iPad is to netbooks what the iPod was to mp3 players. If they make it pretty enough and easy enough to use, it will succeed.

On a side note, it can act like a phone with a bluetooth headset and a VOIP application.

This is a lame product simply because it’s really behind the curve already. Really, it’s almost like the iPad is knockoff. Look for web tablets that already run android and have been on the market for awhile. You can get them with screens from 3.5″ up to 12″, and nearly all of them are cheaper, have more features(multitasking), and are more open.

I’m not an apple fan, but I was hoping they would do some impressive things with this like they usually do whenever they enter a new field. I’m sure people will still buy it though because a lot of people just go with whatever apple makes.

When have they ever gone into a new field? They just make quality versions of what is out there.

I sold my original iPhone a while ago to buy an HD2. I love it but the browsing just isen’t as good as on the iphone(flash aside), altough the ressolution makes a huge difference. When i want to do a cassual browse in the couch, I grabb my netbook, and that is just not a great expierience with the little mouspad and keyboard. I had an Acer C300 convertible tablet, it needed a stylus, but for browsing it was perfect. To bad the touchscreen broke down.
I would love to see a more affordable alternative with windows 7 or linux that has usb and does multitasking in a 2 month timeframe, like the Lenovo U1(no pricing yet, guessing it won’t be cheap) otherwise I will buy an iPad and get screwed next year with all the extras apple waited to add in.

IPad is almost all about hype, but Lenovo and Microsoft are going to bring similar devices in the next months. Apple has outrunned them with all the viral marketing which has surrounded the ipad all these last months. From the technical point of view, the ipad isnt anything marvelous, its just an arm with a “decent” screen and a fairly nice battery. No webcam? You have to upgrade the internal USB bus to add a new port. Thats no big deal.
The big score of Apple is the deal with all the editorial world. They have showed with the ITunes store that they are serious people to the music editorial houses. Almost the same thing about the software developer world with the AppStore. Why not with books?
I think those are reasons that are different this time with this tablet PC, and why it may finally boost the launch of this technology.
And anyhow, the design is really high-tech.Havent we watched plenty of movies/tv-series these last years that show people with these devices?

Jacob, if it’s $500 too much, then .. you wouldn’t take one if I paid you a dollar to do so?

Dive into Mark had an interesting post on the topic of Apple’s strangling their developer community – http://diveintomark.org/archives/2010/01/29/tinkerers-sunset

This just might be another episode of Apple snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

And the name of the device.. PR FAIL.

i already hate the ipad.

steve jobs could put his seal of approval on a used napkin and people would buy it.

@lizardb0y
Are you calling apples mobile products unhackable?
Oh, it does 720p playback on a non hd screen, something my netbook fails to do.

Expensive -check
Knockoff -check

I’m with Caleb on this one, sans the excitement.

“”When have they ever gone into a new field? They just make quality versions of what is out there.”"

no they put them into quality cases, their products OMG, seriously I cant understand how a company that started the major pc revolution is still around and cant solder worth a crap

ask my g4 with its cpu half self desoldered, or any macbook user in the last few years getting 3-4 repairs cause their gpu keeps poping off, or every other freakin model bursting into flames

and the G5′s nuff said there, 10 grand for a computer that cant keep from self destruction?

@Oler
It does have an HD screen, it’s 768 tall, perfect for 720p content. HD has to do with height not width last time I checked.
But on your other points, I do agree with you. I probably will buy a capacitive stylus and jailbreak it, and you’re right this does not fit in my pocket.

@prince
My bad, 720p indeed just refers to horizontal lines, 1280×720 is just a common resolution used.
and 768 is often paired with 1366.
You do get huge black bars or the sides hiddden when you zoom in due to the 4:3 format.
I guess 16:9 or 16:10 isn’t verry handy in a tablet.

So does this freeze and give you twirly bananas too? just like a MAC when being asked to do anything more than power up, but my tip is save yourself some money and way till 3rd gen ipad comes out in a couple of months, one more question, is it upgradable like other apple products? i mean throw it away and buy a new one

“Today, Apple launched a computer that will never belong to its owner. Apple will use Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to gain total veto power over the applications you use and the media you can view.”

