Any good netbook handles like a trade paperback, and may be excellent for whole-page viewing of documents when treated as such. The problem with midsize tablets is the wide range of competition.

It does not have the frame size, convenience, mobility, DURABILITY or endurance of a smartphone.

It does not have the keyboard and jacks of a netbook, the DURABILITY, and only equal battery.

It does not have the screen size, sound quality, convenience or versatility of a laptop or desktop. And it's most certainly not as DURABLE.

For all the high prices, the first-gen of most Apple electronics is FRAGILE. Broken screens, broken jacks, broken clickwheels etc, and recently news that iPods and iPhones are rigged to explode and burn if you tamper with the software. They may claim it was unavoidable, yet who wants a heat-and-fire-hazard in their pocket?

Carmi: After just having to point out the feminine hygiene product comments all over the web is "big time embarrassing" yourself, (but you still just had to use it in your article), I would like to point out that the feminine hygiene product has a useful purpose which is more than I can say for the iPad. which should be big time embarrassing for Apple.

Carmi: I think *you* may have missed the point. The missing features from the iPhone were somewhat justifiable.

1) Apple couldn't get 3G out with a battery that lasted so little. Even with my 3GS the battery on 3G will last for a couple of hours only.
2) Apple didn't allow for video because the experience they wanted to deliver required more processing power than the older iPhones had.
3) Cut & Paste required some thinking in terms of interface and the iPhone OS had an all-new interface.

Surely not everyone agrees Apple's reasons were good enough for them not to add such features. But it's not like they intentionally crippled the product so that they'd have something to offer in newer generations of the product. Can you name at least one other Apple product in which they did that? Aside from the iPhone experience, which was completely new for Apple, they tend to remove things they think are unnecessary. That's what they historically did with disk drives, for instance.

Now, what's so difficult in adding a USB port? A web cam? An SD slot? Decent storage? It's not like Apple can argue zero previous experience this time. They simply decided these things were unnecessary.

So yes, it IS about the hardware and the wrong decisions they have made this time.

Okay, aside from no USB port, no web cam, no SD slot, no changeable battery, no real software, and looking like a over-sized iPod Touch the iPad is totally cool, right? The "Apple never gives away the store with the first release of a product." thing should be a alarm bell to. Any one who would buy this in it's present form is just saying "I'm a sucker, rip me off."

Apple products: a tax on stupid people.

Yeah but the iPad can't do the most important requirement that no one else mentioned so far:

Watch flash pr0n on the internet.

-snicker!-

"no one's figured out the
secret sauce that will get
mainstream consumers
to buy in"

This reminds us of a year ago when the Liberal News Media was declaring Obama's presidency a success ...before he had even been sworn into office !

Prior to Carmi Levy, and others, deciding that Apple has finally figured out how to make Tablet Computers a success, perhaps we should wait to see if they sell any ?

Or, maybe, we should do an Obama and give Steve Jobs a Nobel Peace Prize for all the future success we're sure the iPad shall have !

DR.

Maybe you should ask "Joe The Plumber" what his "wisdom" can tell us about future technology?

Apple's main problems as i see it have been with them for a very long time.

form over function: common, sure their products are pretty, but many times they under perform and have other issues(like over heating that melted cases back in the day)

They also charge to much for their hardware, sure they use propriatary(sp) board layouts, but their stuff today is just a normal intel based system running osx.......oh yeah its got an apple EFI bios to enable use of osx......meh so what!!!!

and the biggist flaw apple has IMHO, the users and attitude they promote, im sorry but when i see an AFB say mac's are more stable then windows systems or that they "just work" where windows never does.......

Im a tech, I deal with windows, mac and linux(linux the least) and honestly, I have seen just as many problems with osx(if not more at times) as i have with windows when your talking about OS and System related problems, and mac's "just work" except when they dont.......and when they dont.....well apples fix most times when i have contacted them is "reinstall the os".........bah!!!!

So you're embarrassed by what other people are justifiably saying about something that is and has nothing to do directly with you. You poor sad soul.
The beef is that we are yet again faced with a sub-standard product that, at this point, offers nothing new or innovative to the end user. Really! It's a dumbed down iPod Touch on steroids. Nothing more and much much less.
Please do not pass your short-sighted apple corp. brown nosing attempt off as journalism. We are a Tech-savvy society that can see through these attempts at blatant market/cash-grabs which appeal to and will rely on uneducated consumers to fuel and in-turn be dissallusioned by. How did this get passed the editor???

