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JamesRounce

3:12 PM on 12 March, 2010

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I can't see how this product will be a success, you can get a decent laptop or a netbook for less.

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ChrisC

3:26 PM on 12 March, 2010

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It will be a success because it's Apple and it's a nice piece of design. So what if it's awkward to hold, expensive, fragile & doesn't do anything that a netbook or laptop will also do. It's great looking, it has a slick OS, it will impress your friends and there are plenty of people out there who will pay a premium for this. It's total style over substance, but Apple understand that market and can exploit it, so good luck to them.

Here's to another eleventy million comments! ;-)

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drdark

3:34 PM on 12 March, 2010

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Regarding the "old people" argument: someone in my office tried to argue that when it was first announced, in fact he said "old people" and "people who may even not have a pc or laptop". I sat smug through his whole enthusiastic delivery and then just said "and what are they going to sync it to?"

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xbrumster

3:38 PM on 12 March, 2010

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Jesus bless. I'm saving money for botox.

If version2 ever makes it to the market I'd consider.

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Gordon394

3:41 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@drdark - "I sat smug through his whole enthusiastic delivery and then just said..."

their grandchildren will set it up for them.

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Tim Sutton

3:43 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Gordon

To do what, sync to the toaster?

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Gordon394

4:12 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Tim - errrrrrrr... no.

Case in point: A lovely 96 year old gent (Harry) lives next to my mum and his son bought him an iPod touch last year. The son used his computer to sync it full of Harry's favourite music and set up some apps. Every few months he'll sync it for him with new content and Harry loves it.

Simples.

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savant

4:25 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Gordon

their grandchildren will set it up for them.

What about old people in the care home?

On a serious note, do not underestimate its potential as a gaming device generating money for Apple and the App developers. eBook reading is fast growing and iPad may well give Kindle and Sony E-readers run for their money. Because of the fast responsive UI most current windows based tablet-PC users would not hesitate to convert.

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RazorA

5:07 PM on 12 March, 2010

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I wonder how long after release will it take for the first videos to show someone using it like a large iPhone on the bus/ train...

"Hello! I'm on my iPad... Nah, it's a bit rubbish."

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Chris

6:05 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@James Rounce:

I think the premise is that the iPad will do a few core tasks (web, email, video) better than either a netbook or small laptop, and that's what you pay for. At least, that's what Steve would have us believe. I'll wait until I've used one before deciding whether I agree with him.

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Tim Sutton

6:10 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Gordon

That's something I did for my grandfather as well! Except obviously not with an iPod, because 1: I like the old guy and 2: Touchscreens are not a friend to the elderly. After a few months he decided it was something he was interested in doing for himself and bought himself a PC which he's now rarely off.

Why anyone without a PC or an internet connection (and obviously they won't already have a connection because they don't have a computer) would want £500 worth of tablet designed to be online or regularly synced is beyond me.

What on earth is the point? It can't do the job of an actual computer by itself, it's far too big for use as a PmP and it can't even be used to show pictures of your grandchildren without buying additional hardware.

It's a solution looking for a problem. Honestly, if this was being made by any other company it would be rightly laughed out of town.

@lance

Don't be mean to Gordon! We like Gordon!

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Gordon394

6:20 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Tim - thanks Tim, though I think you're completely wrong ;)

For a start you have a broadband connection because they are virtually free. In my case Harry has Sky to keep him entertained and gets a free basic broadband connection and WiFi. Before he had his iPod touch this was for when his friends and family visit and/or stay over.

Next he doesn't want "the job of an actual computer" - he wants a simplified computer which is exactly what the iPod touch is and the iPad will be. The benefit of the iPad is a large screen with big buttons and one thing at a time functionality. Showing off photos directly on a 9.7in screen is also more than adequate.

You're not going to win this one. I've found the market and the iPad is for old people ;)

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Ironduke

6:26 PM on 12 March, 2010

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They all said the iPhone would flop, no flash slot, no Bluetooth File exchange blah blah blah

The Number 1 phone on the planet today

Yeah baby Gitsum.

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Chris

6:48 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Ironduke: Ah, but mobile phones were a big deal long before the iPhone joined the party. With the iPad, Apple is trying to create a new market, which is a far harder sell.

That said, I agree with the sentiment. The iPad *could* be a roaring success, time will tell...

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Tim Sutton

6:49 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Gordon

But you have to buy additional kit to get your photos onto the thing! Every old person I've ever met will instantly ask why they have to buy something extra when that other computer thingy in the shop over there can do it already for free, and oh look, it's also got a typewriter thing for typing and costs less.

It really can't be used as a computer replacement for the elderly. You can't attach a printer (or any other USB device without spending another £30 on an adaptor), it can't play CDs (photo CDs are basically cat-nip for septuagenarians) and it's so much more expensive than its capability warrants.

I'd recommend an iPod and a Macbook to an elderly relative over this any day of the week.

I never thought I'd type those two products and 'recommend' in the same sentence ever. Unless it finished with 'they be piled up in a landfill.'