“The iPad’s unprecedented use of DRM to control all capabilities of a general purpose computer is a dangerous step backward for computing and for media distribution.”

Listen this time it serious and dangerous for all of us. People this is historic moment, this event will affect our future, if Apple will get away with this soon everyone will follow their path and we will be doomed to have TV like computers and internet, with out right
to “own” them.
So please show Apple that you are not little Kids who need supervision all the time because they too stupid to be individual and make own decisions.
The critical time to resist is now, in a month or even few weeks it will be too late, show Apple that they crossed the line this time.

I might have been impressed if it ran a real OS,
but the ipads just a gimmick laden screen with little else. Personally I don’t even like the look of the thing it looks dated cumbersome and just waiting to fall behind a couch down a storm drain or get cracked in a back pack filled with books. Why are there books in the backpack when you have the Ipad? Why because the majority of books people use or read that aren’t a new york times best seller probably won’t be readily available. Why can’t they actually put forth some effort into making what they have more robust and modification friendly instead of loading poor IT people with devices that suck at integration. I can’t wait to see our students figiting with these and wondering why they can’t hook it up to the projector like the other students with real netbooks and laptops.

wow, I’m really surprised by all the negative response to the iPad. I am beginning to wonder how many of you people are shills for the competitors and if you aren’t, you are all a bunch of fucking tools.

How excited were people when the crunchpad was being developed? This device is 10x better in every way and will absolutely dominate its market. It’s offered in two versions so you aren’t forced into a 3G tax.

My god how blind are you people? Can you imagine going to the doctor and the receptionist hands you an iPad to fill out your information on? Or any other service oriented place?

I do plan on buying one, probably even the 3G version considering how cheap the bandwidth plans are. I might wait until the second or third generation, but I kind of doubt it.

As for hacking, I think an hd upgrade is in order, but i think i’ll let someone else figure it out first.

@Prince
Actually, it does not have an “HD” screen. The lowest resolution HD is 720p. 720p is a 16:9 resolution. Being binded to that aspect ratio, your max scalability is governed by the vertical lines. In this case 1024. 1024 with a 16:9 counterpart is 1024×576. This resolution is called 576p and is considered EDTV (enhanced definition). So the ipad technically scales 720p video to it’s 576p display.

I’m on team caleb.

@anon
Yeah, a $1000 fabrege` glass tablet instead of 25 cents worth of paper, pen, and clipboard to be handled by people who may not know how to tie their shoes. I can see this saving lots of money for an already messed up healthcare system. Better get a launch model before Blue Shield buys them all up for all their providers. HD upgrade hack? Really? Better check the shed again and see if there’s a missing pitchspoon.

Wow, this topic was perfect for revealing the ratio of adults to adolescents in the Hack-a-Day community.

If you don’t like Apple products just don’t buy them. Some of us like Apple products, and not because we’re drones. We like them for the usability, the great software and attention to the human interface.

So, to the point, I love my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, but I’m not sure I see an iPad in my future. In truth, I was hoping that all the rumors of a tablet would turn out to be false and that something more interesting would have been revealed. Then again, when the iPod first rolled out I was disappointed as well. However, I think that the user space for the iPad is going to grow because I’m sure the iPad will iterate fairly quickly just as the iPod did.

I also would have liked to see the iPad be more of a computer than a large iPhone that will be more difficult to develop for.

All the fussing and fighting! Initially i was unimpressed with the bubblegum looking apps that were demo’d, however imagine the apps that could be developed on this platform!

Come on, it looks like a solid piece of hardware, could be used for all sorts of multitouch midi hardware control. Think of the lemur!

Yeah apple have lost touch with the creative people but apple products are far from unhackable, just try harder!

Its interesting how angry people get about apple products i think most are just closet fanboys! Hiding in their cupboards wishing they had that macbook pro!

flame on!

It’s just a big iPod, built in New Jersey.

I’m glad to see this finally get under way.

Once apple manages to pull in enough market share with a pure DRM play, Microsoft will quickly follow. The biggest difference between Vista and Windows 7 is pretty much that they’ve worked out the bugs in the DRM so that it doesn’t cause issues for people who don’t file share.