Let's really be Frank! We hold onto our paper based products because it's just easier to take a s*** with paper based products.. The iPad is not going to change that!

Even though its v1.0, if they have listened, they would've included it in this version. Instead of releasing a stripped down version in the first version to get people to incrementally and repeatly buy every new version. People may think this is smart, but its annoying for me. I love Apple product because of their design, but its ALWAYS lacking in features that I know will eventually come but 3 years down the line. So I have to wait

iPhone has normal USB & SD? As I said before, naive to believe Apple will add features that have been begged for years already...

Yeah. I really love the Flash on my iPhone. The USB ports and SD card slot are pretty awesome too. I also like being able to multi-task and install any program I want on it. Oh wait... I was thinking of my friends (Android) MyTouch 3G. Only one more year to go on my contract...

To a certain extent I agree with you Carmi, the innovative part here is about the electronic distribution of traditional media (e.g,. papers, mags, etc.), however, the lacking hardware detracts from what Apple is billing the device to be, a multimedia machine. Assuming arguendo, it has nothing to do with the hardware your article admits Apple has failed in what it's really about, "Despite the promise, the business model that would, indeed should, surround it was nowhere to be seen yesterday." So, are you merely wanting the technorati to switch the conversation away from hardware?

The reason hardware has been rant is because, as you point out, Apple spent precious little time touting the publishing aspect of the iPad. I digress, Apple focused on the multimedia aspect, and not having 1920x1080 for HD fails when you say it's great for watching movies, as does omitting an optical drive for DVD or Blu-ray. Not to mention, coolguy's and Jambo's point that this is not a 1.0 device. Apple is starting to look and treat its fans like George Lucas and the original Star Wars trilogy when he said that he would never release them on DVD because the technology wasn't good enough. Instead he released Special Edition VHS, but low and behold 6 months after the rabid fans had devoured their $50+ purchse he released the original (non-SE) trilogy on DVD, which sci-fi geeks shelled out another $50+. Then, after a few more months, he released the SE on DVD, in effect selling the same product 3 times. Adding a USB, HDMI and SD would have minimal impact on the cost, and having a widescreen aspect ratio isntead of 4:3 would likely be costless.

But, I doubly digress. The revolutionary new business model you want Apple to have is not there. The iBook store is nowhere near what iTunes is for music, if it were that would at least give Apple a chance for success. So might Google succeed now that they're releasing branded hardware, if they hadn't ticked off the entire industry with Google Books. The techno-illiterate Apple plebs may purchase this iPad 1.0 but they'll never realize it's a "new net category" as you put it because Apple itself is selling it as the alternative to a netbook when Jobs says "netbooks aren't better at anything" ... except an iPad when it comes to multitasking, playing HD video, portable connectivity (USB), having a replaceable battery, etc.

its not about the hardware..ok, but the iphoneOS has been out for years! and I actually do read for free online :) ipad=useless

Carmi,

You are spot on with this and you make more sense than Joe Wilcox could ever make!

Whining about whiners is worse than the orignal whiner...

I'm guessing the Dock will provide some sort of connectivity for things such as printers and but to be honest, it has wireless connection and there are plenty of wireless printers... or you could share them on the network and print over the wireless network.

I do agree that it needed a SD slot or some kind of removeable media storage space.. but I guess using solid state harddisk drives makes the system quite nippy and makes it more of a slick design (something that apple aways tries to go).. but again, if you have wifi I'm sure there is a way to view pictures/music from your PC.. or just Dock it/sync it to the PC when you're charging it.

If it wasn't for the lack of external display (maybe we'll get it via the doc) i'd have liked to have seen it used on a bigger monitor for actua desktop use, maybe next version..:)

"it has wireless connection and there are plenty of wireless printers... or you could share them on the network and print over the wireless network."

So much easier it would have been to just add a USB port, don't you think?

"So much easier it would have been to just add a USB port, don't you think?"

Steve,

just add a USB port, not a big deal.

Sincerely,

Sent from an HTC phone
that has a USB port

@OneToOne: Literally lol'ed at that. Nice one.

