

A Non-Early Adopter Tests the iPad, Pronounces It Lckig=ng (Typed on an iPad) - robertbud1
http://www.xconomy.com/national/2010/04/09/the-real-truth-about-the-ipad-a-non-early-adopter-tests-it-out-pronounces-it-lckigng-typed-on-an-ipad/

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KirinDave
First of all, how is this person NOT an early adopter? They have it in the
first week of launch.

Second of all, I understand iPad backlash, but this article
is—charitably—poorly written and poorly organized writing that simply rehashes
pre-launch complaints. Couldn't we actually focus on real criticisms for the
device? I love my iPad, but I can name a few criticisms that are much more
meaningful than the ones in this article, which other well-written and well-
reasoned reviews have pointed out. This could have been a pre-ipad prediction.

By the way, this post: typed on an iPad. Number of post line corrections: 2.
Did I prove anything?

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stcredzero
In my opinion, this is more of an attack piece disguised as a "review" than an
actual review, for the reasons you cite. The typo doesn't even make sense! If
you look at the iPad keyboard, there's no way to hit the equals sign, unless
you do two separate mode-shifts. Very suspicious.

The key closest to equals is even two columns over and two rows up from the
nearest letter in Lacking on the iPad keyboard. I can't easily imagine how
that happened.

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ovi256
Maybe I'm slow, but what's that Lckig=ng supposed to mean ? And yes, I did
read TFA. Is it just the nonsense one types while resting his fingers against
the virtual keyboard ?

OTOH, excellent point about the iPad being a non-essential : a niche product.
It could still be highly successful, but as I think Apple is looking for big
hits, it would get dropped eventually if it stays a niche product. Which would
be a shame IMHO. Was it the same with the Newton ?

~~~
troystribling
Apple has a history of innovation in new device classes, notable are the PC,
laptop, PMP and Smartphone. You could also make the claim that the Newton was
not on Steve Job's watch.

I see the iPad as a not fully baked iteration on the Smart Phone/Netbook. I
personally do not see the virtual keyboard as a problem. There is room for
improvements but I think people are not use to them yet. If the price and
weight half and document management is worked through it could get some
traction.

It is a little premature to see its failure. Utility is often seen in
retrospect. 15 years ago neither the personal computer nor internet would have
been seen as essential.

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gfodor
People complained about typing on the iPhone for the first few months it was
out. I'm sure if I had an iPad I'd be doing close to regular keyboarding speed
in a few weeks.

The Flash thing has gone parody. Buy the scrabble app.

The camera complaint is dumb too. They were trying to hit a $500 price point,
so no camera for you this go-around. Having it be a paid add-on would have
pissed more people off than not having it at all.

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shin_lao
I'd love to have a device I could take around in meetings, draw pictures on
it, run demos, show slides, some sort of collaborative work device.

My collaborators would have similar devices and we could easily "drag n drop"
between our devices.

The iPad could become that device with one or two improvements.

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jlgosse
While I usually have negative things to say about the iPad (sometimes good
things), I have been able to touch type decently well on my Nexus One while in
landscape (and sometimes portrait), and its screen is significantly smaller.
With that in mind, I don't see the iPad keyboard being bad enough to end up
typing "Lckig=ng" all that often.

That being said, I wouldn't want to touch type anything lengthy on either the
Nexus or the iPad. I mostly did it to see how well it worked out.

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ErrantX
Ok so it's a reasonable conclusion; compared to the iPod (and iPhone I guess)
the iPad isn't going to sell as many units.

 _But Im not sure that counts as unsuccessful_ ; the iPod is naturally a
portable and popular device. Everyone has portable music players now.

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SeamusBrady
I make a prediction that the iPad will be popular for a while with the uber
geeks but that ultimately it will be a damp squib.

The market will get taken over by a cheaper, more open product that runs
flash.

That is my Nostrodamus bit done then.

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endlessvoid94
But Apple's products aren't marketed towards uber-geeks. Sure, they're the
ones that initially buy the products, but I guarantee you that my parents will
see this shiny new iPad and want one. Then they'll buy one. And they'll use it
for recreation.

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stcredzero
My retired physician dad is getting a 3G model. He can turn on the 3G just for
the months he's staying at his house in Florida. I look forward to this, as it
will reduce my family sysadmin duties.

~~~
endlessvoid94
I suspect that the number of tech-savvy people who encourage their family to
get Apple products is nontrivial. 10x easier to maintain (in the average
case).

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mschwar99
It will be interesting to see how the iPad will do in the non-techie segment
when the market becomes saturated with all the other pad-type products.

In my little world I have noticed that most all of my non-techie family and
friends consider the iPod to be the default choice for an mp3 player
regardless of any price differences. However, most of these same people would
scoff at the idea of buying an Apple laptop or desktop as a waste of money
when compared to a Windows machine that could be purchased for a few hundred
cheaper.

There is a big difference in the price points of an iPod and a Macbook, and
the iPad is right in between the two. It will be interesting to see if a $100
or $200 premium for the iPad compared to a Windows or Android pad will be
palatable to the masses or push non-techie people to a non Apple alternative.

~~~
stcredzero
The iPad is a chance to convert lots of Windows users. Because the MultiTouch
interface is completely new, there are no established Windows/OS X camps. This
is mostly new interface territory.

I expect both Apple and Android pads to carve out a niche. Maemo's descendants
may do this as well. There may also be a Windows camp, but they will be
fighting on a level playing field where their installed base of Windows users
isn't an overwhelming advantage. I expect Microsoft to fare as well as they
did with Web apps.

