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News & ArtsWednesday, January 27, 2010
Tech Apple Keynote: It's the iPad
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 9:55 AM
Will it save the publishing and media industries? Or will it be a massive chunk of failure? You can follow along with Engadget's liveblog of the Keynote or this livestream of the event if you want up-to-the-second coverage, but I'll be following along and updating important points here, too.
And as always, the comments section is waiting for you to declare it a triumphant win or a massive loss for Apple.
UPDATE 10:10: It's called the iPad.
10:14: They're promoting it as the "best web-browsing experience you've ever had."
10:22: At the moment, it looks like a big iPhone. Browsing, photos, iTunes.
10:28: Half an inch thin, one and a half pounds. 9.7 inch screen. 10 hours of battery life, over a month of standby time.
10:42: They've been focusing mostly on games, but they've just unveiled the New York Times on the iPad. it looks really amazing.
10:53: Jobs just said he's going to "stand on" Amazon's "shoulders" with a new app called iBooks. He's announcing the new iBookstore. It runs on epub, which should mean that it's open and you can import books from other sources.
11:10: They're pretty serious about it as a business device, too. The last ten minutes has been all about iWork and its business applications. Each application comes separately and costs $9.99.
11:13: It comes with Wifi and 3G. There will be two 3G plans on AT&T: 250 MB of data a month for $14.99. Unlimited for $29.99.You can activate it through the iPad.
11:18: "We want to put this in the hands of lots of people." Starts at $499.
11:38: That's it! You can vote on the iPad here.
* Thanks to Lara for the link to that one. The illustration to the left is a horrible guess of what the iPhone was going to be, from The Speculative Prehistory of the iPhone.
1
I really only care about this thing if it's going to offer universal, single payer health care for all Americans.
10
@7 - People worried about cost don't buy Apple products. You can buy a Netbook running Windows for less than $300.
11
Bad name, but better than "iSlate." It's basically a big iPod Touch, so consider me underwhelmed.
12
So it's a laptop that I have to hold or prop up vertically to see the screen, or I have to hunch over it? And I have to wave my hand all over the screen to click things, rather than twitching one or two fingers on a mouse or touch pad? And it won't even fit in my pocket? That does sound satisfying.
13
@6 This. Complete with the lack of Flash, apparently. How is that a better browsing experience than a laptop, again?
17
No Flash? It won't browse the web then. Bzzt.
Tablets are OK, but now you need to be extra-vigilant about protecting the screen, unlike a laptop with a lid.
They called it iPad because iTampon was taken already.
Tablets are OK, but now you need to be extra-vigilant about protecting the screen, unlike a laptop with a lid.
They called it iPad because iTampon was taken already.
18
All that content looks great. All that PAID content. Spendy, and then spend again. Without plenty of costly subscriptions, how much time do you think people can spend on this thing?
20
I really like the app I downloaded for the iPad that lets you calculate your increased income taxes in Oregon.
Man, that was fast!
Man, that was fast!
22
GIMME GIMME GIMME
MINE MINE MINE MINE
i can't believe there's no camera tho. :[
flash is for old people from 1998
MINE MINE MINE MINE
i can't believe there's no camera tho. :[
flash is for old people from 1998
24
The very incarnation of consumerism. Isn't this just the 24-inch version of an iPod Touch? And it needs its very own 'unveiling' event. Really. We should get ready for the iPad black version 'unveiling' I guess.
26
@22, YouTube is Flash.
But this thing works with YouTube, so "no Flash" would appear to not be true.
But this thing works with YouTube, so "no Flash" would appear to not be true.
27
@13 @17 I'm not exactly clear on why people are so in love with flash (nor why it's a deal breaker).
It's a poorly written buggy program that crashes your browser on both the mac and (to a slightly less sucky extent) the pc. It's proprietary, giving Adobe a powerful hold on internet content distribution. And was actually made for design implementations and animation, not video quality or streaming (these uses were accommodated, but at the cost of a buggier application).
Why would you want that as oppose to a format like h.264 or html 5, which are open web standards (non-proprietary), run natively on browsers (will crash less), and were designed with the specific application of video in mind?
Now sure, you might want to use flash now and then, but then you have to ask yourself a serious question; do you really want to put the power of the people to communicate via pointless video clips of surprised kitties into the hands of THE MAN?
I ask myself this question all the time... seriously, at least once a day.