That's a load of bull. To suggest that this release is perfectly acceptable without USB or HDMI, just because it's the first version of the iPad, is crap - sorry but it is. The iPad won't have been in development for just the last 6 months or something, it'll have been in development for about 18 months. The omission of ports is absolutely deliberate and the omission of os 4.0 is also absolutely deliberate. The iPad will sell, of that there's no doubt, but it's highly flawed in both hardware and software. The lack of USB and multi-tasking is unforgiveable. And if you think that laptops suck, then no wonder you're defending the iPad so vigorously. But you are wrong in so far as the iPad does not stand out amongst tablets, and it does not supercede netbooks. It's created a nicke of it's own in no-mans land and it remains to be seen if it really can take off in a sustainable way.

I agree with the majority of the comments on this article that the Apple iPad is nothing more than a gimmick that could have worked, but fails due to hardware constraints. The biggest issue I have with the iPad, however, is the fact that it has been done before.
In 2006-2007 Toshiba released a range of laptops going by the name of the Toshiba Portégé M700 Tablet PCs (http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/portege). Basically the laptops' screens swiveled and attached to the keyboard, becoming a touch-screen so that the user can navigate around. It operated on Windows XP, Vista and now Windows 7.
Granted the iPad has a much slicker interface than a touch-screen Windows OS, but that wouldn't have stopped developers to do something for Tablet PC's. However, tablet PC's, although still around today, did not corner the market as many thought. The reason for this was simple: There was no compelling reason to own such a laptop.
Joe Wilcox's earlier article hit it right on the money when he said what would make him buy a iPad, and I think many agreed with him. The iPad now is nowhere near what it should be to corner the market. It has potential though, but I'm not going to wait around for that to happen. And if they are smart, neither would Google.

Carmi, I am sorry but I politely disagree with your article.

You see, people expected too much from the company in question and this company should have delivered this. What the company in question is doing might be right for their pockets but *certainly* not right for the consumer. Not everyone wants to or can spend $XXX+ for every new release just to get what was supposed to be included in the first release.

The way things look based on my own personal view are like this: version one will give them nothing, version two will give them USB ports, version three will give them card slots, version 4 multi-tasking + optical drive etc so keep milking the consumer with every new release. Yes excellent business strategy! Way to go! Sure it might be good for the company and I understand what they do however in my own opinion, customer comes first!

If I was in charge, I'd put customers' interests first. This will give me better image and popularity and respect. People would want to buy my next version product *but* not because they need it but because they'd want it just like I bought an Android.

What the company quoted in the article has done in my own opinion is created a need for a second version to ensure their future is secured but there are better ways of doing this. Faster processor, better resolution, bigger hard drive, more RAM etc but seriously don't take features out! Why leave out key features out?

"Not everyone wants to or can spend $XXX+ for every new release just to get what was supposed to be included in the first release."

True.dat

Looks like Betanews is kinda upset that, in fact, nobody really wants this.

I'm also kind of surprised that people are still referring to this as a 1.0 product. 1.0? Really? So, the iPod Touch and the iPhone (both of which have had more than one revision) aren't just smaller versions of exactly the same thing? Sorry Apple/Betanews, it looks to me like that's exactly what they are. This is at the very least a 4.0 product. As such, it stinks.

My iPod Touch 2G fits in my hand & my pocket. My netbook fits on my lap. My desktop fits on my desk. Where does this fit?

The lack of expandability, replaceable battery, webcam, multitasking & a host of other omissions makes this a turkey of a device that is fulfilling a market need that simply isn't there. There is no potential here whatsoever.

So I can access the App Store with it. Whoopee. On my netbook and PC, I can access the whole internet and download apps for anything I need. So I can read newspapers with it. I can buy a newspaper for 20p or read what I want online for free. Not pay $500 to then have to pay on top to read something on a 1.5lb tablet that I can't put at a suitable angle without giving me neck strain or aching arms.

Fail.

Well, Jambo, I can speak for my part in Betanews, the company. I'm not upset at all, I'm pleased that people are interested in this. Whether folks buy it or not is up to them, but whatever that trend will be, I'll assure you, I'll look into it.

If you're looking for some sort of Fox-News-ish direction as to, which way does Betanews think and where does it point, you're not going to find it. Our freelance contributors, including Carmi and Joe, are grown-ups and capable of standing up for what they believe. They speak for themselves.

Besides, if you were to look to me to be a gauge of what consumers should do at this point, honestly, that would be a really poor choice. Am I intrigued by what I see in this product? Sure. The speed perks up my ears a bit. I like hearing about speed. Form factor? Sorry, but I don't get it. Miniaturization makes sense to me for portability. Lack of miniaturization...does not make sense to me for portability. And my history with portable products is, they'd better be shockproof. So am I going to buy an iPad tomorrow? Hell, no.

