People don't want tablets, they want iPads

Worked out for me

I ended up with an iPad by 'default' (unwanted gift I got chance to play with).

I've always had apple products, so if that makes me a fanboi so be it, but review wise, here goes...

I wasnt convinced I'd want it. I had a MacBook, and I had an iMac. Big screen for at home, laptop for out and about, why would I want another gadget?!?! But within 20mins of playing with one I 'got it'.

A tablet is a different thing, the same, but different. Instant on, light weight, good battery life. You start to use it in a different way than a 'real' computer. 1) Media playing, 2) That quick question on wiki/IMDB 3) Weather, News. 4) Social media. Those occasions where you need at the internet or something for 60seconds. But a real computer takes longer than that to wake up.

And as the iPad has that weight of software behind it, the masses of people who can show it off to you, the accessories, the brand, and yes it does 'just work'. (For the things you're allowed to use it for) but for the masses and me... Its ideal.

The German injunction

It's only temporary with the case due to be heard in detail on August 25th. That's why it's an injunction and not a ban.

As much as...

As much as I like my iPad, it is and will remain for the foreseeable future, a media consumption device.

It's great for accessing websites, reading books, magazines, watching stuff etc. etc. but the failings of touch entry still annoy me when trying to enter data. Quote a post on a forum and then try to edit the quoted text? The press and hold to bring up the select/copy etc. option and then the slug slow speed of dragging that selection box down in order to highlight the text you want to select in a scrollable div panel is painful and makes me want to reach for the unavailable mouse if not a keyboard each time.

I see no demise to the humble PC be it a desktop, laptop, netbook etc. - whatever, there is and will require to be, the need for a keyboard and mouse...

Apple service

IMO, a huge benefit buying Apple generally have over any other manufacturer is the level of service they provide in their Apple stores.

I've never a 'fan-boy' of Apple but when I bought an iPhone 3G and dropped it outside of warranty, entirely my fault, I took it into my local apple store and they just replaced it there and then no questions asked, no forms to fill in etc.

It was the 1st time I'd been in an Apple store and I was amazed at the level of service, 1to1 tuition etc going on.

I'd suggest that that level of service is a massive selling point to a lot of people and the other manufacturers have to produce significantly better products or alot cheaper i.e. 50% of price for same spec to convince the general public to go with them if they can't offer the same level of service.

Only the bad ones aren't selling

A tablet is an informal way of using the web, checking email, etc. Having used my Transformer for a few weeks I can see how they're here to stay. The reason some aren't selling is because they're not very good.

Here we go again

Why does a 5 letter word that is also a fruit make grown men regress? Amiga? Atari? Apple.

Quite simple: it's the user experience and ecosystem stupid! I sneered many years ago at the iPod touch and the iPhone until my Malaysian friend (whose knickers I was kind of trying to get at the time) came over to my house (sadly, no knickers interaction) with her new iPod touch. Like any good sales person she bid me to try the forbidden fruit (still no knicker action. Goddamnit!). A week later I sold my Nokia E71 and bought an iPhone 3G on the secondary market

Years later I once again sneered (spontaneously channelling the spirit of Steve Balmer) at the iPad. Glorified iPod touch. Until once again, the forbidden fruit was proferred and I shaved my head, donned a white robe and was allowed into the inner sanctum of then Holy Apple store on Regent's Street to buy an iPad2.

As cults go, it's not to bad adjusting to a life without Flah - although I do surreptitiously use the Pc for my Riko Tachibana fix.

As other commentators have said, unless there is a significant discount, where is the value proposition for other tablets? I am by far and away much more productive than I ever was on my notebook (Samsung NC10 - lovely notebook, now neglected).

Absolutely agree with the AC 16:16. It's the whole user experience (sadly without Malaysian knicker interaction).

Missing the Point

As devices proliferate and information technology becomes as pervasive as oxygen, tech-obsessed geeks and the companies they influence should stop listening to each other and go talk to their middle-aged mothers.

While she might not use the words, Mom could tell them that hardware is incidental to the experience of ubiquitous computing. Beyond the fact that they're required to literalize the metaphor, actual physical computers are irrelevant to the experience of dataflow culture.

Consumers have largely stopped buying devices. What's being purchased is an experience, real or imagined. Apple was founded on this understanding and after a promising start, nearly failed when the corporate fixation on individual products made inroads. They're now experiencing a spectacular boom cycle while the rest of the industry tanks in a worldwide economic bust because they've returned to the understanding that computing is not about computers. (This is also explains why die-hard geeks often loathe Apple with a level of vitriol normally reserved for religious arguments.)

HP is a perfect example of this because their history includes an extraordinary number of remarkably clever devices which went nowhere. They and their ilk fail and will continue to fail not because they produce bad hardware - they've made brilliant hardware - but because they've adopted the perspective of their Aspergers-afflicted engineers and therefore don't understand that almost no one has any interest in buying hardware.

