Not as rosy as you think.

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For me, too big and heavy. I would be interested in a device the same size and weight as the PRS300 ebook reader. i.e. 220g and no more than 6" high. now that this has come out, I expect a lot of copy cat devices to follow and i'm sure one will be suitable for my needs!

I worked on something very similar back in 1997-same size, touch screen. Not as thin though!
-It had EU funding to aid development costs but at the time, people thought it was too futuristic and wouldn't sell. It never hit the shops.

agreed. a 5" low power pixel QI screen. low power arm based cpu within a 250g weight budget would do for me. can maybe meet size weight budget by forcing tethering via bluetooth for connectivity rather than putting in 3g/wifi etc. when you probably already carry a phone around.

this is probably the best objective piece I have read regards the iPad ..

How a great product can be bad news

some excerpts

For years, the Mac community railed against the perceived closed nature of Microsoft. Now, many are rallying behind an Apple with a vision more closed than Redmond’s.

As with the iPhone, development for the iPad means reliance on Apple’s tools, on the use of proprietary Apple hardware and software just to build an app. Now, those could be worthy sacrifices for a great product. But it also means that Apple alone distributes applications, and decides which applications developers will be allowed to create – something that has never been true on a computing OS.

As with the iPhone, you can’t use the iPad’s drive as a drive. You can’t connect it to a computer and put on it what you like. You’re limited to using third-party apps as conduits or servers – and even then, you’re limited; critical files for media and reading are controlled by Apple’s market-dominating iTunes app. It’s a storage device you own, but that someone else controls.

Nowhere did I say that the alternative to an iPad has to be open source. I’m a huge fan of open source and truly free software. But by the measures above, Windows qualifies as open.

& this is the crunch for me ... closed system, both technically & commercially will stop me from buying any Apple media device.

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the sun ain't shining no more ........

Yep, I agree. I can live with the closed nature of the iPhone as I see as a smartphone and not a computing device (although it is in fact a computing device). As for the iPad it seems that Apple have forgotten who actually owns the device. Of course somebody will come along and jailbreak it sooner or later, but the truth of the matter is I shouldn't have to install some unofficial crack to enable the device to do what I, as the owner, want to do with it.

Is that going to be a problem for the buyers of this product? It's not really aiming to be a PC and it's trying to be easy to use.

Sure every computer geek will be snorting at it, but if you look at it as a device that won't get infected with viruses, won't crash (much) for inexplicable reasons, comes preloaded with everything you want to use and the only thing you need to subscribe to is an iTunes account, it's got huge advantages. It simplifies a computer to something that anyone can pick up and just use.

No one who wants a computer will buy it, but what about the people who have to put up with using a computer when all they want is something like this?

have worked on some apps for the iPhone before & it is a completely arbritary process with no rhyme or reason. We submitted an app, which was subsequently sent back to us, with some pointers to what Apple would like us to do to make it a little more iPhone friendly .... this we did & then re-submitted, only to have the app turned down completely ..

it seems that Apple use contractors to carry out app evaluations & that there is no joined up writing when submitting apps (unless you are a large sw house) ... basically there was no ownership of the project from the Apple end, we ended up dealing with 3 different people over 5 code evolutions ....

chaos

am not a "computer geek" , but am also not a fan of being tied into/down into commercial relationships.

on the flip side, am also sure that there are plenty of people (although not droves like the iPhone) that will pick up this shiny new toy on the basis that it does everything that they want it to do ... however, perceptions change with time ...

will be interesting to see what the sales figures look like two quarters from now ...

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the sun ain't shining no more ........

But what about the consumers rights ? The company can't be in charge of the computer, the person who owns the computer must be free to do what they wish with it.

As soon as wel hand over the keys to the safe to the company its a dangerous path to follow.

Note: Cyrus I mean this tongue in cheek (and good humour) from the previous discussion we had on this topic but it is honestly going against your previous stance a bit...

I'm sure it will sell well, but eventually people will realise that there music is locked out, that all there films are locked out, that those apps they bought are locked out, that unless they get apple everything they will have to re-buy all there media (I'm talking about non techy people here)

I've said it before, the one thing apple are good at in front ends, and the ipad looks good. If you look at just about all the other tablet pc out there they all look pretty geeky and have horrible windows front ends or obsure linux or CE on, at least with the ipad you know its going to be supported and will integrate with your mac, ipod, iphone, mactv etc with no grief.

Yet you work on apps...

I mean computer geek as in the way I get called a computer geek, as in anyone who has a rudimentary grasp of computers. Just knowing where the system options panel is and what it does is enough to get yourself called a genius.

ha ha ha ... am family tech supoort yes ... regards the apps, I was driving the concept with end customer, had a monkey to do the coding ...

http://www.economist.com/daily/chart...urce=most_read

Love some of the names betted on

interesting comments too

Don't get me started on this colossal p*ss-take of a product! Apple must think we're a bunch of morons with too much money if they think we're gonna buy this overgrown iPod Touch. No camera for video calls? No phone/text facility? Can only buy content from Appstore? Can't use USBs without ridiculous adapters? Please! It doesn't DO anything!!!!!!!!!¨¨

And how rosy is that?

Despite some dips along the way, it's still 200 now as opposed to 50 then.

Yes, it's a point, I've softened on iTunes since they removed DRM from music, but I wouldn't dream of purchasing video from the store. I'm quite happy buying apps for the iPhone, mostly, as most of them are so cheap as to be disposable anyway.

In this case, it's definitely a trade off, will the ease of use overcome it's restrictions. Will people be bothered by the fact that video and books purchased will only ever be available on their device and itunes account. Will a VLC app come out for it and bypass the problem?

I can imagine people in Boston getting confused over the iPod and IPad

Speaking of The Economist, here is their article about the new device.

Really we'll have to wait and see what iPad specific apps developers come up with.

I'd expect to see many many education apps, taking advantage of the large touchscreen. The low cost means that for many students, who only want to web surf, send email, watch films, listen to music etc. this will now be seen seen as a more attractive option than a netbook, especially if textbooks start appearing as iBooks.

I'd also expect there to be a big games market for this device. Game development on the iPhone exceeded Apple's expectations . . . the demand was for a product with a bigger screen. Well here it is.

It should be the end of the netbook as they are lesser devices. I'm more interested in seeing how the market pans out. Once MS release their offering (should it get out of the research lab) Courier you would also expect Google I would have thought to offer a ChromeOS based version as well. Then the fight will be really on.