Why it's a homerun and why I don't think I'll get one.

[VideoShooter]

First of all... yes I was a disappointed by the announcement. I, like all of us nerdy mac geeks on here am a power user.

Homerun
- My sister (late thirties, mother of two, six figures, soccer mom-ish) called me six hours after the Keynote and said "Wow, that thing looks so cool! Why did you let me buy a Kindle? I would much rather have that!"

- Point being... this is a consumer device. This will siphon off a ton of would be kindle buyers, netbook buyers, portable gaming devices and may up-sell a number of ipod touch buyers. To build on that last comment, I know dozens of road warrior types who have kindles and ipod touches for reading and media consumption. In my experience... between my iPhone and MBP, both suck to use in a plane. The iPhone is too tiny and the MBP is too big.

- As I mentioned above I was a bit bummed. After looking at the video and seeing the interface and the smoothness of the web surfing... I was pretty sold on it. Maybe not for me, but I definitely see how getting this thing in my hands could very well make me a believer and buyer.

- iPhone OS 4.0/Flash support/Multi-tasking - I believe this is all coming. Steve purposely went to a site where there was flash as a directed nudge towards Adobe.

- Apps will make this device. They'll continue to improve and improve on the SDK to let this baby do a million different things. For developers I do agree with Forstall's comments about a "new goldrush". With more screen real estate, I might actually buy $10 apps.


Probably not for me
- I want to download content from where I want to (newsgroups, etc ) and watch it half downloaded with VLC player. If someone had an app that let me do that... I would be buying one on day one.

- Like I said above... the iTunes ecosystem kind of kills it for me.

 

[Warbitrary]

- iPhone OS 4.0/Flash support/Multi-tasking - I believe this is all coming. Steve purposely went to a site where there was flash as a directed nudge towards Adobe.

I agree with most of your points, but…

OS 4.0: obviously it's coming, unless Apple vanishes into thin air in the coming months.
Flash: I think Steve went on a with flash to show very clearly that flash was NOT supported. This is more like "f*** you" to Adobe.

 

[VideoShooter]

I think Steve went on a with flash to show very clearly that flash was NOT supported. This is more like "f*** you" to Adobe.

Agreed... That's what I meant by nudge... just in a nicer way

 

[skubish]

First of all... yes I was a disappointed by the announcement. I, like all of us nerdy mac geeks on here am a power user.

Homerun
- My sister (late thirties, mother of two, six figures, soccer mom-ish) called me six hours after the Keynote and said "Wow, that thing looks so cool! Why did you let me buy a Kindle? I would much rather have that!"

- Point being... this is a consumer device. This will siphon off a ton of would be kindle buyers, netbook buyers, portable gaming devices and may up-sell a number of ipod touch buyers. To build on that last comment, I know dozens of road warrior types who have kindles and ipod touches for reading and media consumption. In my experience... between my iPhone and MBP, both suck to use in a plane. The iPhone is too tiny and the MBP is too big.

- As I mentioned above I was a bit bummed. After looking at the video and seeing the interface and the smoothness of the web surfing... I was pretty sold on it. Maybe not for me, but I definitely see how getting this thing in my hands could very well make me a believer and buyer.

- iPhone OS 4.0/Flash support/Multi-tasking - I believe this is all coming. Steve purposely went to a site where there was flash as a directed nudge towards Adobe.

- Apps will make this device. They'll continue to improve and improve on the SDK to let this baby do a million different things. For developers I do agree with Forstall's comments about a "new goldrush". With more screen real estate, I might actually buy $10 apps.


Probably not for me
- I want to download content from where I want to (newsgroups, etc ) and watch it half downloaded with VLC player. If someone had an app that let me do that... I would be buying one on day one.

- Like I said above... the iTunes ecosystem kind of kills it for me.

Your sister will love it until she tries to watch hulu, or play FarmTown on Facebook or open the .wmv file one of her friend sent her.

 

[Hankster]

The problem is knowledgeable people won't buy the iPad because it doesn't support Flash. Since the keynote I've spoken to over a dozen people who said they won't buy it because it lacks Flash support (including myself).

For me the iPad would be an amazing media and browsing tool, but without Flash...give me a break! Half the sides I visit have Flash content not to mention Hulu.com! Apple is losing sales by not supporting Flash. Adobe isn't going to lose ground, they have a monopoly.

