People are starting to wake up and wonder why they spent good money that they don't have on an Apple iPad.
It is like waking up after a night of partying to discover that the cute blonde with a winning personality you thought you had copped off with at the office Christmas party turned out to be the chunky woman from accounts with a moustache and a personal hygiene problem.
Two weeks before the same hysteria that swept the US over the iPad hits blighty, reviewers in the US are wondering what the hell they were thinking about.
Fairly typical was this one from Techland where the reviewer said that he was unlikely to ever use the thing again.
In fact, since Peter Ha took the wrapping off the beast he has hardly ever used it.
"I spent over $800 on it and it has been sitting on my couch untouched for days. I don't have the luxury of spending that much money without thinking twice about it," he moaned.
He said he still thought the iPad was a great device, but the apps just aren't doing much for him. And he could not be bothered sticking in his wireless network password every 20-30 minutes.
It seems Ha, like many iPad owners, are just waking up to the fact of something that we have been saying for ages. This is basically that tablet devices don't have a place and anything that says they do is just marketing.
There are others moaning here, here and there and there will be more as time wears on.
The fact that the iPad can't see Flash, its apps are junk, and you need arms like the Incredible Hulk to read anything longer than a page, does not enter into it. The fact is no one really wants a keyboardless netbook which is crippled by an AT&T service which is as horrendous as it is on the iPhone.
After a while, using an iPhone operating system on a tablet with no file management system or ability to multi-task is just driving everyone nuts.
What is sad is that as the fad wears off and Jobs' Mob's gizmo is consigned to the rubbish bin with the hula hoop, it will make money again in all the countries that have not seen it. Then, Jobs will start another wave of interest with the next generation version. People will believe that the reason that they are dissatisfied with the first generation gizmo is because the second generation one has all their needs.
Hopefully by the time the third generation comes along even these guys will realise that the iPad is technology that no one needs.
This technology is about selling content and alot of business' want a piece of this action - digital downloads with a fee that are controlled by apple! They are saying yes because piracy wont be as big an issue like on your laptop and desktop. And I think people belive if they dont get involved now they may get left behind. Look at the internet boom and bust.
This is a new media battlefield and theres a large pot of gold at stake!
Fair points but don't think you are the only type of user out there. The machine is a dream come true for me and has made my job considerably easier. I'm an educator and I can tell you that I have it in constant use. I used to use an iphone/itouch in class and every time I wished it had a bigger screen... my dreams were answered. Just like the iphone 3GS, I feel like apple has made this product just for me. Plus I fly quite often and can use it for inflight entertainment.
I access work and personal email, twitter, watch movies, listen to music, read books, and yes even work using apps like iThoughts HD and Office2. The device takes less than a second to fire up, works flawlessly (not had a single wireless issue ever) and is easy to use when not at a desk.
As a serial traveller, I can take a massive collection of entertainment and work related stuff wherever I go without having to lug around a large number of devices are a significantly larger laptop computer.
Once some of the iWork apps are available in the UK I will probably start using these also.
The iPad does exactly what it says on the tin, if people are not aware of what they are purchasing before spending $800 on it, then should they be able to go shopping on their own?
I grow weary of people bashing the iPad for one imaginer reason or another. I have one and use it regularly (like now for example). I am happy with AT&T. I am glad Apple keeps poor programs out of the store. I think the applications are good and getting better.
This is a new device. Is it as sophisticated as a PC? No. But it is not thirty years old either.
If you don't want to be part of something new, don't buy one. If you don't like standards, don't write programs for it. If you think it is the start of something very good, buy a net book instead.
But stop stating, as though your opinion even matters, that it is bad and we are all stupid for having bought one. Consider, instead, how sad it is that you will not be part of something new, to help shape a new platform by constructive criticism and great new ideas.
If you are too stupid to make positive suggestions, then keep your comments to yourself. Instead of saying 'you're stupid for buying an iPad before there are a million apps for it' - write an app. But make it a good one.
If you hate AT&T, suggest how they might improve. I for one have never been to a place where I do not get service, and I travel 150,000 miles a year all over the US.
I am tired of negativity in place of creativeity.
I am afraid I completely disagree- I, like John, was stuck in the US following the volcano and bought the ipad in New York. It was around $800, but far cheaper than the Apple laptop.
I found it to be intuitive, fun and I even have no trouble with the keyboard which is actually usable. If you are not a serious business user I cannot see why you would even consider a laptop.
The size is 'just right' and the user interface is wonderful. My 7 year old also loved it and tested the remarkably long battery life with constant YouTube videos.
All in all I think it is brilliant.......
I totally agree with Mr. Jobs - I find it to be magical and so much fun! I purchased one for my mom and I have to say she loves it, finding it to be the easiest "computer" she has ever used! I say the iPad is better purchased in pairs!
