Apple releases iPad...

[Techman]

Most, if not all, major newspapers already have web sites that can be accessed by anything with a browser, from an iPod to a Smartphone to a netbook to a PC. If that hasn't saved them, I don't see how the iPad, with much fewer users will be able to do so. As popular as the Kindle is, I don't think it's made any huge difference in the publishing industry's bottom line. I can't see myself spending almost a grand just so I can read the newspaper or a magazine. Besides, if I get bumped on a bus, train or subway and drop my paper I can just pick it up and go on my way. Drop my iPad. watch someone step on it, and I'm out a considerable sum of money.

Not to mention that Apple won't be able to enter into exclusive agreements with any publishing company without violating anti-trust regulations. So whatever agreements they sign, there will always room for competitors to offer similar content.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Most, if not all, major newspapers already have web sites that can be accessed by anything with a browser, from an iPod to a Smartphone to a netbook to a PC. If that hasn't saved them, I don't see how the iPad, with much fewer users will be able to do so. As popular as the Kindle is, I don't think it's made any huge difference in the publishing industry's bottom line. I can't see myself spending almost a grand just so I can read the newspaper or a magazine. Besides, if I get bumped on a bus, train or subway and drop my paper I can just pick it up and go on my way. Drop my iPad. watch someone step on it, and I'm out a considerable sum of money.

Not to mention that Apple won't be able to enter into exclusive agreements with any publishing company without violating anti-trust regulations. So whatever agreements they sign, there will always room for competitors to offer similar content.

How long has $500 been almost a grand? And as for anybody with a laptop being able to read a newspaper, this is hardly true without connectivity. With the iPad, you'll be able to download the morning papers, hop on a plane, and read away to your heart's content.

AS for your other arguments, drop the iPad...they're too silly to warrant response. You know, like $500 being almost a grand.

And as for the non-exclusivity of their contracts with Conde Nast and the newspaper industry, you're quite correct. Once somebody has copied the iPad in much the way that MS copied the Mac OS. Oh, and by the way, have you noticed how successful the iPod copiers have been?

 

[Techman]

Sorry rumples, but I don't consider the low end iPads with their limited storage and lack of 3G to be worth the price. I'm also in Canada and I don't think the iPad when it's finally released up here will be under 500 even for the base model. It'll probably be around 649 for the base unit here and when you add tax, you'll be looking at around 800 bucks. For a jumbo iPod touch. Yeah, OK. Sure.

By the way, Apple copied the Xerox GUI first. Besides...how many different ways do you think you could design a GUI and if there was a better way to do it, why has no one done it yet? And how come you don't make the same accusations towards the multitude of Linux distros out there? It's very difficult to find any original products in any domain. All products innovate on what has come before. That's how things evolve.

Also, the technology to download magazine or newspaper content has existed for years on the Windows platform. probably on the Mac as well. It's not like Apple has invented something new. You can already get downloadable magazines on any platform, delivered as soon as they're published and ready to read off line on any laptop, PC or netbook. Nothing revolutionary or innovative there. But when Apple does it, suddenly it's magic!

Just like the iMac. About 20 years ago both IBM and Compaq had all in one computers. Everyone attacked them because they weren't upgradeable, couldn't change the display, etc... But Apple comes out with the iMac with exactly the same drawbacks and the press proclaims it innovative and amazing. Makes me wonder sometimes how much Apple pays for their 'reviews'.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Sorry rumples, but I don't consider the low end iPads with their limited storage and lack of 3G to be worth the price. I'm also in Canada and I don't think the iPad when it's finally released up here will be under 500 even for the base model. It'll probably be around 649 for the base unit here and when you add tax, you'll be looking at around 800 bucks. For a jumbo iPod touch. Yeah, OK. Sure.

Um, tax on 649$ is about 80$. 729$=800$=1000$ by your somewhat sweaty logic, n'est pas? You do a better job of discrediting yourself than I could ever hope to.

By the way, Apple copied the Xerox GUI first. Besides...how many different ways do you think you could design a GUI and if there was a better way to do it, why has no one done it yet? And how come you don't make the same accusations towards the multitude of Linux distros out there? It's very difficult to find any original products in any domain. All products innovate on what has come before. That's how things evolve.

Actually, I'm not the one who has taken you apart on your falsehoods regarding Apple's technical issues. I'm not really tech savvy; I just know that between my shop and home, I'm at 50 use years running Macs with neither crash nor virus.

Also, the technology to download magazine or newspaper content has existed for years on the Windows platform. probably on the Mac as well. It's not like Apple has invented something new. You can already get downloadable magazines on any platform, delivered as soon as they're published and ready to read off line on any laptop, PC or netbook. Nothing revolutionary or innovative there. But when Apple does it, suddenly it's magic!

