Apple Announces iPad, We Yawn

I would like to add to that... Microsoft has had tablets AND UMPCs for years!

Microsoft and Apple take very clearly different tactics for the market- Microsoft gives all the features that people don't know how to use, Apple gives less than the average user knows about. The great solution will probably be in the middle but as a geek I prefer Microsoft's approach.

Side Point: I bet Steve Ballmer is locking the Courier team in their offices this week and insisting on a product by mid Feb... it would be amazing for MS to take advantage of this.

Some very funny tweets.

-Wicket retahdedRT @blam You should mention that people in Boston are going to be very confused discerning "iPod" from "iPad" (via @jamesman)
about 3 hours ago from Tweetie

-RT @_paperino: iPad = gigantic iPhone = designed for megalomaniacs; that's why steve jobs is so proud of it
7 minutes ago from TweetDeck

-RT @NickHodge: Win7 for netbooks rumored to restrict to 3 apps. Pitchforks. Apple #iPad restrict to 1 app. Revolutionary. Strange world.

the iPad doesn't have real NUI like digital ink.
Nor does it do true widescreen or 1080p.
I bet dpi really stinks too.

Meh to both the iPad (what a name) and Microsoft's current tablets and UMPCs.

The iPad is an oversized iPod Touch. No multi-tasking? Seriously? This things seriously needs iPhone OS 4.

Microsoft's Windows XP/Vista/7 tablets just aren't practical. I have a Compaq TC1000 slate (sitting around somewhere) and things haven't really improved much since then. They're still too heavy with an interface not designed to be used with a pen and/or finger.

If Microsoft combined WinCE 7 with a new interface optimised for touch and created a Tablet version of Office and IE8, I think they'll have a better product. Even WinMo7 on a 5-7" tablet (with the new Tegra 2 or some other uber-fast Cortex-A8/A9 SoC) would be more awesome.

The last time you yawned was when the iPhone came out ;)

Who cares about Windows *Mobile* 7, when Windows 7 is fully capable of Tablet support? I wouldn't even need a special "mobile" FireFox or Safari or whatever.
Who'd buy the iPad if there'd be a MacBook Tablet which runs *all* OSX programs? (OK, unlike with Windows, Apple's mobile platform has more applications than the desktop...)

2010-01-27 22:50:27 ET
You sound more and more like the Fox eyeing the grapes......
I used WinCE and WinMo for more than 10 yrs, but iPhone blows it out of water when it comes to MultiMedia and Games.
I'm sure the new iPad will do the same.
Apple is years ahead of Microsoft.
All MSFT is doing is catching up, not getting ahead.

I don't get the allure of these devices. They aren't a viable replacement for either a smartphone or a notebook/netbook. How many people are going to buy a gadget just for web surfing, when a netbook is cheaper and does more? I see this as largely a niche device for gadget geeks. Sure, it could be a fairly sizeable "niche", but no way iPad adds to Apple's revenues anything like iPhone does.

They're calling the iPad the "Kindle killer". How? The iPad has a back lit screen and the Kindle doesn't. So the iPad will be burning out your eyes while the Kindle is like reading a piece of paper.

i'm glad it's announced for two reasons. The first, now people can stop speculating what the hell this thing is. Seriously, i'm thirty and there's been speculation about an Apple tablet for most of my life. Granted, some of speculation went to what became the iPhone, but still.

Secondly, like all things Apple does, it pushes the market forward. There's been tablets before just as there were slim laptops before the MacBook Air, touch screen phones before the iPhone. Apple's like the tagline in the old BASF ads. They don't make the product. They make the product better. With the iPad in the wild, it'll push acceptance of the form factor and provide some ideas on what one can do with it.

i am a bit disappointed though. i've yet to see video of it, but i was expecting at least multitasking with a new paradigm, as we've seen in WebOS, and perhaps a camera or two for gestures or facial recognition or some niftyness that blows current technology away. The last time i had that feeling was when the original iPhone was announced.