Does that mean this won't be a successful product? Of course not. I absolutely don't want to make the mistake of assuming that readers should follow my lead, or presuming that they already do simply because I have the gift of this public platform. I tend to use old equipment until it bleeds rust. The reason I replace an old part or computer or device is usually because the old one exploded and set off the fire alarm. If I were to advise folks to follow my lead, I'd be putting their lives in danger.

So am I upset that folks are skeptical about the iPad? Nope. I'm ecstatic. It shows that folks remain smart and don't let their whims rule their purchasing habits.

-SF "Will Probably End Up Buying a First-Generation iPad from a Flea Market in 2041" 3

"Because things like memory card slots and a USB jack can easily be added to v2.0 or 3.0."

What a dumbo! Say it for each and every product in the world. This should be the moronic height for betanews.

After reading such dumb article, I am removing betanews from my feed subscription. Betanews is no longer worth to be in my list.

http://www.theonion.com/..._source=onion_rss_daily

Yeah... the comments are moronic alright...

Hehe... you're such a meanie. :p

Here is a similar article posted in a different outlet.

http://www.macworld.com/.../ipad_future_shock.html

The other site seems to address a different group of readers, and their comments are much smarter. I encourage you to post to that outlet in the future. I myself am removing BetaNews from my bookmarks, as it does not meet my standards of readership anymore.

Lol... funny how the Mac fan thinks comments on MacWorld are "smarter." No they're not. You just happen to agree with them and the article they are commenting on. Typical Apple elitism.

Oh good grief. There are a host of reasons the iPad is a complete failure:

1. NO MULTI-TASKING. This alone makes it a crippled version of the tablet PCs we've been using for the past 10 years.

2. No camera.

3. Screen resolution is tiny.

4. Aspect ratio is 4:3.

5. Accessories. You need an adaptor for a USB port. I mean, seriously? Apple couldn't have built _ONE_ USB port into it?

6. It's a closed system.

7. Every model is too expensive.

8. The bezel is enormous! So ugly.

@bigsexy

It's not a tablet PC, it's a Apple Tablet. Apple does just about everythig the "APPLE WAY".

So because it's Apple, the fact it is *less* functional than a tablet PC is a *good* thing? Nice... You're beginning to sound like a Mactard.

No camera. You must mean no webcam, cause taking pictures on something so big is moronic.

Yeah. A Web cam. You know...for skype calls? Something I hear a lot of people do on this "internet" thing.

Screen Resolution is tiny. You're kidding right. For its designed purpose it's just right.

For it's purpose? How about movies in HD? Yeah...I know...you Apple folks hate that stuff, right? This is not just a bookreader....(App Store, iTunes, iWork...)

Plus who cares if it aint widescrean. It's not like it's a deal breaker for anyone.

Not a deal breaker? Speak for thyself. I haven't purchased a 4:3 device in over a decade.

NOBODY NEEDS A USB PORT ON THIS THING. I've had a iphone for 2 years. NEVER needed a usb port once.


Woah there, big boy... Settle....settle.... NEWSFLASH: This isn't an iPhone. It's an "internet tablet" or whatever they want to call it. People do things on the internet that sometimes require peripherals. Ya know...like printing?

The app store is a monstor for just about any kind of app you could imagine.

Google Voice. Oh, right..there's *no* app for that.

For kindle owners, heck no. In fact the millions of people who own a kindle must be in shock that paid so much for so little function.

Kindle: $259. (Oh!...and lookie here: It's got a USB PORT!!)

It's the most inovative and fantasic design of any tablet ever made.

Purely subjective, but boy you are trying hard to sound like a fanatic....what, you couldn't think of any more adjectives? Scratch what I said above...you *are* a Mactard.

@Paul:

The iPad is not a phone or a PMP device.

Thank you.

I actually am a pc guy. Dont own a mac. Aside from ipods and iphones in this house. The base kindle is small, i was refering to the Kindle DX that is the flagship model, similar in size to iPad.

I understand nothing can be or will be perfect. What does anyone own that is flawless in every way. That is my point. I read so much negative feedback about the ipad and really it's hard to understand why. Maybe the year of speculation without any actual proof of anything caused this heated debate. All kinds of rumored features where leaked from reliable sources that turned out to be fake. That may have cause the reaction, or at least helped it alot.

