Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114
I've never been an apple fan, and also don't like they're fanboys (again, brand loyalty is for suckers) but I wouldn't dismiss an eventual tablet at all.
The iPhone/iPod touch is the first of their devices I've been truly impressed with (though I don't own either due to price-and not wanting a smart phone). The touch screen interface works much better than any touch device I've used--palm pilot, my LG Voyager phone, Nintendo DS, Tablet PCs etc.
It's just super intuitive. Some I'm very stoked to see what they could to with some kind of tablet device. I'd love to have something like that. A larger version of the iPhone with more features (sans talking), a bigger screen etc. would be great for carrying around to surf the net, watch movies/tv shows, uses as a planner (in place of my old palm pilot), take notes in meetings, read and mark up PDFs of scholarly journals, and also do some reading on since I'd carry something like that around while my Kindle usually stays on the night stand unless I'm going out of town.
Again, I don't think such a device would kill the Kindle as bookworms (especially the older ones who seem to be buying up ereaders) will want a simple device and the e-ink screen for long reading sessions. But such a device could really sell well if done right, and really expand the e-book market by getting a device with integrated e-book functions built in into the hands of lot of people who would never even think of buying a dedicated reader.
Now, as you say the first generation or two are likely to be a bit buggy, but probably not too bad. Both the first and second gen iPhones were pretty solid devices with only minor issues IMO.
The main thing will be the screen techonology (prices dropping on OLED displays) and battery life improving so such a device could stand up to 8-10 hours or so of use a day and be charged at night. Though in reality, since it's not a phone it could probably get buy on a lot less for most people since it doesn't need to be on and carried around all the time like the iPhone.
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I could go on for hours about the crippled and pathetic state of the US cellphone market and wireless providers and their
breathtaking market abuse for decades now but it's too late - if you were interested seeing advanced phone
years before iPhone all you had to do is to
go to Europe and Asia - in Japan an iPhone is actually
embarrasing to have, yes (i'm not kidding, it's true.)
iPhone's truly a one-trick pony and that's
responsiveness - but in return you lost
multitasking, it's a true single-tasking device, unlike any other smartphone out there.
Also even 2nd gen 3G has a lot of laughably pathetic shortcomings (no c/p? battery? MMS? videophone? email client? etc etc) so don't hold your breath about their tablet just yet...
Regardless of all its issues Apple
did a good job showing others that it IS the first and foremost user experience, the responsiveness and everything comes after.
Everything else was simply stolen from others including the mighty app store idea (Palm had an appstore from the 90s, Handango started selling WinMo apps from 2000 IIRC.)