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Tim Sutton

6:54 PM on 12 March, 2010

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@Ironduke

Last years Number 1 UK TV programme: Britains Got Talent. Guess what? It's still vacuous rubbish.

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MrGodfrey

7:32 PM on 12 March, 2010

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Ironduke: The books of Dan Brown and the works of Noel Edmonds are also highly successful... so they must be good then. :p

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HK

7:33 PM on 12 March, 2010

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Do you have to sync it? I mean can you not download music/video/books from iTunes?

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Xiphias

1:35 AM on 13 March, 2010

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@Ironduke: The number one smartphone, don't forget that ordinary phones still outsell smartphones by a hundred to one or something.

@savant: So it's more expensive than a DS, heavier, with a shorter battery life and a price tag three times as high? I can't see anyone buying it primarily for gaming, although I'm sure plenty of timewasting games will be made for it if it does find a niche.

As for ebooks, remember that it uses a standard backlit LCD screen so it's going to be significantly less pleasant to read on than a proper ebook reader. There's a reason books are only going digital now despite being significantly smaller filesizes than music.

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SRS

10:05 AM on 13 March, 2010

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My neocortex tells me that I have no practical or impractical use for an iPad whatsoever; yet my hindbrain tells me buying one will keep me out of danger, make me more attractive for breeding and will chase away the shadows of the night. The ones that want to eat me.

So I guess I'll be buying one without remembering doing so. The perfect Apple customer.

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Cub

12:59 PM on 13 March, 2010

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Not getting involved... Other than to say:

@Tim Sutton - You should pop off and do some reading on a device before you start slating (*slate*ing, d'you see? Damn I'm on fire today!) it. the adaptor you speak of is only required to get photos on the iPad *directly* from a camera... You can sync any photos perfectly fine from your computer. Or your grandchild's computer for that matter...

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Tim Sutton

4:00 PM on 13 March, 2010

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@Cub

Yes, my poor blind Apple brainwashed friend, but it's tough to sync from a computer if you don't have one. I was talking about the iPads lack of sense as a sole computing device.

I don't think the iPad makes any sense without a computer. It's hardly convenient if you need to take it to someone else's house every-time you want to upload and update and it can't do the things an elderly person would find useful from a computer. Like easily and *directly* display your photos to show to your elderly friends, easily and *directly* display their photo CDs, or print out directions.

You're not on fire. Which actually I'm sorry about :-)

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Steve32

5:27 PM on 13 March, 2010

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Have to say I find the whole "old people" angle completely condescending towards them. My father is in his 70's - has a laptop, destop, wireless router, wireless printer, blueray, 42" Plasman, HD Media playing device and more. Sure, I help out now and then, but there are plenty of people in their 20s/30s/40s/etc who are equally dumb when it comes to IT stuff. @Tim - your comment about "every old person I have met..." was laughable. Actually many of the comments above come across as very snobby. Get over yourselves!

Will the iPad be a success - the honest answer is nobody knows yet. I know I wouldn't put any money on it. Lot of it depends on how it is marketed. Lot of it depends on luck and if it captures the public imagination. Sit back and wait and see.

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MrGodfrey

7:08 PM on 13 March, 2010

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Cub: And can you sync videos taken on the camera to the iPad too? Or do you still need to find and use transcoding software...

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Gordon394

8:27 PM on 13 March, 2010

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@Steve32 - I don't think we're being condescending, I think we're saying the iPad could be very good for older people.

For those older people who are technically proficient this is a moot argument - like your father, my father also is extremely tech savvy - but we're not talking about the happy anomalies.

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Tim Sutton

9:13 PM on 13 March, 2010

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@Steve32

I wasn't being condescending in the slightest. The exact opposite really.. I was saying that the elderly people I know would instantly pick up on the flaws in the iPad meaning it wouldn't do what they wanted, which seems to be beyond a fair few tech-heads at the moment.

Apropos of nothing in particular, the first time my grandfather found a website he wanted me to see he didn't email me a link. He printed all 11 pages of it out and sent it to me by post :-)

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ThaDon

1:11 AM on 14 March, 2010

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I don't get what everyone is ranting about here when they say 'Oh, you'll need a computer for it.." - ofcourse you will.. Like the ipods, like the ipod touch and like the iphone, the ipad is simply a new device from apple that enhances some pc-associated tasks with the key factor - mobility!

iPod - digital music (and eventually most types of digital media) - MOBILE

ipod touch - digital media & entertainment applications - MOBILE

iphone - digital media, entertainment & productivity apps and communication - MOBILE

iPad - digital media, entertainment & productivity apps and ......? - MOBILE

I've left the dots for you to fill in whatever you find it useful for - i'm sure Apple has already figured it out ;)

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Cub

10:56 AM on 14 March, 2010

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@Tim Sutton

Wow, did you ever miss the point of my message; maybe I was to subtle... What I was trying to point out is that you were either a) spouting vitriol about a product that you know nothing about, or b) purposely lying about a product that you don't want anyone else to like because it's made by that nasty, nasty Apple company.

Which is it?

Oh, and, wow again, you don't even get sarcasm, wonderful!

