how many people here own an Ipad

[falcarrion]

Having read today that the Ipad is selling an average of 4.5 million per quarter.
So how many of you own an Ipad?

 

[IronWolf]

I do not own one, but have had the chance to play with a couple. I think they are very neat devices and I can see several uses for them that would make some gaming easier and would love to have one just to make reading PDFs easier as more of my collection becomes PDFs as opposed to actual sourcebooks.

With that said, I went with the do not own one and do not want one option, though more specifically, I do not want one of this generation. First I want to see if this is a passing fad or if these things seems to be around for the long haul. Second, I think Apple (or a competitor) could improve a few things with them to make them a slightly better investment. Third, I am hoping for at least a slight price drop, either in an iPad or competing device that accomplishes the same things for less money.

So definitely keeping an eye on how these tablet devices advance over the next year or so and do not rule out owning one, I just want to see them mature a bit.

 

[Aeolius]

To be fair, the iPad will be more suited for gaming when the iOS 4.2 update is available in November. I can roll dice, draw a map, chat on IRC, and read PDFs with my iPad, but not all at the same time. The update will fix this by enabling multitasking.

And someone needs to devise a VTT for iOS, as well; one that will allow players to use Game Center to locate available players, run an app similar to MapTools, and integrate with a suite of tools such as PCGen and the like.

 

[falcarrion]

I don't think this is a fad, with Apple selling roughly 4.5 million units per quarter.
This is straight from a report by NASDAQ. They also state they beleive sales will reach $9 Billion in total sales next year. with it only being less then a year old the sales are incredable.
I also read somewhere else that there are 30 thousand apps. There are apps from games to medical. With companies rushing to make there own tablets this is only the begining. You will soon see them poping up everywhere. Alot of people once thought home computers was a fad and look at them now.

 

[IronWolf]

I don't think this is a fad, with Apple selling roughly 4.5 million units per quarter.
This is straight from a report by NASDAQ. They also state they beleive sales will reach $9 Billion in total sales next year. with it only being less then a year old the sales are incredable.
I also read somewhere else that there are 30 thousand apps. There are apps from games to medical. With companies rushing to make there own tablets this is only the begining. You will soon see them poping up everywhere. Alot of people once thought home computers was a fad and look at them now.

Netbooks sold 4.8 million the first quarter of this year and they are on the downward trend already. The computing world changes very fast, I'm willing to wait just a bit more to see where it seems like it will stabilize so that I have a device that has some length of support to it.

Plus the iPad has a few things that don't have me quite ready to pry $500 out of my wallet. No USB ports or SD slots. Tied into Apple's ecosystem, etc. Granted they are getting multi-tasking and printing in November, but again - I'm not ready to pry loose of $500 while the platform matures. I already have more than enough computers in various form factors that I can tide myself over to see where this tablet market settles.

As I said before, I do think the tablet in its current form is cool. I just think the next year or so will show a lot of improvements both in Apple's line and as their competitors catch up. So I feel like spending the money now will leave me with a device that is inferior in a year - even if in a year it is another iPad version that made the generation 1 version inferior.

 

[falcarrion]

I don't think the Ipad is perfect. And there is alot I agree with you about. There is an adapter for usb and sd cards you can buy though. But you just can't hook up anything to it and it will work. Even with it's faults it is still a great unit.

It is interesting that netbooks had 4.8 million sales in the first quarter and started declining. While the ipad was released in the second quarter. It could be related but who knows for sure.

My main point was that it is definety not a fad. But I don't blame you at all for waiting or not wishing to purchase one at all.

 

[IronWolf]

I don't think the Ipad is perfect. And there is alot I agree with you about. There is an adapter for usb and sd cards you can buy though. But you just can't hook up anything to it and it will work. Even with it's faults it is still a great unit.

Ah - I didn't know there was an adapter that would let you connect an SD card or USB stick.

It is interesting that netbooks had 4.8 million sales in the first quarter and started declining. While the ipad was released in the second quarter. It could be related but who knows for sure.

I bet it is quite likely. I think an iPad type device can fill the niche of a netbook better than the netbook can in many cases.

My main point was that it is definety not a fad. But I don't blame you at all for waiting or not wishing to purchase one at all.

I will likely end up with one at some point in the future, just waiting for the tablet market to stabilize a bit before I do.

 

[falcarrion]

Ironwolf,
I do have to say it is great to have a discusion with you. I just wish more discusions where like this on this site.

 

[drothgery]

I'm not a big fan of the tablet form factor for anything other than reading books, and pure e-book readers are both cheaper and better at that (at least, for fiction; gaming books or other stuff where layout and color art matters a lot are another matter).

 

[falcarrion]

There are e-reader apps that you can get for the Ipad. There is ibooks app. the Kindle app that lets you read Kindle books. And if I remember right theres a barnes and nobel app. and that is only a few of them.
Now I own a Kindle DX and it doesn't compare to the Ipad. And when I bought it, it wasn't that much cheaper then the Ipad.