Actually, this has nothing to do with Apple. The magazines and newspapers themselves will be creating a format for downloading an entire product for easy and pleasant reading. They're all quite well aware that there will be millions of iPads out there and that in the iPad, again, is the possibility that their industry might be saved.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

So, me and the boys are sitting around the card table last night, in the usual formation. The guy on my right is an attorney, runs his own small highly specialized firm and is probably among the squarest people I've ever known. His computers at home and work are all Windoze based; he does own a Netbook, probably the most up-to-date purchase he's made in years. His phone is a typical Blackberry, not a touchscreen, which replaced his Palm a few years back. I doubt that he's ever owned an MP3 player of any kind. He's certainly never owned an Apple product of any kind, except for those that grow on trees and some Beatle records.

So me and the boys are sitting around the card table last night and all of a sudden, he says, "Well, so much for the Kindle." In the followup conversation, we learn that he and the missus watched the Oscars the night before and he saw the ad for the iPad that ran a few times. It goes on sale Friday. He's ordering one Friday.

Meanwhile, the Apple stock (AAPL) that I purchased about six years ago for $9.75 per share just cracked $220 for yet another all time high. And, yes, I'm ordering one myself.

 

[Techman]

Release delayed...

Sorry rumples but the iPad release has been delayed to April 3rd. You can pre-order it on Friday but you won't have it in your hands until sometime in April.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Sorry rumples but the iPad release has been delayed to April 3rd. You can pre-order it on Friday but you won't have it in your hands until sometime in April.

Yup. Unlike a certain company based in Renton, Washington, Apple is no stranger to delays. You see, some companies will rush a product to market to meet sales projections and bottom lines regardless of how unready for market the product may be. Other companies will make sure the product is actually ready before they release it. Apple customers have dealt with OS delays numerous times over the years. Frankly, I'd rather a delay than the buggy product MS customers have become used to tearing their hair out over over the years. I've never once heard of a Macintosh customer re-installing an old operating system to get away from a disastrous too-early release. Measure twice, cut once.

Some things are just worth waiting for.

Apple now at $224.

 

[metoo4]

... we learn that he and the missus watched the Oscars the night before and he saw the ad for the iPad that ran a few times. It goes on sale Friday. He's ordering one Friday.
...

Another one who has no idea what he will purchase, what it will really do and what are the strong/weak points. It's new, it' "in" and he wants it. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know the pros and cons and didn't do any searching on what the gizmo does.

I just met with a 60yo woman at Best Buy who was insisting on getting a BlackBerry Storm, even if the poor sales guy was trying to make her understand it was useless for her since she didn't even have an email address. The cat came out of the bag: her best friend who is a Realtor have one...

Did somebody say social status? I wonder how many devoted Apple products users can make the difference between Apple products and something comparable costing less than half the price? Besides the minority of techies, probably not many.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Another one who has no idea what he will purchase, what it will really do and what are the strong/weak points. It's new, it' "in" and he wants it. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know the pros and cons and didn't do any searching on what the gizmo does.

I've seen the ad. Apple does a remarkable job of showing about 10 of the things one can do with an iPad in 30 second flat. It's quite impressive. This guy doesn't have a "cool" bone in his body.

...the difference between Apple products and something comparable costing less than half the price?

Actually, I probably could if anything remotely comparable to the iPad existed beyond the dream state.

 

[Techman]

Yup. Unlike a certain company based in Renton, Washington, Apple is no stranger to delays. You see, some companies will rush a product to market to meet sales projections and bottom lines regardless of how unready for market the product may be. Other companies will make sure the product is actually ready before they release it. Apple customers have dealt with OS delays numerous times over the years. Frankly, I'd rather a delay than the buggy product MS customers have become used to tearing their hair out over over the years. I've never once heard of a Macintosh customer re-installing an old operating system to get away from a disastrous too-early release. Measure twice, cut once.

Some things are just worth waiting for.

Apple now at $224.

Once again, your lack of knowledge is showing. Microsoft is based in Redmond, not Renton. And there was nothing wrong with Vista upon it's release. It isn't Microsoft's responsibility to make sure that every company that makes products that run on Windows operating systems gets off their ass and actually have drivers ready on time. Once again another person that believes all the FUD that gets spread on the net by jealous competitors or totally incompetent journalists looking for any story to publish.

Why don't you mention the large portion of the installed Mac customer base that can't upgrade to Snow Leopard under any circumstances because they don't use an Intel powered Mac? If MS did a similar thing and only allowed Windows 7 to be installed on multi core systems, all hell would break lose in the press and they would be condemned.