I know lots of people that have bought them and they all say they always keep it with them its so easy to carry vs a laptop. Once they pick it up they have trouble putting it down. My mother bought one . She has never used a computer because she was afraid they were too hard to use. She is 77. She found the ipad is so apealling in how you interact with it that she is excited and wants to use it all the time.
Apple haters complain about no flash , no multitasking, no camera. Well I believe within a month or so it will have multitasking. I haven't missed flash. I give Jobs some credit for pushing forward a newer standard. I think its only a matter of time before this is a non issue. I also think a 3rd party will make use of the camera attachment to get a webcam attached until the next model comes out that will include a built in one. There are still many PCs out there without built in cameras. Also it depends on your needs. I have a laptop with a built in webcam and I have never used it.
There are things the ipad has which are very useful that laptops and PCs don't come with. GPS is something I use in apps regularly that help me find locations of places I need to find on the go, ie. the nearest restaurant, gas station, post office, starbucks, Wells Fargo ( or whatever bank you use).
The accelerometer is useful in many ways also. Its use in games is just one example that makes it more interesting to use this device over a PC.
Then there is the touch screen itself. It is much cooler to interact with a touch screen than to use a keybord and mouse.
I also disagree with the the idea that the onscreen keyboard is not good. I found it to be no problem at all. Also, there are speech recognition programs (Dragon) that work pretty well now for creating emails and writing so your need for a keyboard is reduced.
I also don't think the ipad is too heavy. I find myself laying in bed in the morning and evening with it leaned up aginst my bent legs or just balanced on my stomach while I read. It doesn't get hot like every laptop out there when its in your lap.
I also like the fact that this thing is instant on and ready. I will tend to not pull out my laptop for many quick things just because I know I have to wait 2 minutes for windows and startup programs to load.
I think there are many good things about this small tablet that make a cool device. I love it. I think Nick has tunnel vision issues in his comments above.
Goes to show how on the ball the media monitoring services of Apple are.
Nice strategy Mike :D
Is massive less then 64GB? With no SD or USB slot, I find the lack of flexibility of the devise a disadvantage. Many people use USB to carry or transfer information, but the ipad needs a separate dongle to make that work. How quaint.
I find it very hard to think different with any 'i' device since they do not support customization or any deviation from how Steve Jobs thinks it should work.
64GB in terms of movies and music is massive.
My iPad has used 40 GB and contains 5500 photos, 63 applications, 3900 songs, and 41 movies and tv programmes.
This is more than enough entertainment and work related stuff for me to last a couple of weeks or so away from home.
I have a library at home of over 400GB of content, so can update when I need to. Be honest, there is only so much one person can view or consume in one go, why the perceived requirement for more than this?
I also bought my iPad when stuck in the US as a volcano refugee. I found it great for doing those everyday things like email and web browsing.
Flying from NY to Florida on a Delta flight with Wifi was incredible. The 3 hours literally flew by using the iPad on my lap. My Macbook Pro is usually too big for coach airline seats. My iPhone is just too small to be really useful.
It is a breakthrough device that has an amazing UI and guess what? Leaving it on standby mode means I can switch it on instantly and still get 10 hours use out of 1 charge. Try doing that on a Laptop.
http://iPadLot.com
On reflection, it seems there are three main categories of reporting. 1. Those blinded by the hype and are not able to identify the weaknesses 2. Those who are able to put bias aside and do good quality research thats helps consumers make informed decisions and 3. This kind of article, that seems slanted, poorly researched and narrow.
Though I'm yet to get it in my hands, from my research my guess is the ipad is a devise with a few particular uses. I have a great admin structure in my office with a exec that manages my schedule, documents and communications. I've made great use of the iphone with mobile me and it's syncing services. I'm not so naive to believe a device will change life significantly but I look forward to testing out the strengths and weaknesses of the ipad.
By the by, I've been downloading app's in advance to prepare for the transition to be as smooth as possible.
Then I saw it was written by Nick Farrel. Nick is bitter every time he sees the word "Apple".
Your sex life must be pathetic and so are the sites that pay you to write this crap. Do you think this is the fifties with your attitudes to women?
Written on an iPad by a blonde.
Anyway not all of us are that sensitive to digs... I have slept with blokes I shouldn't it is not a uniquely male thing... with me it ones with bad breath -- hair not that important.
I have not got an iPad because my iPhone does all I need.
From my iPhone by a Red head
It's hardly Apple's fault if it's not what he needed, it is however Ha's fault for purchasing something that doesn't do what he needs.
I will however be happy to have him GIVE his iPad to me, since odds are I'll find a use for it.
The lack of Flash support is a 100% legitimate gripe. It is going to be at least 3 years before HTML 5 is mainstream. Until then, your 1st generation iPad will be old, outdated, broken, out of warranty, and the iPad web experience will be hobbled.
Why are the fanboy replies trying to marginalize this?
