The iCrackPad. . .

[KGW]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

I'm kaiboshing the cell phones in our household as soon as the contract is up. . . They are *occassionally* useful, but mostly they are a way for the phone makers and networks to separate me from $1200 per year; if I don't use it much.

Just another example of the "growth" economy: con a bunch of folks into thinking it's the latest and greatest, and that it's a must have. . .

The number of devices we have will proliferate and each will be more single purpose than multi purpose.

[tsetsefly]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

It's just a huge iphone where you can actually read. However I really cant see how useful it's going to be. I got tired of carrying my laptop to school that eventually i just went back to notebook and pen. I also dont care about the million of applications phone's have. I just use it to call, message and listen to music. I dont even know how to connect to the internet with my phone, ive never tried it. Aside from time's when ive want to watch a match live(which you cant even do with cellphones, or can you) or check a street ive never needed on the spot internet. Plus if you have phone where you can check your email your basically tied down to it, and people expect you to return emails, no thanks...

I dont see the practicality in a oversized phone witha fragile screen...

however it will sell, that is for sure...

[ltullos]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

Not sure this forum needs another thread on how great or useless the iPad will be; but I am curious how many of you predicting failure are iTouch or iPhone users. It's pointless asking this question in most tech forums where discussion becomes a religious war; but I'm just taking data!

[loweyecue]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

I haven't read everything yet, but I came away thinking it is a bigger iPhone (which I own and love). But I was expecting it to be a true laptop like device meaning it would have the Leopard OS, and be able to do MS Office apps. Instead this is more of a browser/reader/picture viewer. So yes, I am a bit disappointed. I would still get one though, because of the coolness factor. -- IF the price comes down to around $300.

[Adeptus]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

Looks like Hitler's review of the iPad is out... Oh man, I haven't laughed this hard in weeks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Ecy...eature=popular

Adeptus

PS. Hey how do you use the Media tags? Never seems to work for me.

[doom&gloom]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

Most expensive Maxi-Pad ever introduced. Think the women will buy it?

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

PS. Hey how do you use the Media tags? Never seems to work for me.

I don't use media tags for posting YouTube links on iTulip. If I had a URL link directly to a media file (URL ending in something such as .mp3, .jpeg or .pdf) I might give it a try. The [media]...[/media] tag depends on some added parsing extensions to the site BBcode handling and (from what I can tell after a brief search) the handling of this tag is not consistent from one site to the next.

Instead what I do with YouTube videos is to embed them, by cutting and pasting the Embed code provided on the YouTube page (over on the right side) for your convenience. For this Hitler's angry reaction to the iPad video for example, that Embed string is:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9_EcybyLJS8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9_EcybyLJS8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

If the above string is copied right into your iTulip post (not quoted and escaped as I just did above), then you see the YouTube video embedded in your iTulip post, as follows:

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

Not sure this forum needs another thread on how great or useless the iPad will be; but I am curious how many of you predicting failure are iTouch or iPhone users. It's pointless asking this question in most tech forums where discussion becomes a religious war; but I'm just taking data!

I do not use either iPod (is that what you meant by "iTouch" ?) nor iPhone.

[blazespinnaker]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

I reckon the winner or loser between iPad and Kindle in the single facet they compete directly for....will be who "owns" the digital textbook market.

I wouldn't be surprised if schools work with Apple and Amazon to bundle iPads and Kindles in tuition costs to generate more brand advocates and develop 100% captured customer niches.

Either way, I would not want to be depending upon a job in a university bookstore in 5 years.

I used to work for Amazon, WAY back in the day when this kinda stuff was just cocktail napkin concepts(with actual execution pummeling initial projected implementation, like all things internet, by a decade) and while I am hopeful their headstart will see them thru, I just don't know if they will achieve a victory in the classroom against the Apple juggernaut....where the rest of Apple's product line from iPods to iPhones to iMacs are near ubiquitous.

It will be interesting to see how the digital textbook market develops........eliminating the physical logistics and distribution of paper text books has some very significant cost savings......plus think of all the dodgy ways universities can increase revenue and bottom line profits by making the secondary market virtually extinct overnight....and turning to personalized subscription models.

Ultimately, I think both products are quite different outside of their competition in text book and leisure reading markets.

I reckon in a survival of the fittest battle between the two.....Apple wins......Apple isn't a hybrid hardware/software company anymore.

I think Apple's physically distributed products are simply the means for the end user to purchase content from Apple's dominant digital distribution system.

Amazon is still clearly in a physical distribution world.....regardless of how many kindles are in the field.