And by the way...there is little the iPad can do, other than the touch screen, that I can't do on a $400 netbook running Windows 7 Basic. But there's a lot of things I can do on a netbook that you can't do on an iPad. Such as running a HD video in it's proper 16X9 aspect ratio, make video calls with the built in web cam, run any Windows compatible program, expand my storage capacity, connect peripherals via USB including a photo printer, and I'm not locked into to buying my software from only one source who gets to decide what is and what is not appropriate for me to use. I can even plug in a USB Internet stick from a variety of suppliers and have high speed Internet access anywhere I go. And to top it all off, I can also actually change my own battery without having to take it into the shop for service.

In 1984 Apple ran an ad during the Superbowl showing they were going to protect everyone from 'Big Brother' but now their business practices and locked ecosystem are showing them to actually be 'Big Brother' for anyone who choses to use their products. Pretty sad if you ask me.

I'm sure that George Orwell would be very proud of Steve Jobs.

 

[Below500k]

Funny how people really dislike other peoples enjoyment. The woman wanted a BB and could get an e-mail address in a couple of mins. to e-mail her friend to say thanks and be "hip" to her kids. Why would anyone want to take that from her?

People obviously really like Apple. Their product offerings change landscapes, from using a mouse, to starting a translucent colored plastic revolution, to the iPod, to touch screen cells. I know they did not invent any of those things, that is not the point. The way that they chose for us to interact with those technologies and design elements is why they are so successful.

They have raving fans that are NOT tech people, and are one of the only tech companies that can make that claim. In all my years I have yet to hear a non-tech person rave about their Dell, or an LG phone (I'm just choosing a couple of names) after using it for a couple of months.

Yes, Apple is "cool" and slightly pricey. Yes they are not perfect, nor is any piece of technology I've ever come across. But the way that people interact with their products, be it because of licensing agreements, a certain combination of design and form factor, or just because they ARE cool, makes people happy. So again...

Why does that ruffle your feathers? Do you go around to sushi restaurants shaking your head saying those people are foolish for overpaying for rice and fish? And do you really buy all of your clothes from WalMart, cause after all, they are half the price and are pretty close to being as stylish now... aren't they?

 

[Techman]

It doesn't ruffle my feathers at all. I've posted many times that people should buy whatever suits their needs and whatever makes them happy. What ruffles my feathers as you put it, are the holier than thou Mac fanboyz that seem to think their product is the best thing since sliced bread when they have never used anything else.

My ex gf once bought about a dozen brands of high priced lip gloss that was supposed to protect lipstick from smearing. None of them worked as advertised but she kept buying them, hoping that the next one would work and because they were the 'in thing' and all the women's magazines were pushing them. Sounds like just the kind of customer that Apple targets.

And no matter what way you look at it, and no matter how hard you proclaim that Macs are great, they still have around 5% of the market and Windows has about 90%. So they really can't be that great can they? Damn...Windows 7 has only been available since November 2009 and it's already eclipsed Apple's share of the market. Not bad for an OS that Mac fans say is so terrible.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Once again, your lack of knowledge is showing. Microsoft is based in Redmond, not Renton. And there was nothing wrong with Vista upon it's release. It isn't Microsoft's responsibility to make sure that every company that makes products that run on Windows operating systems gets off their ass and actually have drivers ready on time. Once again another person that believes all the FUD that gets spread on the net by jealous competitors or totally incompetent journalists looking for any story to publish.

Maybe there's something to be said for a closed system, no? You can whine all you want about it not being MS's responsibility for monitoring their partners, but the fact remains that every Windoze release causes untold heartache because of the open system you so adore. Again, no one has ever reinstalled a prior system on a Mac.

And by the way...there is little the iPad can do, other than the touch screen, that I can't do on a $400 netbook running Windows 7 Basic.

Beyond the fact that you're full of shit here, the real issue is not that there are things the iPad and only the iPad can do, it's not just a question of what it can do but how. That, my friend, is apparently quite beyond your comprehension.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

And no matter what way you look at it, and no matter how hard you proclaim that Macs are great, they still have around 5% of the market and Windows has about 90%. So they really can't be that great can they? Damn...Windows 7 has only been available since November 2009 and it's already eclipsed Apple's share of the market. Not bad for an OS that Mac fans say is so terrible.

MacDonald's, for the record, has a greater share of the meat market than does Queue de Cheval. I guess in your eyes that makes Mickey D's better, n'est pas?

