Doctorow on the iPad

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by djgreedo

The Entourage Edge (not yet available as I understand, but announced before the iPad) has an e-ink screen as well as an LCD.

The eDGe is out and shipping. Several of our members have them. Check out our eDGe section. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=218

BOb

[CyGuy]

That article seems like an accurate take to me. I must admit that the article missed one of the biggest failures of the iPad: the lack of a built-in SDHC card reader and a USB port. Those are huge huge failures...

[djgreedo]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

The eDGe is out and shipping. Several of our members have them. Check out our eDGe section. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=218

BOb

Ah, cool. I thought it was still a few months away.

[Gurvan]

I think that you don't get the point... There might be products that are superior technically to the iPad. But that is NOT the point. The point is that with the iPad, you have a whole ecosystem already in place... Not so with any of the other product that you mentioned...

[ardeegee]

"I think that you don't get the point... There might be products that are superior technically to the iPad-- but Steve Jobs didn't tell me to buy those!" He wears a black turtleneck, for flyingsphagettimonster's sake!"

[Gurvan]

Originally Posted by djgreedo

The iPad form factor is a major criticism of it. It's not small enough to lug around wherever you go, but it's not powerful enough to replace a laptop or netbook in the home. There are lots of devices that don't have that problem.

Well that might be true for you. It is certainly not so for me...

Originally Posted by djgreedo

Android devices are selling as well as the iPhone now. Android is projected to overtake the iPhone in terms of actual marketshare within the next 12 to 24 months.

Methinks, you are confusing marketshare with number of sales per month...

Originally Posted by djgreedo

The iPhone got its start from geeks buying it and showing it to people. Geeks have since flocked to Android due to its superiority in choice, openness, etc.

The first iPhone in my family was my wife's... She is as far removed from a geek as one can imagine... Seeing her using her iPhone is what made me forget my Treo...

Originally Posted by djgreedo

You're not wrong. But what makes Android different is that it allows for choice. Want a phone with a physical keyboard? Want a phone with a small or large form factor? Want a cheap phone? A phone with a high resolution screen? Want to pay more for the absolute best? With Android and Windows you have those choices, and people will exercise them.

They had those opportunities with Windows mobile nearly from the start and Windows Mobile never was in the lead, asked yourself why ?

Originally Posted by djgreedo

Part of Apple's way of doing business is the 'one size fits all' philosophy. But people like their phones to suit their own needs.

They mostly want something powerful and easy to use... Not everybody wants to tinker with its phone...

Originally Posted by djgreedo

Well they have succeeded in making a product that doesn't really have any use.

Again, for you... For me, believe, it will !

Originally Posted by djgreedo

I have read a whole bunch of discussions on the iPad and the common thread is that the people defending the product can never actually give examples of what they are going to use it for, and when the (occasionally) do, they are things that are better suited to a different form factor.

- Reading PDF and eBook better than on my laptop or my iPhone,
- browsing the web everywhere rather than in sitting in front of my Laptop,
- playing some games if I feel like it,
- taking notes if I need,
...
Probably others but right now, those are the one than comes to mind... There is a thread on this forum titled "Why is the iPad a no-brainer for you". There people are giving their reasons. They might sound stupid, frivolous or idiotic to you but for those people, it works...

Originally Posted by djgreedo

But fortunately for Apple there are people willing to buy their product first and only then work out something it can actually do for them. I prefer to work the other way around buy buying tech that solves problems I have.

And you think that every iPad buyer is a moron who cannot think for him/herself ? Please...

[Gurvan]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

"I think that you don't get the point... There might be products that are superior technically to the iPad-- but Steve Jobs didn't tell me to buy those!" He wears a black turtleneck, for flyingsphagettimonster's sake!"

You are the one having "Guru" written on your profile... You should know !

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by djgreedo

1.
MSI announced a device witha 10-inch capacitive screen (running Android) in the same week Apple announced the iPad. It has a Tegra 2 chip inside, which is probably quite a bit more powerful than the iPad's chip.

Not "probably", it will be more powerful. The A4 in the iPad is a cut-down single-core ARM Cortex A8, the Tegra 2's a dual-core Arm Cortex A9.

While I consider the Adam vapourware, there are multiple major companies who will be delivering Tegra2-based tablets, including Asus (who kickstarted the netbook market, I'd remind everyone) with an "Eee Pad".

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

"I think that you don't get the point... There might be products that are superior technically to the iPad-- but Steve Jobs didn't tell me to buy those!" He wears a black turtleneck, for flyingsphagettimonster's sake!"

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Gurvan

You are the one having "Guru" written on your profile... You should know !

That's a typo. I'm actually a homicidal barbarian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groo_the_Wanderer

[Gurvan]

At least I learnt something new today... Thanks !

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by djgreedo

Announed to be released in a couple of months. Of course if they wanted to release something with very little flexibility and power they could have had a product identical to the iPad on the shelves already.

The iPad is arguably an iPod Touch with a larger screen and slightly more power. The devices I mentioned have new technology, such as the Pixel QI screen on the Adam.

Of course you ignored the examples of tablets already available that don't have the iPad drawbacks.

so when you said the iPad is 'one of many' and I said name me 2 your response was 2 unavailable future devices and some 'better' devices that arent the same at all.

I gave you such a simple brief too, if its one of many name me a device similiar and you couldnt even name one!

thats why iPad will sell(has sold) so well have any of those better devices sold 300,000 in one day? advertising is part of that but for the people who are buying them they dont want an XYZ that may come out in 6 months and they dont want a higher powered tablet with keyboard.

they want an iPad type device and there arent any others out there!

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

"I think that you don't get the point... There might be products that are superior technically to the iPad-- but Steve Jobs didn't tell me to buy those!" He wears a black turtleneck, for flyingsphagettimonster's sake!"

Originally Posted by kennyc

SCOOOOORRRRRRRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[devilsadvocate]

"Early last month the Electronic Frontier Foundation published a copy of the licensing agreement that developers have to sign to sell their apps through the App Store. Among the requirements: developers who used the company’s software development kit could not sell their work through other platforms, even if Apple rejected it, and a prohibition against discussing the agreement itself. (The group obtained a copy of the document by filing a Freedom of Information Act request after NASA released an iPhone App)."

--Josh Brustein, the New York Times

Jobs built this company on the backs of others (Wozniak, BSD, Qt); why should this be any different?

[mcl]

I prefer my iPad Mini: smaller, more portable, with a built-in GPS, camera, and cellphone capability.