.

You can mention the MBP but most don't buy it and, most of those that do, don't need the power. The future of OSX will be reserved for power hungry professionals.

 

[uberamd]

No it won't just go away but I can tell you what will probably happen. In 5-10 years the iPad will become a true computer and 90% of all Apple computer purchases will be an iPad. This means that Apple will nix the laptop line.

Nope. Never. Not a chance. Too many people need real computers for their daily lives. MacBooks are insanely popular with college students, and I can't ever see an iPad moving into that position. It simply will not happen.

 

[diabolic]

If the iPhone OS dominates the field, it will become a monopoly like MS was or still us if you talk to the EU.

We are a long, long way from Apple having a dominant market share in any category.

Apple is the most respected brand out there. When someone spends their money, they will trust Apple first because of reputation and experience with their products.

And they got this way by controlling the end-user experience for the better.

 

[shakenmartini]

Yesterday The Times announced that they would start charging for their online content from June.

I understand the logic behind it, in fact I already pay for the online content from The Economist and the Financial Times.

But I honestly think that Apple and the iPad pushed newspapers into wrongly believing that people in general would be happy to pay for premium content. For some info, yes, they would be. But then newspapers would also have to provide better content and more options. You look at The Times online version and you find content that is just above tabloid quality. That's not going to be enough.

Old media is in a pickle.

Consumers expect high quality news for free. The problem is high quality news is VERY expensive to produce. Right now quality reporting has gone out the window for cheap because most papers and media companies are insolvent at best.

The online free model that newspapers have is not sustainable.

I personally think the best possible model is one where there is a mixture of subscriptions, ads and limited free content access.

I quit subscribing the the New York times, when the content was free online. Why hassle with recycling paper when you get the same thing for free on your screen? As long as the NYT has a reasonable subscription fee, I'll sign up (as long as it also includes access to wire stories too).

Not everyone else will pay so they will be looking at more ads, or only have limited access to news content.

 

[rittchard]

• I can only play XBox games on my XBox 360
• I can only play Playstation 3 games on my Playstation 3
• I can only play Wii games on my Wii
• I can only view Amazon books on my Kindle
• I can only put .308 ammo in my deer rifle
• I can only put DVDs in my DVD player
• I can only put blu-rays in my blu-ray player
• etc etc etc

I can't take my PS3 games and stick them in my XBox and play them with a Wii-mote can I? No. How is that acceptable but the App Store isn't?

+1000000

This quote from the article really irritated me as well:

It's a dangerous path, according to Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School and cofounder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "The price is you are giving up the freedom to choose what code you run and what content you see or experience," on a device you own, he says.

What a dork, and from Harvard no less lol. And btw, how have I given up the freedom to see specific content or not? Is Apple going to check what porn and videos I have on all my devices through iTunes?

 

[marksman]

We are a long, long way from Apple having a dominant market share in any category.

I don't understand this statement. Did you caveat it earlier in the thread or something?

Apple clearly is the dominant player in the MP3/music/video player market place.

 

[Tom G.]

I'd like to change one prophecy in the article. The author says that "say your reading a book on your iPad and you want to check your e-mail, or check out the latest episode of "The Office"" you can do it without leaving your seat.

I would say that say you're reading something like Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" and want to compare it to the movie, you could download it from say Netflicks and switch to it even to find the chapter you are reading in the book.

Doing a paper on Shakespeare and have to study "Midsummer Nights Dream" or "Taming of the Shrew"? you can download the movie of either to watch as you read the play.

Studying WWII in history class, you can download "Band of Brothers" or a ton of stuff from the history channel and using Pages put video right into your report.

Changes the whole perspective doesn't it.

 

[diabolic]

I don't understand this statement. Did you caveat it earlier in the thread or something?

Apple clearly is the dominant player in the MP3/music/video player market place.

I was responding to the comment about iPhone OS being a monopoly. While the iPod may be, the iPod Touch and by extension, the iPhone OS, is not the dominant player.

 

[str1f3]

Nope. Never. Not a chance. Too many people need real computers for their daily lives. MacBooks are insanely popular with college students, and I can't ever see an iPad moving into that position. It simply will not happen.

What would constitute the need of a laptop/desktop for a power user? In five years the iPad will probably have at the least a 2.5Ghz dual core CPU, 2GB RAM and 500GB hard drive. It will be a powerful enough machine to handle mid-level photo/ video editing.

Macbooks are insanely popular in colleges because there hasn't been a popular alternative. Especially from Apple.

We are a long, long way from Apple having a dominant market share in any category.

Don't be too sure about that. We are at the point where Apple is the most respected brand out there. If you look at the iPad, it will be an eventual full computer priced at a netbook price on the low end. There are people, including myself, that believe this is a device that is meant to do an end-around of the Windows monopoly. Because of the App Store and Apple's intelligence, unlike Google and MS, their can run their apps on their "future computer" and smartphone.

And they got this way by controlling the end-user experience for the better.

Yes, but with the unprecedented control that Apple has exerted over the App Store, they even have power to control the actual content of newspapers and magazines.

This is the story of the German mag Stern. The Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ) asked FIPP (International Federation of the Periodical Press) last week to approach Apple over the issue. It starts to become a censorship issue very quickly. The issue may be eased with the explicit tag but my guess is that some publishers won't be pleased getting hit with the explicit tag before downloading their content.

Edit: Don't get me wrong. I'm planning to buy an iPad but there are questions of where the computing industry is heading. Especially with MS, as usual, copying Apple's every move and having a locked down app store as well.

 

[Jaro65]

This isn't some new closed system. Apple has been very successful selling from their walled garden for many years. The iPad is but another flower in the garden.

Very well put!