IPAD the notebook killer or the notebook path?

IPAD is already making a dent in notebook market. In my opinion it should be the path that notebooks should follow or in another words a Tablet without a keyboard that forces the screen to be seen always in landscape.


Two reports of success:
Apple iPad Has Fastest Tech Adoption Rate Ever, Report Says | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Laptop Sales Sapped by Tablet Frenzy - WSJ.com


I extracted below user opinions as significant:
CGTalk - iPad A Runaway Success

-Turn it off and you can work with it instantly(Microsoft are you listening?)
-10 hours battery which seems a comfort level people stop thinking about outlets and recharges.
-Direct easy to use, no mouse and keypads.
-Texts can be read vertical or horizontal

 

I have a Ipod touch, it's okay as a music and video player or a quick game. Internet is okay if it had a better browser, but frankly I have no interest in an ipad for anything.

Give me a real computer anyday!

 

you mean that big ipod touch?

if all i did was surf the web and not care about flash, play plants and zombies or read e-books then it would be a ok. but i do much, much more than that...
and yes, i have used (my mom's) ipad so i know how it feels/works

 

All 3.5" of diagonal glory! Yes that's the one.

I really am not much of a apple fan! I don't like how controlling they are with my device. As an example I don't like how it can't be used like a drive when connected to a computer, It's been a awhile since I looked at apps that can do that, but I remember they were all low rated and cost money. I also don't like how the Bluetooth is limited to headphones only. I could go on and on.

 

ipad= big ipod touch

the thing i hate the most about the ipad and everything apple is itunes.
but i could go on and on too

 

using an ipad vs a notebook is like using osx vs windows, it's just that much harder to get things done

 

It's not competing against NOTEbooks, but rather NETbooks. Big difference. When that's taken into account, most of the people that buy netbooks could do most of what they do on an iPad. Most netbook sales are to the NON-enthusiasts, because enthusiasts know full well what a slug an Atom is at just about anything, and the fact Intel has gone a long way to ensure a lot of it's Atom hardware is only Windows compatible. I'm not saying the A4 is fast, but it's power-efficient, and gets things done smoothly. And iTunes is only horrible on Windows. On OSX it's great. Personally, being a notebook enthusiast myself, I'd much rather buy an iPad than another netbook. My Viliv is good for what I bought it for, but I would NOT buy it again, if given the choice. iPad is a good choice for someone that already has a notebook, or desktop, not as a notebook replacement.

 

Why do you put IPAD in caps? I believe the iPads appeal is mainly for n00bs or basic users.

 

The only thing ipad is good at is video player and playing some browser games. Productivity on ipad is simply abysmal. As for reading ebooks, the kindle dx I have >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ipad in terms of ebook reading, the ipad screen sucks for reading ebooks.

Most of the market share ipad has taken away is netbooks, and their own macbooks, because apple fanboys will buy up anything with a half-eaten apple logo.

 

Yeah Ipad are great to use for the average joe. My father has one and he enjoys it.. he reads the newspaper and he surfs the web.
Though thats 600$ for a giant Ipod that basically does nothing else better than netbook, which are half the price.
If I didnt hate Apple so much, I'd probably want one. Its pretty neat, but too expensive, like every single apple products.

 

*iFail

I have a general disliking for apple (although I won't bash the iphone and ipod), especially the ipad. How I see it is that it's not really very good at anything. It does a hell of a lot of things, but it doesn't really do any of them very well. The general rule is that for something to sell well, there's usually at least one thing which it excels at (ipad lacks this feature, other than the feature of failing), however with the ipad this isn't the case. This leads me to the conclusion that the only reason the ipad is selling so well is because of apple fanboys and all the media bigging it up so that many people buy it without first looking into it much since "it must be good, otherwise why would it be all over the news?"

 

Like almost anything 'Apple' branded, I put down the iPad less than a minute of touching it.

Sure, I didn't 'give it a chance'. But neither does any other hardware/software that limits me as much as Apple's products do gets either.

