OT: Apple Tablet Tomorrow - Mgraw-Hill CEO soon to be dead

[dbdynsty25]

Could you tether a phone to it for internet?

Not without USB you can't.

For the love of god...someone release an Android Tablet...soon. That way we will already have a better device out.

[jLp vAkEr0]

Could you tether a phone to it for internet?

Not without USB you can't.

For the love of god...someone release an Android Tablet...soon. That way we will already have a better device out.

Doesn't Archos have one?

[dbdynsty25]

Could you tether a phone to it for internet?

Not without USB you can't.

For the love of god...someone release an Android Tablet...soon. That way we will already have a better device out.

Doesn't Archos have one?

Yeah, but it's very small...not really a tablet. It's like 5 or 6 inches I think. There are a few coming out in the next six months...MSI being one producer.

(cue the d*ck jokes)

[Spooky]

Not without USB you can't.

For the love of god...someone release an Android Tablet...soon. That way we will already have a better device out.

Doesn't Archos have one?

Yeah, but it's very small...not really a tablet. It's like 5 or 6 inches I think. There are a few coming out in the next six months...MSI being one producer.

(cue the d*ck jokes)

I thought 5-6 inches was 'average'....

[dbdynsty25]

I thought 5-6 inches was 'average'....

My condolences to the wife.

[Spooky]

I thought 5-6 inches was 'average'....

My condolences to the wife.

lol...maybe that's why I'm single now...

[wco81]

The 3G models are the really appealing ones, but you're looking at $630 plus $360 per year for the 3G service. That's a lot of money for something that's an fat iTouch at best. For someone who travels a lot (and I mean a lot), I could see the appeal because the portability vs. laptops and readability vs. iPhone would have real value. But that's about it.

Apple is not stupid -- I'm sure they did a lot of market research and I'm sure a good number of people will like this. But I can't see it becoming widespread unless the price drops or the functionality improves.

I am one of those people that put miles and miles of flying every two weeks or so and although the 3G version was more tempting for my purposes, I realized that there's also a roaming charge to that. I travel abroad to the Pacific ocean often, not just North America and that's where the overall roaming cost for me will be out of reach. For that reason alone, I may go for the Wi-Fi version (if I indeed I find myself being very weak) but even so, I may wait another year or whenever the 2nd generation of the ipad comes out.

It would fit as a nice in-between toy with the iphone and Macbook Pro. Reading on it is very intriguing, but I am curious about the back light of the ipad for my ever needed progressive glasses.

Wished there was a USB port and an HDMI outlet.

Apple said they're trying to arrange deals with overseas carriers, so you may be able to buy a microSIM for the country you're traveling to and use it while there without roaming.

So you could pile up a collection of microSIMs for this thing.

[10spro]

The 3G models are the really appealing ones, but you're looking at $630 plus $360 per year for the 3G service. That's a lot of money for something that's an fat iTouch at best. For someone who travels a lot (and I mean a lot), I could see the appeal because the portability vs. laptops and readability vs. iPhone would have real value. But that's about it.

Apple is not stupid -- I'm sure they did a lot of market research and I'm sure a good number of people will like this. But I can't see it becoming widespread unless the price drops or the functionality improves.

I am one of those people that put miles and miles of flying every two weeks or so and although the 3G version was more tempting for my purposes, I realized that there's also a roaming charge to that. I travel abroad to the Pacific ocean often, not just North America and that's where the overall roaming cost for me will be out of reach. For that reason alone, I may go for the Wi-Fi version (if I indeed I find myself being very weak) but even so, I may wait another year or whenever the 2nd generation of the ipad comes out.

It would fit as a nice in-between toy with the iphone and Macbook Pro. Reading on it is very intriguing, but I am curious about the back light of the ipad for my ever needed progressive glasses.

Wished there was a USB port and an HDMI outlet.

Apple said they're trying to arrange deals with overseas carriers, so you may be able to buy a microSIM for the country you're traveling to and use it while there without roaming.

So you could pile up a collection of microSIMs for this thing.

How would that thing work exactly? Are they just miniature SIM cards that you plug into the tablet and it reads you 3G coverage as a local network? What would be the charge for the micro SIM?

[wco81]

Like buying a prepaid SIM for any unlocked phone.

That's if the carriers put out microSIMs with favorable data-only plans which require no contract.

