The price is the problem, Tim. Lovely device but it’s basically just a way of getting locked into the Apple content delivery system at your own expense. A 3G enabled version in the UK is likely to cost at least £500 for a device which can’t replace a laptop, netbook or desktop and therefore will only be purchased by those that can afford that additional cost.
I like the vision of being able to flop down in front of the telly and surf (which I currently do adequately on a Samsung NC10) and if the UK is well served by content streams (and that’s a big “if”) then it’s an attractive proposition – except for the price.

The company that takes Apple’s vision and delivers it in a device costing £250 will be onto a winner but probably won’t do it nearly as well.

I think it’s a concept product but not a commercial one beyond the richer of the Apple community who can afford what is, essentially, a leisure toy.

Perhaps if version 2 has USB (to connect a proper keyboard), multi-tasking, a more powerful processor and a lower price it might have a chance but v1 is for mugs.

Thanks for pointing out the poll so I could vote with a big fat no.

I just don’t see the point and like a physical keyboard too much. A slower processor and the keyboard chopped off while charging £200 more than a netbook is not going to convince me to buy one. Heck I’d take a linux netbook over this at least that has a keyboard

I think the sports illustrated demo shows some of the problems – you could lie on the couch with your ipad and not be able to watch it because it’s in flash

The issue, Klupus, is whether your wife would pay over £500 for something probably not capable of replacing her PC. It will succeed if it’s CHEAP enough for the average user and developers will only develop for it if it sells enough units. Would you really spend that much to surf on the couch? I’m on the couch right now using my NC10. It balances nicely on my knees and has a real keyboard which had meant I’m able to type quickly. And it cost half and ipad.

I bought an 8.9″ Dialogue Flybook tablet computer 4 years ago. Small, lightweight, easy to hold and perfect for sofa based web surfing, use on trains, planes etc. It was far from perfect (2 hr battery, couldn’t really handle video) but it convinced me of the form factor as another device rather than as a replacement device. I even commented somewhere on this site 2 years ago that I wanted a 10″ iPod Touch.

As for the iPad, it is pretty much what I wanted. It needs Flash but that can be cured if someone bashes heads together. I also wanted a USB input. There is a device (according to Apple.com) that converts the standard connector to USB or SD. I was also hoping that Apple would use bluetooth to connect a wide range of hardware (keyboard, printer, external storage etc). With a propretory format the licensing would be worth billions. I also thought that they would use a bluetooth link to an iPhone rather than embed 3G into the device directly, thus maintaining iPhone sales.

I’m not an Apple fan, apart from the iPod range, but I sincerely think that when people start using tablet devices they will discover how great they are. Apple are well ahead of Microsoft, Sony, Google and I think the iPad will be a massive success.

(Should be called iSlate though!)

If I am able to manage a network, connect to exchange and control any computer, with my iPhone. I invite the larger format happily. The approach to this device seems to be linear. I don’t expect any portable device, no matter how good or expensive, to be able to manage all my needs. Yes, the computing power and hardware is up to it, but the fact that you are on the go, invites many other variables that aren’t about design. The environment which a portable device exists in, always changes. I expect portable devices to be able to control remote computers or clients. A system that is safesomewhere dry and well ventilated! Backed up and fast as well. A portable device that can be damaged or stolen is to risky, but a device that does pretty much everything else quite well, as well as remote another system makes sense. Granted, the lack of flash player and a camera on the front is a big minus. With SIP phones that work over data plans on the rise, a camera enable phone service could make sense! Who says you can’t make a call over the ipad!!!

Kevin Partner Says:
February 5th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
The issue, Klupus, is whether your wife would pay over £500 for something probably not capable of replacing her PC.

Kevin the point is she knows how much it costs and what it can do and how the interface works. She is really happy to stump up the cash for it.

Sorry to repeat the point, she realised straight away that this was a device she had been waiting for and didn’t know it.

Is everyone missing a small point here, including the man with the wife that wants the ipad….

Samsung Q1 Ultra
Asus R2h
HP TC1100
plus lots of Tablets

There’s ALREADY devices that pretty much offer the same functionality as the ipad, yet, people do seem to miss that point?

It still is just a giant Ipod touch, I’m sure there are people that wanted one, as I am sure there are a lot of people out there that will buy it just because it has an apple on it and it looks cool!
That does not change the fact that it does not bring any innovation to the market unless you consider the price an innovation! I’m pretty sure that the touch enabled netbooks that will hit the market in the near future as a consequence to the introduction of the Ipad will be priced accordingly! The only small consolation that I will have is that they will almost certainly be better products!
It is a real pity, Apple had the chance to introduce a lovely product maybe running their fantastic operating system that could have really been used for soething maybe even two some-thing’s at the time instead the decided that what we needed was a giant, single-tasking, no battery changing, useless Ipod

I think Apple’s definitely got the pricing range right for this – £500 for a ‘premium’ tablet experience is bang on, but I think there are a couple of issues with it:

1. No multi-tasking. Seeing as Jobs was laying into netbooks *hard* at the launch (along the lines of ‘there’s nothing a netbook can do better than anything else’), well, I’d first of all point out the ability to play music and browse the web and type into office documents *all at the same time* as pretty cool and likely to have more appeal to Apple’s usual target markets, e.g. students with money. They really need to sort that out in a later revision, as the iPad is being marketed against multi-tasking devices.

