"[the iPad] has no reason for being" -Steve Jobs

[Nein01]

"In order to really create a new category of devices, those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks," Jobs said. "Otherwise it has no reason for being."

"they're going to have to be far better at doing some really important things; better than the laptop, and better than the smartphone."

what kind of tasks? he asks..

browsing the web FAIL - no flash!
doing email
enjoying and sharing photos FAIL - no camera!
video - watching videos FAIL - no flash and no disc drive!
enjoying your music collection FAIL - no space!
playing games FAIL - no way!
reading ebooks


again,

"if there's gonna be a third category of device, it's gonna have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone, other wise it has no reason for being. some people have thought: that's a netbook. the problem is, netbooks aren't better at anything."

and the iPad isn't either!


discuss.

 

[Hmac]

Yeah, too bad. Looks like you got screwed.

 

[aaquib]

"In order to really create a new category of devices, those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks," Jobs said. "Otherwise it has no reason for being."

"they're going to have to be far better at doing some really important things; better than the laptop, and better than the smartphone."

what kind of tasks? he asks..

browsing the web FAIL - no flash!
doing email
enjoying and sharing photos FAIL - no camera!
video - watching videos
enjoying your music collection FAIL - no space!
playing games FAIL - no way!
reading ebooks


again,

"if there's gonna be a third category of device, it's gonna have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone, other wise it has no reason for being. some people have thought: that's a netbook. the problem is, netbooks aren't better at anything."

and the iPad isn't either!


discuss.

1. 70% of the web has flash video. Google accounts for 40% of that flash video, porn accounts for 12%. That number is now 18%, so not nearly as much as people make it seem.
2. What does a camera have to do with "enjoying and sharing photos?' You can still share them can't you?
3. No space? I guess your collection of music is greater than 64GB, but for the vast majority of people, it isn't.
4. Thousands of games and counting.

 

[nineteentwelve]

browsing the web FAIL - no flash!

Let's not start the flash debate in yet another thread.

enjoying and sharing photos FAIL - no camera!

Just because there is no camera, you can still enjoy and share photos that are already on the device.

enjoying your music collection FAIL - no space!

Whilst 64GB may not be enough space for you, it probably will be for many iPad owners. Heck, even 16 and 32GB would suffice for most.

playing games FAIL - no way!

What's your justification for saying, "no way!"? Many people already enjoy playing games on the iPhone and iPod touch. I'm pretty certain that games on the iPad will be much better. I'm guessing that you were expecting it to run against the PS3 and Xbox 360?

EDIT: aaquib beat me to it!

 

[Illuminated]

"In order to really create a new category of devices, those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks," Jobs said. "Otherwise it has no reason for being."

"they're going to have to be far better at doing some really important things; better than the laptop, and better than the smartphone."

what kind of tasks? he asks..

browsing the web FAIL - no flash!
doing email
enjoying and sharing photos FAIL - no camera!
video - watching videos
enjoying your music collection FAIL - no space!
playing games FAIL - no way!
reading ebooks


again,

"if there's gonna be a third category of device, it's gonna have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone, other wise it has no reason for being. some people have thought: that's a netbook. the problem is, netbooks aren't better at anything."

and the iPad isn't either!


discuss.

Flash is a terrible thing. It makes the browser highly unstable, makes the computer prone to viruses. I frankly could care less if there was flash or not. What? You plan on playing games in some crap websites like addictinggames.com?

When he says enjoying your photo collection and video collection, he means that the photos you took with an ACTUAL camera can be transferred to the iPad with a connector...and sharing these photos is great on this device...big screen, great color, etc...The pictures you take with the iPhone are pretty awful...

No space? 16gigs, 32, and 64 gigs isn't enough for you? I have 54 gigs of music...the highest end model is plenty big enough for me...but then again, I don't listen to all 54 gigs of my music at one time...I only listen to several hundred at any one time...How much music does the average ipod user or macbook user actually have? A lot less then 16 gigs...so you're complaint is null and void...either you listen to music non stop or you're just grasping for complaints...