No doubt, Steve Jobs is a genius salesman. The iPad has strengths, and most people were completely sold on those strengths. Unfortunately, many didn't give consideration to the gravity of the iPad's weaknesses before they made their purchase.
Most reports have the iPad selling quite briskly to a growing number of supremely contented customers--who could possibly see a 'Backlash' in all of this, I wondered.
And then I saw the byline...
I am willing to summarize your attitude expressed in this article:
"I have buyer's remorse. My remorse is unique because I am special, and I want many others to join in to whine with me."
Unfortunately, as usual, the premise of your article has no basis in reality. Even some of the articles you linked to support your contention do not say what you claim they do.
I know many people who have an iPad. I have not heard from any of them that they regret their purchase at all. I'd wager the satisfaction rate is much higher than most other consumer electronics devices.
BTW even if you do not agree with his opinion, you have to admit the article was very entertaining / funny.
I told them "you know - you can watch that on the TV". They couldn't be bothered. Someone had picked up the iPad, started the movie just sitting there, and the others joined her. It's the spontaneity of the thing that is compelling. And the quick and easy access to content.
of verbiage veers most verbose..."
Nick, as an executor of
The Fourth Estate, the Press,
"Your powers of observation
continue to serve you well...
We're oft to blame,
and this is too much proved,
that with devotion's visage
and pious action
we do sugar on the devil himself."
I want *everyone* to *remember*,
why they *need* The Press.
What is *To Do* now
is to hold
Steve Jobs' Apple accountable
to give to everyone
who has an the Ipad,
a *FREE*
OS 4.0 upgrade and ah a
what the hell am I thinking?
would you be as kind to send me a
picture of the chunky woman from accounts with a moustache and a personal hygiene problem?
I think the only time DH has put his Pad down is when he falls asleep. Between movies, keeping little league score on *gasp* an APP, games (oh no... MORE APPS??), surfing the net, as well as testing the Citrix client for mobile fleet usage at work, the iPad has seen a fair share of duties since he received it at the beginning of this month.
Though I wouldn't hold it to read in bed (it's way heavier than my Kindle), everything else I've seen on it has impressed me.
The fact is, Jobs has come up with a fully mobile, lighter-than-a-laptop device that people are gobbling up in droves. Seriously - it takes 15-20 MINUTES for my VISTA (gag) laptop to boot up... and less than 10 SECONDS for the Pad to be ready to go.
It's convenient, uber-lightweight, and suitable for on the go surfing and entertainment. The apps are getting better and better everyday. If they ever figured out a way to play WoW on the Pad, I'd chuck out my HP/Vista brick in a hot minute.
OK now come on, 15-20 minutes for Vista to boot? I know Vista is a pig but unless your running POS hardware or it's full of malware that's just silly. I use Apple / Windows / linux. They all have their pros and cons. Your best served by being agnostic on these things and choosing what makes the best sense for each situation.
I do love my iPhone though, despite the fact I absolutely hate iTunes. You guys have gotten me curious enough now that I will have to seriously look at getting an iPad.
Curse you!
Without [recoverable] errors, we will not have the capacity for learning and when one refuses to learn, we will be taught the same lesson time and again until we start self-questioning/introspecting or until we’ve become addicted to the problem/distraction. Within the human relative realm [of judging and being judged, oka the living of others’ lives], we are driven by our 3 dimensions of thoughts, oka the 3 minds of subjectivity, objectivity and projectivity. All apsects have these 3 angularities which are divided into our past or futuristic tendencies, the past being “femininity” and the future, “masculinity”. When we are alone or when we are dealing with “others”, we have to offer the face of balance/act in a balanced manner regardless of whether we are really past-istic or futuristic. When we are with our spouse, say, oka the other half, we have to act our role for the sake of procreation and its enjoyment thereof and when it comes to enjoyment, say, it is an individual realisation and not a mutual one - much like breathing, being born or dying.
We are who we are and not who we were or are going to be. Be that as it may, should we be desirous of evolution/progress, we need to act in a balanced manner, oka being-a-witness/be-in-a-witnessing-state, as opposed to being in a reactionary state. To react is to be attached in an acceptance or rejection state and when that happens, we lose our true power. In that moment, we, oka the Attention, are then “captured”. Regardless of whether the machinery within the likes of Apple are conscious [and therefore aware] of it or not, the taking of money is the most mundane and irrelevant of damage being inflicted. More damaging is the addictive aspects of being groomed and therefore the capturing of others’ subjective/emotional/past-istic and/or projective/futurstic dimension/s. Take all the bloody money for all you like but leave others’ crown jewels alone - stop stealing all and everything. Stop instilling addiction upon others. A pipe dream, of course, for a beggar-cum-thief is who he is and little else.