The device looks good and with time we shall see. If anything other manufactures could learn a design lesson from apple. I still wanna see a Windows 7 tablet with as much style. Why, because i wanna buy a windows 7 tablet. But the ones that have been out and are coming out just dont look attractive at all. Yes i do like shiny cool looking things. That's just who i am.

NOBODY NEEDS A USB PORT ON THIS THING. I've had a iphone for 2 years. NEVER needed a usb port once.

Woah there, big boy... Settle....settle.... NEWSFLASH: This isn't an iPhone. It's an "internet tablet" or whatever they want to call it. People do things on the internet that sometimes require peripherals. Ya know...like printing?

Wow you're on fire. Spot on.

I was talking to a co-worker who's a Die Hard Mac user. To my surprise, he even admited he wouldn't touch the iPad because off all the following. Can't multi task the iMac. No USB because if he's traveling, he would love to dump his pictures from his camera. He compare the 256gb SD to the iPad 64gb.. all he can say was "*head shaking*" Even the price he wouldn't pay for a wifi+G3.

Those were some nice key example he posted. It's portable to take on vacation. But can't use it for some of the everyday use.

"Are you getting the picture here?"

Yes. But that's because my netbook has a webcam. Something the ipad...does not.

I agree with everything you said. If it was more of an OS X based tablet with better hardware, I would be on it in a second. 1, 2, 5 and 6 being the main things to complain about... but 1 and 6 being the biggest, I think.

yeah and that is why it's not for you. It's for your grandma, your uncle Joe down in Texas running a ranch and your landlord who's totally computer illiterate. Get it?

@PC_Tool. Dude, what is wrong with you? I thought you were smarter than this. Of all the people on this site I really thought you had a little more imagination than your silly list of arguments you threw above to bigsexy.

Do you really believe Apple would've make a big media event in SF last Wednesday if they didn't know what they were doing? Haven't you watch the keynote? This device may take a while to take flight but once the ecosystem settles in, iPad could become to the publishing sector what iPod/iTunes did for the music industry. I think this thing is huge. So please stop talking like an IT manager working in the government and computer guru from the mid-nineties and have some vision!

Then show me how this is *better* than a Tablet PC with the Kindle-app and and publishing tools installed.

That's the problem. Vision has nothing to do with it. Better and cheaper devices exist for *everything* this device can do...and it's been purposefully hamstrung.

Of course it will sell. As I said, Apple could sell snowshoes to Jamaicans. I never said it wouldn't sell. My comments are about the hardware and functionality. Saying anything made by Apple won't sell at this point is giving humanity far too much credit. All I am saying is that there is nothing this device can do that other devices cannot do better....for less. That this fact will have virtually no effect on sales just makes those buying it look even worse.

Well, of course there may be more "complete" packages elsewhere. I mean, the iPod is not the top selling mp3 player because it's the best device; it's the top selling mp3 player because it's got what no other device has: A strong ecosystem. Same for the iPhone...hey, I bought mine a year and half ago and it still is the hottest-coolest smartphone out there. Why? Not because it's got more features than others. In fact, it doesn't at all! It's all in the ecosystem! iTunes Music Store and the App Store.

Now don't get me wrong, I ain't saying Apple products are s***ty either. I am just saying that their stuff is not about the number of ports and the best hardware peripherals.

It's not the device - It's the mojo man! And that has *everything* to do with vision ;)

Heh...

Sure. If you like being blinded by "mojo"...

Pretty sure I'd rather have a device that can actually *do* what I want it to be able to do. Ya know...without having to "jailbreak" the device.

I understand their reasoning behind the App-Store/Device lock-in. It *does* make sense. It's all about the "experience"... But it also limits the devices greatly.

Even so... the lack of USB/SD just boggles the mind. Loading photos directly from the card/camera? Nope. I can do that on nearly every other device in the world except Apple's.

Why? There is no reasonable explanation that I can come up with...

I wouldn't say people are *blinded* by the mojo, I'm saying for a lot of folks it doesn't matter the lack of USB/SD and locked-in environment. For a lot of people there's something trustworthy and comforting about a locked-in environment and Apple gives them just that - Great devices in a nice working ecosystem.

Happiness in Slavery. :)

All the decisions made for you....no responsibility...

Yeah, I can see why they love Apple so much.

It sure is a far cry from their "1984" commercials though. :)

As I said above:
I understand their reasoning behind the App-Store/Device lock-in. It *does* make sense. It's all about the "experience"... But it also limits the devices greatly.

I'm not really arguing with you, just explaining my view. I understand yours...and it is shared by many...just not by me.

