I can't quite work out whether you need a PC or Mac to connect your iPad to – it seems a shame if you do, because otherwise it would be ideal for people who don't really want / need / know how to use a computer but do want to do some simple web surfing, email, sort out their photos and music (i.e., about 90% of computer users).

Bang on, this is for that 90% who want to do that with the minimum of fuss. I'm sure it will be very succesful in that (very large) segment.

No stereo speakers though! I'm very surprsied by that.

For all the Flash lovers, I hate to be the bringer of bad news but in 5 years Flash will be pretty much gone. It's about to get its ass kicked by the combination of HTML5 and h.264, aided and abetted by the fact that there is a large section of users in an (on the whole) desirable, fairly affluent demographic (i.e. iPhone users and pretty soon iPad users) who can't see Flash content and aren't going to use your website (and give you ad revenue) if it relies on it. Apple won't ever put Flash on the iPhone OS, because the Flash plugin is so crashy on OS X (they said as much at last year's WWDC). As well as that, rightly or wrongly, they have said they want to control every aspect of the technology in their devices and that means no third-party runtime environments (i.e. no Flash). That means lots of websites dropping Flash and going with HTML5. If I were Adobe I'd be quite worried right now.

I expect 'The Emporer's New Clothes' will be expurgated from any editions of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales that are sold through iTunes. Equally, I'm sure that there will be a market for big, unwieldy iPhones that won't display iPhone apps properly and that you can't make phone calls on. Admittedly the iPhone may be useful for people learning to squint given that it's ereader function hasn't got anything approaching the Kindle's digital ink.

Still, the world of commerce is no doubt grateful for the market segment allegedly identified by PT Barnum as being born every minute.

A real pity as I hoped that this would be a mould-breaking bit of kit but it's a huge step backwards, for shame.

it's ereader function hasn't got anything approaching the Kindle's digital ink.

True, but show me a digital ink ereader that can display movies. Different segment (for now at least).

I'm not the first to say this but one of these would be good for having on the coffee table to mess around on the internet during the ad breaks, or showing people photos, or watching movies in bed etc.

But if you already have a laptop which will do this (albeit in not quite such a slinky way) plus a lot more besides it's not obvious that you'd pay £500 for one.

But if you already have a laptop which will do this (albeit in not quite such a slinky way) plus a lot more besides it's not obvious that you'd pay £500 for one.

And given that most of its target punters already have a laptop which will probably be less ugly than the pad I really can't see the point of it. Sorry for beating the same drum again but I was hoping for so much more than an Everything-Lite™.

I want a see through one for version 2.

Sent from my iPad

You'll all be wanting one come Christmas! 😉

On the 'sitting on a coffee table' idea. If Apple or a 3rd party launched a universal remote app then that would add to the value. A Logitech Harmony remote are quite pricey just on their own.

Edit: Assuming it has the technology in it tho. Guess it would need infrared?

I want a see through one for version 2.

You want the moon on an iStick.

or a 3rd party launched a universal remote app

If it's a 3rd party the pad won't let you multitask. Which would be a pain.

Ach, anyway, I'm off to read a book.

given that most of its target punters already have a laptop which will probably be less ugly than the pad I really can't see the point of it.

That really is the crux of the matter. The question being whether there really is a new market for this amongst people who don't already have such technology – or are there enough people into new gadgets happy to pay that much money for a slightly different form factor which is actually worse for some things than what they already own? I'm not convinced – you can't extrapolate from the iPhone, as there wasn't anything quite like that before, and it did enable people to do new things. Is that really the case for the iPad?

it'll sell millions, thats a fact. never underestimate the power of the geek

Sounds like a hi tech sanitary towel to me 😳

Agree with the sentiment, but "ugly" is rarely a good description of Apple devices. The one thing they almost always do well is design, even if the functionality lacks.

It reminds me of Dom Joly's oversized mobile phone.

