The IPAD: thanks Apple, but iPass

tech

After months of rumors and speculation Apple finally unveiled their long waited tablet computer, the iPad.

Steve Jobs positions it as a third computing device between a laptop and a smartphone geared towards the “key tasks” of Web browsing, email, sharing photos, watching videos, playing games, and reading digital books. All current iPhone apps will run on the device, as well as new games and digital books designed specifically for it. An enhanced iPhone SDK released today will support both the iPhone and the iPad.

“All of us use laptops and smartphones now. The question has arisen lately, is there room for a third category of device in the middle?

The problem is Netbooks aren’t better at anything.

They’re just cheap laptops. We think we have something better.”

Do they? Are tablet pc’s even new? Can they call this revolutionary? How is this device really better than a netbook?

Let’s take a look a the price.

The Wifi-only version, with 16GB of memory, will cost $499. A 32GB version will be $599, 64 GB will be $699, and with 3G from AT&T it will cost $829 (for the 64GB version). AT&T will offer two data plans: $14.99a month for 250 MB of data or $29.99 for unlimited. All the 3G iPads, however, will be unlocked, meaning they can be used on other carriers as well.

Having and unlocked version sounds nice, but that’s still pretty expensive.

9.7 inch IPS display, 0.5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds in weight.
MEMORY SIZE: 16, 32, or 64 GB solid state hard drives
CHIP: 1 GHz Apple A4 chip. It looks like they went in-house to build this thing.
Wi-Fi: 802.11n
BATTERY LIFE: 10 hours
Includes Speaker, Microphone, 30-pin connector, Accelerometer, and compass

NO CAMERA, NO WEBCAM, NO FLASH SUPPORT, NO SD CARD SLOT, NOT EVEN A USB PORT, oh and guess what? NO MULTITASKING…. just what the hell where they thinking??

Just how exactly will people share photos if they don’t have a way to move them from their digital cameras/camera-phones?

But wait! Apple loves ya! No USB/SD card slot? No problem! Apple’s got ya covered ;), just look at these nice, shiny ADAPTERS….

ipad adapters

As you can see Apple is making sure you spend every penny on this oversized iPod Touch, sadly I know there is a lot of people who would buy pretty much everything Apple throws at them, Jobs could sell them a chromed-colored turd with the Apple logo and they will buy it.

WOW, so this is their best device ever?? The one they call “magical”?? The one that will change the way the internet is consumed??

What a load of $**t.

I am going to quote a comment from one of the CNET users that I think it’s pretty interesting:

Apple had 3 key products in their target with the iPad.
(1) Netbooks
(2) e-readers
(3) touch screen multimedia devices
They aimed for the middle and missed everything. It’s can’t replace a netbook for performance and power. Can’t replace the Kindle because of the screen and to get enough memory to store you media it’s priced just shy of a MacBook.

Couldn’t have said it better.

I really thought Apple would come up with something better since they pretty much manufacture their own parts, and something to really give the other tablet pc’s out there a run for their money.

I knew they were going to come up with a ridiculous price, but this is just plain retarded. Let’s be honest here, for the same price you could get a dual core atom, 12 inch screen, 320gb hd, 2 gigs of ram, netbook, and windows 7 premium, now there’s a lot you can do with that setting and no need for buying apps when there are tons of open source and other free applications online you could use, and netbooks at least make out for their size.

I was reading an article a few days ago that questioned if there is really a market for tablet pc’s. A few days ago it probably didn’t, but I have to admit that with the today’s announcement and the Apple-AT&T combo the game has just changed, I’m pretty sure a lot of more oversized smartphones are on the way with wireless plans from X carriers, just like we saw at the CES a few weeks ago.

Here’s one that really caught my eye, it’s the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, it’s a tablet/notebook pc hybrid, of course this is not the final version:

Now that’s what I’m talking about, I see a ton of uses for a setting like that, but IMHO only Apple-enthusiasts and people interested in trying to see if a different OS can be installed will be hyped about the Maxi-Pad iPad.

The real question here is whether consumers will be willing to replace their laptops/notebooks/netbooks, the price and the lack of certain things will be an issue to many non-Apple enthusiasts, specially in this economy…

And what about those with iPhones and iPods? Will people go around with 2 devices that do pretty much the same thing?

So, thank you Mr. Jobs, but no thanks, iPass.