Still, I can see this as 'the future' not because it is attaining to something better - rather, it is stooping even lower than to the lowest common denominator.

I'm sure that the next mac commercial will have an ape showing how easy mac's are to use - but you can be sure he will be a cute and good looking primate!

 

My gf lives with me, and she got an ipad not too long ago...I prefer to use my notebook, but when in bed or just lying around, the ipad is great for watching videos and doing some reading and surfing...I think its just the form factor is so convenient...and who needs a real keyboard when all you do is go back and forward and randomly click on junk

Plus the Ipad does "feel" nice

 

iFAIL iMO... i have an iphone but no ipad for me.. its useless and i rather carry my G73JH around than an ipad.. it useless even for seeing videos with a 4:3 screen , lack of ports and worse of all low RAM and crappy CPU.. i rather get a netbook or CULV notebook.

 

I think apple makes very nice niche products and I can respect that but they are a niche AND they are locked...I'm not interested in:

1. being locked into a hardware platform

2. buying a more expensive ipad product when i know competition is just around the corner for less

Apple makes $208 on each $499 iPad - Computerworld

Computerworld - The $499 version of the new iPad tablet actually runs Apple about $270 in materials and manufacturing costs, a Wall Street analyst said today.

According to a bill of materials (BOM) analysis by Brian Marshall of BroadPoint AmTech, the cost of goods inside Apple's 16GB Wi-Fi-only iPad totals $270.50. That figure includes a $10 line item dedicated to manufacturing, but doesn't include another $20 set aside for under-warranty service costs. Adding the latter makes Marshall's bottom-line total $290.50.

The most expensive component on his price list was the 9.7-in. LCD touch-sensitive display, which he tagged at $100. The 16GB of memory and the aluminum case cost about $25 each, said Marshall, while the Apple A4 chip was listed at $15.

Because that model will sell for $499, Apple's profit margin is 42.9% after the $20 warranty set-aside is factored in.




On the day Apple was revealing details about its plans for social networking and music here’s a useful Slideshare presentation on developing Apple iPad strategy.

http://www.wallblog.co.uk/2010/09/01/ipad-strategy-in-newspapers/

 

ipad is rubbish, I am usually vaguely amused when I see somebody using one and of the money they wasted. Usually to read a book. Give me a real book anyday. Should be called icrap.

Apple I think have now had their heyday. Their stubborn refusal to let people do what they want with their software and hardware means they are no match for competitors microsoft and google.

 

Niche item.

 

I would say neither. The Ipad is a niche market that Apple created themselves (as in they are trying to create a new market by creating the ipad to boost profits). Before that we had handhelds, and tablet pcs have already been around for quite some time. In reality the ipad came after everything else. I see notebooks in the future staying the same, with tablets on one end (with and without keyboards), and plain notebooks on the other.

 

LOL @ all the people that have called it an iFail, crap, garbage, and useless. They're far from useless. Apple has succeeded because it's got a FINGER FRIENDLY OS. Windows 7 is multi-touch aware, but nowhere near finger friendly. The main reason people have an implied hatred of resistive touch was because it required styluses, needed calibrated often, and the interfaces to accompany it weren't finger friendly, therefore they weren't very "mass marketable". My respect for Apple is that they always find a way to make the easiest to use interfaces, and they find a way to make them "mass market". Where would we be today if iOS hadn't come along and shook up the mobile market? Yea, uh huh. We'd probably be on Windows Mobile 6.6. Instead we have iOS, Android, Meego, WP7... I pay respect where respect is due, and while I may not own an iPad, or currently have a need or use for one, I will NOT call them useless garbage. Also, IMO, iPad's and NOTEbooks don't belong in the same sentence... they are nothing alike, and should not be viewed as competitors.

$.02

 

If people buy one instead of the other, they are competitors. Just in sample i have linked see a couple of persons that compared them.
If a person wants something to access web, do something simple, read the news-more and more applications will be web based-they might not need/want a notebook if they have to wait 50 sec to turn it on, might need to be near an outlet, etc.

