Apple iPad claims eReader advantage
I remember days when Macintosh, or Apple Computers, was a brand that caused most to cringe.
But with the popularity and success of their iPod, iPhone, iTunes music store, Macbook, iMac and other products, Apple is once again a powerhouse. and yet Apple’s latest product announcement left many disappointed. what is it? The iPad.
Apple touts it as their “most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbeatable price.”
The intention of the iPad was to compete with electronic-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and the Sony Reader. These readers range anywhere from $200 to $479 in price, while the iPad starts at $499 and goes up to $829.
With the exception of the Japanese Flepia, made by Fujitsu at a cost of $1100, the iPad is the only one that offers color.
So why the disappointment? It’s essentially a big iPod touch.
Prior to the Jan. 27 announcement, Apple fans got word of something in development called the “iSlate” or “iTablet.” they expected a tablet computer to compete with the popular netbooks.
It’s true that Apple has been working on a tablet computer for years, but this may not be it. instead of running Mac OSX, the announcement revealed it runs iPhone OS.
Realistically speaking, to run OSX smoothly on a device that small, Apple would have to put in a stronger processor. this would shoot the price up for the iPad. not only for the processor, but to deal with the additional heat produced by it.
And how many people would sink $1000-$1500 for an Apple eBook reader? Only the fabled Apple cultists, who revere Apple C.E.O. Steve Jobs as a god and see all Apple products as a gift from god.
Anyways, back to the specs. The iPad features a 9.7-inch, LED backlight screen that, like the iPod touch and iPhone, utilizes multi-touch technology. It’s a half inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and claims a 10 hour battery life.
Does Apple's iPad Prove We're Too Gullible?
Rob Enderle asks how a product that stacks up so short beside similar competitors has moved to the forefront of the tablet discussion.
We’ve been talking about iPad competitors for a couple cycles now and they seem to be growing faster than anyone can keep up with. the latest, the iTablet , is kind of the anti-iPad in that it is a full PC based on Intel’s Atom technology and not simply a large smartphone without the phone bits. the iPad is clearly better-looking, but the iTablet is more capable and has a name that won’t cause snickers. There is little doubt the iPad will outsell the iTablet by a substantial margin, but should it? and what does this say about the gullible part of our nature? Coincidently Guy Kawasaki, the ex-Apple evangelist, posted a warning on gullibility this month – which, especially given the current topic, seems a pertinent thought to keep in mind.
The iPad Falls Short
This isn’t unusual for first-generation products, as they often are needed to define what people will pay, what they want in a product, and in this case even the size and shape of the offering isn’t set in stone. First-generation products almost always fall short of the ideal because it takes a couple of generations to figure out what the ideal even is. This is why a lot of companies sit out the first generation and instead wait until we can better tell what the market wants (and whether there actually is sustainable demand for a new class of product) before shipping any units.
Smaller products like the Dell Mini 5 and Archos 7 are coming, and larger products like this iTablet are coming as well as part of this live experiment to see what folks want from a product in this class. Steve Jobs, at the introduction of the iPad, said up-front what it should be, and that was something that was better than a laptop and a smartphone. But while the iPad does blend features from both, it isn’t really better than either with the Dell Mini likely a better smartphone and the iTablet a potentially better laptop. however, both are worse than the iPad in terms of the other function, making the iPad either nicely balanced in that it kind of sucks in both areas or is just a product that more consistently sucks. It really depends on what you want to do and how the product best fits your needs.
iTablet Advantages
If we went down a list of key iPad shortcomings, you’d find it doesn’t multi-task, it doesn’t run much of the software that exists for products of its size, it lacks common ports, and it doesn’t provide a full Web surfing experience because it won’t render Flash. the iTablet does all of this stuff and it should cost about the same amount of money. clearly it won’t have Apple’s marketing budget, and it’s not even clear whether the device will be offered in North America. What’s more, it isn’t as attractive either (but could be more durable). I should also point out that instead of 8-64 GB of flash memory, the iTablet comes with a 250GB hard drive which could come in handy for all the videos and TV shows that a device in this class is likely to hold.
Granted, this is a Linux or Windows 7 product which may not be as elegant to use as the iPad, and Apple users in particular will have a big problem with these two choices. But let’s assume you could create a Hackintosh load and get full OS X on this puppy – might the result be better? There is a rumor that Apple is working on one of these themselves that several folks have started to cover, at least suggesting that Apple may also be looking at this alternative.
I’m writing this at an Intel analyst event, and one of the executives stood up and said something to the effect of “I won’t say anything bad about the iPad, it’s pretty and it’s from Apple,” clearly showcasing that they think this thing is crippled, and against a PC it certainly is. still, this caveat only matters if it doesn’t do something you need done. before buying this is a question you need to know the answer to, and clearly the iPad will get a lot better over the next several versions.
The Launch of iPad may be Pushed Back by a Month: Report
X2 intros iTablet, no relation to Apple iPad
Posted on by Nick Spence, Macworld UK
Editor’s Note: the following article is reprinted from Macworld UK. Visit Macworld UK’s blog page for the latest Mac news from across the Atlantic.
With perfect timing, a company called X2 has announced the iTablet, a name once rumored for Apple’s iPad prior to Steve Jobs unveiling the tablet late last month.
