[nikkie]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Nikkie, I had high hopes for the iPad but now that it has been outted, I can see it isn't for me. Yes, the Pixel Qi might have made a difference but there are several other problems.

First, it isn't clear what Apple will do as regards competing bookstores. Apple is not known to be generous to competitors and it isn't certain whether it will allow competing bookstores.

The iPhone already has apps for each of these items, and they've said the great majority of apps will be available. If they do end up blocking all other ebook apps, I'm with you. But until they say one way or another, I don't see any reason to believe they will.

Second, it appears that Apple is layering on its own version of DRM to the ePub. If true, then books bought at the Apple store will not be readable on other devices (except possibly other Apple devices). This is still a wait and see scenario.

I can agree with you on that too, if it's true. We don't know yet though. If it is true and the first one isn't though, I wouldn't consider it really a problem.

Third, if the pricing announced for books is correct -- $12.99 to $14.99 -- it is higher than Amazon and B&N. Not clear why paying more for a book is an inducement.

Sounds to me like higher for best sellers and lower than competitors for non-best sellers until we get confirmed pricing studies though we won't know. And again, irrelevant if they allow the other iPhone apps on.

Fourth, it isn't clear that books book at stores other than Apple's store can be read on the iPad. To my knowledge, the iPad will read DRM-free ePub and Apple DRMed ePub, but not Sony or B&N DRMed ePub. I may be wrong in this regard but if not, then will limit the market greatly.

This is the same as the first note, isn't it?

Fifth, the Apple market for the iPad doesn't seem to be the person who prefers to read books than to watch TV. It seems to be the casual reader, the person who reads 1 to 2 books a year (if not in a lifetime). I've excluded students who the iPad also is aimed at because they have "specialized" needs.

Not sure that this really matters. The intended audience makes no difference if it works well for someone who reads a lot (100 books a year? on an iphone/DS Lite?).

Sixth, 10 hours is under ideal conditions and I have yet to use any device under ideal conditions. My Dell laptop's battery was supposed to get 4-5 hours but I'm lucky if it gets 2 hours. That makes me wary about the 10-hour claim. And I do spend 4-5 hours every day reading on my Sony, sometimes more. Granted I could recharge the iPad but I like having reserve power available and not having to charge every day.

I don't buy this one at all. They are claiming greater battery life from the iPad while watching video than my iPhone on 3G, which is quite true to its battery estimates from my tests. I have no complaints about my iPhone's battery life - I read on it all day during the weekend, and charge while sleeping.

Seventh, it isn't clear to me how I would add books to the iPad from the Apple bookstore. No, I understand that it would be wireless, but would I have to pay AT&T or some other carrier for a data plan just to access the store? I assume that the answer is no with wi-fi, but it simply isn't clear to me.

The answer is no with wi-fi, of course. With 3G you can pay for a plan, either $15 or $30 a month depending on your usage. The plan is, thank god, no contract. From the Apple Bookstore you'll buy books within their iBooks app.

I, however, much prefer and will definitely utilize the Wi-Fi and run calibre server as I currently do - it's actually really easy to view your calibre library from within the Stanza app (on the current iPhone) and download books from your computer, or, if you want, from J. Random Hosting Provider.

I'm not bashing the device. If it fits your needs, you should definitely buy it. All I'm saying is that I do not see this as the revolutionary device everyone had been clamoring for. It strikes me as a very evolutionary step and not even a complete step.

It seems like most of your complaints would be resolved if they don't cut the current ebook apps from the iPad. And, if they do cut it, I won't buy one. We in agreement that if you can read books from the other stores, it's not really an issue? Whether or not you choose to use iBooks hardly even matters - the software already written that will work on the iPad will kick the tail off other devices on the market. Just like any other computer.

For folks complaining about no multi-tasking, does any other ereader on the market support true multi-tasking? Also, what would you really get out of it while doing anything someone might want to buy the tablet for? I have push notifications from my instant messaging, facebook, and any other social thing I might want to see while reading or watching a movie, so I just really don't understand why people are worked up about it.

For those complaining about a closed OS, it's certainly no more closed than Windows XP/7 will be on the HP Slate! And much much easier to find apps that have interfaces tailored to a touchscreen without a keyboard due to the app store.

For those complaining about a mobile OS, one of the other biggest failures in tablet history was microsoft's initial tablet idea. In many analysts' opinions, the reason it failed was because it wasn't a complete interface rewrite from the ground up - it was a hodgepodge of poorly thought out desktop conversions. Apple rewrote the OSX frontend from the bottom up to provide the marvelous interface the iPhone presents. It's widget toolkit is vastly superior to similar offerings simply because it is designed to make people UIs that are not dependent on a keyboard.

I'm not going to say that leaving out multi-tasking is the best idea in the world. I think it might even be useful sometimes - and I certainly can buy that it is not in the released iPad SDK simply because they didn't have time to reinvent the threading model while also rewriting every other major productivity application using Cocoa Touch (Pages! iCal! Address Book! etc).

For those suggesting a netbook, I'm not going to deride netbooks and say that they are a bad ereader, obviously they work just fine for some people. I would personally rather prefer to have as much of the device as possible presenting me with usable reading space, not keyboards and motherboard areas. For this same reason, prior to the iPad announcement I eschewed the Kindle DX in favor of the iRex DR800SG that never presented. I do however like the idea of the dockable tablet/netbook combo that Acer presented at CES...and if it or something like it was released, powered by Android, and about $500, it would be an exceptionally worthy competitor to the iPad.

To sum up, I can understand your fears - until we see whether or not Apple will block other ereading apps, I can't quell them entirely, even though I don't believe this will happen since the apps were already approved on the app store for the iPhone. I also would like to recognize the incredible amount of work the apple team put into making a tablet that can work for you without a keyboard and mouse. I can only thank the job market that I never applied to work at Apple during the last few years, because it would have been hell on earth.