Tomorrow is the big day! There is more excitement over the new apple Ipad than there is over the Easter bunny. Saturday, April 3, 2010, the Ipad goes on sale in Apple stores across the nation. Even the Apple employees have yet to see a real one.
Some of us love gadgets and cannot wait. I didn’t order one. I want to wait for the 3G one. It costs $130 more but you can drive around with it. Why be tethered to your wi-fi. Supposedly kids fight over them. No kid had better touch mine when I get it. It sounds like a good way to draw back a bloody stump.
So will Ipad replace the iphone or the laptop? Neither. If you need a laptop, order a laptop. If you need a smart phone, order a smart phone. The ipad doesn’t make phone calls, take pictures or have the drivers to talk to a printer. The keyboard is touchscreen. (a docking one is available) A case can be purchased that also serves as a stand. Since the Ipad weighs 1.5 pounds, that isn’t an easy hold for a long time. Kindle weighs about 9 ounces. Ipad is also a reader. Not sure if it is an audio reader. However, it is in color. Supposedly you can virtually turn pages. Books will cost about the same as they do on Kindle.
Thousands of apps will eventually be available. Tomorrow there will be about 1000 available. How long do those lines last? Can you pay someone to go buy your Ipad? According to the Fox News review:
The iPad is Apple’s most significant product launch since the iPhone. Starting at $499, analysts estimate Apple could sell from 850,000 to 1.2 million units of the 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet in the April-June quarter.
Apple’s U.S. stores will open at 9 a.m. on Saturday but the company has provided few details about the launch. If the iPhone debut is any guideline, Apple will have guards and decoys in place to hold the iPad’s secrets.
At one store, Apple arranged to have two pallets arrive the day before the iPhone launch, placing one in the manager’s office and the other in the stock room, both under the watchful eye of security cameras. Staff said one was filled with iPhones and the other was a decoy to discourage nosy employees.
A former assistant manager at an Apple store was ordered to remain at work all night before the iPhone launch, and given strict directions that only managers were allowed to see the smartphone, right up until just before they went on sale.
“We were told to stay overnight to guard them, to make sure nobody broke in and got to them. It was all a bit insane, but it wasn’t really surprising at the time,” he said. “It did put me off a little, but then you would read about something being leaked and you realize why they did it.”
Will the 3G version work outside the USA? The Kindle does work overseas.
I already have a MAC tablet that is better than the iPad in some ways…
http://handdrawnrevolution.blogspot.com/2010/03/ax.html
It will handle Flash and allows you to load programs, use bluetooth devices, draw on a Wacom Cintiq screen and a bunch of other artist type junk.
Big downside is it has no keyboard and is controled by a digital pen, not touch so for any application where you need to type in data, your dead in the water. You can hook up a wireless bluetooth mouse and keypad, but the trend in for no effecient machines with no external hardware.
What an interesting question, Starry. I have no clue. And I didn’t know Kindle would.
What I haven’t figured out is how you get pictures into it if there is no card reader slot and no usb input.
Rod, it sounds like if Ipad and Mactablet joined forced, you would have a great device.
I can’t wrap my brain around no hard drive. Are the apps stored remotely or on the machine?
I’ll wait for V2.0 to get multi-tasking and perhaps a camera. Until then, I’m looking at netbooks (which has those features for around $300.00).
Ipad isn’t a multi-tasker from what I have read, thats for sure.
I dislike my netbook intensely and cant even get the gkids to take it off my hands. It brings out a resounding ewwwwwww from them. Brats!