The Apple iPad

sweetstudent

poppy10 wrote: »

It simply can't compete with the Kindle as an eBook reader - it's not even close. Without the e-Ink screen's readability it's DOA

BillScarab wrote: »

Sorry, but Apple really haven't made much of a dent in the handheld console market. The majority of games I see people playing on iPods/iPhones are games like Peggle and Bejewelled. To take any market share from Sony and Nintendo they need to start producing more complex and involving games.

The one thing about the iPad that should put anyone off buying one is the fact that we all know that the 2nd gen iPad wil be here in 12-18 months and will address the flaws and omissions of this one.

I have to disagree, there are far more gaming apps for the iPhone/iTouch than DS and PSP combined, ranging from the simple to the very complex games.

There are full games for the iPhone, i have several of them - Dizzy Bee,Bugdom, Blimp, Otto Matic just to name a few. Rolando is one of my favorites

The advantage of gaming on iPhone/Touch is that it is far simplier to work with - i have a Golf game and it is so much easier to play with. Playing F1 on my iPhone is easier than on a PS2. AFAIK games from the App store cannot/are not be pirated, and one of the most important things - Updates. Will Nintendo offer you a update of a game you own.......

bribrian

Love the name 'iPad', must have spent a fortune on coming up with that...

Personally i'm going to invest on this instead.........

Marty_J

redux wrote: »

not necessarily, but it adds up to about a third of the price of the top of the range iPad with less memory, so can be worked on in easier instalments - I don't have the touch-screen or the 18 months x £1 mobile broadband yet

And after all that, you have a secondhand Frankenstein's monster of a netbook you picked up off eBay.

And this is better why?

how much is the 3g/HSDPA contract tied to your device going to cost?

Here in the US, it's $14.99 a month for 250 MB, or $30 a month for unlimited data. It's also contract-free.

and why the gimmick micro SIM size in such a large device, is that just to put off people who might dare think of using it with other providers, but make them paranoid about cutting the SIM?

I have no idea.

BillScarab wrote: »

Marty, Apple may be making money selling games on the iPhone/iPod but they're not competing in the same market as the DS and the PSP. Until they start selling large numbers of games that are equivalent to the sort of titles you get on the PSP and the DS they not really competitors.

But that's missing the point somewhat. There isn't a complex games market and a less complex games market. I have loads of games on my iPod Touch. I also have a PSP, which I haven't purchased a game for since 2008. My daughter has a DS, and she hasn't had any new games in around 6 months or so. Both of us play games on the iPod Touch more than we do on the PSP and DS.

You say the handheld market will fall to $6.3 billion, do you know what the starting point was? After all if it's falling from $6.4 billion it's not really significant, if it's falling from $10 billion it is. Even then I suspect some of that is due to the maturity of the market. Also the Yen has been rising in value which doesn't help Japanese companies.

If I recall correctly, it will fall 27%, which is quite a big chunk by anyone's standards.

EDIT: Just found the article in the Wall Street journal.

Interesting reading but two points strike me, one it's predictions for the next four years which is quite a time span. What if the Nexus One (or its successors) take a big chunk of the iPhone's market? What if Nintendo or Sony launch a new handheld?

Secondly are the markets for handheld consoles and smartphones the same? Lots of four and five year olds have DS lites, I doubt if many have iPhones or even iPod Touches. So I can see the iPhone making inroads but I can't see it killing off the handheld market.

The other problem for Apple is to really attack Nintendo and Sony they need good titles. Is there anything available that can compete with Mario Kart, New Super Mario Brothers, Zelda or Animal Crossing?

Well, I think that's very much a matter of opinion. But the point is, people don't budget so much to spend on complex games, and so much to spend on less complex games. Every £1 someone spends on a game for their iPod Touch, is potentially £1 less they're going to spend on games for the PSP or DS.

And if you're Sony or Nintendo, that's potentially a very big problem.

Marty_J

A message to the Internets regarding the iPad

“Everyone gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” - Gertrude Stein

Oh Internets, how I love your unrealistic optimism, your pervasive cynicism, your willingness to believe any rumor, no matter how far fetched, and your desire to pronounce judgment on things with the tiniest amount of actual information.

Today Apple announced the iPad. Amazingly it did not fulfill every expectation that was floating out there. Most importantly, it does not fulfill every, specific desire you have and expected. The rumor machine of tech web sites promised you so much more.

Oh noes.

Let me explain it clearly and talk you off the ledge before you go and do something stupid.

Remember way back to January 2007, when the iPhone was announced? Oh Internets, you wailed and gnashed your teeth endlessly. No 3G network? No MMS? No apps on the iPhone? No replaceable battery? Oh, your complaints were endless. You were sure that the iPhone was doomed because it didn’t meet all your requirements.

