Apple Event - Live Blogging/Streaming Coverage

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by scottjl

apple had minimal investment in adapting their already working DRM to protect ebooks.

Again, sure. Shame about the customers, eh.

[CyGuy]

My take on the iPad from the information I have heard so far:

Win:
10 hour battery life
9.7” screen
Half inch thick
ePub support
Video support
Multi-touch
Bluetooth
Wi-Fi
Accelerometer
“Unlocked” for 3G

Fail:
$130 for 3G ability
Border around screen too large
4:3 aspect ratio

Epic Fail:
No SDHC card reader built-in
Tied to iTunes
Proprietary sync cable instead of mini USB
No USB ports on device
Apps from their app store only
No copy/paste of files between device and computer

[kilron]

Originally Posted by scottjl

(personally i think the itunes store is in desperate need of a rebrand. movies? applications? books? and it's still called iTunes? huh?)

Originally Posted by kjk

ahahah, totally agree.

you should watch the apple keynote from yesterday. they specifically went over this. they're now referring to 3 separate stores:
- iTunes store (music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, etc.)
- App Store (apps only)
- iBooks store (books only)

they will all be accessible within the iTunes main program (the one that is on your Mac or Windows computer), but they will be separate when you access them from devices like iPods, iPhones and iPads.

[kilron]

an excerpt from someone who actually has tried out the iPad:

"There are many issues you could have with the iPad. No multitasking, still no Flash. No camera, no GPS. They all fall away the minute you use it. I cannot emphasise enough this point: “Hold your judgment until you’ve spent five minutes with it”. No YouTube film, no promotional video, no keynote address, no list of features can even hint at the extraordinary feeling you get from actually using and interacting with one of these magical objects. You know how everyone who has ever done Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? always says, “It’s not the same when you’re actually here. So different from when you’re sitting at home watching.”? You know how often you’ve heard that? Well, you’ll hear the same from anyone who’s handled an iPad. The moment you experience it in your hands you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it’s not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device. And it will change so much. Newspapers, magazines, literature, academic text books, brochures, fliers and pamphlets are going to be transformed (poor Kindle). Specific dedicated apps and enhancements will amaze us."

[kjk]

Originally Posted by kilron

an excerpt from someone who actually has tried out the iPad:

"There are many issues you could have with the iPad. No multitasking, still no Flash. No camera, no GPS. They all fall away the minute you use it. I cannot emphasise enough this point: “Hold your judgment until you’ve spent five minutes with it”. No YouTube film, no promotional video, no keynote address, no list of features can even hint at the extraordinary feeling you get from actually using and interacting with one of these magical objects. You know how everyone who has ever done Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? always says, “It’s not the same when you’re actually here. So different from when you’re sitting at home watching.”? You know how often you’ve heard that? Well, you’ll hear the same from anyone who’s handled an iPad. The moment you experience it in your hands you know this is class. This is a different order of experience. The speed, the responsiveness, the smooth glide of it, the richness and detail of the display, the heft in your hand, the rightness of the actions and gestures that you employ, untutored and instinctively, it’s not just a scaled up iPhone or a scaled-down multitouch enhanced laptop – it is a whole new kind of device. And it will change so much. Newspapers, magazines, literature, academic text books, brochures, fliers and pamphlets are going to be transformed (poor Kindle). Specific dedicated apps and enhancements will amaze us."

I do think it is probably one of those devices that demos better in real life than a list of technical features, like most Apple products. But I'm also amazed at the number of people willing to buy a Kindle sight/touch unseen.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Harmon

All good points.

There's another dimension to the question, though - will the other booksellers allow their apps to be used on the iPad?

The obvious question is the Kindle. The iPad is a direct competitor with the DX. The price points are the same. Putting the Kindle app on the iPad turns the iPad into a DX. So...does Amazon maximize its profits by selling books for the iPad, or by restricting books to the iPhone?

I think the other companies will. In the long run there's more money to be made selling content to as many people as possible than there is in selling devices to access content.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the DX. I can't see there being much of a market for it at $489 when you can buy the iPad for $10 more which does a lot more. And probably can do PDFs better as I'd assume table of contents and other features that don't work on the DX will work on the iPad with PDFs.

It really needs a big price cut. And it probably needs a DX2 with more features (make it more like the Que) to really have a chance.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by kjk

No YouTube film

Well no, that's flash.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Well no, that's flash.

HTML5 in my Chrome browser

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by kjk

I do think it is probably one of those devices that demos better in real life than a list of technical features, like most Apple products. But I'm also amazed at the number of people willing to buy a Kindle sight/touch unseen.