How many people know the story of the netbook maker who captures the built-in webcam photo on first log-in… and sends it home while checking for updates? Yes, now your dossier has a picture. That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

What I really look forward to is widespread IPV6 rollouts. IPV6 = no nat required – finally, we’ll be able to absolutely track where you go and what you do on the internet with you… And no more browser tricks required.

Run firefox? It has unique per install IDs.
Run IE? Even worse.
Any browser that runs flash has uniquely trackable information. Even if you’re crafty, the first time your wife, son or brother-in-law checks into hotmail, yahoo or gmail, you’re no longer anonymous.

You cannot hide your tracks anymore, little mice!
So be very, very good!

Marketing 101, he took it.
How he describes it is quite lulzy IMO, but either way its pretty sweet, i wonder when an open source clone of this will be manufactured, preferably heavier duty than this.

I mean ‘challenged’ (‘errare humanum est’)

“My god how blind are you people? Can you imagine going to the doctor and the receptionist hands you an iPad to fill out your information on? Or any other service oriented place?”

yes thank you, finally a way I can have my medical records locked into a propitiatory device that is in constant link with its parent company

The star trek notion is cool, and yea I want that also, but I personally dont want apple to control every single thing about it

On a side note, I cant help but wonder if Steve Jobs didnt stumble on a time machine jump years into the future, video taped himself at age 80, then came back to 84 for the commercial

i’m not a fan of mac so i can truly say there is not a single aspect of a portable device with out open ended media support,flash player support,flash drive ports of any kind or general usefulness beside being a giant I-Touch.
With that said i am going to wait on a more useful’ less restricted device with actual ports and full blu-tooth support. which IMHO is going to be easier to do than some have suggested.
on another note why hate Apple? when you can just move along and ignore the trivial hype?what should be a larger concern is the workmanship that is put into ANY device these days …. a crashing economy suggests those with out money are likely leaving control in the hands of those that are irresponsible and dubious at best…. if you do not like some thing {change it} especially the minds of those in control … this is a democracy in a pseudo republic. stand up or get trampled appl relies on the same business all other companies do …tell you favorite brand you would like these types of products and HOW you would like them to be…don’t just BITCH….

this is,
TheCitySpiders

I have an ipod touch, and I find it quite usefull for sitting on the couch and checking email/ this site when we are spending time together and I don’t like what she is watching but feel obligated to be in the same room with her. I use the X-copy for PSP to rip movies that I can drag onto the ipod a bit cheaper than itunes. Iv’e played countless games for free that itunes gives away. I see a big market for rented movie watching and book reading with this kind of device.

The effect of the ipad I’d expect or should I say would like to see is more attention to the specs on the screens with things like netbooks, apple specifically went for a quality IPS panel and that’s something you’d think a company like samsung and such would do, sell a netbook and such and specifically highlight that is has a quality IPS panel in it, since samsung is a monitor manufacturer and sells netbooks they would be in a good position for it, but they aren’t the only ones that could differentiate their offering that way.

The ipad itself is a non-entity really, as caleb says you’d hope someone would hack it up into a usable thing, but it didn’t pan out so much with the iphone/touch so why bother hoping for that really, I think it makes more sense in hoping for the knockoffs and trust the imitations will be way better and then finding a nice one in those offerings .

So basically I agree with caleb’s sentiments.

The “knock off’s”" will be pretty sweet if the trends continue….people will demand these features and also liken to have an open development platform as others have often suggested before. it is a good thing and also a sign of the times as paper is pushed aside for endless meglomedia…
I for one am looking forward to the up and coming variations of the concepts this has presented.
I honestly hope Apple consumers are happy with it so that it will spur more trustworthy products that can be used and customized unlike the ipad/ipod/iphone/imac/idontcares

Signing off,
The City Spiders

i just wish it ran a real os like a mac tablet but this is just a big ipod touch

@no
“its just disgusting to see fans of this device calling anyone that doesn’t love it derogatory terms. ”

This is a joke, right? You ARE kidding, right? It is the PC & Linux crowd that calls Mac users “drones,” “kool aid drinkers,” and “gay.”

Give me a break.

I bought an iPad about half a year ago. It’s pretty neat – came with a full OS, several ports, a giant screen (in comparison to this new model here), a processor that humiliates this new one, and is highly customizable. In fact I could (and did) immidiately install a secondary OS – Kubuntu Linux. Got the whole thing for $300, too.