And what happened? Well, Apple has sold 40 million iPhones. FORTY MILLION. They have become the largest mobile device company in the world.

So today, you moan on and on about all the features you expected and demand in the iPad. What no Verizon? No two-way camera? It’s not weightless? A full half inch thick? Only 10 hours of battery life? You make tons of predictions on the success and failure with scant details and without ever actually trying one.

Well, I am lucky enough to have been at the Apple Event today. Deep within the Reality Distortion Field. I saw the demo live, not snap shots on a web site. I got to use the iPad and see how it worked in person. I talked with other people that had tried it.

And you know what, just like Steve Jobs said, you need to hold it for yourself. It’s a different computing experience. It’s intuitive and simple. The device is blazingly fast and obvious how to use. It is a third kind of computing between a smartphone and a laptop.

For those that have iPhones, you know the experience of showing someone the iPhone for the first time. The look in their face, when they first flick the screen or squeeze the image to zoom. The realization that this is something different, very different, than what they have experienced before.

I am a technology professional. For almost 20 years I’ve tested, used, broke, fixed, and played with all kinds of technology from broadcasting to air conditioning to software. I am not easily swayed in these things. But even with all my skepticism, I think the iPad is something different. A new way of computing that will become commonplace.

Oh Internets, I know you won’t believe till you hold one in your hands. You’ll bang on about features, data plans, DRM, open source, and a multitude of issues. You’ll storm the message boards, wring your hands, and promise you won’t buy one till ‘Gen 2’. The din will grow and grow as time passes.

And then one day, in a few months, you will actually hold one and use it. And you will say, “I want one. I want one right now.”

So, my sweet beloved Internets, please take a deep breath, relax and stay away from your regular knee-jerk reactions. Have a little patience, a quality you are not known for, my sweet Internets.

And please, please stop trying to make predictions about what's next, you have no clue and just look stupid when you do.

“You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.” - Steve Jobs

http://cruftbox.com/blog/archives/001592.html#001592

ixwood

What a crock of crap. It's almost funny.

As is the iSheep on this thread. Give it a rest.

ixwood

When are all the ifanboys going to realise apple isn't actually that cool and not worthy of worship?

Only other fanboys are actually impressed by these things. I'm not sure they realise that.

redux

Is this the right moment to remember that when the first iPhone came out as 2g only, the iFans chorus said there wasn't any point in 3g, as there wasn't much of it about

Marty_J

ixwood wrote: »

What a crock of crap. It's almost funny.

As is the iSheep on this thread. Give it a rest.

So you disagree that you should probably try something out before denouncing it as crap?

OK.

ixwood wrote: »

When are all the ifanboys going to realise apple isn't actually that cool and not worthy of worship?

I don't see anyone worshipping anyone.

Only other fanboys are actually impressed by these things. I'm not sure they realise that.

I guess that explains why only fanboys like the iPhone.

redux wrote: »

Is this the right moment to remember that when the first iPhone came out as 2g only, the iFans chorus said there wasn't any point in 3g, as there wasn't much of it about

It's certainly the right moment to remember that the iPhone was just as derided when it was released, and whether or not you own one, it has changed the smartphone market.

John Dvorak's review of the original Mac in 1984 stated:

The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse’. There is no evidence that people want to use these things.

It's funny how many criticisms of the iPad have the same ring to them.

redux

Marty_J wrote: »

And after all that, you have a secondhand Frankenstein's monster of a netbook you picked up off eBay.

And this is better why?

I didn't say it was better; it was a way of suggesting that the iPad price is a triumph of style over content. It doesn't have $800 worth of design and components in it when it will do hardly anything more than something a third or half of the price

Idiophreak

Marty_J wrote: »

But that's missing the point somewhat. There isn't a complex games market and a less complex games market. I have loads of games on my iPod Touch. I also have a PSP, which I haven't purchased a game for since 2008. My daughter has a DS, and she hasn't had any new games in around 6 months or so. Both of us play games on the iPod Touch more than we do on the PSP and DS.

There is, effectively, that split in the market - it's between mobile gaming and gaming proper. I, as a console/pc boy, have never had any time for any of the mobile devices - games too simple, too ugly, too short, too expensive..yada yada yada.

The mobile gamer, however, has already shown they have no interest in "real" gaming, so the difference between an iPhone and a DS is probably quite irrelevant...there are some crappy little games they can prod at on each, so they'll be happy whatever. The "serious" non-mobile game market isn't going to fear the iPhone, or the iPad for that matter.