Everything you wanted to know about the iPad
For those who don’t already know (Hello Aliens, welcome to our world), iPad was announced yesterday. What’s with the name? There are no two ways about it - I don’t like the name either. What is wrong with Apple - No Flash? No support for flash as expected. After reading the article - Apple, Adobe and Flash on Daring Fireball, I think it’s for good. HTML 5 should do the trick. No Multitasking? “This is a geeky need. Most people don’t need it. I need it in my day-to-day computing so this would never be my primary computing platform, but as a media viewer, why would I need it?” (via Jeff Lamarche’s blog). There also seems to be a small section of people moving towards Unitasking. Read the article “The Death of Multitasking and Rebirth of Unitasking” for more. No Camera? There is no camera. This would have made it perfect for video conferencing. But Cult of Mac explains the technical nitty-gritty that might have stopped them from including one: “The iPad is going to be predominantly used in a below eye-level position. What that means is that a forward fronted web cam would need to point upwards at a slant to capture a human face.” Oversized iPhone? There’s nothing new about it and we were expecting more? “Sure, it’s really nothing more than a big iPhone. But the iPhone is the greatest consumer electronics device ever made — so maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.” (via iPad thoughts by Jeff Croft.)Apple had to make something that could leverage on all those 140000 applications that have been developed for the iPhone. I believe its awesome that you can run all those applications out of the box. Also, why would you want to change something that has worked so well that all other companies like RIM, Nokia, Samsung and LG have tried to imitate the iPhone. When you sell 75 million of some device, you make something that is similar to what has worked. That’s commonsense. Kindle as a competition, seriously?“Ask yourself, which would you rather have: a single-purpose e-book reader with a (admittedly very good) monochrome screen, or a similar sized, full-color device that does the same thing–perhaps with a more elegant user interface–plus a whole lot more: color, video, photos, and other media in the books themselves, as well as browser, email, calendar, games, and the 140,000 other things from the iTunes App Store? And if you could do that for just $10 more (Kindle DX currently listed at $489, lowest-priced iPad at $499)? No brainer.” (via The Apple Blog)What can you do an iPad cannot do on an iPhone?Most of the answers are tied to the iPad’s bigger screen and faster processor: Reading E-books Watching HD Videos Better web browsing Immersive Gaming experience What is the device for?From Leo Babauta’s twitter stream: “Important: the iPad is for consuming info, not for creating. It’ll help separate the two, which is wonderful for creators.”Initial response from the people who have actually used the iPad? Positive. As per John Gruber, its screaming FAST. The Apple Blog has a nice compilation of video reviews. Who would buy the iPad?I think mainly two markets would be the most affected:1. People using Netbooks2. People using E-book readers like Kindle