 

[bossxii]

Your sister will love it until she tries to watch hulu, or play FarmTown on Facebook or open the .wmv file one of her friend sent her.

I'm sure she is enjoying doing all that on her Kindle now.... ?

 

[BobHail]

First of all... yes I was a disappointed by the announcement. I, like all of us nerdy mac geeks on here am a power user.

Homerun
- My sister (late thirties, mother of two, six figures, soccer mom-ish) called me six hours after the Keynote and said "Wow, that thing looks so cool! Why did you let me buy a Kindle? I would much rather have that!"

- Point being... this is a consumer device. This will siphon off a ton of would be kindle buyers, netbook buyers, portable gaming devices and may up-sell a number of ipod touch buyers. To build on that last comment, I know dozens of road warrior types who have kindles and ipod touches for reading and media consumption. In my experience... between my iPhone and MBP, both suck to use in a plane. The iPhone is too tiny and the MBP is too big.

- As I mentioned above I was a bit bummed. After looking at the video and seeing the interface and the smoothness of the web surfing... I was pretty sold on it. Maybe not for me, but I definitely see how getting this thing in my hands could very well make me a believer and buyer.

- iPhone OS 4.0/Flash support/Multi-tasking - I believe this is all coming. Steve purposely went to a site where there was flash as a directed nudge towards Adobe.

- Apps will make this device. They'll continue to improve and improve on the SDK to let this baby do a million different things. For developers I do agree with Forstall's comments about a "new goldrush". With more screen real estate, I might actually buy $10 apps.


Probably not for me
- I want to download content from where I want to (newsgroups, etc ) and watch it half downloaded with VLC player. If someone had an app that let me do that... I would be buying one on day one.

- Like I said above... the iTunes ecosystem kind of kills it for me.

Okey we have all established that this device is aimed at grandmas, children and people who doesn´t know how to operate and surf the web with a real OS X Mac computer... Oh wait, you still have to buy a Mac with OS X to operate this device!

So what´s the freaking point then?

 

[bossxii]

The problem is knowledgeable people won't buy the iPad because it doesn't support Flash. Since the keynote I've spoken to over a dozen people who said they won't buy it because it lacks Flash support (including myself).

For me the iPad would be an amazing media and browsing tool, but without Flash...give me a break! Half the sides I visit have Flash content not to mention Hulu.com! Apple is losing sales by not supporting Flash. Adobe isn't going to lose ground, they have a monopoly.

Youtube HTML 5, you should read up on current technology once in a while, would avoid making statements like this.

 

[MTI]

Your sister will love it until she tries to watch hulu, or play FarmTown on Facebook or open the .wmv file one of her friend sent her.

Some would consider that a gift to humanity.

 

[skubish]

I'm sure she is enjoying doing all that on her Kindle now.... ?

Your comparison makes no sense. Nobody buys a kindle to do that. The kindle is clearly for reading books and is clearly marketed as such. The iPad is marketed as a media player/internet browsing device.

 

[Hankster]

Youtube HTML 5, you should read up on current technology once in a while, would avoid making statements like this.

HTML 5 doesn't come close to Adobe Flash in terms of web development. Not even close bud.

 

[r0k]

Flash and Silverlight are parasites trying to usurp the web to force everyone to run special plugins to see ordinary stuff. Sure you can see some extraordinary stuff in flash but some boneheads require you to have flash to view text. Flash needs to go the way of IE 6. Not that Apple is going to bring that about any time soon. But I chuckled when Jobs brought up the NY Times web site with that big puzzle piece floating in the middle of the page.

 

[Jaro65]

I'm sure she is enjoying doing all that on her Kindle now.... ?

LOL! Good comment. I am enjoying all those on my Kindles too! (Not.)

 

[blancoBronco]

Apple is losing sales by not supporting Flash.

It clearly hasn't hurt the iPhone that badly

 

[VideoShooter]

It clearly hasn't hurt the iPhone that badly

I agree it could hurt the iPad though.

We expect a different media experience on something that big... at least I do.

 

[fox10078]

I love it, Textbooks and a word Processor in one. Fantastic. Taking it on a plane. Buy one for the Bathroom to replace the magazine rack. I love my iphone and would love a bigger one.