Note that my question about future i was considering bigger ones too in a non closed architecture.The provocative question was not to be Apple dependent and also to think how powerful a version 2 will be.

 

Where would we be today without iOS...? In a better place All iOS has done is encourage people to be less social beings always fiddling with this app and that app even when in the company of others.

 

Are we purely speaking of the iPad or with slates as a whole? I have a feeling people are just Apple bashing blindly instead of looking at the device itself.

Personally speaking, I don't agree with Jobs. Touch based handheld devices will not replace notebook computers. No matter how fancy you get with haptics, there's nothing that can replace a tactile feedback when you type. Ask any typist and they'll tell you that. There's a reason projection keyboards aren't very popular... Touch based devices have been around for a long time, yet only now has the market decided to make it something "we need".

 

For me, if it really comes to buy an Ipad for $499, I would rather get a netbook or something.
One of my brother also got Ipad with 3g for $750 and after 2 weeks, he is already bored.

 

He had more patience than me - I didn't last 5 seconds on the 'keyboard'.

 

Not blindly bashing at all.

Actually I was blinking very fast (in disbelief) while my lips were mouthing something to the effect of 'I can't believe people buy this stuff' when it was 'demoed' to me by a 'genius'.

 

That is my point, btw you can connect a keyboard to an IPAD. And future versions will get a keyboard like some PDA' have. Price will drop.

 

Bullit,

with all due respect, why are you defending the iPad so much?

I have learned long ago that a product must stand on its own - especially when it is being marketed as an 'ultra-portable'. Any addons that make it 'complete' only make the base unit that much more inferior in my eyes.

I hope a keyboard can be connected - but then the 'ultra-portable' designation is just marketing speak. If a future version gets its own built-in keyboard, how will that account for the shortcomings of the toylike 'os'?

The price (as-is) can be zero - it will still slow me down, not make me more productive.

Even if the iPad used a full version of OS/x, I would be infinitely more interested in it than the moneygrabbing version they are offering now.

I have no doubt that this (touch slates) will be perfected in some future iteration - but I won't be alive to see it - and I find it hard to see how anybody alive today will see it either.

 

Come on it is a toy intended for adults.
Have you seen a child with his new toy?
Now just substitute that with an adult and you get the picture, behaviour and all.
I do see schoolchildren getting fascinated over it in numerous stores though.

 

If anyone other than Apple made a slate, would everyone still hate the concept as much?

I'm asking because quite a few of the points brought up are due to Apple's strategy with their products, not due to the limitations of slates as a product. I know MSI, HP and a few others had rumors of slates running full touchscreen modded OSes, what if those ever hit the market? Would they suffer the same issues as the iPad in terms of their technology or would they catch on if the right price was there?

Btw love Apple bashers who have iPods and iPhones lol

 

The iPad doesn't have a niche market since its target audience isn't even well-defined. It's great at displaying many types of information, but is terrible for inputting it. This, combined with its narrow platform and inability to multitask, doesn't put it anywhere on par with a computer of any kind; netbook or otherwise.

Yes, it has sold a lot of units. No, it is not a very versatile product precisely because is very stringently limited in how it can be used. This simply cripples the iPad in terms of productivity.

 

Corporations have used tablet type devices for years, yet Apple was the first to really bring something like it to a consumer market. Most computer companies had tablet prototypes even before Apple had iOS but were unsure of the market to sell to. Yet Apple used shiny metal and their "Lets take old ideas/technology and market it as something new" strategy to gain the attention of a consumer base with excess income. In my eyes, I see it more as a bridge product that could quite possibly disappear with thinner and lighter laptops coming to the marketplace.

 

Ding Ding Ding! But it's not so much the price point that will sell them, it's the interface. If it's hard to use, it intimidates people, and people don't _usually_ buy high priced items that come off as hard to use, or items that don't really have a function.