I don't fully agree with the OAP target market discussion, although I think it would be a great device for old people, they're certainly not the main focus...

@Tim again - Lots of people visit their grandparents quite regularly, I'm sure your average pensioner isn't out daily taking snaps so the requirement to have instant transferral probably wouldn't be an issue for most of them. Since when is an excuse to see the grandkids again a bad thing?

The whole argument about using the iPad as a sole computing device is laughable anyway. If you read Apple's spec. page for it, you'll notice there are Mac and Windows *requirements*, as in, either a Mac or Windows based machine is *required*. I translate that to mean that the iPad is, in no way, meant to be a households sole computing device. But hey, how's my silly little Apple-clouded brain supposed to deduce such complex logic...

At MrGodfrey - with my old old iPod photo, using the camera connector, I could transfer videos from my camera to the iPod. They couldn't be viewed because the iPod wasn't capable of viewing videos... We'l have to wait and see on that one, huh.

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Steve32

11:19 AM on 14 March, 2010

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@Gordon, my point was that you were singling out all old people as being technically dumb. My point was that it was simply ageist to pick on old people - where there people off all age who are scared to death by technology.

@Tim, how many times have you had a detailed conversation with old people about their buying habits in PC World type shops? Sorry, I wasn't accusing you of being condesending, it just painted a funny picture in my mind of someone going around talking to old people about such things ;-) Must be my warped sense of humour. Though, it seemed a bit of a strange way to justify your argument as to why the iPad is rubbish. You may be right (that it is rubbish), time will tell.

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MrGodfrey

2:19 PM on 14 March, 2010

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ThaDon: There's no ranting involved. According to its proponents, the iPad is better than a netbook. But a netbook is already mobile, and can run digital media, entertainment and productivity apps. Furthermore, you're not restricted to syncing a netbook on a computer with the appropriate software - you can move files to/from any computer using memory stick or other means - and as for entertainment, you don't have to transcode video files to conform to a specific format. You can also copy photos and video from a digital camera directly to a netbook for vieweing - not so with the iPad. Just some of the reasons why it's no more mobile than the alternative (netbook) which Steve Jobs sneers at, and in fact you can arguably do LESS on the move.

In fact, a large number of Apple-friendly users here have apparently recognised the above, and have instead argued that the iPad is a device almost exclusively for home use - sofa surfing (on the basis that you can quickly pick it up and start using it with no bootup time), looking up recipes in the kitchen (because of the wipeproof screen) etc.

It's not for me to say which of the two arguments is right; whether we'll see the iPad brandished on public transport or whether it'll be confined to the table by the sofa. What I would suggest is that when the people who actually like the iPad have such different opinions on the point of its existence, it seems fairly clear that it doesn't have a specific point, and is as Tim said "a solution looking for a problem". This isn't necessarily a problem - some folks will find uses for it, and others with enough disposable income will simply buy it as the latest must-have gadget/fashion accessory. Nothing wrong with that. But it does rather make a mockery of Jobsy's nonsensical ramblings about a "third category device", and all those claiming it will revolutionise the way we use computers etc...

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Gordon394

3:44 PM on 14 March, 2010

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@Steve32 - that's fine, but I also thing it is fair to say that in general older generations are less technically aware. In general, their eyesight is also worse and the iPad will offer an unparalleled large viewing experience in the palm of their hands that an iPhone/iPod touch/netbook can't.

You seem to think being less technically savvy is an insult ("technically dumb") personally I don't - and I see the iPad as a opportunity for that market.

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ffrankmccaffery

7:32 PM on 14 March, 2010

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Anyone suggesting this devices suitability to an OAP has never seen the typical old biddy tend to his/her pennies. It's an absurd device even if you discount the ludicrous amount of add-ons you'll inevitably have to purchase to make it even moderately practical.

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sonisoe

12:58 PM on 15 March, 2010

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forget about the OS or what it can do, do you find looking at the screen straight flat on your lap convenient, or even use one hand to hold the screen up all the time ? plus, heard its not even as powerful / functional ? as the macbook....

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drdark

7:38 PM on 15 March, 2010

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Coo, I hadn't looked back in here...

My thoughts keep getting drawn back to something I've mentioned before on these very pages: I'd heard of at least 2 people during the netbook craze who went to return their netbooks (probably eeePC; it was those days) because it didn't have a disc drive, but they hadn't realised that before they bought it.

So, in a not dissimilar way: it doesn't matter if the Apple website says a Mac or Windows PC is a requirement, many people just won't realise it. Steve came out saying basically "Netbooks are rubbish compared to this", which is what is aggravating many of us and will instil thoughts in other people's minds that it can do all a netbook can do. It also doesn't help that Apple love the non-technical term "full web" which they seem to have invented to mean "text and pictures but no flash". I realise on our tiny mobile phone screens we've come to put up with the odd script not running, or lack of flash video (although much less so in the last year or so), but I think it'll be a harder pill to swallow when we realise our third thingy(what did he call it again?) with a big screen doesn't display websites properly.

Anyway, not long now, we'll all finally find out what all the fuss is about.

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