|
I believe this is the natural progression of the PC and we will see more and more tablets hit the market. MANY will resist the temptation to buy an Ipad just because of Apples closed standards and the fact that this isn't a true PC, just a giant iTouch with 3g & GPS (if you buy that option).
As far as the eReader market it can do nothing but HELP the market. The more people that buy ebooks the more that become available and the more the publishing industry will realize that this is going to be THE market for books. pBooks will always have their place but for a majority of distribution eBooks will eventually become the standard - and if Apple can help make that happen then I'm happy with that.
Apple produces first rate products with outstanding interfaces. It's been, what, 2 years now and there still isn't a real contender to beat the iPhone? Plenty of "almost theres" but nothing an "iPhone killer". Apple has really revitalized and opened the cellular phone industries to new heights and made a nominal device a piece of leading technology.
I say more power to Apple, go for it! BUT, I won't probably buy one. I don't like the closed architecture and application platform, the lack of multitasking, the lack of a camera and the fact that a GPS isn't available without a data plan investment. Apple should make the GPS available in ALL phones and either offer an application to make maps available or rely on WiFi to download the maps you need for a particular trip (not very handy either). Maybe in the iPad II.
|