Haha Happiness in Slavery, I like that ;)

Aside from a missing webcam i dont know what hardware the ipad is missing. Same goes with the iphone. We dont need SD expansion or usb. I've had a iphone for 2 years now. My only complaint is lack of multitasking which i get anyway via jailbreaking. The ipad is a very slick device that does what it does very well. It's not sluggish in any way and leaves room for some very good software to be made for it. This device may in fact lead me to buy ebooks. I used to read alot, but have neglected in recent years. I've seen the ibook reader in action, it makes a kindle look like utter crap. The fact that my 200+ iphone apps will work on this device is a major bonus. The iphone made the idea of touch screen games a amazing thing. The iPad will pump new life into that idea. I never enjoyed watching video on my iphone, the screen is just to small for my eyes. The ipad answers that.

For all those who dont like the ipad or the idea of it, realize one thing. It's not meant for you anyway. Just like the many of you who dont have a iphone or dont want one. For some reason you think it's not a good device. Yet the 10's of millions of us who have one are happier then heck. I wont be getting the ipad to replace my laptop or my 4000 dollar gaming desktop. I am getting it cause it's gonna be alot of fun to use.

but Apple is a hardware company. They sell hardware: computers, phones, and mobile music players.

It's all they offer, so of course it's about the hardware

Dude... it's called a laptop.

iBling sounds more accurate than iPad.

In any case, it is all iDouche for hard applecore users when they drop it on the floor or spill water on it.

I wonder if anyone is going to develop an iRubber for it?

It's not like the guys are the one shouting about it. First time I heard it connected to a female product was from a.... female. Alyssa Milano tweeted about it. Go figure. And she has an iphone I think. ipad is just a dumb name. up the string like Attack of the Clowns uh Clones. So we can complain about a stupid name. Doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, although I won't be buying the silly thing. No flash. Let alone I read books in their print format. Won't have it any other way. Even if this is simply a computer pad. :P Can't imagine Picard buying another ipad for his Enterprise. :P Maybe iFlat or something but iPad?? Just too expensive and whats the point. Spend it on a Netbook if you want. But prefer a normal Laptop. And keep rebuilding my desktops

Hit the nail on the head there Carmi. After THREE IPhone releases they've yet to add SD expansion of any sort, a standard USB connection, a user-replacable battery, multiple-tasking... Apples record speaks for itself, it's incredibly naive to presume they're just holding back.

Carmi,

anything that requires paragraphs upon paragraphs of cryptic language and market-speak to justify its existence is a fail.

"It's all potential for publishing" - get over it, Amazon/Kindle has that market cornered for years to come, and no half-baked picture frames are going to compete here.

"If we're being brutally frank, laptops and desktops are great at getting work done but lousy tools for exploring content." - you sound like a gold-collar used car salesman here, desperately pushing a last year model out of the lot.

Its a giant Ipod Touch with 3g - what does it do differently that the ipod touch and iphone cannot do?

This thing was hyped so much and this is what Mr Jobs himself says about it "a truly magical and revolutionary product"

He's kidding, right?

The only magic this thing will do is pull money out of clueless consumers expecting something awesome and disappointing them

I'm not necessarily defending the device here...but, one thing it does that the others can't is, it won't kill your eyes for reading on it for a few hours. It was hyped a lot. Purposely leaked and denied to push curiosity and interest, and now released as a bare bones item to get more money out of the people who will buy it first, and buy a revised product as well.

"The only magic this thing will do is pull money out of clueless consumers".

They won't be disappointed, believe me. We all have our standards. Some people prefer functionality, others prefer a good mix and some prefer sex appeal. Apple products have always had, and will always have sex appeal, but lack raw functionality and power - why? Because Apple fans settle for that much.

"Missing the point
The fact that so much of the harsh criticism seems to focus on the name suggests not everyone fully understands why Apple is unique among manufacturers in its ability to grab and keep our attention. It isn't, and never was, about the hardware."

Carmi has it right.Yes, the point isn't the hardware...WE GET THAT. Many people don't. It's underwhelming because it's meant to be. You make a kick a** product now, what will people buy version 2 for? No, you have to build up to a better product. Get the suckers to get the early model. Get the rest on the next models. A tablet, slate, ipad, whatever is nothing new - but guess what? Apple is going to claim it as a technology first - why and how? Because while others are focusing on making their 'tablet' as functional as possible, Apple is focusing on capturing interest, and making it look pretty...something 'universally' embraceable as a 'gadget'.
So, while the others are going to be penalized and punished (market-wise) for making technically and functionally superior products....Apple's iPad is going to rake in all the kids, college students and people who claim/want/need to be/feel artsy and avante garde.

