

The best Present and Future alternatives to the iPad - suprgeek
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/02/ipass-the-best-present-and-future-alternatives-to-the-apple-ipa/

======
emanuer
Back in 2004 I got my first Tablet PC, compaq t1000. Later I ditched it and
got myself a Sony VGN-UX90PS. My experience after 6 years of tablets: they
suck. The interface is terrible to use starting from XP-Tablet Edition, to
Windows 7. It is just like a laptop, but too small, to complicated. The iPad
will not have the same fault. But I believe, for Apples success the interface
will matter much less than the kick-ass content 3rd party developers provide.
If I could have all Iphone/Ipad programs on my windows tablet, I would not
switch.

------
nickpp
Let me sum them up for you: there isn't any.

Just like the iPhone when it appeared, there really is no rival to the
experience iPad offers, to its hardware+software+touch combo.

The closest it MAY come, could be Android, someday. Again, just like with the
iPhone.

~~~
PG-13
The iPhone was huge because it was such a huge leap and unexpected departure
from previous phones. It created awe and generated desire from the moment it
was unveiled. It was obvious to those who get tech that the iPhone would be
huge.

People who underestimated the iPhone are now overcompensating by being bullish
on the iPad because they fail to understand that these are not the same thing.
The unveiling of the iPad did not engender any of the feelings of awe that
iPhone's did. Apple unveiled the worst tablet device they possibly could have.
It was completely predictable. Every usage we've seen of the iPad has involved
someone contorting his body to accommodate the device.

The iPhone offered a users things they didn't think were possible with a
phone, and these were things they clearly wanted. The iPad offers users
nothing they can't do using a laptop. It is an attempt at forcing a style of
usage onto users that is clearly undesirable.

People will try to hype this thing and pretend they like it for as long as
possible, but one can only sustain a lie for so long. This will be the end of
the aura that Apple has been building for the past decade. It is clear as
night and day.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
I don't know if it will be a hit or not, but I started becoming uncomfortable
when the biggest touted "feature" in the keynote appeared to be the number of
people's credit cards that Apple had on file. That didn't sound like a typical
Steve "bicycle for the mind" Jobs thing to repeatedly dwell on. Certainly
doesn't excite me as a gadget consumer.

~~~
snom370
I watched the keynote and can't say that I heard it repeatedly dwelled upon.
Where was it mentioned?

~~~
ZeroGravitas
Screenshot of slide:

[http://obamapacman.com/2010/01/official-steve-jobs-apple-
ipa...](http://obamapacman.com/2010/01/official-steve-jobs-apple-ipad-keynote-
video/90-24-over-125-million-itunes-accounts-with-credit-cards-ipad-keynote-
official-steve-jobs-apple-ipad-keynote-video/)

~~~
snom370
They mentioned it in one slide, did they mention it anywhere else? That was my
point.

------
micaelwidell
Anyone who compares the iPad with a netbook, arguing the netbook has a faster
CPU, better price or whatever, simply does not get it.

~~~
lazugod
"You just don't get it" is the new "magical", isn't it.

~~~
micaelwidell
Let me put it this way: How do you think Apple has become as big and
successful as it is today, despite always releasing products that are
technically inferior (ie. Mhz/megapixel/megawhatever) and often more expensive
than the competition? Could there me more to a product than the hardware
specs?

~~~
elblanco
How many people pre-ordered one of these without ever touching or seeing one?

Oh right, lots. That's how Apple became big again. People buying stuff sight
unseen.

~~~
stcredzero
And how many of those people have an iPhone and were able to do the
extrapolation: "This multitouch is great with the Apps and the App store. What
if we could have a bigger screen with that?"