You play games on the iPhone or iPod Touch? Pretty doable...and fun. There is even a first person shooter for the iPad...I would have a ton of playing games on it, especially if I can carry it with me where ever I go....

I can't carry my Xbox 360 or PS3 with me and play on the bus, now can I?

Please find actual complaints you have...not some ridiculous statements you make.

 

[jsbaugh]

atheistpally = FAIL

 

[SpaceKitty]

atheistpally = FAIL

The only part of this thread that I agree with.

 

[Nein01]

the key word in all of this is BETTER.

without a camera, how can i take a picture on-the-go, in-the-moment and then SHARE it via mms or email? i can't. the iphone is BETTER at that. even a macbook is better at that because at least it has a camera (although it's not pocket sized, but then again, neither is the ipad). iphone wins.

my music library is at about 70gigs and counting, and i'm not the only one i know with a lot of music. even with 64gigs, how much will be left for music once you take into consideration the space needed for everything else? the os, applications, videos, pictures, documents, etc... a macbook wins hands down in the music category, simply because of space. or if music is your main concern, get an ipod, not an ipad.

games. every kind of game available in the app store can be played on some website somewhere or even on an app emulator, PLUS your laptop can run actual computer games (way more than there are in the app store). so how is a macbook worse for gaming by any stretch of the imagination?

web browsing and video. just because percentages of web sites using flash are changing, that doesn't negate the fact that you will constantly run into web pages that require it. thus, a laptop is better, plus it has a disc drive. and no hulu on a 10" screen is a pretty big fail.

again, the key word is "BETTER". the ipad is not better at very many things except having touch ebooks and touch email on a bigger screen than the iphone.

 

[Illuminated]

the key word in all of this is BETTER.

without a camera, how can i take a picture on-the-go, in-the-moment and then SHARE it via mms or email? i can't. the iphone is BETTER at that. even a macbook is better at that because at least it has a camera (although it's not pocket sized, but then again, neither is the ipad). iphone wins.

my music library is at about 70gigs and counting, and i'm not the only one i know with a lot of music. even with 64gigs, how much will be left for music once you take into consideration the space needed for everything else? the os, applications, videos, pictures, documents, etc... a macbook wins hands down in the music category, simply because of space. or if music is your main concern, get an ipod, not an ipad.

games. every game available in the app store can be played on a laptop, PLUS real games. how is a laptop worse for gaming by any stretch of the imagination?

web browsing and video. just because percentages of web sites using flash are changing, that doesn't negate the fact that you will constantly run into web pages that require it. thus, a laptop is better, plus it has a disc drive.

again, the key word is "BETTER". the ipad is not better at anything except maybe email, but that's only a small improvement - nothing groundbreaking.

But do you listen to all 70 gigs at any one given time? Is it really that hard to change up your music selection every once in a while...maybe have 300 songs at one time, then switch it out with another 300-400 or even 1000 songs? Not that hard.

 

[aaquib]

the key word in all of this is BETTER.

without a camera, how can i take a picture on-the-go, in-the-moment and then SHARE it via mms or email? i can't. the iphone is BETTER at that. even a macbook is better at that because at least it has a camera (although it's not pocket sized, but then again, neither is the ipad). iphone wins.

my music library is at about 70gigs and counting, and i'm not the only one i know with a lot of music. even with 64gigs, how much will be left for music once you take into consideration the space needed for everything else? the os, applications, videos, pictures, documents, etc... a macbook wins hands down in the music category, simply because of space. or if music is your main concern, get an ipod, not an ipad.

games. every game available in the app store can be played on a laptop, PLUS real games. how is a laptop worse for gaming by any stretch of the imagination?

web browsing and video. just because percentages of web sites using flash are changing, that doesn't negate the fact that you will constantly run into web pages that require it. thus, a laptop is better, plus it has a disc drive.

again, the key word is "BETTER". the ipad is not better at anything except maybe email, but that's only a small improvement - nothing groundbreaking.

You keep comparing it to a MacBook, in everything but the price.