It's a poorly written buggy program that crashes your browser on both the mac and (to a slightly less sucky extent) the pc. It's proprietary, giving Adobe a powerful hold on internet content distribution. And was actually made for design implementations and animation, not video quality or streaming (these uses were accommodated, but at the cost of a buggier application).
Why would you want that as oppose to a format like h.264 or html 5, which are open web standards (non-proprietary), run natively on browsers (will crash less), and were designed with the specific application of video in mind?
Now sure, you might want to use flash now and then, but then you have to ask yourself a serious question; do you really want to put the power of the people to communicate via pointless video clips of surprised kitties into the hands of THE MAN?
I ask myself this question all the time... seriously, at least once a day.
28
@22 Youtube on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch are all in the h264 format, converted at the request of apple. I'm not sure how they do this conversion, but that's why youtube runs on these devices.
29
@27 It's not that people are in love with Flash, it's the fact that it's fucking everywhere! I agree with you on all other points and can't wait to see Flash die a painful, fiery death, but until that happens, a product that doesn't support it is unacceptable.
30
@27 - Seems you should be asking that questions of web developers, not web consumers. I couldn't care less if web content was written in Flash or FORTRAN, as long as it runs on my browser.
31
h.264 is the standard for playing video in html5. Apple is pushing for the use of this open standard, as opposed to Flash, and that's why h.264 video is used.
Flash is buggy, drains the battery, and really is no longer necessary, so why support it?
As for *me* I'll have one on order the minute the Apple Store allows me to do it!
Flash is buggy, drains the battery, and really is no longer necessary, so why support it?
As for *me* I'll have one on order the minute the Apple Store allows me to do it!
32
@26 YouTube works because the OS (and the iPhone OS, and the Android OS, etc.) has a specifically programmed way of handling YouTube videos. But try looking at any Flash object the device wasn't specifically designed to work with. There is no general Flash support.
33
The iPad solves several of my complaints with the Kindle and other e-readers.
It has a big, clear, hi-resolution color screen, so the viewing experience with be vastly superior to the Kindle or any current e-reader.
With it's ability to run open source epub, there will be a much wider variety of things you can read with it, beyond just books you download from the iBookstore. This will be far better than the completely closed Kindle system.
With all the aps, similar to the iPhone, and its G3 capability, it has a much broader use than simply an e-reader. It can be used in place of a laptop in many ways.
Not for everyone, I'm sure, but I'm far more tempted to buy this than I ever was to buy a Kindle.
It has a big, clear, hi-resolution color screen, so the viewing experience with be vastly superior to the Kindle or any current e-reader.
With it's ability to run open source epub, there will be a much wider variety of things you can read with it, beyond just books you download from the iBookstore. This will be far better than the completely closed Kindle system.
With all the aps, similar to the iPhone, and its G3 capability, it has a much broader use than simply an e-reader. It can be used in place of a laptop in many ways.
Not for everyone, I'm sure, but I'm far more tempted to buy this than I ever was to buy a Kindle.
34
In absolute seriousness, if you have a laptop, how is this device useful? If I want portable recipes in the kitchen I use my iPod Touch with Wifi. If I want to go online or play games, I use my laptop. I really don't understand. Then again I guess I still get my books from the library, so maybe I'm just behind the times and will one day find an iPad essential.
35
@33. I don't understand your complaint. If you do a lot of reading, a bright computer screen is simply not going to be helpful! So I disagree that "the viewing experience will be vastly superior to the Kindle". Kindle is for readers. You read, highlight, make notes, carry the thing everywhere is a small purse / large pocket; is super-comfortable to hold in bed; it lasts a whole week without charging. And all for a one-time fee of $249.
IPad is clearly a different thing; it is not a specialized reader, as Kindle is, and it will not eclipse it in its demographic.
IPad is clearly a different thing; it is not a specialized reader, as Kindle is, and it will not eclipse it in its demographic.
38
Video actually played a big role during the announcement, with Job’s saying that a new device only made sense if it was better at watching video, among other tasks, than current laptops and smartphones. And the fact is that iPad can do a good job in HD movies and TV shows playback. The 9.7— inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology will make you enjoy a more wonderful visual experience than ever. However, it is pity that there is no built-in optical drive, and the external drives are very expensive. So, how can we watch Blu-ray and DVD movies on iPad in an easy and cheap way?
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