iPad

[TimO]

$499 to $829.

Which will translate to at least £499 to £829, quite possibly more.

Why do I think that the expensive 3G version will only be available in the UK with a contract, and will end up costing vastly more than the $829 would suggest.

It's very easy for Steve jobs to say that netbooks are "just cheap laptops", but my Eee cost me £200, and would be even less now.  This beasty is probably going to be a lot more, which hardly strikes me as a convenient replacement.  Of course since he's going to be taking the profit from this, his attitude to the price is likely to be somewhat different.

[border-rider]

I'm unsure. The tech spec and form are very nice. But not so sure about the choice to go iPhone OS over stripped down OSX. The only reason I want one is to watch films in bed or on the train/plane.

It means it's a device upon which one would not be able to put any software not OK'd by Apple (and quite possibly the same applies to content)

I could live with that with a phone, though it would tend to make me use something else for ddr-free content.  For a thing designed to do stuff I use my netbook for, it's a big switch-off for me.

[ian]

I'm unsure. The tech spec and form are very nice. But not so sure about the choice to go iPhone OS over stripped down OSX. The only reason I want one is to watch films in bed or on the train/plane.

Isn't the iPhone OS a stripped down OSX anyway?

I quite like - I have a netbook and frankly I'm a now unimpressed with it - it's fine in principle but the format seems to be blessed with a certain wrongness - it's effectively a stunted laptop that falls into the hole between being a good portable device and being a good laptop. As a consequence it doesn't seem to do either role particularly satisfactorily, and I find it sits on my desk gathering a fine crop of dust more often than not. The iPhone is in my pocket anyway, and if I want to do some real work, I may as pack the 13 inch laptop.

The iPhone / iPod Touch is a great portable device, but it's not big enough to do anything significant with. Yeah, you can zoom in with your browser and squint at video, and it does very well at being an ebook for plain vanilla text. But it doesn't scale up to be really useful unless you really like peering at teeny screens and waiting for your myopia to get worse.

So, I think the form factor has promise, assuming the functionality is there. I think the problem to date with the tablet format is that they have tried to be something they aren't, and they have failed to create their own niche, which isn't an inflated PDA or deflated laptop. I'm keen to see how it works in the wild, but o shiny temptation.

[SpaceBadger]

I just hope that the twats who go to gigs (like the one I was at last night) and spend most of the night holding their iTurd up in the air recording the show rather than enjoying it don't even think about doing it with one of these.

[Greenbank]

Isn't the iPhone OS a stripped down OSX anyway?

Yes, but stripped down/crippled too much (in my opinion).

I quite like - I have a netbook and frankly I'm a now unimpressed with it - it's fine in principle but the format seems to be blessed with a certain wrongness - it's effectively a stunted laptop that falls into the hole between being a good portable device and being a good laptop. As a consequence it doesn't seem to do either role particularly satisfactorily, and I find it sits on my desk gathering a fine crop of dust more often than not.
...

It looks like the iPad will fall into the same hole as your netbook but being further towards (but not quite close enough to) the 'good portable device' end of the spectrum.

It'll sell like every other Apple thing, especially if they're clever enough to limit early release to create the usual frenzy of them being sold out around the country (but only for a matter of days or weeks naturally).

[mike]

dont think I want either.  Shame, because an apple netbook would be great.  Perhaps if they bring out a new Air next month then the price on the current one will drop a bit..

[Jakob]

I was expecting it to be a lot more expensive., but the price is low enough for me to consider it. I would have to be able to stream upnp on it, though.

[HTFB]

It's clearly time to speculate about future products.

The iPud is an obvious development. Apple have good brand-name recognition in the dessert market, especially in crumble. The user experience if they go for strudel might be a bit flaky.

Rumours that Jobs is intending to add environmental sensors and artificial intelligence to the iPed are very welcome, especially since all currently existing peds walk the streets with Apple's other products stuck in their ears and their brains on standby.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

I'm not sure why I would choose one over a laptop, or indeed choose one if I had a laptop.  The lack of a built in keyboard seems a problem - the on-screen ones don't compare to the real thing when it comes to entering more than a couple of lines of text.  For my uses it's just too big - the attraction of the iPhone for me is its portability.  The laptop format wins in terms of versatility.

