Quote:
Originally Posted by kjk
See, I disagree. It is an overpowered iPhone/iPod Touch. If they wanted to do a "PC Tablet", they would have made it run MacOSX, and run Mac software. They obviously have other ideas about what their competition is.
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Don't misunderstand me. I didn't mean to imply that they had aimed at the Tablet PC market and missed. They obviously
wanted to create an oversized iPhone/iPod, which is what they did. My only point is that this device probably isn't going to be
compared to an iPhone or iPod. On the one hand, it'll be compared to a Kindle, where I think it's frankly much more competitive, since it's multifunction (but still using a screen technology that's somewhat inferior for reading, even if people can live with it). On the other hand, though, it'll be compared to the slew of tablet PC's that are coming out, and that's where it will have a harder time competing. Think about the difference between what you can do with Windows Mobile vs. what you can do with Windows 7.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kjk
You may prefer to buy a full OS Tablet, which is totally fine-I haven't seen the market for those ever succeed, but, hey, it could still happen.
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I think one of the reasons it hasn't happened yet is that the technology wasn't there. That's no longer the case, though. Touchscreen (and, somewhat to Apple's credit, multitouch) has advanced to the point where the UI of tablets is much better. Not to mention the fact that the technology is a lot cheaper now (which is how Apple was able to do this in the first place).
It all depends on what conversation you think the average consumer is going to have with themselves internally. Personally, I think it might go something like this:
"Well, I can either buy this Windows tablet, which runs Windows 7 and can handle apps like Office, Outlook, and IE or Firefox, along with a webcam and HD video, Skype, and Kindle for PC thrown in for good measure,
or I could buy the iPad, which runs iPhone apps and plays standard def video, and without any USB connectivity."
It's hard for me to see the iPad coming out on top in that kind of analysis.
Look at something like
the Archos 9. If you're looking at buying a tablet, would you want an iPad for $500, or the Archos 9 for $550? The gap between the two devices is pretty large, I think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kjk
It is obvious Apple doesn't see a full OS Tablet as being the way to go either-even though you want to compare the iPad to one.
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It doesn't really matter where Apple sees the iPad fitting in. What matters is what the public perception's going to be. By allowing the perception that the iPad is a tablet, they're inviting the comparison to much more robust devices. That's why I think the comparison to the Macbook Air is apt.