On January 27, 2010, at Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco, Apple launched its newest creation in the digital world. It’s called the iPad. Yeah, it’s a non-slang for the iPod.
Months ago, Apple gave a clue to what their secret gadget is. It sounded like It’s something too big to fit in your pocket, but too small to fit on your laptop bag, or so.
iPad image from www.apple.com
Personally, my first impression was Woah, is this going to dominate the market of slate PCs? Just looking at its features will actually answer the question.
In his keynote, Steve Jobs said that there’s a missing link between a smart phone and a laptop. It’s a device that will exemplify the key tasks that we end users do in this time. These are web browsing, email, photos, video, web streaming, music, and ebook. The CEO said that a netbook is not the answer to these tasks. Instead, he showed Apple’s newest baby, the iPad. He always used of the adjective gorgeous to describe how amazing the device is.
Just summarizing the gorgeous features of this tablet posted on Apple’s website, here’s a quicklist aside from the key tasks.
- LED-backlit display
- Multi-touch
- Wireless
- 3G
- Calendar
- Contacts
- 16, 32, 64 GB of memory
- 1 GHz A4 processor
Examining these, the iPad doesn’t really look so spectacular – far ahead of the HP’s tablet that can do what a great laptop can do. Sad to say, Apple’s tablet cannot do multi-tasking because it runs on iPhone OS 3.2. So if you want to copy a phrase from an ebook, I guess you have to close the reader first, then run an iWork application or Safari to paste it. Adding to that, this still doesn’t have Flash.
Starting at $499, I guess this is a shit to most people who would really want those key tasks with portability.
In the context of the Philippine retail, this device would go with the same avenue of the iPod 3G. That is, approximately P38,000 is what you should pay to grab this slate.
Verdict
$499 is way too expensive, considering there’s a subscription plan behind that price. What we really consumers want is a device that is portable, can do key tasks, and is sold at a very reasonable price. Moreover, there’s nothing really amazing with its features. Until HP Slate isn’t deployed, we won’t see if this Apple slate is a good buy.
HP Slate demo at CES 2010
I cant wait for the Apple iPad to be released here in Australia, its going to be good
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it is not meant to replace the existing Apple’s products. Kung may market na kumagat sa iPad, mag-uupgrade din yan like iPod dati walang video.
But still, i hate Apple. hahaha
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John Carl Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Why do you hate Apple? Haha. Personally, I just think Apple products are far beyond superficial. They create a new “realm/gadget category” that justifies everything about their products.
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medyo nakakabulol yung iPAAAd Lol
i aint a techie person, really, so i dont know if i will be in this hype.
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John Carl Reply:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Hi Barry!
Nakakabulol nga ang iPad. Lalo na kapag salit salitang bibigkasin ang iPad and iPod. XD
For the record, I won’t be needing an iPad. A tablet PC would suffice.
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Barry Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
haha me too poor for an iPAD
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Feel ko OA yung reaction sa multi-tasking part. I mean, hindi naman kasi siya laptop or netbook e. It’s not supposed to do things simultaneously. Babagal lang kapag pwede ang multi-tasking. Unnecessary naman kasi mostly yung mga third-party apps. Apple is focucing on the essentials, on the go tools. You can’t multi-task when you’re on the go.
))
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John Carl Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 11:06 am
Haha, I’m a leftist in silicon valley. Yes, I agree with you. The iPad is incomparable to netbooks.
I won’t criticize how Steve sets his toy far from the slate PCs that already came out in the last quarter of 2009. Really, Apple creates a new room for a special purpose.
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You’ll be surprised how this fits well in the US market, since netbooks are less popular there than they are here. If you watch the entire keynote, you’ll know why. Though there are a lot of caveats (like lack of multitasking – something that won’t be important on a phone device that will be in this one), the price on a US perspective is attractive (for a mac product).
I bet they’ll be working this one from ground up, knowing Apple’s style. Then they’ll spin a 2.0 version of it sometime in the end of the year where they’ll put all the snazzy stuff that should’ve been there.
Its like the mMcbook Air. I thought there wasn’t a market for it, you’ll be surprised that there is…
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John Carl Reply:
January 28th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Kuya Gerry! Yeah, I somewhat agree with what you said, but one concern is Apple iPad’s compatibility with users’ common devices such as memory cards, usb storage, and other flash memories. With these out, iPad fails to win the portability+sharing contest.
I read some articles that discuss about how Apple wins the eye of the mob. In all fairness to the company, it really dedicates all great ideas to its unique space in the industry. And that’s one of what makes them on the top list.
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