2. Kinda directed at David Wright, but others have made similar points: The iPad is going to be unwieldy! How can it not be! You can’t rest it on your lap or coffee table like a netbook/laptop, as it will just be lying flat, meaning you’ll be seeing everything at an angle and all dark (because of viewing angles of screens). The only way you can use it is to prop it up on something (possibly unstable, especially when you start touching the screen) or hold it in both hands on your knees/table, occasionally holding it in one hand while you use it. This is not going to be a one-handed device like using an iPod so effortlessly can be, or like reading a book on the train or in bed, etc. It will be a huge improvement on laptops/netbooks for those purposes, but it’s not going to be anywhere near as good as Apple wants you to believe it is.

I think the reported battery life (around 10 hours) is fantastic, the hardware is there, the interface really is the best in the industry (and why I think every single competitor has failed to make significant inroads), the price is right BUT I think this is one time where Apple can’t create a product and then force a consumer market segment around it; many could buy it as the ideal equivalent to a netbook or Windows tablet, then get frustrated by the lack of multi-tasking (a ‘feature’ which I suspect many Apple store employees will handily leave out when listing all the many benefits this will have over its competitors). But then again, maybe Apple can pull off the iPhone phenomenon again – sell a product that is initially lacking in several fundamental features that people would expect as standard, wait until it gets significant enough market share, then introduce the features that many believed should have been in there from the start, making their position truly unassailable.

Guess we’ll wait and see.

Still hate it. Still hate the fact that because it has the Apple name on it and because it looks nice people will buy it at the inflated price. Still hate the Apple ecosystem which locks you into it and doesn’t play well with anything else. Will magazine publishers be able to advertise competing products on it? Apple just refused an app on the basis that it mentioned it was a finalist in a Google Android competition.

i think apple should be applauded. microsoft and pc manufacturers have had enough time to produce tablet pc’s of this calibre ie with good touch interface but have chosen to sit on their backsides and do nothing. finally apple are innovating nad now things are moving forward. why does it take apple to do something and THEN sony thinks maybe we shud do the same!!

Content pricing is surely the key. If it goes the same way as ebooks with content being priced the same in print or virtual, then I for one won’t be interested. But if we see the savings in production costs being shared between publisher and consumer, and I can get my PCPro for significantly less that I pay currently, then I will take a serious look.

Another piece of locked-in proprietary bling for the hard of thinking and easily pleased.

Clearly, it’s a work in process. The first iPhone was virtually a closed operating system with no 3G, a crappy camera, and lousy reception quality.

There’s huge eye-candy potential here.

“as our history is of covering Windows software and hardware rather than Apple products”

Really? Can’t say I’ve noticed. Seems to be an endless stream of stories about Apple on PC Pro. Perhaps you should consider a name change?

Why do I get the feeling that if Microsoft products locked user into the brand in the way which Apple do, that they would have about a hundred lawsuits and antitrusts lined up against them…but Apple can get away with it? Can anyone explain?

“Rufus” & “Klupus” ? What T.F. ?!

–DBJ

I think Steve Jobs & apple have tried hard to create a new game braking product but I don’t think the iPad is such a device. I think if you look back at other hardware makers attempts to launch a Slate or tablet PC its never really caught fire and sadly I think the iPad will always remain a niche product. I’m NOT knocking this product I think apple have been quite brave to launch the iPad. Give the iPad another 3 years before you can say its been a success or a total failure.

So are you saying that the iPod is designed for the ill? That is very niche isn’t it

I see nothing here of value except the Apple “cool factor” and an arguably sleek interface, for which though you pay a LOT of money, give up a LOT of connectivity and content support (Flash etc.), and let yourself be locked into proprietary formats and Apple’s iron-fisted content distribution systems.

It just doesn’t make sense. Consider the Eee PC T91 from Asus (now also in multi-touch). Little more than half the price of an iPad, and it multitasks, supports flash, and has Bluetooth and USB. The keyboard folds away when you want a tablet, and folds out when you want a netbook. How is that not better?

I think it may suit users like my retired parents. I have tried to find the right device for them but my mother can’t really get to grips with things we take for granted such as the mouse.
If I set up the wifi version for them I can see them reading the daily mail with their morning cup of tea at the kitchen table and being able to send email in an intuitive (to them way)

Hard to judge without hands-on use, but I don’t see how it solves the fundamental conflicts between size, form, and usefulness. I have a Blackberry because it is best for email (but useless for everything else), an iTouch for music and occasional light surfing, and a laptop for anything serious, but which I only take when I know I will need it. The iPad will undoubtedly have a huge cool factor, but I can’t see myself carrying one everywhere like a phone.

