To be successful, any "new" gadget has to be more than what it is. For instance, I love my Garvin GPS but unless Garvin can make it do something believes globally navigate the stand-alone GPS is going the way of the dinosaur.
Apple understands this better than anyone. The iPad would just be a big ass phone if not for its electronic book store, putting the iPad in competition with Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle and other e-book readers. A Kindle that also surfs the web? Now, that is a lovely invention - one that makes the brand new Kindle instantly obsolete. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@...> wrote: > > Cool device, but, watching Jobs hold it up at the roll out, I just couldn't > help feeling as if I were looking at a big-A iPhone! It almost looks like > some kind of joke prop where someone's rigged up an oversized iPhone for a > skit or something. Still, intriguing. No one has ever really made tablets big > sellers. Wonder if Apple can do it again? > > Funny aside: on NPR they were talking about a guy with HP who is a fan of > tablets. He spoke of how Star Trek TNG first introduced him to the concept. > I'd say the Original Series was first, with the electronic writing tablets > that Kirk used to sign for his yeomen. Those tablets held text as well, > though they weren't necessarily as fancy as the TNG ones. > > Oh--it took me a solid five minutes to get into the Apple site. It'll be > sluggish for a while I guess... > > ************************************************************ > http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10442315-1.html?tag=hotTopicsBody.1 > > Should the Apple iPad be considered a computer? > > by Dan Ackerman > Share > > > Long before Apple unveiled its iPad tablet device (officially the worst kept > secret in the history of technology), we had been giving serious thought to > whether such a device should be called a computer or not . By some standards, > the iPad is essentially a keyboard-less laptop, but by others, it's more akin > to a portable media player, such as the iPod Touch . > > Late last year, we outlined the possible arguments for and against each case, > saying: > > > > There are two schools of thought on this: either the Apple tablet (or iSlate, > or whatever it ends up being called) will be a 10-or-so-inch tablet PC with a > full Mac OS X operating system; or it will merely be a larger-screen version > of the current iPod Touch, which has a closed, limited phone-like OS. > > The former would mean it could very likely run any software you'd run on a > MacBook, from Firefox to Photoshop, and maybe even install Windows 7 via Boot > Camp or Parallels. The later points to a hermetically sealed ecosystem, where > apps would have to be approved and sold through an official app store (as in > iTunes). > > Particularly with our love for all things tablet and laptop-related, we'd > always hoped the Apple tablet would fit into the former category, while the > steady stream of news, rumors, and speculation pointed unflinchingly towards > the latter. > > But, even though the device as described by Apple initially feels more like a > portable media player and less like a computer, is it fair to kick it out of > the computer category entirely? Within our office, the topic was the subject > of a surprising amount of heated debate. > > > > > > My laptops co-editor Scott Stein presented a compelling case for even an > app-store-locked device such as this being considered a computer, saying that > the current OS environment we're used to is woefully out of date. He added > that the look and feel of app-driven devices such as the iPhone are actually > much more useful on small-screen systems such as Netbooks, that are closer to > the iPhone and iPod Touch in terms of usage scenarios. > > In fact, one can envision a not-too-distant future where an iPhone style > interface becomes more prevalent on small Netbook and smartbook systems , > rather than a full PC OS trickling down to ever-smaller devices. We've > already seen this in a limited number of Intel Atom Netbooks that skipped > Windows XP for a Linux OS, complete with a collection of pre-loaded apps, and > a custom big-icon interface. > > > > > > For newer examples of this concept in action, look no further than the Lenovo > U1 Hybrid laptop we saw at CES. Its break-apart design mixes a traditional > Windows 7 environment with a custom tablet OS, with pre-loaded apps and > features. Similar app-heavy operating systems can be found on some of the > smartbook prototypes we saw at CES -- but while feeling similar to iPhone OS, > the inclusion of a keyboard and traditional clamshell design puts them much > closer to the PC category than anything else. > > > > > > Another vote in favor of calling the iPad a computer is the inclusion of the > very computer-oriented iWork suite of apps. If we're creating spreadsheets > and PowerPoint-like Keynote presentations, then its usage model is much > closer to a laptop than a media player. > > > > > > And, of course, the keyboard dock essentially makes this a close cousin of > the iMac all-in-one desktop. Although, the dock should really let you connect > the unit horizontally, instead of just vertically. > > The other side of the argument is that the iPad's lack of freedom to install > basic apps and plug-ins, such as FireFox or even Flash, makes this far too > limited a system to be considered a full-fledged computer. Ditto for the > apparent lack of multitasking. > > > > > > Steve Jobs actually thinks the iPad is an entirely new category, somewhere > between a handheld phone-size device and a full laptop. What do you think? Is > the iPad a "real" computer, a big portable media player, or something brand > new? Sound off below! >
