Ok, I think I am finally coming around to this iPad.

[melman101]

At first, I did not like it. I declared it an epic fail. I said that no multitasking is ridiculous. I said that no camera is ridiculous. Many many reasons why the iPad should be an epic fail. Yet, I went to sleep last night, and thought about it. Thought about all the times I come home and don't feel like pulling my laptop out of the bag, and everything. I thought about all the times I go to my parents house with my laptop, and now can just take the iPad. I thought about all the apps that I make (not that I make much money from them now), and how they could be amazing on the iPad.

Yes it is a bigger iPod touch. But as a developer, I am already cramming stuff on the iPhone screen to display. If I had much more room, I could make it amazing.

Just think about this. What if AOL came out with an AIM app that has your buddy list as the popover, your chat window on the side or something, and a Webkit browser all in one app.

I think I will be getting the $499 one.

 

[TanToday]

Here is where the developers will find gold....

DARING FIREBALL

The iPad Big Picture
Wednesday, 27 January 2010

There was a meta-message in today’s Apple event, not about the iPad in particular, but rather about Apple as a whole. Jobs’s brief preamble included a bit of extra emphasis on the fact that the Apple now generates over $50 billion per year in revenue. (Apple also emphasized this $50 billion revenue thing in their PR two days ago announcing their Q1 2010 financial results.) He also said that when you consider MacBooks as “mobile” devices, Apple generates more revenue from mobile hardware than any other company in the world; the three competitors he singled out were Sony, Samsung, and Nokia. The adjective he used was “bigger”.

Lastly, there’s the fact that the iPad is using a new CPU designed and made by Apple itself: the Apple A4. This is a huge deal. I got about 20 blessed minutes of time using the iPad demo units Apple had at the event today, and if I had to sum up the device with one word, that word would be “fast”.

It is fast, fast, fast. The hardware really does feel like a big iPhone — and a big original iPhone at that, with the aluminum back. (I have never liked the plastic 3G/S iPhones as much as the original in terms of how it feels in my hand.) I expected the screen size to be the biggest differentiating factor in how the iPad feels compared to an iPhone, but I think the speed difference is just as big a factor. Web pages render so fast it was hard to believe. After using the iPhone so much for two and a half years, I’ve become accustomed to web pages rendering (relative to the Mac) slowly. On the iPad, they seem to render nearly instantly. (802.11n Wi-Fi helps too.)

The Maps app is crazy fast. Apps launch fast. Scrolling is fast. The Photos app is fast.

The iPad hardware is exactly what you think. It looks great, it feels great. It’s very nice to hold. (People are complaining about the wide bezel around the display, but without that, where would your thumbs go? You don’t want your thumb that’s holding the device to cover on-screen content or register as a touch. Trust me, it’s just right.) Just like with the iPhone, it’s all in the software. And the software is obviously marvelous in many ways. It is clearly the result of deep thought and hard work.

But: everyone I spoke to in the press room was raving first and foremost about the speed. None of us could shut up about it. It feels impossibly fast. (And our next thought: What happens if Apple has figured out a way to make a CPU like A4 that fits in an iPhone? If they pull that off for this year’s new iPhone, look out.)

Apple doesn’t talk much about the technical details of the iPhone. They never talk about CPU speed or the name of the chip being used. They don’t tell you how much RAM is in there. Part of their vision for moving computers from technical culture to popular culture is about getting away from defining these things by their technical specs. So the prominent talk about A4 is telling. This is something they want us to notice.

I mentioned this year-ago quote from Apple COO Tim Cook the other day, but it’s apt here, too. Cook told BusinessWeek, “We believe in the simple, not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.”

Apple now owns and controls their own mobile CPUs. There aren’t many companies in the world that can say that. And from what I saw today, Apple doesn’t just own and control a mobile CPU, they own and control the hands-down best mobile CPU in the world. Software aside (which is a huge thing to put aside), it may well be that no other company could make a device today matching the price, size, and performance of the iPad. They’re not getting into the CPU business for kicks, they’re getting into it to kick ass.