Oh, wait. I bought a freaking laptop.

To all those saying “It’s got great hardware”…Sorry to say, it really doesn’t. It’s basically a crappy netbook w/ a capacitive touch screen slapped on so that I can’t use it for any purposes I care about (eg. word processing, programming, model editing, non-casual videogames, freaking Flash playback, etc.).

oh, and
@kb
“It is the PC & Linux crowd that calls Mac users “drones,” “kool aid drinkers,” and “gay.””

Have you seen an Apple ad recently? Notice how it was an attack ad?

Seen a Windows ad recently (btw Macs are PCs)? Notice how it was positive about Windows & didn’t attack Apple?

Seen a Linux ad recently? No, you didn’t.

Windows has a much bigger usage than Apple’s PC OSes, so it makes sense for you to see more Apple hate online, simply because more people hate Apple – not because Windows & Linux users are evil scumbags.

I can’t wait till I see an ‘ipoke’ or ‘idab’… HURRY CHINESE KNOCK-OFF MANUFACTURERS!!!!

It’s just…. the largest PDA I’ve ever seen!

Steve Jobs = Apple, when he dies so will is company and by the look of him lately, that wont be too long. Has he changed the landscape of computers, and how we view and use technology YES, debate, argue it doesn’t matter most of you are probably not old enough to remember they days before the internet or before Apple and Job’s line of ripoffs.

Apple used to be a lot of things, and people have a lot of expectation. Apple’s products have always been more expensive compared to other products but what you pay for is the brand. If you fall for that pit then the “extras” will kill you. AT&T is to the iPhone what all the adapters you need to make the iPad a netbook.

I have been in computers for 30+ years! They are all tools. They will all die and leave you with big holes in your pockets. Cray, Kaypro, Commodore, Atari, Tandy, VAX, Texas Instruments, Compaq, (Mosaic, Netscape) etc the list is long but I have used them all and eventually something better comes around. Some work and have long life’s others not so much. Linux, Windows, OSX the mythical great “Cloud” (caugh *google*).

I am sure Apple’s agreements with AT&T, music copyright holders, hardware accessory’s vendors are all like working for Apple or being an Apple consumer. Do it there way or take the highway. This kind of bulling only works so long as you have the market captured. They have to keep releasing new crap or buy out the competition before its a viable option. If those options don’t work, pay lots of money to lawyers to make the other companies life miserable. Apple only exists now because of Microsoft’s handout.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-202143.html

How does all this relate to the iPad, next year you will be going what the hell was an iPad? Then you will go off and find something else to complain about. :)

I already have too many electronic devices and it is fun packing them for the shore.

It is thin and it will probably crack once you drop it.

I have a bunch of nail marks in my notebook keyboard from my wife so typing on a tablet will only be worse. Make sure you have plenty of windex.

I won’t buy Apple products or any with DRM.

If it wasn’t an apple product there would be zero discussion of this thing… but alas it’s an apple product and that makes it “special”. I’m not bashing apple, I’m writing this on a macbook (running debian),.. but why can “apple people” never give you a straight answer on things. This is an argument I had today.

me: ok, look I don’t care either way.. but tell me any resounding, ground shaking, amazing feature of any apple “product”.

them: they’re easy to use!

me: well that’s debatable and a lot of that will be down to personal tastes won’t it? Do you have anything of technical merit to back up your argument? Proof of “ease of use”

them: n number of people are using it! they must be right

me: but more people are using windows, 90% of the market share is windows on the desktop… so windows must be doing something right too?

them: erm erm you’re twisting what I’m saying.. anyways the build quality is outstanding.

me: what like earphone jacks that break after minimal use, machines that are shipped broken.. again technical merit?

them: ugh ugh, it’s made out of dolphin friendly plastic!

there are plently of reasons why you might consider apple products over other products.. for example.. um I can’t actually think of any. Oh maybe some of the mixed CPU/GPU processing stuff apple are coming up with is interesting. But if you argue about an apple product you just go around in circles and the end product is that you establish the other party has no ability to consider things based on merit or even their own needs and is too stupid to use anything that hasn’t been reduced down to the simplest hand-holding mush imaginable (it’s user friendly!).

iPad.. meh. other devices are out there that do more, but jobs didn’t hold it up and say “this is going to do x” so no one cares. Ask anyone the merit of the device, where it fits into their needs.. “aaa my gran could use it to browse the internet, its sooo user friendly!”, “ok, so you’re gran can’t operate an modern intuitive graphical environment as shipped by windows, any linux distro, hell even solaris… but she can navigate her way around the shit hole that we call the interwebs? right”.