 

[drjsway]

Okey we have all established that this device is aimed at grandmas, children and people who doesn´t know how to operate and surf the web with a real OS X Mac computer...

When did we establish this? I have a MBA, MBP, and an iMac, but I will do most of my web browsing on the iPad when I get it.

A lot of people here lack the ability to think outside the box. iPad will be the future of computing. The best input device is your finger and mice/trackpads will die off very soon.

All the complaints will be addressed in the future (if not by Apple, then by another tablet). You're all missing the point, which is: you can directly manipulate objects with your fingers and that makes the iPad a much better experience than any laptop out there, regardless of price.

In 10 years, 90% of computing will be done on multi-touch tablets and mice/trackpads/physical keyboards will be things of the past (once on screen keyboards are perfected with some sort of tactile feedback).

The problem with physical keyboards is the same as with smart phones. The buttons are there whether you need them or not and are the same regardless of application.

 

[VideoShooter]

The problem with physical keyboards is the same as with smart phones. The buttons are there whether you need them or not and are the same regardless of application.

Agree. I think it's possible that the future of laptops are still clam shells, but with both halves being screens/touch screens.

I recently played with one of the touch droid's... I was impressed by the feedback and see THAT being a cool feature on the iPad. As well as the aforementioned future tech.

All of this whining kind of reminds me when the iPhone came out...

- No GPS?
- No 3G?

What the **** good is it?!?!?!

I think Apple is still three steps ahead... Just not five.

 

[admanimal]

HTML 5 doesn't come close to Adobe Flash in terms of web development. Not even close bud.

Yeah, Flash's browser crashing ability alone is breathtaking. HTML 5 is pathetic in comparison.

 

[Macdicted]

Yeah, Flash's browser crashing ability alone is breathtaking. HTML 5 is pathetic in comparison.

I agree , Im so sick of watching video on YouTube freeze ...its pathetic

 

[damnyooneek]

the $500 ipad is a no brainer compared to the $489 kindle dx. anyone that likes reading newspapers, magazines, and books will love the ipad. consider the kindle dead. unless amazon is willing to considerably drop their prices which will kill their profit or completely design a new kindle which will take time they are in trouble.

 

[Jaro65]

the $500 ipad is a no brainer compared to the $489 kindle dx. anyone that likes reading newspapers, magazines, and books will love the ipad. consider the kindle dead. unless amazon is willing to considerably drop their prices which will kill their profit or completely design a new kindle which will take time they are in trouble.

I would expect though for us to be able to annotate the text in iBooks application on iPad, as well copy the text to a clipboard. I can do it on DX, but the interface is quite ungainly.

 

[King Mook Mook]

My sister (late thirties, mother of two, six figures, soccer mom-ish) called me six hours after the Keynote and said "Wow, that thing looks so cool! Why did you let me buy a Kindle? I would much rather have that!"

If that's what she thinks about the iPad then she is defiantly not the target audience for the Kindle. The Kindle is for avid book readers (I love it, my Grandmother and her book club love their Kindles) firstly because (here in Australia at least) books are cheaper. A lot cheaper. And as some books I (and my Grandmother's book club) like don't come to Australia I have set up an American account on all of their Kindles and they love how the font size can be adjusted and how easily they can get their books and how it doesn't strain their eyes like normal computer screens. I also love how it doesn't strain my eyes and I also love how 3G is free on it (and you can also do web browsing for free on it but would not get the Kindle for this).

The Kindle is for avid book readers. Your sister doesn't appear to be of that category, because the Kindle does book reading, and only book reading and as she wants an iPad she does not appear to value the functionality. And it does the reading of books very, very well and at a very reasonable price.

I saw a quote from Gizmodo that I though described the ipad very well was this:

The iPad ... is a jack of all trades but a master of none.

King Mook Mook

 

[VideoShooter]

"The iPad ... is a jack of all trades but a master of none."


True...

And yes... there are those that would prefer a kindle... Just like there are those that would prefer an ipod touch and a moto razor...

I still think the iPad... after personally touching it... will get me all hot and bothered.

 

[lordhamster]

Some would consider that a gift to humanity.

Exactly, not to mention the fact that these providers are still able to create their own APPS. Don't you think a dedicated app would be much more pleasant than some half-assed flash game?