They’re Microsoft and Intel rolled into one when it comes to mobile computing. In the pre-taped video Apple showed, Bob Mansfield said of the iPad, “No one else could do it.” Only Apple.

And so my takeaway from this — with the bragging about making their own CPUs and their annual revenue and their size compared to companies like Sony, Samsung, and Nokia — is that this is Apple’s way of asserting that they’re taking over the penthouse suite as the strongest and best company in the whole ones-and-zeroes racket.

 

[roland.g]

good article.

one thing that really speaks volumes is the App Store. The App Store has been a phenomenal success and explosion. Right now the iPad will run existing Apps, but imagine the success the developers will have and the great Apps we will get specifically for the iPad. It isn't just about the screen real estate getting bigger. The whole game changes with regards to that.

 

[iWoz]

Very true Sir! I have an iMac and a windows laptop, and when Im in a different room and want to access the net I really dont want to go fetch the laptop open it up,power it on and so on and so.....

 

[amitdoc2b]

I was also disappointed with this release. Even though I felt many more features could have added, the difference between me buying and not buying it was a built-in webcam. If they had simply done that, I would have bought 2 of the best models plus accessories, and spent over $2000 for the pair. I had my credit card in my hand ready to pre-order in case it was available yesterday. Very disappointed, Apple.. and all my friends and family know me as the biggest Apple supporter. Until today, I had bought the iPhone on launch day for 3 straight years, 2 Unibody MBP’s on launch day, 2 iPod touch on launch day, and 1 27″ iMac on its launch day. Not this time though. All I was asking for was a built-in web camera and I could have absorbed the lack of other features. Oh well..

At first, I did not like it. I declared it an epic fail. I said that no multitasking is ridiculous. I said that no camera is ridiculous. Many many reasons why the iPad should be an epic fail. Yet, I went to sleep last night, and thought about it. Thought about all the times I come home and don't feel like pulling my laptop out of the bag, and everything. I thought about all the times I go to my parents house with my laptop, and now can just take the iPad. I thought about all the apps that I make (not that I make much money from them now), and how they could be amazing on the iPad.

Yes it is a bigger iPod touch. But as a developer, I am already cramming stuff on the iPhone screen to display. If I had much more room, I could make it amazing.

Just think about this. What if AOL came out with an AIM app that has your buddy list as the popover, your chat window on the side or something, and a Webkit browser all in one app.

I think I will be getting the $499 one.

 

[master-ceo]

If somebody makes an Audio Editing app similar to Audacity, Propellerhead Recycle or Soundforge. I would consider buying one.

Developers please consider an audio editing app like this for the iphone/ipad.
Simple Non-destructive WAV editing, slicing, with a few filters and Effects.

I guarantee you will make big dollars.

 

[kroeks]

I was also disappointed with this release. Even though I felt many more features could have added, the difference between me buying and not buying it was a built-in webcam. If they had simply done that, I would have bought 2 of the best models plus accessories, and spent over $2000 for the pair. I had my credit card in my hand ready to pre-order in case it was available yesterday. Very disappointed, Apple.. and all my friends and family know me as the biggest Apple supporter. Until today, I had bought the iPhone on launch day for 3 straight years, 2 Unibody MBP’s on launch day, 2 iPod touch on launch day, and 1 27″ iMac on its launch day. Not this time though. All I was asking for was a built-in web camera and I could have absorbed the lack of other features. Oh well..

I agree with you on most of the things
but what i think is that they still held on to the "reachable" part
the part of people able to buy it.
I agree, it isn't a step in future like apple always did, it's more a combining of low-end laptop things and iPod touch features.

yet i think this is just to get feedback.
It's affordable, apple will soon work on a version which is more customer based. They just set the fishing angle with bait, and they'll replace it for something better when they notice there is more needed.

(sorry for my bad english, hope you understand my point )