The name is awful. Slate would have been much better. The whole "i" thing was really old five years ago.

Not only is the name awful...but the name "iPad" was trademarked by another company back in 2002 for their own hand-held device, and it looks like they still own the trademark:

TOKYO — It’s sleek. It’s mobile. It has a touchscreen.
It’s Fujitsu’s iPad from 2002.

Sold mainly in the United States, the multi-functional device from the Tokyo technology company helps shop clerks verify prices, check real-time inventory data and close sales on the go.

Fujitsu, which applied for an iPad trademark in 2003, is claiming first dibs, setting up a fight with Apple over the name of the new tablet device that Apple plans to sell starting in March.

“It’s our understanding that the name is ours,” Masahiro Yamane, director of Fujitsu’s public relations division, said Thursday. He said Fujitsu was aware of Apple’s plans to sell the iPad tablet and that the company was consulting lawyers over next steps.

Fujitsu’s iPad, which runs on Microsoft’s CE.NET operating system, has a 3.5-inch color touchscreen, an Intel processor and Wi-fi and Bluetooth connections; it also supports VoIP telephone calls over the Internet, a technology also used by Skype.

http://www.nytimes.com/2...ompanies/29name.html?hp

"Because things like memory card slots and a USB jack can easily be added to v2.0 or 3.0. Apple never gives away the store with the first release of a product: You'd think we would have all learned from the iPhone experience, which was introduced with glaring hardware gaps (lack of 3G, anyone?) that have since been largely addressed."

Really? So they now have an SD card slot a replaceable battery, and a standard USB port? Really?

"Indeed, three years since it was first announced, complaints about the iPhone's hardware capabilities are almost inaudible."

Everything is inaudible if you put your hands over your ears and scream, "I can't hear you!!!" at the top of your lungs. (...or apparently if you are trying to make a point by totally ignoring reality)

"laptops and desktops are great at getting work done but lousy tools for exploring content."

*laughing* Yeah...the mouse/keyboard/monitor thing just ain't working for web browsing any more... Wow.

The market has told us, time and time again, that we, by and large, want to read *actual* books, and that we no longer *want* newspapers or magazines.

No-one needs this. It does everything everything else already does....just not as well.

Want to read books? Get a book...or a kindle. It's better either way.

Want to read the paper? Read the paper or go online and get the news in a better format. It's better either way.

Photos? Music? Laptop and/or iPod. Both do it better.

There is nothing this device can do that any laptop, netbook, tablet, or bookreader cannot do *better*, and since this is not a "standalone" device....chances are you already *have* whatever hardware out there does it better.

This won't replace any of those existing items because whatever that item may be...it does it better than the iPad. This won't be a new purchase for anyone looking for a bookreader/laptop/netbook...because the other ones do it better.

Will it sell? Of course it will. It's Apple. They could sell snowshoes to Jamaicans. Hell, they can sure as hell get the media types whipped into a sycophantic frenzy. ...and if the media says it's revolutionary, well, it *has* to be true...right?

You'd never lie to us or sensationalize anything to get paid...would you?

Will it sell? Of course it will. It's Apple. They could sell snowshoes to Jamaicans.

I LOL'ed at that one...

I just really want to see somebody walking down the street holding one of these things to the side of their face and talking into it while having a phone conversation.

Wish I could vote up a comment 20 times.

"laptops and desktops are great at getting work done but lousy tools for exploring content"

What? What does this even mean? It's nonsensical. Laptops suck? There's only two other options - desktops and tablets, and this is not a tablet computer, it's a big ipod.

Carmi, please stop pretending you're not gushing over an iPhone with a big screen that won't run all iPhone apps, doesn't have a phone, doesn't have a camera, no USB, no memory to speak of and cannot multi-task. Oh, it does pretend to be a Kindle (for 500 bucks).
Apple, don't worry, next time I want to read a book or newspaper, I'll go to Starbucks for the paper and Borders for the book, plus they don't charge me $30/month to go in the door.
With the state of ATT 3G (nearly non existent unless you live under a cell site), even the 3G subscription will be a source of irritation.
Long story short: iNot buy iPad!