 

[Joewebster]

You keep comparing it to a MacBook, in everything but the price.

Maxed out iPad = 829.99
Starting Price iPad = 499.99
Maxed out 13" MacBook = 1229.99
Starting Price MacBook = 999.99

I'd definitely pay the difference for MacBook as it is so much more powerful, heck, even at it's lowest price, it's the same price as the lowest priced Mac Mini, which isn't exactly portable, but it's 10 times more powerful then the iPad.

also, there's a good chance I got some of the prices wrong as I'm doing them form memory.

 

[colmaclean]

the key word in all of this is BETTER.

without a camera, how can i take a picture on-the-go, in-the-moment and then SHARE it via mms or email? i can't. the iphone is BETTER at that. even a macbook is better at that because at least it has a camera (although it's not pocket sized, but then again, neither is the ipad). iphone wins.

Do you whip out your MacBookPro to take pictures with its camera while on the go?

The iPhone is a small device where a camera is useful. On this thing, other than as a user-facing webcam, I can't see the point.

 

[dissdnt]

Then don't buy it, who cares.

 

[mrgreen4242]

]
video - watching videos FAIL - no flash and no disc drive!

Without getting into a huge debate with a troll... this is almost certainly going to be the best small video player available. The tablet form factor is more flexible than a laptop and the screen is much larger/higher res/higher quality than an iPod/Zune/PMP. Who cares about disc drives? What a useless idea that would be on an ultra portable device. And flash is hardly a benchmark for watching video. It's just a convenient way to watch a short clip. I'm talking about movies and TV episodes... this will be an excellent video platform without a doubt.

 

[dgree03]

the key word in all of this is BETTER.

without a camera, how can i take a picture on-the-go, in-the-moment and then SHARE it via mms or email? i can't. the iphone is BETTER at that. even a macbook is better at that because at least it has a camera (although it's not pocket sized, but then again, neither is the ipad). iphone wins.

my music library is at about 70gigs and counting, and i'm not the only one i know with a lot of music. even with 64gigs, how much will be left for music once you take into consideration the space needed for everything else? the os, applications, videos, pictures, documents, etc... a macbook wins hands down in the music category, simply because of space. or if music is your main concern, get an ipod, not an ipad.

games. every kind of game available in the app store can be played on some website somewhere or even on an app emulator, PLUS your laptop can run actual computer games (way more than there are in the app store). so how is a macbook worse for gaming by any stretch of the imagination?

web browsing and video. just because percentages of web sites using flash are changing, that doesn't negate the fact that you will constantly run into web pages that require it. thus, a laptop is better, plus it has a disc drive. and no hulu on a 10" screen is a pretty big fail.

again, the key word is "BETTER". the ipad is not better at very many things except having touch ebooks and touch email on a bigger screen than the iphone.

I agree with all your points...

Ipad isnt a better than a netbook or laptop...

 

[nineteentwelve]

the key word in all of this is BETTER.

I thought the key word was FAIL?

 

[Scorpio12345]

I think you lot are missing his point.. Instead of callling him a troll (the easy way out..) how about you understand his main point?

Steve DID say that he'd only release a device if it was better at doing everything in that list he mentioned. He was wrong.. It does do some of the things well, and some others not so well, but the iPad certainly doesn't do all those things BETTER than a laptop and/or a smartphone. That's all he's trying to point out...

I don't want to go into yet another bloody flash debate, but again, he should have offered the choice... All it takes is an on/off switch in settings.. Let the user decide rather than Apple deciding for us, eh?

Its not a FAIL product, but it also doesn't do anything better. Conclusion: Jobs shouldn't have kept emphasizing that its better than his own two damn products!

 

[lordhamster]

I think you lot are missing his point.. Instead of callling him a troll (the easy way out..) how about you understand his main point?

Steve DID say that he'd only release a device if it was better at doing everything in that list he mentioned. He was wrong.. It does do some of the things well, and some others not so well, but the iPad certainly doesn't do all those things BETTER than a laptop and/or a smartphone. That's all he's trying to point out...