If iPad lives up to the hype in terms of sales, then it's probably more likely carriers will do this.

If it bombs, they might not bother.

[10spro]

For once I agree with Hitler.


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[dbdynsty25]

They seriously need to stop using that Hitler clip each time a new gadget is announced. The dead horse is beaten.

[FifaInspected]

Because at that price, plus Apple's marketing plus people ability to be sheep they figure Apple can market it.

Here is the thing I am a proud iPhone user, love it you would need to pry it from my hands. You know why I love it, besides being a phone it has a ton of useful apps that work when I am out and about.

Now here is the iPad, pretty much a bigger iPhone except I can't call anyone. Oh it has e-Reader abilities but nothing revolutionary, I can do limited work on it but not as good as my computer. But it has all the apps my iPhone has, and the possibility of even better ones.

Big problem is the apps I find most useful are when I am out and about as I said. So why would I want to pay another $30 a month, for something not as easy to carry as my iPhone and I can't make calls on?

I'm convinced that the iPad is geared towards the Kindle demographic. Maybe older than the iPhone people but not people that want to take notes or do much more than read, play, games and have music while you do this.

Because if you have a laptop and an iPhone what's the point of having the iPad?

Basically a glorified e-reader/iPhone. The iPhone, for me merged a whole lot of devices into one. The iPad, I'm not too sure about it.

That is exactly what I thought to myself.. I have a laptop and an iPhone, where does the iPad fit into this equation?

[Sport73]

Quote from Adobe's blog

“It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple’s DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers. And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.”

I can see both sides of this argument; Flash is ubiquitous and it hurts not to support it, BUT Flash is ancient technology, a resource HOG, leads to instability and security issues, and has subsequently been surpassed by better technologies (HTML5, H.264). Apple is essentially taking the stance that it's time to kill this bloated piece of plugin software and they're trying to urge web-designers to move to HTML5 by locking out Flash. It hurts the product in the short-term, but benefits everyone in the long-term IF, and it's a big IF, they're successful in helping to push developers toward more open, stable, lean and secure solutions.

[RobVarak]

Stunned to learn this a.m. that neither this nor iPhone has wireless music sync! Zunes have had these for years. Very odd.

[Sport73]

Stunned to learn this a.m. that neither this nor iPhone has wireless music sync! Zunes have had these for years. Very odd.

I agree, it's a missing feature that should be added. The 'excuse' I've heard to date is that Wi-Fi syncing is slower than USB2 (true), and since iTunes syncs tend to include large files (Movies, TV Shows, Video Podcasts, Lots of music/photos) a proper sync could take over an hour as compared to 5-10 minutes.

Apple would perceive that as 'too long', where the activity would either CONSUME the iPhone for an hour - OR - be conducted in the background, leading to an additional concern that people would leave the house before the sync was complete, creating 'broken' backups and incomplete libraries that would frustrate the user when they get in their car and discover they don't have the content they thought they sync'd.

Apple is likely working on a method that allows the iPhone to remain in use (background syncing) while also monitoring the sync carefully and alerting the user should they move out of Wi-Fi range.

[kevinpars]

Forget McGraw Hill - the publisher soon to be dead is Macmillan.

The IPad and Steve Jobs have, in their own way, started the war between the publishers and Amazon. Macmillan wants to control their own ebook prices and feel like the IPad is enough of a lever to give them a shot. Amazon fired back by removing the "buy it now" button. And removed all Macmillan books from the Kindle store. Meanwhile, Jobs suggests ebook prices at 12 -14 bucks a pop and suggests smugly that their prices will be the same as Amazon's. Steve thinks he has suddenly replaced Amazon and the Kindle as the place to go for ebooks.

The IPad may be a big seller, but I am not sure it will be a big seller for readers. Do readers really want to hold something that weighs a pound and a half? And nobody seems to want to talk about eye strain and back lighting.

Does Jobs really think he can control publishing the way he controls music? Not going to happen.

[Danimal]

I can see both sides of this argument; Flash is ubiquitous and it hurts not to support it, BUT Flash is ancient technology, a resource HOG, leads to instability and security issues, and has subsequently been surpassed by better technologies (HTML5, H.264). Apple is essentially taking the stance that it's time to kill this bloated piece of plugin software and they're trying to urge web-designers to move to HTML5 by locking out Flash.

