It’s new. It’s gorgeous. It’s cool. It’s not revolutionary. It’s nice. It’s got limitations. It will succeed.
It’s the iPad.
While I don’t need one, I think it would be cool to have around the house. Not sure $500 (for the bare bones edition) is worth it for a 3rd or 4th computer, though.
I hear lots of people talking about getting one for the family, including kids. Not so sure about that. My five-year old girl with grubby syrup hands does not need to mess with the $500 piece of glass.
No SD slot? No multi-tasking? No thank you.
What it is, is an awesome gadget for those who will use it for specific things. Like to read e-books? Perfect. Kindle-killer. Like to sketch/draw? Go for it. (Philip is an example).
I won’t use this thing a lot. If I traveled more, maybe. But then I’d have to have my Macbook Pro and my iPad. Two devices. Why not just use the MBP?
Around the house, sure, it’d be awesome, but $500 for an additional machine that gets used occasionally is not in my budget.
My uses would include: reading mags/books/RSS on the pot and on the couch, occasionally writing blog posts and updating Twitter. I can do these now with my iPhone, and I prefer real books.
I think doctors, students and older kids could use these quite a bit. However, in most cases, they also need a full computer for some activities the iPad cannot perform. So, again, this becomes an extra device.
It’s a very cool product. And, of course, Apple did it right, and waited until they could do it right, to launch.
There is a market for these. I’m just not in it.
I’m finding myself continually peeved when people declare this thing a “Kindle killer.” Make no mistake, with two iMacs, a Macbook, a Macbook Pro, and two iPhones in our house, we’re definitely Apple fans. But anyone who has ever tried to read an entire book on an LCD screen will never seriously consider an iPad over a Kindle. Or if they do, they’ll eventually regret it.
I would never get an iPad instead of a Kindle, but I may just get an iPad instead of a laptop.
Andy, you are correct, I should have said, Kindle DX-killer. The less expensive Kindle is still a good product at a much lower price point. However, despite the gloss-screen effect, the multiple functions of the iPad make it much more valuable at close to the same price as the DX.