Edit: After viewing the slides on Engadget, the device makes more sense. It's a big iPhone, yes, but also a better netbook. Limiting the device to iPhone OS works for a number of reasons. With 100% compatibility with the iPhone app store, they've got a wealth of apps out the gate, and keeping development similar to the iPhone means new, iPad-aware and iPad-only apps will be easy to develop for current iPhone developers. It also means that battery life can be increased while storage requirements are decreased because the OS was designed with mobile use in mind.

Having said all that, i'll probably never own one, just like with the iPhone. i'd gladly pay the same price for a device that runs a full OS, is a bit thicker, and has a lower battery life. But i could definitely see who this would appeal to, and though it won't be the runaway hit that the iPhone is, i think it'll still be a success for Apple.

Steve Jobs state about iMostneedlessthing something like "the best browsing and web experience" - and that again with no flash support. That guy is talking bullshits, in that case advertisement tags that have nothing common with the truth.
And Apple used again the same retarded iphonish design, which in my humble opinion is one of the most ugliest (puke) . Maybe they just don't want to spend money about design and used again the same for 4th time. They need the money to pay to someone to make the hardest thing in the world for them - multitasking in iphone os.

dont even know the point of a tablet pc. same pain to deal with as an laptop but with weaker computer power. the HD2 is more powerful than this thing.

the cell phone is the new laptop and the laptop is the new desktop. obviously no need for a negative comprimise as this "ipad"(couldnt they have called it something else? (itab, islate, or maybe just not have bothered with it.)

this SHOULD have been the new iphone...what happened?

Did I miss something or my HD2 is more powerful then the iPad? Do I get to call the HD2 Super-Mini iPad or what?

and sites dedicated to mocking the iPad begin... bleedingipad.com - some great videos already. Not bad for a few hours later:)

My god, the amount of inadequacy in this room is astounding. I have never before, in my life, seen so many grown men act like a bunch of freakin' babies. It's like you guys have perpetual penis envy. You keep trying to tell yourself that size doesn't matter, in hopes of one day actually believing it. Listen, you guys keep saying the same thing at every Apple keynote or product launch. When will enough be enough? How many times can you guys be wrong before you shut up? Even if Apple marketed this solely as an eReader, it would be awesome. But throw in everything else that it has, and it starts to become clear. Alright, jackasses, I'm out. Enjoy your short-man syndrome.

http://picasaweb.google.com/paikenster/Desktop#5431624466609787074

SaggyBalls is a beoch. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA iPad, you can't make this up, golden.

I Think Apple has entered a whole new market, but I don't think it will be as popular as the iPhone 3G was a launch.This is just an oversized iPod Touch! Even though it has some better apps, still! I wouldn't pay 500 bucks for this.

honestly, this looks really pretty ugly.

the success of the ipad will most likely ride on the quality of the user experience when interacting with the various apples services built-in, or on the internet.

it's *not* so much about the device and its specifications - and we know these will improve year to year - rather, it will be about the user experience and ease of use for various media.

remember we had digital audio players and smartphones before Apple entered those markets too, right? and what made for apple's popularity? the user experience.

Wacom multitouch FTW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTK8UMcmlME

:-D

Most telling thing about this so far is that all of the Apple fans in my office are crowing about how cool this thing is but not a single one is going to place an order. It's the same sort of reception from The Faithful that I remember the Macbook Air getting on its release. A surprising number of these guys are interested in the MS Courier product based on those leaked promo videos.

To Jobs' comment about this device's intimacy, my partner responded, "Intimacy?! Does it have a glory hole?"

All I can think is, "Hello Newton."

I'd agree w/ Mal's assessment that this seems like a computer for non tech-savvy people.... kinda how they dumbed down the smartphone a little for the avg consumer. Perhaps MS can take a page and have HTC design a skin over one of their tablets to make it more intuitive.

late comment but i had to post this LMAO!

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs152.snc3/17934_5574511716...

The latest question on my survey blog is "What should Apple have called its new tablet computer?" Come on by & share your suggestions.
- Daisy