I don't want to go into yet another bloody flash debate, but again, he should have offered the choice... All it takes is an on/off switch in settings.. Let the user decide rather than Apple deciding for us, eh?

Its not a FAIL product, but it also doesn't do anything better. Conclusion: Jobs shouldn't have kept emphasizing that its better than his own two damn products!

I'm not looking to replace my phone or laptop. I'm looking to replace my netbook for travel. For my purposes this will be MUCH better than schlepping along my netbook.

 

[albeik]

It's clear that the iPad is not for you, but I tell you what... the iPad is a perfect device for my mother-in-law for example.

She currently uses an old dell laptop that since have given her more heartache than anything. I've been debating to get her to move to a Mac (Macbook) for awhile, but again, she really does not care about many of the things the OS does or provide. She spends most of the time (and I think this applies to many people in this category):

- Browsing Online (she does not use any site that has flash in it)
- A form of Word Application (Pages or MS Word is fine for her)
- Email
- Browsing Pictures/Videos she takes with her digital camera
- Free Games from the App Store

She just needs something that works, without any fuss with Control Panel or System Preferences or Driver updates or viruses, etc...

The $499 version (half the price of a Macbook) is more than enough. It's very light she can simply lay it down anywhere without taking much space. The battery life is a big plus too.

The only problem I see here is to do with TV + Hulu sites that offer video via Flash. I personally hate and despise and avoid sites that use flash. Click2Flash allows me to play H264 version of youtube videos (better quality and uses less power). However, I think that Hulu and many TV sites will end up creating Apps dedicated to their video content and be able to drive ads appropriately rather than from a browser. I can envision a Hulu App playing it's content via H264 instead of flash with a nicer interface.

In terms of ease-of-use for my mother-in-law (and many people that I know who use iPhones) nothing beats it. Having a full fledge OS is a bad-idea, unless your into that kind of thing - which I think a Macbook is much better suited.

... still thinking about it, but wanted to take the opportunity to share my thoughts with everyone ...

 

[mrgreen4242]

It's clear that the iPad is not for you, but I tell you what... the iPad is a perfect device for my mother-in-law for example.

She currently uses an old dell laptop that since have given her more heartache than anything. I've been debating to get her to move to a Mac (Macbook) for awhile, but again, she really does not care about many of the things the OS does or provide. She spends most of the time (and I think this applies to many people in this category):

- Browsing Online (she does not use any site that has flash in it)
- A form of Word Application (Pages or MS Word is fine for her)
- Email
- Browsing Pictures/Videos she takes with her digital camera
- Free Games from the App Store

She just needs something that works, without any fuss with Control Panel or System Preferences or Driver updates or viruses, etc...

The $499 version (half the price of a Macbook) is more than enough. It's very light she can simply lay it down anywhere without taking much space. The battery life is a big plus too.

The only problem I see here is to do with TV + Hulu sites that offer video via Flash. I personally hate and despise and avoid sites that use flash. Click2Flash allows me to play H264 version of youtube videos (better quality and uses less power). However, I think that Hulu and many TV sites will end up creating Apps dedicated to their video content and be able to drive ads appropriately rather than from a browser. I can envision a Hulu App playing it's content via H264 instead of flash with a nicer interface.

In terms of ease-of-use for my mother-in-law (and many people that I know who use iPhones) nothing beats it. Having a full fledge OS is a bad-idea, unless your into that kind of thing - which I think a Macbook is much better suited.

... still thinking about it, but wanted to take the opportunity to share my thoughts with everyone ...

Well, just as a counter point, let's say that someone was going to use the iPad as their primary system. They'd either have to have at least some other auxiliary computer to sync iTunes with, or they would have to rebuy all their media through iTunes.

The next hurdle is the idea that it would save you money. I figure that if you were using ONLY the iPad, you would probably need at least the 32gb version, likely the 64gb - all those digital photos will eventually take up lots of space, and digital home movies even more so. Then you have to get a keyboard, so the add a $70 to that. Also the USB/SD adaptor, likely $20 or $30. We're already approaching $800, getting dangerously close to MB pricing.