The iPad had a very basic flaw: It doesn’t fit in my pocket, so when I’m done using it I’ll need a bag or case to store it in. Unfortunately that bag currently contains my laptop which happens to be much more versatile and useful than an iPad.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s a flawed product, but that’s to do with where it’s aimed, not with any technical problems. What I wanted was a replacement for my 12 year old Newton, not a shiny A4 pad with no handwriting recognition. Still, that’s a gripe from an old hand in the mobile industry, not from the target market.

For those claiming the crunchpad or other tablet computers are somehow “better”, get real. What Apple know how to do is put together some pretty average hardware, and make it fly, make it work in a way that nobody else can. Consider the way the iPhone works – when it came out people were “meh, it’s got no buttons”, but pretty much every smartphone is now an iPhone clone. And yet, somehow, apple’s overpriced iPhone continues to sell by the truckload. Why? Because the clones are about as appealing to use as a sackload of sick. I found (yes, really, it was buried in the snow at work after dropping out of a client’s pocket) a windows-based smartphone. One button? check. Big screen? check. looks a bit like an iPhone? check. I spent an hour or so trying to get at the contacts on the (locked) SIM, gave up, and handed it in to the lost property people. If it’s not claimed at the end of the season, it’s mine, but frankly, I don’t want it. It was vile to use.

As for flash:

A: The videos clearly show flash video running, Apple aren’t stupid enough to fake something like that, they’d get sued.
B: Apple have hung their hat on *standards compliant* HTML5 video as opposed to *inaccessible, proprietary* flash (see http://youtube.com/html5)
C: Flash has always run like crap on the Mac, but that’s not Apple’s fault, it’s Adobe’s. A flash-based youtube video embedded in a webpage grabs 40+% of CPU on my iMac, whereas I can play HD html5 video, fullscreen or windowed, or zooming between the two fluidly, on the fly, using well under 5% CPU.

iPad is likely to be to the tablet market what iPod was to MP3 players. Before – a few geeks had them. After – everyone has one, and the majority are sold by Apple.

>> their entire business model exists around ripping off other people’s stuff and putting it in pretty packages

Please expand on this.

>> The iPad is fail on every level.

And it will still sell more in a month than every other tablet device ever made rolled together.

When the hell are the US/EU goverments going to bring an anti-trust case against apple and their restrictive/industry retarding practices? Would that be before or after consumers have filled apples pockets so their big enough to plunder?

Steve Jobs alone should be arrested for tucking his jumper into his trousers. All those PR gurus and no one has told him he looks like a cock.

>> When the hell are the US/EU goverments going to bring an anti-trust case against apple and their restrictive/industry retarding practices?

At about the time Satan is skating to work.

There’s nothing anticompetitive in this. Apple have released a tablet device. Other tablet devices exist. They aren’t pressuring other manufacturers not to make tablet devices, or to only put Apple’s operating system on their tablets. If you don’t like Apple’s tablet device, go and buy a different tablet device, and enjoy iy.

The same goes for mobile phones. If you don’t like iPhones, don’t buy an iPhone. Buy a Blackberry, or a Nokia, or a Motorola, or, or, or…

Again, the same goes for (desktop) computers – don’t like Apple’s range? Go buy something else. MP3 players? It’s not like Apple have put Creative or any of the thousands of other MP3 device makers out of business, is it? Buy yourself a Zune. Get with the social, or something.

well, I’m certainly underwhelmed. Hopefully it gets a few people to see a kindle or nook (perhaps to me) and then dies out quietly. So I’ll have a nice toy with e-ink, and the world won’t have to deal with a giant ipod touch

What a lot of fucking FUD.

I don’t care about the iPad either way, but people *so* invested in hating Apple are so much sadder than the equivalent fanboys.