Marketing wise, I don't think Amazon is in the same heavyweight class as Apple.

It's not always about the steak.....it's often more about the sizzle.

Agreed on all points. Amazon can't compete against Apple.

That being said, I think AAPL is more over priced than Amazon, so I wouldn't try the pair trade.

[CanuckinTX]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

I've got the iPhone and iPod. The more I think about the iPad the more useless I think it will be. You have to spend at least $180 a year for the AT&T service and more likely $360 because 250mb can get sucked up pretty fast.

No flash support. No camera. No support of OSX and Office apps (i believe). It's not good enough to replace a netbook so really, why buy this just to watch videos and read books with that monthly nut?

Oh yeah, the Monthly Payment Consumer only thinks, hey $30 a month ain't too bad at all!!!

At least with my iPhone I need to carry a cell around with me anyway so I find all the extra bells and whistles a great bonus (plus my company pays the bill or else I'd have a hard time swallowing $80 a month for a cell phone with games/apps I could live without.)

[tsetsefly]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

Not sure this forum needs another thread on how great or useless the iPad will be; but I am curious how many of you predicting failure are iTouch or iPhone users. It's pointless asking this question in most tech forums where discussion becomes a religious war; but I'm just taking data!

I dont own an itouch or iphone or any apple product... I never liked their incompatibility when it came to non-apple formats...

[flintlock]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

I'm kaiboshing the cell phones in our household as soon as the contract is up. . . They are *occassionally* useful, but mostly they are a way for the phone makers and networks to separate me from $1200 per year; if I don't use it much.

Just another example of the "growth" economy: con a bunch of folks into thinking it's the latest and greatest, and that it's a must have. . .

Look for the cost of cell phone service to fall soon. Consumer expert Clark Howard predicts we could see unlimited calling for as little as $20 month by 2011.

I still hate the things. Now people can bother me wherever I go, 24/7.

[flintlock]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

All I'll say is the Ipod touch is a hell of a bargain for what it does. WiFi, Bluetooth stereo( no headphone wire!), and very easy to use. Amazing device. I use aps at work to do quick calculations for wire sizing, voltage drop, etc. I can check email, even bid on Ebay at home while eating or watching TV. No need to go downstairs to my office computer. I can control my Home theater PC with it . Anyone who needs a stand alone mp3 player anyway should look into one. There are better phones, but Ipod still rules the music player business. Its just a gadget. But for $150 why not?

[GRG55]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

Just in case you were having trouble figuring out what to do with all that monthly cash that you freed up when you stopped paying your mortgage...

Apple’s IPad Debut Attracts Crowds, Rivaling IPhone Frenzy

April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet computer went on sale yesterday, drawing crowds to stores across the U.S. and rivaling the frenzy seen when the iPhone went on sale in 2007...

...“It’s ridiculously expensive, way overpriced,” said Josh Klenert, a 36-year-old graphic designer, who still went ahead and bought one. Klenert, whose one-bedroom apartment in Tribeca has “more Macs than people,” pre-ordered the iPad as soon as it was available and came down to Apple’s SoHo store in New York to be one of the first to buy it...

...Apple fans began lining up Friday at Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs’s hometown store in Palo Alto, California. More than 200 people were waiting before the store opened, and employees handed out Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee. The shoppers included tech blogger Robert Scoble, who was one of the first in line, and Bill Atkinson, author of Apple’s MacPaint and MacWrite software programs for the first Macintosh computers...

...Even if the iPad fails to repeat that kind of frenzy, its initial sales could be higher than the iPhone’s, says Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. He projects sales of 300,000 to 400,000 iPads this weekend. That compares with the 270,000 iPhones sold in its 2007 debut.

Apple may sell about 5 million iPads in the first 12 months, compared with 6.1 million iPhones in its first year on the market, according to Sacconaghi...

[renewable]

Re: The iCrackPad. . .

I own the Kindle for reading. It is fantastic, week long battery life and e-paper is much easier on the eyes which it the reason to own it.

iPad is just a touch screen laptop with all the devices & keyboard removed and only 16GB memory! The high glossy apple screens are great for graphics but very hard on the eyes for reading large amounts of documents.

I do not see any reason to own an iPad and would predict it will be a flop.

Short Apple, Long Amzn would be a good trade right now.

i agree with the merits of epaper and although I own a macbook and ipod touch, wouldn't buy an ipad.

But please read some of the previous 'Short Apple' threads on iTulip before thinking about shorting them.

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1415

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1671