Let me tell you as someone who has worked in the industry for over 10 years. that's not going to happen and it also is not entirely true. Flash isn't going anywhere, anytime soon.

The above is just an excuse being used by Apple.

[JRod]

Flash is somewhat at the mercy of what new devices are found out there. If the iPad catches on, are websites going to offer flash and lost site visitors? That may problem a change. If the Driod tablet catches fire, that could affect the market.

The same thing goes for books. If people buy a lot of books, like they did apps, to in lesser quantity, publishers will seek whichever avenue that provides the most revenue.

Jobs doesn't control music. He just did something better than the music industries did. Other companies are free to offer a music service better than iTunes.

[Danimal]

Flash is somewhat at the mercy of what new devices are found out there. If the iPad catches on, are websites going to offer flash and lost site visitors?

I don't mean to sound preachy but you're wrong, at least right now. We maintain dozens of high profile web sites. Many doing e-commerce and right now at best the iPhone accounts for 2% of total views on those platforms.

Also most companies don't have a disposable budget for tearing apart their site to take down flash tools that our working and replace them with html5, and that is assuming it can even replace the functionality. We get a few who are interested in an iPhone version of the site but there is no push to program one site for mobile devices and desktops.

Could this happen down the road sure, but I can tell you none of our clients is clamoring for any of the flash tools we built to be redone.

[wco81]

These devices need to be recharged almost every day if you put any kind of use on them.

So besides slower transfers, Wifi syncing gets you very little. Only exception are these apps. which can backup data to a desktop client on a computer in the same Wifi network, such as Evernote.

As for Flash, there may be too much inertia to get sites to change. For now, mobile devices are secondary devices and people don't use them to conduct as many transactions. That could change, but price of mobile data plans prevents fast adoption or people using mobile devices to mainly do their banking, shopping, bill-paying, etc.

But even Adobe seems to think they have to cater better to these devices as they now have an SDK to convert Flash content into apps.

[JRod]

Flash is somewhat at the mercy of what new devices are found out there. If the iPad catches on, are websites going to offer flash and lost site visitors?

I don't mean to sound preachy but you're wrong, at least right now. We maintain dozens of high profile web sites. Many doing e-commerce and right now at best the iPhone accounts for 2% of total views on those platforms.

Also most companies don't have a disposable budget for tearing apart their site to take down flash tools that our working and replace them with html5, and that is assuming it can even replace the functionality. We get a few who are interested in an iPhone version of the site but there is no push to program one site for mobile devices and desktops.

Could this happen down the road sure, but I can tell you none of our clients is clamoring for any of the flash tools we built to be redone.

Technology is driven by the users. Like I said, IF these flash-less devices catch on and they are a significant source of user visits then websites will be forced to change. We are saying the same thing. I didn't say that it's going to happen tomorrow only that if flash-less devices catch on they will change the market.

[greggsand]

Technology is driven by the users.

Minor correction: technology is driven by porn.

[XXXIV]

Technology is driven by the users.

Minor correction: technology is driven by porn.

........Yep, and this ipad thingy might just well revolutionize bathroom entertainment.

[Sport73]

Flash is somewhat at the mercy of what new devices are found out there. If the iPad catches on, are websites going to offer flash and lost site visitors?

I don't mean to sound preachy but you're wrong, at least right now. We maintain dozens of high profile web sites. Many doing e-commerce and right now at best the iPhone accounts for 2% of total views on those platforms.

Also most companies don't have a disposable budget for tearing apart their site to take down flash tools that our working and replace them with html5, and that is assuming it can even replace the functionality. We get a few who are interested in an iPhone version of the site but there is no push to program one site for mobile devices and desktops.

Could this happen down the road sure, but I can tell you none of our clients is clamoring for any of the flash tools we built to be redone.

http://www.jeffhendricksondesign.com/th ... nst-flash/
http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/blue_boxes

[Danimal]

http://www.jeffhendricksondesign.com/th ... nst-flash/
http://daringfireball.net/2010/01/blue_boxes

What do either one of those articles have to do with what I wrote?

The fact stands iPhones account for about 2% of platforms that view our sites. HTML5 can't do everything flash can do. Companies will not pull down existing tools that work to support such a small install base.