It might seem a long time, but the Media Tablet marketplace did not exist until April this year. It soon became obvious that Apple’s iPad had catalyzed yet another major computing trend – by Computex, almost every device manufacturer in the world had a tablet coming. Last month, Gartner Group predicted the 20 million sales expected in 2010 will grow an order of magnitude over the next four years. Now Gartner has gone a step further. “It is not usually the role of the CEO to get directly involved in specific technology device decisions, but Apple’s iPad is an exception,” says the report. “It is more than just the latest consumer gadget; and CEOs and business leaders should initiate a dialogue with their CIOs about it if they have not already done so.”
Media tablets are slate devices that support touch and run a lightweight OS such as iOS, Android, WebOS or Meego. Apple’s iPad is a media tablet and Samsung’s recently-released Galaxy Tab and the Cisco Cius are other examples.
…and so many people said the iPad wouldn’t sell. It’s been a complete game changer.
In this Econ-environment of perhaps 50 per cent of IT job loss due to Internet efficiencies and the demise of the office IT shop you need to focus on the technologies of the immediate future.
There may be 100,000 so called iOS developers out there, but They are mostly idle now given app load-up and loss in the great app list of missing endeavors.
So either go for it, forget Ajax junk, .net nitwitisms, or else buy a cement mixer.
Bobo, I have 160 gig I can use to store pictures or video from my camera on my year old netbook. The memory/storage limits of an Ipad are rather harsh. Then you have the phone bill if you get that option.
This thing is priced out of reach of many people and I think this year’s modal is going to be seriously lame compared to next year’s modal.
What Apple seems to be best at is selling new modals of the same thing to the same people every year.
For now the Ipad is more of a fun option than the answer to a serious need. If you have cash to burn then go for it. If the budget is even a little tight…
The PC is on death’s door.
My first one was an 8088 with a $2000 10meg hard disk. I could paper a small wall with the motherboards (some blown) got over the years.
Not missed.
The other remarkable thing about the iPad is that it doesn’t BS with multi-core. That’s probably why it is so remarkable.
“It’s been a complete game changer.”
Bullshit. And what happened to all of the talk that it would save magazines and newspapers? Oops!
[It might save them. I read magazines and newspapers on my iPad every day. I still also use my laptop regularly. My wife is currently in the hospital and she can do everything she needs on her iPad. – ed.]
The article (and website) seems to be an internet omage to Popular Mechanics. Either that or simply an advertisement for the research report on iPad-like devices. They probably published a similar report 2 years ago on how netbooks would replace all PC sales by 2011.
#34 Pedro,
Its a game changer not because its a unique product, its just a gimped touchscreen laptop, but because Apple bombards us with ads depicting how we need such a product
#33–deowll==I tried to identify the Ipad category as a niche market for TRAVELERS. I have traveled with a notebook—-once. So–size, weight, observability are key issues to travelers, especially if you do any walking/hiking as is my custom. Even now, I think my photography is being corrupted by considering a smaller/lighter camera as my current smallish digital still gets in the way. Still that x12 zoom is 1/5 the weight of my old SLR. Still have to fight my first reaction that small and light = cheap. Used to be true about cars, not so much about electronics.
Damn, guys… if the iPad sucks so much, why in hell are they selling so many? I’ll tell you why… because they’re a great toy; they’re convenient; they have an incredible battery life; they’re easy to use; they’re great for playing games; the list goes on. For the computer geek, there is no way that an iPad can replace a regular computer but for the average guy, it’s perfect. In the near future you’ll have a very wide choice of pads and at that point, I might drop the iPad and go with something else. In the meantime, the iPad is the only viable touchscreen pad.
“Damn, guys… if the iPad sucks so much, why in hell are they selling so many?”
Answer:
“There’s a sucker born every minute.” WC Fields.
A small, foldable laptop with a keyboard and color screen would be better for me. That, or the bigger laptop I already have that has an easier to read screen.
Yeah Apple f’ed themselves…Macbooks are now half the price…hahahahahhqahahahahaha
#41
again why? The laptop is a large iPad with physical keys and a CD slot, and an obsolete file system.
The physical keys are now removable touch points (with all the clicking sounds). Media is via the wire-less .
Here’s one development I’m waiting for … an physical folder enclosure that has a hub on the folder’s spline into which you can connect two ipads. You have double the screen space and compute power. The keyboard layout would be split between the two screens.
#43
“again why? The laptop is a large iPad with physical keys…”
That’s one reason: physical keys are easy to use.
“and a CD slot, and an obsolete file system.
The physical keys are now removable touch points (with all the
clicking sounds). Media is via the wire-less .”
An aside, what do you mean by a “touch point?” A keyboard that has no clicky feedback? Just wondering…
Most laptops (and even calculators) have physical keys that have that clicky feel.
Also, laptop computers almost always have WiFi connections as well as wired connections if needed. They’re flexible. Also, if someone needs to archive data, the older laptops can copy data to a CD, DVD, or a dongle.
That physical stuff is obsolete. The iPad obsoletes a lot of things, and enables service provision solutions (eg., content that is not copyable via Crawlers) hence making online mags viable.
The battle for the Screen Based Reader audience is unlikely to be defined by the operating system but by the hardware itself. Imagine a iPad that is wafer thin and you can roll up and put in your back pocket like a magazine. That is what the future holds.Flexible display technology is close to production with a team in Ireland close to a touch screen prototype. Samsung unveiled their 7 inch flexible LCD screen in 2005 and Fujitsu have a 3.8 inch flexible LCD panel that does not require a power supply. Ultimately, it’s the flexible screen technology in the near future that will see users finally turn away from paper based publishing. Apple have won ’round one’ of the screen based reader and have brought their product to market before Microsoft’s Courier, but this hardware battle has a long way to run. Google have already produced the Nexus One, an internet mobile dubbed the Google Phone, as well as the Android operating system may yet enter into screen based readers as well. Amazon potentially have the most to lose if the iPad continues to grow, with Apple’s iBooks directly competing with another part of their core business, following the success of iTunes, so presence in the screen reader market will be essential for Amazon.