For all the Flash lovers, I hate to be the bringer of bad news but in 5 years Flash will be pretty much gone.

Ah so in 5 years time the iPad will be more practical, that's good to hear.

Re universal remote – if you use Apple TV you can use one of these on the coffee table to control your iTunes and all the media on your Mac.

If it's a 3rd party the pad won't let you multitask. Which would be a pain.

If it is the same OS as the iPhone then jailbreaking will not be far away i imagine, and then its multi-tasking fun ahoy! Like i have on my iphone.

Battery life?

plumber ….. up to 10 hours

For all the Flash lovers, I hate to be the bringer of bad news but in 5 years Flash will be pretty much gone.

🙁

It reminds me of Dom Joly's oversized mobile phone.

[img]http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/4/2010/01/500x_500x_tabletkamasutra__103.jpg[/img]

Agree with the sentiment, but "ugly" is rarely a good description of Apple devices.

Normally I would agree but i think the pad hasn't been particularly well thought out on any front. And I'm not an Apple hater by any stretch of the imagination – if anything I just expect better from them.

Someone copyrighted that pic? 🙄

Anyways, it is good to see MS Paint still being used.

There seems to be a consensus that multitasking will arrive (for both iPhones and iPads) with the 4.0 release of the iPhone OS, probably around the time the iPad arrives.

Be interesting to see what the UK pricing is, £499 at $1:£1 or roughly £299 at $1:£0.62, it's a big difference.

KRCS has got some estimated prices on their site for iPad pre-orders.

enduro-aid – Member

plumber ….. up to 10 hours

Providing you don't touch the thing, otherwise it'll be 3 or 4max.

Drac
Ah so in 5 years time the iPad will be more practical, that's good to hear.

Well, I was actually being conservative – I think TBH it'll be less, with most of the major websites that people actually use a lot dropping it well before that. Good riddance too, the HTML5/h.264 combo is a much better way to deliver video anyway and i for one won't miss the CPU load of badly-written Flash apps.

Heathen, I think it could be great, but I'll reserve judgement until I've actually seen one: as is said here, it seems you really need to use one to get the full picture. It certainly has a lot of potential for the academic market and for education in general, as well as a general-purpose surf/entertainment device. Also, I think we'll see some interesting applications coming out between now and launch. Time will tell.

Stephen Fry quite likes it.

Stephen Fry quite likes it.

Well that's as good a reason as any I've heard not to get one.

Stephen fry like bumsex with men.
i think i would rather have an ipad

Every single excuse not to have one that's been put forward are just spurious. Battery life exceeds most laptops, I don't know a single person with a laptop who has it sitting in the middle of the livingroom just in case they might want to brows the net or google something. I can read books perfectly well on my phone for several hours, and sometimes a whole working day when it's a quiet period with no problems at all. It's black text on a white background, just like paper, and I can read it in a dimly lit room as well. I've looked at ebook readers, and I see no advantages at all, nothing could induce me to buy one, and they can't even reproduce colour, so useless for magazine or newspaper reading, and they cannot reproduce a convincing mono halftone image either. Waste of money. Just being able to see much larger areas of OS map on screen than I can on the phone will be a big advantage, then I can take a screengrab and print straight to my printer for a hardcopy. I can't do that with my laptop; nobody does a Mac OS X OS mapping app. My laptop spends most of its life under the tv, 'cos it's a pain having to wait while it boots up, and I have to keep it plugged in 'cos the battery will only give about two hours runtime now, and it also has an external drive attached too.
And no, I've no available space for a desktop machine that can be left permanently switched on, even my Epson printer is wifi and sits on the a/v stand under the tv along with the SkyHD and the DVD.

The answer is here, maybe

I don't know a single person with a laptop who has it sitting in the middle of the livingroom just in case they might want to brows the net

Hello. Now you do.

Netbook permanently resides by the couch for surfing. (tho I do use the iPhone most of the time as I prefer the form factor)