The 30 day return policy Amazon gives you makes this not an issue. You think Apple will give a 30 day return policy? I know they don't on their current stuff.

BOb

[kjk]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

The 30 day return policy Amazon gives you makes this not an issue. You think Apple will give a 30 day return policy? I know they don't on their current stuff.

BOb

14 days for Apple.

I'm still impressed people are willing to buy them without trying them, even with the understanding they can return them if they don't like it.

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, the return policy helps. But it's also that the Kindle and other e-ink readers are very straight forward.

The average person will just buy books from the attached store and read them. So there's not much need for a long demo period since it's so straight forward. All you got to do is look at the screen on one and see if you'd like reading on it. And that's all that's needed for most users to know if it's for them or not.

Something more complicated like a tablet, you need more hands on time with. But at least apple stores (if there's one near you) are pretty good with letting you play around with them and try the different stuff you'd use on it. Still would be nice to have a return policy though.

EDIT: And if it's 14 days as posted above this post, then problem solved. Two weeks is plenty of time to play around with a gadget you can return in person vs. mailing back (again assuming you have an apple store near you).

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

It really needs a big price cut. And it probably needs a DX2 with more features (make it more like the Que) to really have a chance.

I don't see why they'd bother. The people who would buy a limited-capability grayscale text- and static-picture-only device at or anywhere near the price point of the iPad are going to be so relatively few that there doesn't seem to be much point. Amazon would be better off just ensuring their Kindle app gets allowed on the iPad and selling their books that way than spending the money supporting and continuing to develop a device whose sales are going to start plummeting through the floor in about 60 days. Any business model based on selling an e-ink device for more than $300 pretty much vaporized yesterday.

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

My take on the iPad from the information I have heard so far:

Win:
10 hour battery life
9.7” screen
Half inch thick
ePub support
Video support
Multi-touch
Bluetooth
Wi-Fi
Accelerometer
“Unlocked” for 3G

Fail:
$130 for 3G ability
Border around screen too large
4:3 aspect ratio

Epic Fail:
No SDHC card reader built-in
Tied to iTunes
Proprietary sync cable instead of mini USB
No USB ports on device
Apps from their app store only
No copy/paste of files between device and computer

unlocked for 3g but sports a new "micro sim" that no one in the world uses other than this new device. you won't be taking this over to t-mobile any time soon. i wonder what apple will do globally to push carriers to the new sim.

the border around the screen has been debated elsewhere but the two big points are (1) it's to help hide the electronics.. either make the device thicker (boo hiss) or spread it out larger and (2) how are you going to hold the device and not obstruct the screen if there is no border around it? how would you not register accidental touches if there was no border? it has to have one if you think about it.

$130 for 3g is a bit expensive but there are all those licensing fees to pay, plus the additional radio hardware, and apple is going to charge you something for the capability. so skip the 3g if you don't want to pay the premium for it. you'll still have wifi.

4:3 doesn't mean you can't watch hd letterboxed. ok. not the best solution. but they went with a standard resolution (1024x768) i suspect for the best browsing experience. not everyone is going to watch movies full-time on this. they have to cater to all of the capabilities of this device. the iphone/touch isn't hd either.

i too would have liked to have seen a sd card reader built in, but it gives up control of loading applications, and provides another means for hackers to break into the pad. we don't see (micro)sd card slots on the iphone either. not holding my breath for this one.

it uses the standard ipod sync cable. which you can find anywhere. i'd hardly call it "proprietary" any more. i am surprised they didn't go with mini-usb as it's the new standard for cell phones, but this isn't a phone. it also means that many existing docks/fm tuners/chargers stand a chance of working with the ipad without modification. again, other than the firewire ipods (still have my 5g and still working fine) and shuffles all ipod/phone/touches have used this connector. hell they sell charger cables in my supermarket with this connector!

apps from apple's store. did you expect any less? come on.

no copy/paste between the ipad and computer? says who? how do you think people are going to get all those iwork documents in and out of the device? they're going to have some sort of sync ability. there are also plenty of applications for my iphone that let me sync documents to and from it. from plain old "jumpdrive" ability to docstogo for handling ms office documents.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by akira28

I don't think Apple will do this for a few reasons:

• I haven't read of Apple disallowing apps that compete with theirs if Apple introduces its app after the fact.
• Apple would alienate users who have already purchased Kindle or B&N books
• Disallowing established apps by major corporations like Amazon could draw addition focus by the FCC

the fcc would have no jurisdiction to intervene if apple didn't want competing products in its vending machine. thats what ibooks on ipad is- apple's book vending machine

[wodin]

I believe I'll be waiting for Microsoft's Courier! Wouldn't it be a huge Coup d'état if they announced next week?