Expected to be available from April, the iTablet runs Windows 7 on a 1.6GHz Intel chip. the iTablet will have space for a 250GB hard drive, 802.11b/g Wi-fi and optional 3G mobile broadband. the device will support Flash, unlike Apple’s iPad, and will have 3 USB ports and a 1.3Mp webcam.
HDMI output is offered as an optional extra.
For the fashion conscious, the 10.2-inch or 12.1-inch, 252×192x35mm tablet will be offered in a choice of black, white, blue, pink, yellow, red or grey.
Pricing has yet to be confirmed.
PC Advisor notes X2 is an industrial product design company whose technical director, Robin Daunter, was formerly the head of R&D at Evesham Technology.
However, with the exception of Windows 7, the device may not be as new as some reports suggest. “Pretty sure the X2 iTablet suddenly making the UK tech rounds is the same AMtek iTablet T200 that’s been out for years now… 2007 in fact,” notes Engadget editor Thomas Ricker on his Twitter feed.
[Via Electricpig]
Sony's Dash Personal Internet Viewer will stream Netflix videos. Should the …
February 16th, 2010
Posted by Sean Portnoy @ 5:23 pm
Categories: Home Theater
Tags: NetFlix Inc., Sony Corp., Internet, Video, iPad, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Sean Portnoy
When the iPad was announced, I suggested that the tablet could be used in bed (or on your lap in general) as a personal movie viewer, but it does appear to offer a couple of limitations. first, you don’t get a widescreen aspect ratio, and you may be limited to the iTunes monopoly for your video choices. (You may have heard 10 to 20 million times already that it doesn’t support Flash—or Microsoft Silverlight—and any video service that uses one of those formats.)
Sony may have an interesting alternative in its Dash Personal Internet Viewer, which will be able to stream videos from Netflix’s Watch Instantly online service (which uses Silverlight technology), the electronics giant announced today. The device is Wi-Fi-enabled and runs widgets based on the Chumby’s platform as well as Sony’s Bravia Internet Video platform. The best part may be its price: just $199.99 when it debuts in April.
Now the Dash isn’t a direct competitor to the iPad. The unit houses only a 7-inch screen, which isn’t LED backlit, but is in the 16:9 aspect ratio, and doesn’t pretend to sport any kind of virtual keyboard. It also won’t offer the type of flash storage the iPad will have, and there’s no multi-touch interface to help generate an army of innovative apps. It does come with this thing called a USB port, so you can access your media from external drives, though it doesn’t seem to provide any way to stream media from the PCs on your home network—a major drawback.
But if you don’t want to pay the higher price for the iPad, and want a way to watch Netflix content anywhere in your house that lacks an HDTV, the Dash makes a lot of sense. would you rather curl up with a more limited device like the Dash or the more full-featured iPad for personal video viewing? let us know in the TalkBack section.
What’s the difference between an iPad and a iPod Touch?
I was thinking about getting maybe an iPod touch when someone told me that the new iPad was awesome. I was wondering what is the difference between the two?
Apple Job Posting Hints at Future iPad Video Recording | Mac|Life
One of the biggest disappointments following the iPad’s introduction on January 27th was the absence of some kind of camera, preferably a front-facing one which would have enabled video conferencing capabilities to the device. but if a recent Apple job posting is any indication, Cupertino may still have something on the boards for a future model.
MacRumors is reporting on the new job posting on Apple’s own website which suggests that still and video camera capabilities may indeed come to the iPad in the future — but we wouldn’t hold out too much hope for a surprise come late March and find it added to the existing model.
The job position is for a quality assurance manager in the Media Systems division of Apple’s Interactive Media Group (say that three times fast), with a focus on the “iPad Media” segment of said division.
“The Media Systems team is looking for a software quality engineer with a strong technical background to test still, video and audio capture and playback frameworks,” the job post reads. “Build on your QA experience and knowledge of digital camera technology (still and video) to develop and maintain testing frameworks for both capture and playback pipelines.”
The lucky employee will find themselves “assisting the development team by testing performance of their systems” as well as developing the tools necessary for such testing.
“Familiarity with and interest in photography, video as well as media file formats is highly desirable,” the job post adds. “Experience with tuning of and image pipeline, including, but not limited to AWB, Color Correction, AutoExposure, FrameRate adjustments is a plus.”
Enterprising tech-heads discovered what appears to be an empty space inside the iPad’s enclosure that’s appears to be intended for an iSight-style camera, but it does not appear at this time that Apple intends to offer it for the device’s debut in March.
Apple’s Aperture 3 Released: Comprehensive Review
Apple Aperture 3 is the latest version of their pro photo software package having over 200 new features compared to the old version. If you are raising your eyebrows for the fact that it has 200 new features then you should also know that the last update to this software counts back to as long … Original article on : Apple’s Aperture 3 Released: Comprehensive Review.
iPad’s Best Innovation? No-Contract Wireless
Apple’s iPad, while getting slammed for lack of innovation in some areas, does something no other device seems to have done before: Offer customers 3G service on a month-to-month, no-contract basis. It’s about time.
With the iPad, customers will purchase their AT&T wireless from Apple, not directly from the carrier. the pricing, at $29.99-a-month, [...]
iPad Interest Evaporates, But Math is Fuzzy
Now that everyone’s up to speed on Apple’s iPad, few people actually plan to buy one, according to a survey by Retrevo.
On two occasions, Retrevo asked 1,000 of its electronics marketplace users whether they will buy or are interested in the iPad. before Apple introduced the iPad, 26 percent of respondents said they’d heard of [...]