this is NOT simply a large iPod touch..

[bpd115]

It is the next step in the evolution of the multitouch OS.

Microsoft proved slapping a desktop OS into a tablet isn't the answer.

If you're Apple you have 2 options. You know the device is going to be multitouch.

1) Use the lightweight multitouch OS pioneered on the iPhone with access to over 140,000 applications designed to be used with multitouch. Not only is the OS lightweight, but it's simple and easy to learn, and application installation and management is mind numbingly simple.

2) Shoehorn multitouch into your desktop OS. Now your first party apps will work well. 3rd party apps designed for a mouse and keyboard interface? Not so much. The learning curve here goes up dramatically. Mom and Pop know nothing about mounting a DMG image to install software. You can add in an 'iphone emulation' layer to run app store apps, but that just adds to the bloat of this now 3rd fragmented FrankenOS, which is not designed to operate on a mobile low power chip with battery life taken into consideration.

So it's a no brainer. You use iPhone OS. Which should now be called Multitouch OS X or something along those lines. Sure, at first it looks like a 'big iPod Touch', well, that's because developers haven't had time expand their ideas to this more powerful hardware with expansive screen real estate.

No camera is a bit of a letdown, but we'll see it on this class of device in due time, one way or another.

No Multitasking? A valid concern but something I think that will be shown with iPhone OS 4.

No Flash? A hulu and netflix app would be fantastic, we can dream. Flash is either going to hang on or be put out to pasture, it's yet to be seen.

Aside from the camera, the complaints against this device are simply a software update away.

 

[al256]

I think Leonard Nimoy went through this same phase

But back to the point, the iPad is not in the middle between laptops and smartphones. It's skewed towards its smartphone heritage. The second I saw the darn thing I thought it was just a big iPod Touch. What I see is potential in its future to grow past its introduction. The iWorks suite is clearly a demonstration of what this device can and should be doing. We just need apps and Apple's support to create a whole new league of apps that are powerful and excellent.

 

[Sparced]

The front facing camera is the worst idea ever. How would it look to the other person you're supposedly video chatting to as you try and keep the tablet perfectly still.

I dodn't understand how Steve could invite the Brushes dev to demo his app and we're only expected to use our fingers. I really hope a third party releases a Stylus so I can quickly take notes and draw diagrams then possibly import or convert it into Pages.

 

[bpd115]

The front facing camera is the worst idea ever. How would it look to the other person you're supposedly video chatting to as you try and keep the tablet perfectly still.

I dodn't understand how Steve could invite the Brushes dev to demo his app and we're only expected to use our fingers. I really hope a third party releases a Stylus so I can quickly take notes and draw diagrams then possibly import or convert it into Pages.

The 3rd party stylus is already out there. Artists have already used it with Brushes on the iPhone.

http://tenonedesign.com/stylus.php

 

[Chaos123x]

#3 make a new OS combining the power and features of Snow Leopard with the amazing touch UI from the iPhone.

Just slapping the iPhone os on a bigger screen does not make it a full featured tablet computer, it makes it a toy. It just screams laziness and it's insulting.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Name one thing that the iPod Touch/iPhone can't do that the iPad can do.

I think for the time being, it is simply a large iPod touch, but that should change over time as the devices evolve.

 

[cmichaelb]

The 3rd party stylus is already out there. Artists have already used it with Brushes on the iPhone.

http://tenonedesign.com/stylus.php

I have a Pogo stylus, to use with my iPhone when I'm wearing gloves. They aren't that great. Fingers work so much better.

Someone needs to develop a really good stylus for the iPhone OS.

I would like to see the iPad be able to substitute for a Wacom tablet.

 

[MikhailT]

The front facing camera is the worst idea ever. How would it look to the other person you're supposedly video chatting to as you try and keep the tablet perfectly still.

People don't actually have to hold it in their hand while video chatting. It is possible to be stabilized on your laps or on a table with a dock or something else. People'll find something to stabilize it if they know they're about to get into a video chat. The camera can also do some hardware processing to improve it as well.

I have a Pogo stylus, to use with my iPhone when I'm wearing gloves. They aren't that great. Fingers work so much better.

Someone needs to develop a really good stylus for the iPhone OS.

I would like to see the iPad be able to substitute for a Wacom tablet.

iPad can't substitute for a wacom tablet, the technology is not that precise to handle a small sharp point. That's why the stylus has a ball shape form. Even iPad needs to have over 1000 sensors in order to do multitouch but those sensors can't handle pressure like a wacom. The multi-touch technologies will mature to handle pressure and pens. I just saw some research about it today, using quantum tunneling between sensors to be able to tell how much pressure is being placed, so it's not impossible for multitouch to handle pens later in near future.

 

[bpd115]

#3 make a new OS combining the power and features of Snow Leopard with the amazing touch UI from the iPhone.

Just slapping the iPhone os on a bigger screen does not make it a full featured tablet computer, it makes it a toy. It just screams laziness and it's insulting.

Why? Why fragment your developer base more?

Aside from the whole "multitasking" issue, what can't this thing potentially do?

I can use it as a sketchbook with a stylus. I can VNC & RDP into servers. I can do light photo editing and offload my digital pics to it. I can use it as a notebook (Literal sense). I can edit documents and spreadsheets on it. I can do presentations on it with video out to a projector. I can watch movies, tv shows and listen to music. I can read a book on it. I can email, manage my contacts and calendars on it. I can game on it, and for cheaper than I can on a PSP or DS. Surf the web, (no flash, downer yes, dealbreaker, no). Looking at my dock, that covers about everything in there.

I'm sure you'll see some video editing software for the device.

Please, tell me what this thing can't potentially do?

I can't plug a USB hard drive into it to grab data...as far as we know at the moment. Not a big deal.

 

[Vandam500]

Name one thing that the iPod Touch/iPhone can't do that the iPad can do.

I think for the time being, it is simply a large iPod touch, but that should change over time as the devices evolve.

iBookStore

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

iBookStore

Nah, there are ebooks for the iPhone/Touch.

Just as there are Quickoffice/Docs To Go in lieu of iWork for the iPad.

 

[DataThief]

Not sure why people keep bashing on the "no flash = no deal" drum. HTML 5 is going to kill flash anyway.

 

[richpjr]

Not sure why people keep bashing on the "no flash = no deal" drum. HTML 5 is going to kill flash anyway.

It probably will eventually - but right now, there is still a ton of flash sites out there, including the one Jobs went to in his demo.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Not sure why people keep bashing on the "no flash = no deal" drum. HTML 5 is going to kill flash anyway.

Unless it does it in the next 60 days the iPad, marketed as the best web browsing experience around, won't be able to provide a complete web experience. It's not that people love Flash it's that people want to be able to surf the web, all of it, on a device that is designed to surf the web.


Lethal