iHostage

One would assume iPad users will be held hostage to the same software monopoly restrictions as iPhone users.

The world's only revolving because of Steve though...

...let us all bow down before the master and empty our wallets so we too can play with the latest god-like bit of consumer electronics. It will undoubtedly change your life, and make you a better person. Well, better than all the lesser people. i.e. The losers.

Winners Heart Apple.

Clever case

Too bad it's certain to be DRM locked what with a custom "Apple A4" SOC and all.

UK price ?

I wonder if it'll be a straightforward £=$ ratio ? Looks gorgeous, I must say. Techno-lust !

is it...?

A large ipod touch or a small (overpriced) underpowered laptop without a physical keyboard?

Grenade because I am coming armed if theres fanboi's about

Wanna bet...

Want to bet that the price will drop a few hundred dollars after a few months once Apple soaks the early buyers with a "Fashion Victim" tax, just like they did with the iPhone when it was first released?

In years to come

the OED will use this event as a definition of "fail". I'm an Apple fan but this is simply a disastrous event.

I almost feel sorry for old Stevie.

"Hey everyone, the netbook stinks, what you need is a bigger iPod Touch! We'll provide everything you need (at a price) and don't worry if it multitasks like a sysadmin on a Friday afternoon - you and it will look very cool!!!

Just look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around my eyes, look into my eyes.

You're under."

iPad Keyboard Dock to work on iPhone/iPod Touch?

As the iPad is reported to use the same connector as the iPhone and iPod Touch, I wonder if this means the optional hardware keyboard available for the iPad will also work with these other devices? Hopefully it will be just like the lovely folding keyboard I had for the Palm Pilot about a decade ago!

No ARM?

So where is the ARM chip you said it would have?

Underwhelmed ...

... by this desciption? What was all the hype about? Nothing here strikes me as revolutionary ... sounds more like an oversize iPod Touch than an oversize iPhone given the mention of 3G (for data) and no voice call capabilities (except I assume for voip) ... maybe why google voice has not received Apples blessing? I'll reserve judgment for now and read a few more articles ...

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I bet this won't be the first post in relation to a full wikipedia mirror on the iPad as a pseudo Hitchhiker's Guide to the Earth.

of course with all the DRM restrictions and such, you won't be able to copy the multimedia content over and it will end up being an incomplete Hitchhiker's Guide.

It's shiny... but I still think a larger version of Fujitsu's Lifebook u810 (the tiny one with the flip around screen) would be better (like with a 7" screen instead of the 5.6"). I'd be afraid I would break the screen on that iPad. at least give me a shell I can close over it... oh wait... Apple's aftermarket!

KA-CHING!

Only licensed Apple products may be used on the iPad. Otherwise it will cease to function until the unlicensed product is removed. If Apple hasn't figured this one out, they soon will.

Good god !

Jesus Tablet seems interesting.

If the change rates keep up between Euro and Dollar (1.4 last I checked), that makes it close to 600€...Twice more than my Sony PRS-505 when I bought it...bit pricey...

Lets wait until blackrain can unjail it 8)

No camera, btw...

Try searching Apple.com for iPad

Returns an empty page with errors.....

Really want to sell this thing don't they.

Sad that it's as speculated, for consuming media and Web 2.0, rather than doing anything useful. Yeah I know it runs "apps" but how many of them are really worth anything? But OTH they are vetted by Apple.

Maybe I am getting old.

One Question - Does it have a microphone?

Hmmm

Bit meh tbh.

Looks kinda clunky

I'd have thought they have done video to the edge or at least damn close.

With that big black outline around it if looks dated even before it's shipped.

difference?

Is that Carmaggedon in the picture? That would be reason enough to buy it. Though surely the big questions are how is it better than a tablet PC and is it just a big IPhone? 16GB memory though, nice.

Am I missing something?

"As expected, the iPad's raison d'être, according to Jobs, is to be a mobile video-watching, book-reading, game-playing, photo-perusing, music-listening, web-surfing, and email-emailing device."

So, it's a laptop?

yeah

I saw it, I laughed. What idiot would buy that over an iPod Touch or iPhone? That's if they wanted to stick with Apple. It looks like a kids toy, 4 buttons at the bottom? Seriously, I'm still laughing at how it looks, its pathetic. All that hype and what do you get, a McDonalds SuperSized iPhone.

Still laughing, and will point AND laugh at any idiot who buys one of those... things.

heh

i was laughing pretty hard when i read the first article about the iPad some 10min. ago .... i was just thinking about all the Journalists and Hype and they all sit in fron of their screen thinking "how the hell should i explain THIS ..."

seriously tough, that thing is nothing special except its got an apple logo on it ... given, that will be reason enough for some people to buy it, but imo they really missed an opportunity here to give tablets a good push ... i mean jesus, not even putting a cam in there ... thats just made of fail ...

second to that there is no real target audience methinks ... i mean whos supposed to buy this ? iphone users allready have the same thing except with theirs they can also make phone calls ... ipod users ... njet, too big and bulky to serve as a substiute... and the rest of humanity will also live happily with their netbooks

Shekels

And how much will they be charging for this fashion-statement bit of techno-frippery? It looks frighteningly breakable to me for a mobile device.

Either way, good luck to 'em.

Intresting I suppose

Won't be able to move in here in a minute, for gushing fanbois!

I looks a little bulkier than I expected. Still should be intresting to see how it's recieved by the party faithful. No great surprise they locked it into the cash-cow that is Apps-Store.

Look forward to jail-breaking it and getting Ubuntu loaded! Just kidding, nothing like winding up the Jobs faithful!

Incontinence - there's an app for that !

..... make your iPads work for you !

What's it for really and why is it better than a Macbook Air?

Just seen the iPad on the Beeb. I can’t help but be reminded of Dom Joly’s Trigger Happy TV mobile phone man.

<Nokia ring tone>Beep beepity fucking beep beep<\Nokia ring tone>

<in a loud voice> “Hello? I’m in an Apple Product Launch. Yeah. It’s not as big as mine though. No. Yeah. Har har! There’s probably an app for it, but the real thing’s better, or so say all the girls. You dirty old man. Ha! Cheers” <\in a loud voice><click>

(only in-a-loud-voice and not shouted-as-loud-as-possible because it’s not as big as Dom Joly’s phone. But ‘shouted’ might have been necessary to get the point heard across all those fawning journos and the wild yelps in praise of St Jobs)

How long before trousers get an iPocket to put it in? Though it'd take bloody big strides to get a whole ten incher in and not be uncomfortable.

Seriously though, where does this fit? It's too big to be a phone. So it's their answer to netbooks, right? But who seriously, really carries round netbooks? Anyone?

One thing it may do is force Microsoft's hand. "Apple custom silicon" probably means an ARM cpu, so the battery life might actually be half decent (assuming Apple have actually gone and put a decent battery in it). Windows netbooks might actually look quite rubbish in comparison battery-wise, largely because of Windows being stuck on Intel x86. So will MS be forced to port the full Windows OS to ARM, just to compete on battery life? Difficult call - that'd be a lot of work and grief. Apple with their FreeBSD roots had an easier job of it...

Yawn

It's a tablet PC, they've been around for years, nothing to see here.

Yet the world's media falls for Apple's hype, yet again. Sadly all the fanbois will buy one, making it a whopping success, and the media circus will roll on.