I was posting that idea _well_ before the iPad was anything more than a rumor.

~~~
elblanco
You are right, the presence of good product in the marketplace tends to feed
on itself.

However, I think a good argument could be made that the first generation or so
of iPods were sold sight unseen to a public with a fairly large number of mp3
players in the same marketplace. Few people remember that the original iPod
was _supposed_ to be a driver of consumers to the Macintosh platform. For a
pretty long time you couldn't use one on any other platform other than a
Macintosh.

iPhones sold well because the competition in the marketplace wasn't really all
that great. Palm hadn't really done anything interesting in the years prior
and Windows mobile has always been a joke. But remember the long lines of
people trying to buy up a dozen or so iPhones _at the original price_ sight
unseen? I remember one lady standing outside a store with a stack of cash
trying to buy phones off of people who got one for 2x the original purchase
price.

And exactly like those two items, the iPad has people lined up getting as many
as possible because their iPhones are so awesome. Even though the logic of
blowing up a phone app onto a tablet makes little sense, and the iPad actually
demonstrates a reduction in capability over the iPhone (no camera,
seriously?).

I'd wager that it'll be just enough that people will slurp up the next version
that'll have a camera and USB even though they already own the original.

The problem that people have is not that the iPad is a good product or not,
it's that people are buying it without having any idea what it's like beyond
"it's a bigger iPhone". If some other vendor had come out with _exactly_ the
same product, they wouldn't have flocked to it, because it's sight unseen. But
stick an Apple logo on it, and have Jobs sit in a chair fiddling with it for 5
minutes, and it's sold out before it even hits the stores.

~~~
stcredzero
Well, from what I can tell, this is as slick or slicker than every other
tablet, and no one else can match the App Store iTunes ecosystem.

As I said before, extra screen real estate has a nonlinear effect on UIs. It's
far more than a bigger iPhone already, and this is just a start.

~~~
elblanco
I wholeheartedly agree that the execution of the iPad is superior to other
tablets.

I'm just not sure it's been demonstrated yet that tablet computing is a "good
idea" (TM).

~~~
stcredzero
The success of the Kindle gets you 1/4th of the way there. I think Apple has a
chance for a game changer with this.

~~~
elblanco
honest question, do you think that Apple wouldn't have built the iPad if not
for the Kindle?

~~~
stcredzero
No. I think the iPhone multitouch (truly intuitive interface advance) plus the
App Store (walled garden combining a significant degree of safety and
convenience with usefully harnessed market forces) pointed the way to this. By
mentioning the Kindle, I was replying to your comment.

------
eam
No matter how good the iPad may be or _is_ , it doesn't replace my laptop!
Good try though.

~~~
Zak
I think that's the point. Apple wants you to buy a Macbook _and_ an iPad.

The advantage of the iPad that most of these alternatives lack is that it's
light enough to hold in one hand while reading or viewing content.

~~~
eam
I think the MacBook Pro 15" is pretty light already, I'm already content with
it. If I were to get an iPad, it would be like a downgrade, at least that's
how I would feel about it.

~~~
snom370
I would never be able to replace my laptop with an iPad, simply because I'm a
software developer. But I'd certainly buy it as a portable mail, web browsing,
movie and ebook device, which just happens to fill all of my parents computing
needs.

So while it's not going to be my main device, I certainly see it as being a
competitor to the traditional laptop for a MOST people.

Most of all, I think Apple has managed to get the "magic" right once again. I
never told my parents that they should buy iPhones, but they did after trying
mine, and they are very happy (I'd never thought that my mother would start
browsing the web and sending emails, but it's happened thanks to the iPhone).

------
speek
Yet, I'm standing here outside the Boston apple store waiting in line, MacBook
pro in my bag, checking my news on my iPhone. Honestly, the real reason I'm
getting an iPad today is because I thought I would enjoy playing with it, not
because it would replace any of my netbooks/laptops/smart phones.

------
sigzero
The current iPad is just a start. Just like the original iPod was a start and
the original iPhone was a start. Apple is already hard at work rolling a
bigger snowball with the iPad foundation.

------
louislouis
The iPad and other tablets will always be made a specification lower than a
laptop. Why? So consumers spend more $$ buying the full range of products on
the line.

------
etherael
I want something that can replace my phone and laptop, I think this could
probably be accomplished by a tablet you could fit in either a shoulder sling
or a large pocket, coupled with a bluetooth headset.

Of course you wouldn't want to be talking into the thing, but as a platform
for handling calls I can't see why a tablet shouldn't be able to act as the
brain for a bt headset.

This way I could just have the tablet + a powerful desktop at home for "real
work".

~~~
ZeroGravitas
That seems like exactly the kind of thing that Apple wouldn't do because it's
too geeky and niche and distracts from the product vision even though the
hardware and software are probably all there already.

Then again, I'm kind of shocked that you can get a physical keyboard for the
iPad, so we shouldn't rule anything out. I'd expect this feature first from
someone else though.

~~~
etherael
Which is why I'm interested in alternatives to the iPad, because yeah, I agree
with you, this is something Apple would not do.

Even if they would, I don't buy apple ever anyway.