I don't care about anything that comes from Apple. It's all overrated and over-expensive,

I have and love my iPhone (first Apple Product I ever purchaces) Love win 7 on my HP machines too. Could either item be replaced with an equally useful product - Sure could. I'm not a fanboy of anything in particular, if it works I use it. The iPad looks like a useless piece of money wasting hardware. I actually feel embarassed for Apple for developing this product. It really doesn't seem practical / useful. But what do I know, I dont get paid to write my opinion. If I did, my opinion would be that most columnnist just write useless blather.

Why does Betanews let this idiot post articles here? This guy has no clue about anything. He is just another Apple Fanboy. If Microsoft had released this, he would be putting it down and making fun of it. Cami, you are so transparent.

First, I can agree with you about the name. Although it may be funny once or twice, it really gets old. They'll go away though, just like the "Wii" jokes did.

So let's stop whining about what wasn't included in iPad v1.0, shall we? Because things like memory card slots and a USB jack can easily be added to v2.0 or 3.0.

You say quit complaining about the iPad 1.0, but right now that's all that was announced. The rest is assumed to come later, but today, it is nothing more than an educated assumption.

If these could "easily" be added later as you say, why weren't they added to the current product??? I believe it was intentional just so Apple could make more money off of the early adopters. Was it too hard to include a camera, a memory card slot, etc.? Of course not, and that kind of pisses me off.

I don't want to buy something for its future potential. I want to buy something for what it can do now. I only care about potential as far as futureproofing--if the 1.0 could have these features upgraded via a software update, for example. Obviously though, software upgrades can't magically add user replaceable batteries, memory card slots, or cameras now, can they? Why the heck would anyone want to buy a crippled product that they know will be updated to include these features in later version? At least with the iPhone 1.0 it had enough going for it to not necessitate some of the 2.0 and 3.0 features for it to have been successful. With the iPad 1.0, there are too many features right off the bat that just aren't there.

In short, the iPad had too much hype for it not to include some of the "duh" features it should have had. If it were *just* Adobe Flash support that would be fine, since I could always update the software on the iPad to add that functionality later. But with so many missing hardware options, I believe this product has a chance of flopping. Consumers aren't always as stupid as they look.

If Apple would have been smart enough to put the same laptop/desktop version of Mac OS X on the iPad then I would agree that laptops suck but instead Apple put the slimmed down iPhone OS on the iPad. They even made the horrible mistake of using proprietary hardware when they could have used laptop parts from Intel and Nvidia or ATI and gotten better performance with similar battery life. On what is essentially a tablet PC I shouldn't be forced to buy software from one specific app store. I should be able to run Mac versions of any Windows software on my iPad (as long as the hardware is powerful enough, of course). Hopefully someday that moron Steve Jobs at Apple will figure this out.

what is truly embarrassing and patently offensive is the media (all media not just the tech media) tripping over their own genitals to hype apple's latest calculated assault on our collective sensibilities.

I would hate snitching and telling on anyone, but for once I would welcome an FCC investigation on how much Apple PR pays these wh***s to write these articles.

I haven't held on to any subscriptions... got rid of them all.

Pretty much using my laptop for all my classes now including one class where the book is distributed in electronic format... It works fine and I don't seeing the iPad making the format any better...

Bravo for stepping up, Carmi. Except the entire basis of your argument (that this is a new category with its own evolution awaiting) is sorely misguided. Apple can achieve more by making their iWhateverStore compatible on the Fujitsu line of slate tablets or other computer hardware manufacturers.

Apple made a calculated bet when they purchased PA Semiconductor almost 2 years ago. True, PA's technology is based on PowerPC designs and Apple is gambling that they can build a mobile hardware ecosystem which is not competing against the Windows PC business. However, even the leaders in the mobile market (read: Nokia, Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC) have been unable to crack that nut -- even with fun games hanging.

Realistically, Apple has to rev up to version 3 before creating a competitor. By then all of the other players will have grown the mobile market and secured their share. The new mobile gaming consoles will have released, and Apple will continue an uphill battle against a portable version of the Xbox 360 (which Sony is still leading). Why? because mobility within Xbox ecosystem has more sex appeal than mobility around an immature Apple ecosystem.

haha, laptops suck? oooohhh k, obviously someone just overdosed on apple kool-aid and threw up all over betanews, alright dude, if laptops/netbooks suck, put your money where your mouth is, use your iPhone or MaxiPad alone, no desktops no laptops and tell us how you feel afterward
honest to god, some peoples kids...

You are so clueless.