I enjoy an even tempered discussion of Apple’s failings as well as its successes, but when that’s replaced with impassioned half-truths and squealing misinformation from people with little actual experience, its indicative of the actual-energy the haters put into a company that they don’t need to patronise nor waste their time on.

They have chosen to invest their time in something they hate.

I could understand the Microsoft hate, back in the day, when there really was little alternative to a client handing you some locked-in MS formatted file. Shouting about it eventually gave us open standards and ways around the MS clique. But if you don’t like Apple, there is really no reason for you to be dealing wih them.

“But the media and my favourite blog won’t stop talking about Apple!”

Find a new favourite blog then, and ignore that one-more-story like you ignore all the other stories about shit you don’t care about. The problem is you DO care, so sort it out and stop caring. If you stopped clicking the blog-links and generating such intense “debate”, the media/blogs wouldn’t report on it so much.

And here’s a tip to the Linux fans: try get the Windows bitches to really hate you, seems to drive up the public profile no end and we might finally see that Year of the Linux Desktop.

Unlike the Iphone/Itouch theres nothing really innovative about this except nice packaging. Considering that similar devices have been around, and considering the platform restrictions other netbooks will win here. Lacking competition and hype in the tablet sector have kept prices quite high so we should really be happy about the move. There’s probably good money to be made programming initial apps for this devie… We can hope other manufacturer (lenovo) will provide affordable windowsxp/7/linux touchpad tablets soon… Hackers/hardware developers will naturally prefer the open platforms…

It’s so funny to read all the responces here, the only other product to cause this much keyboard bashing is the Arduino, I dont like Apple products, their slow, overpriced and restricted by licensing, Lookup ipod flee parody, it’s an old parody but so true of apple products

I agree that the hardware on the iPad isn’t that innovative. But I think the thing that’s going to work (eg. shift units) is removing the desktop metaphor from the OS and making a limited-purpose appliance, rather than a full-spectrum ‘computer’.

I think that the limitations in the iPad OS will make it a bigger hit than other tablets, because it doesn’t have any of the negative baggage non-geeks have with using computers; painful installs, viruses, arbitrary directory structures, etc.

No-one (in the real world) expects multi-tasking and root access from their Kindle or their dumbphone. Those products have unambiguous purposes, and are not trying to be “computers”, per se. They do what they do. iPad happens to be expandable (va apps) to do more things, but they are still single discrete tasks, without a lot of hassle.

Also, until there is a non-desktop interpretation of W7 there is unlikely to be a hugely successful WIndows based tablet (whether or not there is a hugely successful iPad). I understand there are a number of Linux touch-OS solutions, that don’t use the desktop metaphor, so there may be some good news there.

I think the iPad will be a scuccess simply because it’s available from a trusted company…
Of course there are a lot of other tablets out there but nobody sells them… Go to your next electronic market and try to find a tablet.. There will only be some overpriced and slow x86 hardware with an OS that is not realy thought to run on a tablet… if there are tablets at all…

So the iPad will sell simply because it’s available and usable.

There are plenty of good points here, but I’d like to try to add a few news ones.

Apple products are not for the frugal. They are aimed at people with disposable income. The average hacker or maker is right on the edge of having true disposable income, so the market is limited right there.

Apple products are about design. Johnnie Ive and Steve Jobs put together sexy products (and sometimes the Newton). As an audience, we tend to build using bare wires and boards. Clearly there is limited appeal for good design by itself.

Apple products are modal. Steve said many years ago that he wanted an interface that was easy to use (I read it somewhere on Gizmodo, if you want to find it). Modal interfaces mean the iPhone looks like a phone when you want it to be a phone, and looks like a calculator when you need one. It’s not like a Windows system or even an OS X system where the phone and calculator work at the same time. Apple is focusing their mobile market on having a flexible device that is readily understood by non-technical people.

That’s the secret, folks: “non-technical people”. Here, they aren’t getting any respect for dumbing down interfaces or hiding complexity behind well-designed curtains. It’s not that they’re doing the wrong thing, it’s just the wrong thing for this site’s readers.

Sorry, but I’m an old fart with a hint of disposable income, so I bought my first iPod Touch a couple of years ago, and I’m going to stay in this space for a while. And yes, it did seem to cut back on my making. So that’s a bad thing, I guess.