Early iPad reaction: 'It's just a giant iPod touch'
- — 28 January, 2010 07:16
Apple's iPad
After hitting a grand slam with the iPhone, Apple can't be too happy with some of the early reaction to the iPad. On message boards, Twitter, blogs, and Facebook, a recurring theme has been to compare the device to a "giant iPod touch."
Considering none of the naysayers have ever handled an iPad, the comparison may seem harsh. But viewing the demo, it's not hard to see how people came to this conclusion. After all, the thing looks like a giant iPod touch, from the black-and-chrome exterior to the recessed start button. And, while Apple has introduced some new UI elements, such as drop-down menus, other basic features are based on the iPhone/iPod touch model, including the accelerometer, app store, some of the icons used for playing media, and, of course, the touch screen.
There are other criticisms as well. During the event, a comment left on the Industry Standard by reader David Kuan read:
"1 hr into the event ... and I am heading towards snoozeville. Here are my iPad not-so-good impressions thus far ....
1. Bezel is too large
2. 1/2 in is TOO THICK Even Kindle DX is thinner at 1/3 in
3. Full size QWERTY is nice but bad ergonomics when typing iPad on a flat surface
4. No SD slot for storage portability (A BIG MISS HERE!)
5. Phenomenal email? I must have dozed off during the "phenomenal" part
6. No camera? Sigh!
7. No FLASH support (MAJOR OUCH!)
8. IPS display means more power consumption and requiring backlight. Difficulty to read outdoors due to glare. OLED would be a much better choice but at this size it is yet to be economical for mass consumer target."
However, other people are very excited about the prospect of owning an iPad. There have been a huge number of iPad-related tweets saying "I want one," particularly after the pricing was announced -- the base $499 Wifi model seems to be within many people's budgets.
But the true gauge of the iPad will come when the devices ship in 60 days, and Apple releases sales figures later in the year. Wall Street thus far seems undecided, if Apple's stock price is anything to go by. It dipped to a low of about $200 during the beginning of Wednesday's demonstration, but the price had recovered to around $208 90 minutes later.
Comments
Anonymous
Fri 29/01/2010 - 03:55
Sorry, it is what it is. A glorified overpriced Ipod touch with a few graphical ui enhancements. I will stick with my ipod touch 32 gig model. At least I dont look like a geek when I am using it at starbucks.
Anonymous
Fri 29/01/2010 - 04:36
booooooooooooring!
i honestly couldn't care less about the ipad. companies always like to be seen to be innovating and moving forward. what these companies don't realise is that the majority are perfectly happy with what they already have. its just another overpriced piece of technology which while nice to have, is far from essential. i'll pass thanks.
Luisx
Fri 29/01/2010 - 06:43
Looks cool, but
I think it looks cool, my wife and son would love it as a living room item it would be great tot have a picture frame that can surf the web, play games and transform itself into a photo album, to bad I have to buy a camera kit to just to transfer pics over whena usb connector would have done the job. As a computer expert, there are laptop out there like the Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ-4008 NoteBook Intel Pentium SU4100(1.30GHz) 11.6" 3GB Memory DDR2 667 320GB HDD 5400rpm Intel GMA 4500MHD, that cost about 549 and can do much more. Sure it's an inch thick and has a keyboard, but look at the rest of the spec and compare. Dual Core CPU 11inch screen 320GB of space. I'm pretty sure a CULV based tablet will follow by HP or DELL that will do more. It generally true with MAC laptop as well they usually are about 700 dollars more for something that can be gotten on a Windows based laptop.
Like I started to mention before it more of a luxurious entertainment living room item. Microsoft should make an X-tablet that can handle xbox arcade titles.
Anonymous
Fri 29/01/2010 - 06:46
wow - an iPhone you CAN'T fit in your pocket. wait, what's that?? no phone service?!? so.... an iPod Touch you can't fit in your pocket, AND a $30 monthly data fee?!? no thanks Apple, more like "iPass".
rivervalley
Tue 02/02/2010 - 17:37
ipad reaction
Some people made money out of the various computer and internet revolutions. Others didn't. The ones who did were the ones who foresaw. All of the above posters dont "see" it past a larger iPod.
Not for them the success arising out of change this product launch is heralding.
Its not a computer, don;t think in those terms. True a 'puter can do many of the things it does, but leave aside for a minute things like industrial control surfacing, an aspect by itself to bring down the cost of goods and services to everyone, even the iPad naysayers. Now the ipad itslef won't do this but like so many times before Apple have been unafraid to pave the way for the copycat followers.
Advertising and marketing are huge budgets for any business and quite often forced into the same arena where the competitor is operating. These budgets aren't bottomless, so if a business can target the likely audience better than search results or internet banners which are basically ignored by websurfers, then they can save serious money to pass on to consumers.
One of the biggest categories in the Apple AppStore are entry points into e-magazines, but that's still a niche market. Now, the whole journalism industry fighting for survival against instant social media and other free-source news will turn to magazines and high class periodicals & journals. anyone can get better content a from anywher on earth translated without the high print costs, or freight costs and their environmental footprint. Your newsagent will need to look for another line of business because finally - paper usage will drop. Gone are the days of scurrilous journalists turning good political leadership sour.
All these and more will have flow-on effects to industry after industry
whether the iPad is a good or bad , likeable or unlikeable product is beside the point. Its a herald. If you don't see it, then the problem is not with Apple it your vision that will let you down.
river valley
Tue 02/02/2010 - 17:56
forgot to add. .
why magazines and digests?
because people wont want to pay for content they can't enjoy over again. A song can be bought for 99c but can be enjoyed over and over. A newspaper offers nothing more than momentary fulfillment but the context changes as the news progresses. the spend is lost. However higher quality print enriches one's lives and for many the advertising is as readable and informative as the feature articles. The Print design Industry already has that sorted decades ago.
For this reason peoples bookshelves bulge with reference mags they wish they could access more but loathe to chuck out even though all that cellulose is nice insect food
Anonymous
Thu 28/01/2010 - 13:07
If the feedback for this device seems to be underwhelming, then understand that the device IS UNDERWHELMING. Aside from the larger screen there are not many reasons to be excited for this product. It does virtually the same thing as the much cheaper and more portable Ipod, and I think the only real improvement in terms of functionality is the fact that it runs IWork, which, admittedly, looks interesting. Besides, in about a year or so Apple will inevitably release an "updated" model of the IPad which doesn't quite suck as hard and the early adopters will be screwed yet again.