The new iPad tablet computer from Apple launched today and I’m going to try to summarize the reviews as they come in – which frankly is a better indication of the quality of the device than if I had one in my own hands…. which I don’t …. However at an iPad Price of only $499 this looks like an amazing device at a great price.
One of the big issues at CES 2010 was the fact that Apple’s Tablet would almost certainly raise the computing bar in terms of expectations for the “robustness” of something that is a cross between a full computer and an e-Reader. To my way of thinking (ie rational computing purchases) good tablets may wind up as e-Reader killers – or at least will force e-readers to become real computers and offer a lot more features than they currently offer.
Why buy a Kindle or Nook when you can have a full computer and internet at your fingertips for only marginally higher cost? At $499 the Apple Tablet “entry level” model is coming in much cheaper than the predicted $1000 price tag – perhaps as part of Apple’s normally brilliant quality and marketing approaches which generally lead to early widespread adoption of devices.
iPad from Apple
Joe Duck 
Gold Plated versus Stripped Down Plain Vanilla?
I agree with the Tablet as Kindle/ebook Killer. Why lug around something that is ONLY an ebook reader when a generalized internet access and a virtual keyboard are available on the Tablet? Lack of a telephone? Lack of a camera? Perhaps there will be add-ons or after-market extensions?
Some people really value a particular device or a particular function. Some people will trade the size of the screen for a camera and bar code reader, but most won’t.
I’ve always felt the main problem with all these blackberries, 3g, 4g, i-phone stuff was that they were too small. Can’t see them well and can’t use fingers unless you have dainty digits. So all Apple really did was stretch the ipad until it had a decent size to it.
Didn’t they call these …laptops a year ago or so? 🙂
It does look like an improvement on the Kindle/e-reader hustle, however. E-readers are mostly a type of techie-accessory–“conspicuous consumption” as Veblen called it a hundred years ago or so (then so are laptops and blackberries, i-phones/pods, et al). Hey hipsters, don’t be caught reading…newsprint, or some old paperback–Kindle it! And make AmazonCo happy.
Really it’s probably designed for the investor class of SiliconV–they can conveniently check their NASDAQ stock hourly (minutely), and tell their brokers to buy and sell while enjoying a frappaccino in Mt View…
Speaking of….Apple:
http://www.handtops.com/blog/243/0/Why_the_iPad_iTampon_should_be_boycotted.html
“”The ‘genius’ of Jobs is to take other people’s work, brand it Apple then market the crap out of it to the mainstream (read: those oblivious of the Industry) as a new creation. This clearly works for them (8.7Million iphones last quarter) and shows the mainstream are made of really dumb people.””””
MacHeist marches on. The iPad’s battery may be the more egregious of the design flaws. A Kindle charge last like a week or more; iRag’s good a day, at best. Online, 3-4 hours, reportedly.