Computer design that doesn't regard the experience as paramount and the physical object as all but irrelevant is doomed because the product _is_ the experience. After all, the various devices are beyond ephemeral, resembling mayflies far more than the game-changing "life will never be the same" revolutions they purport to be.

Try Again Guys!

Google needs to do a better job than a concentrated effort with Samsung to make a dent in Apple's bright future! http://wp.me/pUSBH-1Y

Lets face it carrying an Android tablet screams...

... that you are just a cheap ass date sex appeal wise. Good enough for skanky poverty hoodie ho's that like to riot it up every once in a while but not for me thank you very much.

Well I guess the proof is in the pudding . . .

A while ago the headline was that everybody wanted Tablets and not iPads. I guess the physical stock piles is the best indicator you can get.

This month I have moved 12 ardent Windows users over to Mac because they are over all the BS inherent with Windows. So far not a one has a complaint. Other than the migration learning curve. They gave me all their old laptops and notebooks, so I have been playing. Half of the units I blew up. Some as therapy, the others cuz they pissed me off. I can see why some people are willing to pay more and go Apple. I've been there since the mid-80's. So I already know.

I don't.

Let me explain, I don't want an Ipad, don't get me wrong, I have no inbuilt prejudice against Apple products but an Ipad however you dress it up is.........a tablet, and to me the tablet format is cumbersome and awkward, yes, in certain circumstances it is useful but as a stand alone format, no thankyou.

I have been allowed to play with Ipads by their proud owners, posing with their style icons, I have played with other tablets as well, and all of them exhibit this cumbersome awkward nature.

Maybe it is me but when I have shown, even 'dyed in the wool' Apple afficionados my Asus TF101 Transformer their little eyes have lit up and retrieving the gadget has been a problem, those little grasping fingers holding on to it 'til the last microsecond.

The Asus Transformer is a far superior solution, yes it has problems but I wouldn't swap it for any mere tablet, now, let go!, I won't tell you again.

The iPad's reached the cliche level.

Like when people don't talk about photocopying but rather Xeroxing, and in the 80's when people didn't play videogames but played Nintendo. The iPad has reached that domination of penetration where the name iPad has become synonymous with tablets. It's hard to beat a product with THAT level of meme.

Accessorize

What amuses me about the iPad is the number of packaging accessories available, not to mention external keyboards. I know several people who have a case/cover with a built-in keyboard, so you can clip the slab into it upright and turn into (ta-da!) a laptop...

What has apple done Right!

OK, I am a unix geek so am not scared of text based interfaces, etc,

but for me apple have got it exactly right. (although I do still use windows on the desktop)

What they have invested in is the user interface. And it looks great and feel great.

Why has Linux not penetraced the end user market. It does not have the UI that OSX and Win 7 has. It does not look as pretty. It might not matter to the small majority of geeks who value function over form but I like my desktop to look and feel nice. If apple can create a decent looking gui on top of unix, why can't the OS comminity do it.

Now lets look at the mobile market.

Again Apple have done a great job at making even the casing look nice. Just compare an average iPod to other MP3 players out there. Why have the likes of Sony not stepped up to the mark.

Then there is the iPad. Nice aluminium back, great screen and a nice looking UI.

All of the alternatives just look cheap and nasty. And Android is still very much a iOS look a like.

HP Touchpad is better than ipad - just give it a chance - printing its strength

I have a HP touchpad and beside from the lack of APPS (most are BS anyway). The tablet is brilliant with the multitasking card system, flash support, and a lovely keyboard.

If buying get the HP case with it as it really completes the package.

Plus unlike other tablets the printing support is excellent, however I do not see why HP do not support all manufacturers PCL 5 printing over TCPIP that would be an ipad killer. Even allow scripting by enthusiasts of other vendor solutions, and make it a central part of the webOS forum creating a community around mass PCL5 printing support; give people freedom to create and the iPad would be in trouble; HP are you listening because time is ticking.

Typing this on my iPad

The problem that all of the competing tablets have is that they're all crap

Use of a tablet

There are lots of uses!!!!

Work:

Yes it not designed for media/document creation, but I can go to a meeting without having to lug a laptop around so I can get/search emails at a drop of hat.

Quick googles for info, etc without being hidden behind a screen.

I can plug it into a projector if needed.

Use it on the train/bus to compose email replies or to create rudementry diagrams/flowcharts.

Whilst listening to music

Home.

Lounge around on the sofa whilst watching TV and surf/play Angry birds ;o) catch up on email (always makes a good impression replying to work emails out of hours).

Keeping kids quiet on long trips (have one of those cases that hangs on the back of the seat)

Yes you can do all of that with a netbook but the tablet is alot more user friendly.

It's simples: Nobody is offering what I'm looking for in a portable.

Something in the 12-14 inch range, with a decent display, a built-in cell connect, a real keyboard, Flash support, a decent processor/memory/drive combination, and a price in the $600-$800US range.

But then again I'm guessing that rather like the unicorn, they don't exist.