Am I really the only one who finds the main problem with it is the fact it’s one of the ugliest pieces of tech since the original PS3?

Apple are famous for their design but this thing looks hideous.

I think the comments getting to the heart of why we are willing to cede this level of content control to Apple are spot on.

So now the print publishers think they have found their salvation (ie new revenue stream) in Apples iBook store? Good luck. The problem with print publishing is one of evolution and failure to adapt to a new market. Only the legacy generation is going to be wowed by a “digital magazine”. These experiments have been tried and have failed. Personally, with the dominance of the web, I feel *any* for of “reading” is a niche and hence any “reader” is a niche and they all have expiration dates. Kids will be looking to traditional venues for reading less and less.

As for multimedia experiences, they can be created and consumed on *any* computing device. We don’t need a locked ecosystem. And therein lies my problem. Kindle is available for Kindle, Windows the Mac and the iPhone (Android coming). Same for the B&N reader. Zinion, which as people hail Apples salvation of magazines people seem to ignore (its the same thing but has been around for 6 years), also runs on PC and Mac.

Why do we suddenly now “need” this to be handled by Apple and locked in to *their* store on *their* device on *their* terms?

With music and video the market was too big and their lock in was finite. Eventually they were forced to open things a bit – port iTunes to the PC, move away from DRM, etc. I would expect a similar thing will happen with the book format. I am sure they dont *want* it to happen though.

So do we need some revolutionary form of moving print to the digital age? Possibly – at least for some folks. Do we need to “save the print industry” by supporting a monolithic ecosystem design to appeal to partners by promising maximum monetization and hardware lock-in? No. We really dont.

I think Apple addressed gigantic, clearly important, markets when they released their MP3 player and phone. These were *proven* concepts that simply needed better execution.

Slate tablets? Not so at all. Many say the “problem” has been MSFT incompetence. I dont buy it. I think the problem is the form factor. If its big enough to be useful, its as big as a laptop, yet never as useful. They’re always bound to be as expensive as a laptop. And a laptop can be as small and light as a slate (or very nearly so).

EReaders in general are a semi-proven niche. But the Kindle and Nook and Sony cover that niche fairly well.

So the iPad is a traditional slate tablet, running a phone OS, masquerading as an eReader in order to have a clear use case.

If it werent for the Jobs magic, Apple hype machine, and near SLAVISH devotion of the media and blogosphere to Cupertino, the reaction would have been overwhelmingly skeptical as it has been each and every time we’ve gone down this road.

Microsoft definitely was delinquent in not providing any sort of ecosystem or transformation of the user experience or update to Office when they went down the Tablet road, Origami road, UMPC 2.0 road…

But lets be real… The PC market (unlike the Apple market) is OPEN. If the form factor were KILLER and so genuinely important, 3rd parties would have rushed in.

The price point of the iPad is great and ubiquitous connectivity makes things interesting, but what I think happened is that the Netbook bomb dropped *during development* of that thing. They missed their window and they know it. Thats why Jobs went so hard after Netbooks (and btw, there are Netbook tablets and slates) in his key note.

I think the release and enormous popularity of the Netbook form factor was an “uh oh” moment for the iPad team.

My feeling is it will find its niche, Apple fans will buy 5 of them (the Apple bloggers are already on line), the tech press and media will be SLAVES to the concept since they see it as a life line, but ultimately, this will certainly not be as “transformational” or “fundamentally important” as some of the intense hyperbole from the tech press would lead you to believe. It is CERTAINLY no iPhone.

For those who might be interested in an analysis of how the iPad might play very well in the Higher Education market try this link. The blogger works in IT in the education field.

http://whatswrongwithwindows.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-does-apples-latest-ithing-mean-for.html

It’s interesting that peoples’ first reaction was mostly negative, but perhaps understandable when the pre-launch expectations had been so high. Now we are thinking more clearly, I believe Philip Stoddard has it right: it will certainly attract the iPhone brigade and in addition to magazines and video, new apps will be developed that benefit from its larger screen. I can see myself on the sofa with it now, doing more easily what I currently do with the iPhone.

But I would like to take it to work and read my IHT on the bus or train as well as catch up with Twitter and FB (my local buses have started to provide free wi-fi, so I imagine that trains will soon be enabled). I would certainly like to have it at work because it would mean that I could bypass the office IT policies that prevent me using FB and Twitter as well as Flickr and blogs. But how to get it there? Women can chuck it into a handbag but men don’t have one and it’s certainly not pocketable. It would go in a laptop case, but the laptop’s already in there, isn’t it? So it’s not easily portable. That’s its main drawback; but it’s not a killer.