I think the iPad has the opportunity to really disrupt the netbook market, which is the fastest growing computer segment tese days, so that's no small feat. But a netbook is almost always a companion computer, and the iPad is really no different.

All that said, I still want one... to replace my netbook.

 

[lordhamster]

Well, just as a counter point, let's say that someone was going to use the iPad as their primary system. They'd either have to have at least some other auxiliary computer to sync iTunes with, or they would have to rebuy all their media through iTunes.

The next hurdle is the idea that it would save you money. I figure that if you were using ONLY the iPad, you would probably need at least the 32gb version, likely the 64gb - all those digital photos will eventually take up lots of space, and digital home movies even more so. Then you have to get a keyboard, so the add a $70 to that. Also the USB/SD adaptor, likely $20 or $30. We're already approaching $800, getting dangerously close to MB pricing.

I think the iPad has the opportunity to really disrupt the netbook market, which is the fastest growing computer segment tese days, so that's no small feat. But a netbook is almost always a companion computer, and the iPad is really no different.

All that said, I still want one... to replace my netbook.

You are thinking a bit inside the box, however I DO agree that the iPad just like any netbook is best suited as a Companion computer at the moment.

1. If a user doesn't have a computer already, then presumably he won't have any iTunes content to re-buy will he?

2. Sure 64gigs may not be enough to store all your files, but in the age of cloud-computing it may not need to. I already store backups of all my photos on Flickr... I don't see why I would not use Flickr as my primary photo storage medium. I'm sure someone will come up with a Flickr Uploader tool. (Other services as well). Also, things like Dropbox make this kindof a moot point anyway.

 

[albeik]

Well, just as a counter point, let's say that someone was going to use the iPad as their primary system. They'd either have to have at least some other auxiliary computer to sync iTunes with, or they would have to rebuy all their media through iTunes.

The next hurdle is the idea that it would save you money. I figure that if you were using ONLY the iPad, you would probably need at least the 32gb version, likely the 64gb - all those digital photos will eventually take up lots of space, and digital home movies even more so. Then you have to get a keyboard, so the add a $70 to that. Also the USB/SD adaptor, likely $20 or $30. We're already approaching $800, getting dangerously close to MB pricing.

I think the iPad has the opportunity to really disrupt the netbook market, which is the fastest growing computer segment tese days, so that's no small feat. But a netbook is almost always a companion computer, and the iPad is really no different.

All that said, I still want one... to replace my netbook.

All valid and well thought points. That is why I am "still thinking about it" for the people I think this would fit nicely in their lifestyle.

Another thing that I have been thinking is a simple multi-tasking scenario: My mother-in-law chats and would send links back and forth.. it would really be bad to have to exit/re-enter the chat whenever you click on a link to open safari... having that open on the side (somehow split) is actually useful. That actually may break the deal for me to get her the iPad.

Good point on having a primary computer. Can one buy an iPad as the primary device? I guess not... need to look into that.

 

[albeik]

@lordhamster - some good points as well.

In my "mother-in-laws" case -- she hasn't purchased anything via iTunes (just realized that). She would actually prefer if everything is in the cloud, were storage is not a factor and it's meant for storing the applications.

I can see a point were if I take a photo on my iPhone and BOOM I can already access it from all my Macs including the iPad and easily share it to any of my family members without having to "send it" to them.

 

[Steve686]

Hi Bill. Nice to see you on MacRumors.

Now go back and donate another $10,000,000,000. Preferably to your old company so they can do something as creative as .










All in fun. Don't get in a tissy fit.

 

[Nein01]

i don't own a pc. i have an iphone, an ipod and a powermac g5.

in general, i love apple products, but this ipad (as is) was a complete waste of time and resources if you ask me. they should've waited until it was a lot more refined before announcing such a redundant piece of technology to the public. we already live in excess. why didn't they just update the iphone and macbook line?

oh yeah, and another thing i can't believe i forgot to mention.. no multitasking! wtf...