I see they are doing a keyboard dock as an option.  If they run this on the iPhone as well, then my final line of resistance to getting one will have crumbled.  The iPhone also has the advantage of GPS - so will do for geosensitive apps.  I can't see anyone strapping a iPad to their handlebars, though the mapping would be very nice in that size...

[andygates]

I just hope that the twats who go to gigs (like the one I was at last night) and spend most of the night holding their iTurd up in the air recording the show rather than enjoying it don't even think about doing it with one of these.

[woollypigs]

iTampon as twitter is calling it. Yes I was very keen on the idea but now seeing it I'm not sure. I would love to get a small device like it but what I would needed it for is internet, store my photos, watch a movie on the train or in the tent. So if I can't hook my camera to it I will go for an eeepc.

[Charlotte]

Nice, but no cigar Mr Jobbie.

[geraldc]

I don't want one now, but I reserve the right to change my mind...

Something that big I'd drop, break it and then cry...

I'll hang on to the next iteration of iPhone before splashing anymore cash.

[Jaded]

Miss Jaded asked me who would buy one and I said "Granny". She does internets, email, music and simple spreadsheets. She has an iMac, but it is tied to her desk, like her Windows PC was beforehand.

Remember that we are all looking at it in terms of "vs desktop" or "vs laptop" or "vs netbook".

Doesn't look like any of those to me!

[woollypigs]

the main thing for me is that it doesn't store for my photos and I have just read no multitasking. I was ok with that on my iPhone since it is a phone and you can't really work on it. Though it does look cool they way they are using it on the official videos, more a toy and a play thing more a tool.

A eeepc or the like it is for me for sure.  

[Jaded]

I'd predict that more powerful versions of the processor will allow multitasking, and early adopters may be short changed. As it ever is.

[hellymedic]

Steve Jobs demonstrates handy new shaving mirror...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8484182.stm

[Mr Larrington]

I haz seen much comment on teh Intarwebs about this, er, thing this morning, mostly from mealy-mouthed Apple fanboiz working themselves into a state of wankoplexy: ZOMG thats so frikkin cool, ill hav 2 and so on.

I am, however, still mystified as to what it does.

[Charlotte]

It's a tablet, Mr Larrington.  Everyone needs tablets.

Take two at mealtimes and your life will become magically lovely 

[DuncanM]

It's a big iPod Touch. 
No doubt it will sell well, and people will rave about the genius of Jobs, but for once I see nothing new at all in this device.

[thing1]

Oh that didn't take long.....
   YouTube - Apple I-Pad
 

[dasmoth]

Here's one thing that makes it at least somewhat different from the iPod touch: it (optionally) has a built-it 3G radio, which makes it one of a rather limited range of devices which offer mobile internet connectivity without compulsory bundling of voice telephony.

For people (like me) who think voice telephony is the invention of Stan, this makes it kind-of interesting...

(Although it's still got a little way to go to overcome my reluctance to buy into the iPhoneOS "walled garden" ecosystem.  Also, the bezel round the screen really needs to shrink a bit!).

[thing1]

Depends what you mean by "compulsory". You can buy a data-only contract (e.g. one for a USB 3G dongle) and put in any phone of your choice.
Or indeed, you can use a USB 3G dongle on your netbook of choice.

More Netbooks will be shipping with inbuilt 3G modems. See the intel/nokia tie in last year, for example.

[dasmoth]

Yep, netbooks are the alternative.  I very much see the iPad in competition with netbooks, whatever some commentators are saying.

Interesting to know that the internet-only SIMs work with "normal" phones -- I'd assumed that there was something a bit special about them and they'd only work with the dongles.

(This presumably means they'd also work with an unlocked 3G iPad without having to wait until a UK carrier deal gets sorted out...)

[Greenbank]

The non-3G iPad + a MiFi may be cheaper, but then you've got two gadgets (not necessarily a bad thing).