Here's an example. I'm thinking of buying an iPad because it would replace almost all of my textbooks for engineering classes. In hardback, those are some beefy books, not to mention pricy. The iPad is lightweight, and I can use it with minimal effort, unlike my Viliv that is 10x more functional, but also 10x harder to use, and I can easily entertain myself in between classes. Windows would have to have a whole new UI shell for tablet devices with Windows to catch on like the iPad has. I have a bit of experience with Windows on slates, starting with my Motion M1400, then LE1600, then the Viliv linked above. All of them have had underpowered hardware, and an overly clunky OS for slate tablet use.

 

For the people that are bashing the iPad itself as a device, and not the concept it brings, I have one thing to say - way to completely miss the point.

 

Concept?
Mostly I guess it appeals to people who don't like to learn anything.
Keyboard and Mouse are intimidating and Windows is too complex

And attributing fall laptop sale to iPAD is silly and unrelated.
Laptop sales fall because a lot people ALREADY OWN 1?
Come on do you serious believe everyone will buy a notebook every time a new 1 is release? Ever considered market saturation?

Most media is Apple's Fanboy and articles that "inform" us of iPAD's "runaway success" is a marketing effort that implies:
Come on this device is selling like hotcakes so you better buy 1 soon.

 

You need to try using full blown Windows 7 on a 4.8in screen with 247ppi, while walking around. It doesn't work trust me. It also doesn't work on a 10in Netbook spec'd slate either... it's just heavy, underpowered, and hot with short battery life. I thought the discussion was about the iPad's path and it's possible market alternatives. A mouse a keyboard have nothing to do with a slate. And like CZX58 Shadow said... if you don't like it, you don't have to buy it. The iPad is Apple testing the waters for tablet PC adoption and full blown touch user interfaces. They learned from what Microsoft failed miserably at with Tablet PC versions of Windows. Just like they learned when they pee'd out Windows Mobile's fire. The iPad is just now stirring the tablet into the mainstream, and since it currently has nothing to compete against it, it will continue to sell at a breakneck pace. The Galaxy Tab, with android, is a good attempt, but it lacks the polish that iOS has. When HTC brings a tablet to market with android and a Sense UI, that will give the iPad a run for it's money. And I'm really excited to see what Microsoft will bring to the market to compete with the iPad/Galaxy Tab/Playbook... On another note, I really don't see iPad's upsetting anything but the netbook market. Notebooks are safe.

Media hype or not, the numbers don't lie.

 

As the Mythbusters have proven in practice, you CAN polish a turd and if you do enough, it will shine. Point is, an idea does not need to be new or revolutionary to take off, it just needs that finish and presentation that make people want to go with it. But take some "money making" concepts of our time: Google, and Facebook. Neither were the first to apply the concepts that they did; however, both had either one(or more) singular element(s) in the application that made them stand out or an overall better finish than the other products that came before them. So yes, slates have been around for a while, but apparently they weren't marketed, and they didn't have that element the iPad had which made them popular to the mainstream market. Just as touchscreen devices have existed for years before the iPod Touch came around, but guess what? That device basically got most of the world onto the idea that touch based handheld devices are "good". Like or hate Apple, they're good with marketing products and polishing ideas that aren't necessarily new.

Within the case of computers, interface is the one thing you need work on in regards with the user. If an interface is either cluttered, clunky, non-responsive or just plain difficult to use, the average Joe will not use it. Let's look at Google's interface. Type "Google.com". What do you see appear? There's this big "Google" logo in the middle and a search bar along with 2 buttons at the middle. That's the gist of it. The rest is really just fluff on the side which isn't noticeable(note the size is exponentially smaller for the rest). See? Ease of use, lack of clunk and clutter. Google doesn't try to have 4392850 different things for you to see on its homepage, there's the essential: the search bar and buttons and its name. It's a search engine and that's what they make clear when you go there. Hell, they're even nice enough to put the damn cursor ON THE BAR for you as soon as you're there. That means even a damn monkey who can't click can type something on the Google search bar.