This is why a virus exist - to instill self-worth and therefore strengtheing the immune system. Most “Western” types have a weakened immune system and all because of their airy-fairy saviours and their “health & safety”, technological, pharmacological, arty-farty nonsense of wanting to be seen as great protectors-cum-sympathisers. It is self-benevolent to finally realised that the job/duty of a saviour is to gather worshippers and nothing else. The joke, of course, is that since there is no such a thing as time in reality/Reality [should there be a beginning and its ending], the timing is therefore the reality and as such, the timing within saviourship is therefore worship [and vice-versa]. One is merely the latency of the other. Without a single execption within the Relative realm.
Hokay, the forebearance is almost over. As “tax advisors” are prone to point out, avoidance and not evasion. Mr Ha has bitten the bullet but will he learn to avoid next time? Really? Yous gottas be joking, right … or was it left? They are all addicted and addiction is merely another word for guilt, oka the error you refused to learn from and is therefore begging to be taught the same lesson over and over again. Evil, Global Warming, airy-fairyness and the endless forms of control-cum-abandonments are who they are - lessons is promoting self-valaution - and the best way to destroy others’ ability to self-respect is to groom them to disrespect/fingerpoint-at others. A saviour only exists through demonising - if it is not evil one moment, it will be, “How could you”, the next. Yes babes, how could you be so easily mesmerised by that, that …. Thang who has lost ‘is liver whilst not forgetting that the liver is the “Centre of [one’s] Attention”, the “Attention” being the conveyance for promoting one’s Evolution. Not that most “Chinese” know it, but ask anyone of them what the literal wording of the Attention is and he’ll be the first to be shocked. It is called, “The Essence of Divinity”. Stop allowing your Attention to be captured by those who seemingly looked human. Should there be devolutionary entities, will they appear as themselves or would they be always shinning, glitzing, leading, preaching and more. What, gone back to the Pad to see if you could make a mountain out of a mole hill thereby justifying its cost? Now, take a deep breath - deeper, suck it in through the lungs whilst expanding the stomach - and repeat after me, “I am my own master and not the master of others nor am I being mastered by others”. Repeat that 10 times, each one for the 10 sub-plexuses of the Solar Plexus representing our 10 valancies of self-masterhood. Feeling better now? No? You wanna buy another iPad, sweets ….
"I can get 6 off lease enterprise grade, magnesium coated, fully functional laptops for the price of 1 ipad... I am a utilitarian who cares about function... housewives and luddites, enjoy.... the rest of us need power and functionality"
AMEN!
oh an paddys, that was either a "bucky fuller" rant or one hell of a good job at being obscure and amusing.
My wife bought an Ipad, had it a week, and returned it. Why? we are musicians and video editiors. I hate the damn things and hope Jobs looses his jobs and gets his fanny kicked.
If you're just a commuter looking for a toy to watch vids on, or a high powered uppie yuppie, great, enjoy. But if you run a business, make music or movies, write seriously, or have any power calculating in your life, save your MONEY!
Nick "I only write Apple FUD" Farrell writes for the Inquirer
http://www.theinquirer.net/
Every story this guy has ever written about Apple is a negative hit piece.
This story is no different, it is based entirely on his own opinion and hatred for all things Steve Jobs. He tries to back it up with flimsy anecdotal evidence from a few people complaining, gross exaggerations and flat out lies.
The only backlash against the Apple iPad is in Nick Farrell's head.
Ignore him.
"My wife bought an Ipad, had it a week, and returned it. Why? we are musicians and video editiors. I hate the damn things and hope Jobs looses his jobs and gets his fanny kicked.
If you're just a commuter looking for a toy to watch vids on, or a high powered uppie yuppie, great, enjoy. But if you run a business, make music or movies, write seriously, or have any power calculating in your life, save your MONEY!"
I have only one question; why did you buy it? The iPad has not been marketed as a serious business tool as such, yes it does some things, but is mostly aimed at entertainment, web surfing, video, music, books and email. Why did you buy it? Why did you not do a little research into it before buying it?
As for the rest of your post, I imagine you got a good kick writing that, did it make you feel powerful? did it make you feel like a man? Did you giggle like a little girl after hitting the 'post comment' button? I bet you did, come on, admit it, made you feel powerful didnt it? pity you are not.
Did you ever researched the product before buying it? Man, even my dog knows that it is not intended for those uses.
Granted, it is a very intelligent dog.
So there.....and Steve Jobs, its your fault because I knock the wings off my plane when I drive it on the highway......so there!!!!
You should have published your backlash article after sluggish sales in the UK. No. Wait. People in the UK are gonna buy the things as fast as Apple can build 'em, too. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Nice to see you in our universe, Nick, hope you have a safe trip home.
Why?
I guess just outlooking attract many,and some Personalize setting make you more comfortable.
Specially,it never similar with any others,so if you are conditioned to use Apple stuff,you are in.
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