 

[Techman]

Maybe there's something to be said for a closed system, no? You can whine all you want about in not being MS's responsibility for monitoring their partners, but the fact remains that every Windoze release causes untold heartache because of the open system you so adore. Again, no one has ever reinstalled a prior system on a Mac.

First of all, Microsoft is prevented from creating a closed system by anti-trust regulations. It would be simple for them to do so, just as they could easily prevent Mac owners from installing Windows on their systems. Unfortunately, they are prevented from doing so by law. The majority of the users who downgraded from Vista to XP did so to be able to continue using outdated programs and hardware or proprietary programs from companies that no longer exist or are incapable of modifying their programs to move into the future. They didn't do it due to any problem in Vista.

As far as no one ever installing an older OS on a Mac, I know a number of Mac owners who installed Snow Leopard and uninstalled it afterwards. In fact, Mac forums are full of people who did exactly that after Snow Leopard started deleting their files. Maybe you should pay attention to the real world instead of the fantasy world of Steve Jobs where everything is perfect.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=5006&tag=nl.e589
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009...+GearFactor+(Blog+-+Gadget+Lab+(Gear+Factor))

I especially like this quote from Wired:

“Apple seems to be downplaying [the bug] to an asinine degree,” Zdziarski said. “It’s actually pretty serious to the end-user, and Apple is likely working hard to get their legal department ready to respond to massive lawsuits.”​

http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/11/sabotages.further.app.installations/

Ther are pages and pages of various bugs and security problems that Mac owners, and Apple, like to pretend don't exist.http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009...log+-+Gadget+Lab+(Gear+Factor))#ixzz0hjQaNo3E​

As for your comparison...it's as ridiculous as car comparisons and just as irrelevent and deserves even less than this short comment.

 

[Dee]

As it is getting virtually no virtual play in its own thread I repost here:

Microsoft's Courier 'digital journal':

exclusive pictures and details (update: video!)

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/m...ctures-and-de/​

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

First of all, Microsoft is prevented from creating a closed system by anti-trust regulations. It would be simple for them to do so, just as they could easily prevent Mac owners from installing Windows on their systems. Unfortunately, they are prevented from doing so by law. The majority of the users who downgraded from Vista to XP did so to be able to continue using outdated programs and hardware or proprietary programs from companies that no longer exist or are incapable of modifying their programs to move into the future. They didn't do it due to any problem in Vista.

And a large number of people who've moved to Windoze 7 have done so to get rid of Vista. And, now I'm to understand, that it's just OK for MS to issue Vista which, as you clearly say, doesn't work with outdated hardware (your words) but when Apple moves to no longer supporting outdated hardware, that's not OK. The more you blather on, my friend, the more you discredit yourself.

I'd recommend shutting up before you say any more foolish shit and instead just sit back and marvel at Apple's wonderful new innovation.

 

[Techman]

The Courier looks like a great product if it ever sees the light of day. As yet Microsoft has done no marketing or publicity for it and all information comes from leaked sources. I showed the video to one of my clients the other day and they freaked out over it asking me when it would be available. They ahve a large advertising sales staff and this thing would be great for them to use on the road, making it possible for them to show their clients the mockup of their ad and be able to make notes and modifications on the spot and send it directly to the graphics department for modification. But I'd actually have to have one in my hands to know if it works as well as presented and to see what other capabilities it has. And of course, the price point to see if it's actually a viable purchase for what it does.

I don't know anyone who would buy something from a simple advertisement without actually trying it to see how it performs and what it's capabilities really are. Oh yeah...actually I do...Apple drones.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

As it is getting virtually no virtual play in its own thread I repost here:

The question here, Dee, is how many years will it take to get this to market. As MS usually does, they're waiting until Apple's product hits the market so they can get an idea of what ideas they can lift from it.

 

[Techman]

And a large number of people who've moved to Windoze 7 have done so to get rid of Vista. And, now I'm to understand, that it's just OK for MS to issue Vista which, as you clearly say, doesn't work with outdated hardware (your words) but when Apple moves to no longer supporting outdated hardware, that's not OK. The more you blather on, my friend, the more you discredit yourself.

I'd recommend shutting up before you say any more foolish shit and instead just sit back and marvel at Apple's wonderful new innovation.

When I talk about oudated hardware in the Windows world, I'm talking about hardware that is at least 8 to 10 years old. Not 2 or 3 years old like some expensive power pc cpu Macs. I'm also talking about peripherals, not systems, which could easily be replaced at minimal cost for vastly improved capabilities.

The only marvel about the iPad, is how many people were disappointed at how little innovation was actually present in the thing and how many things that were expected to be included are actually missing. But maybe some of these things will be present in version 2 or 3. That way Apple can get people to pay two or three times for something they should only have had to buy once.