Now, going back to slates, a full OS is not necessarily needed in order to make them function as they are not full computers for the most part. Would you want your ATM machine to run a full Windows 7 OS? Maybe the geek in you does, but the Average Joe just wants to punch in his PIN and get his money. Therefore, that's why ATM machines carry a "crippled" OS with only one application. Lots of machines follow this business model and slates still follow the same logic for now. Like I said, I don't believe what Jobs said that slates will replace notebooks(at least not any time soon) so for now, they're restricted to a few select uses, some of which overlap with computing uses. Therefore, their OS and interface will follow said uses.

I am not defending the iPad here(it's not something I'd buy personally), however you have to see where Apple (and probably anyone who'll release a slate with a modified OS) are coming from with the whole concept.

As I answered to the OP, no, I don't believe they'll overtake computers; I believe they are separate entities for now therefore should not be looked at with the same mentality nor should they be flawed with the reasoning used for computers(for now).

 

Errr.... the concept of the device without any real purpose? The concept of the toy that looks shiny and will be bought by numerous Apple-tards in the world? The concept of the toy that is revolutionary has less options that iPhone?

I love how every single Apple fanboy comes out of their Apple-world with statements like that, containing absolutely no information. iPad has no purpose. It's a new toy that could be used for different things with a bigger screen than your usual smartphone. It doesn't even come with a freaking stylus. The OS choice (dumbed down for a person everyone in the world imagines as a sterotypical american) just follows that philosophy. Guess what... people who don't use Apple products exclusively actually have brains! Tu-dum! Who.... what a surprise, ha? I know I know.... there's a whole intelligent world out there, with people for whom the evolution didn't take a U-turn and went the other way.

You need Macbook wheel, I bet you'd find it awesome.

The numbers alone don't convey any physical information. People who interpret them do. In this case, I'd say they only prove there's an incredible number of people who will buy something just because it looks good, even though it's practically useless.

 

So what is the Ipad niche?
It practically does everything a laptop can does and the laptop does better.
Your argument is about embbeded systems which doesn't apply to a supposedly general purpose computing device like the Ipad and the Laptop which are suppose to be do everything devices.

The reason embedded system runs less
1)Save Energy
2)Lower capability parts which cost less for deployment
3)Reduce complexity which reduce room for error

So the question is why do you need a less capable general purpose device which performs less than laptop.
1)Because it is so simple you don't have to THINK to use it just as simple as not THINKING when you buy it.

 

I have to say the ipad can do most everything a PC does, but they can’t do it very well at all. In fact in reality they do very little of what a PC does. Here are but a few examples that make my point.

Take office applications. There are a couple apps that allow you to open and do basic editing, but in no way are these apps even close to the real applications.

Adobe photo editing. There is a cutesy app that allows you to do basic opening of a photo and performing a few things like resizing, flip, and rotate. This app again is so basic as not to be very useful for anything remotely useful.

Quicken, I use it on my PC for keeping track of my finances. The data is kept locally on my hard drive. On the ipod/ipad you have to use an online account to get access to that kind of data. I am sorry but there is no way I would ever keep my finance information on an online account to have access through an ipod app.

The one thing in common that I see with all these apps is they are these watered down, cheesy toys that are not for real work. They are geared toward the least common denominator user who does not know how to use a PC or does not want to spend time learning a real computer.

 

I had the Ipad for two weeks before I sold it.

Things I liked:
- stylish, compact format, stellar build quality
- IPS screen with very good colors and contrast
- intuitive interface with very good touch input

My three main complaints were:
- very limited video file format support
- can't download torrents
- keyboard not efficient enough

I'm keeping my eyes open for an Android or Windows pad that does support many video formats and can download torrents.

 

I agree with HAL 9000. I had a go at an iPad and you can use it whilst walking sort of like a digital clipboard. You just can't do that with any notebook, even the smallest, lightest netbook. The other thing that makes it great is that its a clipboard that you use directly with your hands. Theres no pen or mouse or touchpad and for alot of people that kind of thing is unwieldy at the best of times but especially when you are walking.

