iPad

[nedjer]

the main thing that kills this for me as a product in general and specifically for education and RPG usage is that it doesn't have a stylus, there is no way or software to take handwritten notes. This was hugely important to me as a student to be able to quickly and on the fly jot down ideas, notes, diagrams, and not to mention annotation of files. Same thing with RPG's.
I don't really use my current tablet at the game anymore (not enough space and it jsut didn't feel right) but i use it for game development quite heavily. I use onenote to organize my games and print out what I need at the table.

Other main reasons why, while exicted about the product, I probalby won't buy one is that it using the iphone OS. I am locked into that platform and app store. This device also ties me into iTunes which I do not like at all. Also no word processing support (at least that I know of; please correct if I am wrong) except for iWorks. I also don't like the cost of the data plan (this is an issue with all data plans. They are way overpriced) but it is awesome you can go month to month with no contract. With about 5 tweaks and full support for common business office software this product would be quite useful to the business/education world and could open up those market's to apple.

It will be interesting to see how the iPad works out for apple since it's not quite a laptop (even netbooks offer more flexibility on some fronts) and way more than an ebook reader (no matter what they say this is not a direct compeitor to Kindle or Nook). By the end of the second day after the announcement apple's stock had dropped 10%. Quite different from what normally happens after their announcements.

Gil

Nothing I'd like more than graphics table in a touch tablet but that'll arrive (at a price). The Nintendo XL already has pen input (of a sort) and an almost functional screen size.

As for contracts. How many people actually have an iPhone and an iPhone contract out of the population as a whole. Far more have a mobile from another provider or a portable (which seems to be functional enough for WiFi).

More people seem likely to end up with something like a Google Pad with cheap online shared off their home computer and offline access for walkabout. Carrying all your manuals, diaries, dice, PC Gen, records, . . . to pass around isn't going to be prevented becasue there's no 3G on standard models.

 

[Gilwen]

Nothing I'd like more than graphics table in a touch tablet but that'll arrive (at a price). The Nintendo XL already has pen input (of a sort) and an almost functional screen size.

As for contracts. How many people actually have an iPhone and an iPhone contract out of the population as a whole. Far more have a mobile from another provider or a portable (which seems to be functional enough for WiFi).

More people seem likely to end up with something like a Google Pad with cheap online shared off their home computer and offline access for walkabout. Carrying all your manuals, diaries, dice, PC Gen, records, . . . to pass around isn't going to be prevented becasue there's no 3G on standard models.

Well to get new service at most carriers you will sign a contract for x amount of time. At ATT the standard is 2 years. With the iPhone a data plan is required for the life of the service and cannot be removed from the service plan. Even if you get a connect card for you laptop there is a 2 year contract. Both phones and connect cards come with the option of a no commitment price but then your are going to be paying for the full cost of the device instead of it being largely discounted or free. Even then the no comitmment price isn't avilable on every model; it's not avilable on the iphone. So to answer your quesiton every iPhone user is on a contract with a data plan that they cannot remove from the service even after the contract period is over unless they terminate the service. Also it is a recent occurance (within the last three years) that carriers have left the wifi features of cell phones that had the feature turned on when the phone was sold to the end user without some sort of data plan.
ATT allowing the iPad to be month to month with no contract which is not really the norm, yet, in this industry. This means Apple is subsdizing ATT and then Apple is passing along those costs to the ppl who buy the 3g enabled ones. The difference in price across the board is $130 for 3G enabled ipads, which is at the very least what apple is paying for the cell device but seeing Apple's pricing for the last decade there is likely a premium being tossed in with that $130.



Gil