Quote:
Originally Posted by kilron
i keep trying to think of what the USB port would be for... what would you use it for exactly? a camera? a card reader? doesn't that make the SD card reader redundant? what else... (i'm literally thinking as i type...)
surely you wouldn't need a USB port to connect to a printer as that can be done wirelessly i would hope. which brings me to a side point in that i do hope they include some printer support. AFAIK, apple has neither confirmed nor denied printer support... so i'm guessing it may be an OS 4.0 feature coming in a few months time.
i'm wondering if maybe they're trying to think ahead a little. lets face it, apple was the first company to ship a computer without a floppy disc drive and with a CD-ROM drive standard and many pundits called them crazy for that. i always find the act of transferring photos from my cameras to computer a bit tedious and wish that all cameras had wireless standard. of course you can with an eye-fi card. what if they add support for that via an app or something? they of course have the SD card add-on. annoying, yes, but if cameras are going wireless, it makes sense to a certain extent.
... still trying to think of what else someone would need a usb port for. the only things i hook up via USB nowadays are cameras and hard drives. not sure why you'd want to hook up an external hard drive. i mean you're not using an iPad for serious heavy duty computing and most people i know don't have much of use for external drives other than for backup. ... just thinking out loud...
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Flash drive and mp3-player sneakernet is extraordinarily common where I work. I also use them heavily for printing purposes in several offices, as well as at convenience stores. WiFi isn't a substitute, nor is connecting the device to another computer via proprietary dongle. For me, a usb host port would be a great addition.
I could also see a lot of people seeking to use external storage. "Serious heavy duty computing" has nothing to do with it. The thing is a consumption device, and consumption requires consumables, and consumables take space. I don't have a huge media library myself, though I do know quite a few people who do, and would like to have quick access to it without having to link up to their desktop or notebook which is connected to their external storage.
usb peripherals like webcams, microphones, or keyboards would also be nice.
I think it might be slightly moot though, since IIRC there's a little adapter for the 30-pin to USB or SD or somesuch. I don't know how far peripheral support would go, but a simple flash drive or camera? I'd suspect so.