The only thing I disagree with HAL 9000 is that I don't even think the netbook is in danger from iPad. They are still just different things. Theres alot of overlap in what they can do like othonda said but if you use an iPad expecting it to be a full blown PC then you will be disappointed because its a pretty crap PC.

Conversely, lets look at a different situation where you might need a portable computer. Lets say you walking around a building site, with a land registry schematic pulled up and you can see boundaries, folio numbers everything. I don't know, you are looking to purchase land for development or sell it. You can pass the clipboard around so interested parties in the site can rotate the maps, zoom in, convert measurements from metric to imperial and vice versa, whatever and it requires no interface tools to learn. You just pass it on like a clipboard. You can do the same job with a netbook but lets face it, if you use a netbook like an iPad, it'll make a pretty crap iPad.

 

Good,bad,love it or hate it, it's definetly a game changer.
It might be expensive but it does what it does very well, now if we got more tablets on the market we will see better products and cheaper prices.
It will never replace a laptop of any sort ever though!

 

I was able to use my 1998 ThinkPAD while walking around - sure I was younger, stronger and amazed at the power in my hands - but what enabled such use was the awesome trackpoint IBM developed. Put that and a real O/S inside a slate today and I'll buy it with my eyes closed.

As to your 'different situation' - I may be wrong - there may be 'apps' that can do that kind of stuff - but you sound like what the apple genius who was demoing the iPad sounded like to me: giving me pie in the sky scenarios with no connections to present reality while asking for the equivalent $$$ of my U30Jc.

I'll buy these pipedreams when they're actually here.

 

The Only Concept i See is too rip off all those rich businessmen+ IT noobs who don't know that u can better stuff for the same price... Its a Money making gimmick which can't do much.. on the other hand , the IPhone acutally does what it is supposed to do and more but this can't even do what its supposed to do properly like play a movie without black bars due to crappy 4:3 outdated screen , lack of expansion ports etc.

Agree with that.. I personally can't wait for the blackpad or asus eepad.

 

Well, then, you're not seeing the _larger_ picture. And BTW... Snow Leopard Server management app on the iPad is the best thing ever. IT noob, or not, it's easy and it looks good. The iPhone has a 3:2 display, and the iPad, which was designed as a portable window to the web, has a 4:3 which is the best for browsing the web, and you just said IPS is crappy. Hmm. The Galaxy Tab and the Playbook (not blackbook) have netbook resolution (1024x600) screens, and I honestly don't see them making it any easier to browse the web.

The Playbook, I'll pass on. It'll feature an obscure OS, and we just don't need another one of those. Especially from RIM. Now the EEEPad I can agree with you on... Windows Embedded Compact 7 is something I've actually used and previewed, and it has massive slate tablet potential. I see the future of Microsoft's slate PC business building off of WEC7.... Here's a video..

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Would you please give us a list of things the iPad "does very well"?

Secondly, there seems to be a large trend for people on this forum who have bought it to have either got bored with it in a week or so or to have gone one step further and sold it on.

 

Mistake #1: Assuming every product in the market needs a specific, beneficial or useful purpose

Mistake #2: Assuming the majority of consumers actually THINK in detail.

 

With the demise of PDAs, work tried switching some folks over to IPod Touch - granted they do perform that functions well with some assorted apps. However the frustrating point for many of us - once you create/save something - it becomes very hard to get it off the touch - connect to the internet, use another app, load to the server, download to a computer and then you can manipulate the file further etc. Many of us have switched to Netbooks - Just easier. Seen several of my friends with these - same issue getting data off that thing. Not saying they don't have their place - just not sure it is in the office/work environment. The computer still survives - Netbooks/Notebooks won the battle of the systems in out place...
So to the the original question - at least not yet IMO.

 

Entertain
Look I know it's not for everyone but I don't know why people hate something for what it is.
If your not a fan that's fine but I don't understand why there is all this hate just because there's a APPLE symbol on it.

 

Who would buy an overpriced giant ipod in replace of a laptop?