A rundown of all that is wrong with Apple's latest offering towards world domination, a roundup of what the internet thinks about iPad.
1. iPad is not Green: One e-reader requires the extraction of 33 pounds of minerals, uses 100 kilowatt hours of fossil fuels and resulting in 66 pounds of carbon dioxide.
2. iPad will not save the news industry, only hasten its demise: Ravi Somaiya says 'Ask the music industry how the iPod revolution affected them'.
3. First-generation Apple products are for suckers: Gina Tripani says Apple has made it a habit of making quick price adjustments and upgrading later versions
4. Gadget blog writers are mostly useless: They will write anything that gets them traffic, even the respected blogs like Gizmodo which recently wrote that iPad will change everything, whereas earlier it wrote about 8 things that suck about the iPad
5. Apple will go all out to please bloggers and journalists which give it a favorable review: It will go to lengths to ensure that critical writers are suppressed
6. iPad is bad for the Internet: Wither freedom?
7. iPad is nothing new: Fujitsu had a similar device way back in 2002
8. iPad design is nothing revolutionary: Apart from a fast processor, that is. 80% of the space inside is taken by two large batteries. Fred Wilson says, 'Reading (and watching some video) is how I will use the iPad. It is just not that good for much else.'
9. Typing on iPad is not good: Especially if you like to create long, complex articles.h
10. iPad Destroys Online Creativity: Jeff Jarvis gives his reasons - 1. Poorly designed iPad apps that do not allow commenting and 2. No USB drive - so you can't take in/out data 3. No Camera - so you can't blog pictures
11. iPad takes the control of content out of your hands: You can do whatever you want with your Time magazine in Print but not so with iPad app when you are paying the same price. Dan Gilmor wonders why news people aren't saying anything about it.
12. iPad is not that better than the Kindle: Kindle is better to read outdoors, is far cheaper and has a longer battery life
13. iPad's wifi dependency will cause problems: For example, see here and in these Apple forums
14. iPad does not use Flash: So, people who are used to Flash-based apps and sites, kids for example, will be disappointed
15. The iPad app store is bloated with overpriced, retrograde apps: In fact, iPad applications are more expensive than their iPhone counterparts
16. You have to pay for everything you put into it: So unlike the PC. So unlike Google, Wikipedia and many other free things online. For example, it costs $30 to turn it into a picture frame.
17. USB-charging is cumbersome and time-consuming: In fact, the iPad won't charge at all from the USB port of a PC.
18. There's no multitasking: For example, you can't have your Twitter app open at the same time as your browser .
19. You can't replace the battery: Apple's closed systems fetish knows no bounds.
20. Stick to your Laptop: Especially for the holy trinity of "web browsing, video, email"
21. Netbooks are better than iPad in many aspects: And cheaper too - Video chat via web cam, Run Flash, Play (Flash based) Facebook games, Install any media, Swap batteries, Upgrade things like RAM, Do Programming, Upload photos from a camera via USB, Store more than 64GB of data
22. iPad is very fragile: Being an oversized iPhone doesn't help at all. The aluminium cladding is not solid.
23. Do not buy the iPad just because some game looks nice on it: After all, you won't want to spend the rest of your playing the same overpriced apps again and again. Ignore this Engadget post.
24. The Android version of any e-Reader is worth waiting for: It will be open, cheaper and will conform to the liberating quality of the internet .
25. Reading News on iPad goes against 15+ years of Internet: For example, the story-to-story navigation style of iPad apps, which is completely differently from browser-based net usage, jumping from link to link at will.
26. iPad will lead to more news org busting up: Cory Doctorow says 'iPad is the second coming of the CD-ROM "revolution" in which "content" people proclaimed that they were going to remake media by producing expensive (to make and to buy) products.'
27. Touchscreens will never beat good, old-fashioned keyboard: Nothing beats the keyboard as an input device. Even if they develop touchless touchscreens in future.
28. There are many alternative to the iPad: Gizmodo lists these options - Kindle Ebook Reader, Acer Aspire One 532g Netbook. Lenovo Skylight Smartbook, HP Slate Windows 7 Tablet, Dell Mini 5 Android Tablet, Notion Ink Adam Android Tablet, Spring Design Alex Ebook Reader. Apart from Kindle, all are open systems. You can read whatever you want, share whatever you want and the spirit of the internet is saved eventually.
29. Do not buy any device that takes away your control over your stuff: As Dave Winer says, Buy only what you can modify - 'Buy something that you can pervert in any way you want. Something you can plug anything into. Buy something you can copy all your data out of.' Also read The Maker Manifesto: if you can't open it, you don't own it. Screws not glue. [Via Cory Doctorow]
30. Do not buy iPad unless they are jailbroken: Then, you can do whatever you want with it. No Steve Jobs controlling what you do with you paid big bucks for. IPad is expensive and closed enough to be jailbroken ASAP. Thank god someone did it already.
31. Women may find the iPad name weird: iTampons anyone?
32. Do not make Apple Richer: Apple makes $208 on each $499 iPad. There is nothing cool about a brand that promotes closed systems. Apple is an elitist brand. It charges big money for beautiful things that force users inside walled gardens. It has made a specialty of catering to the wealthy with an image of being cool. Where is the Target for Tech apps? We need beautiful. open things at Netbook prices.
Updates on 7.4.2010
33. Book Reading will change For the worse. Do you want 'movie clips among Jane Austen's paragraphs in future editions of "Pride and Prejudice."'?
34. iPad will lead to faster rise of Cloud Data Storage: Nicholas Carr writes
The iPad manifests a large and rapidly accelerating trend away from local, redundant storage and toward central storage. In fact, I'd bet that if you charted the average disk size of personal computers, including smartphones, netbooks and tablets as well as laptops and desktops, you would discover that in recent years it has shrunk, marking a sea change in the history of personal computing.
Will you trust the Cloud storage providers with all your data?
Would you like to add anything more?
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I can't speak to some of these points, but many are ridiculous. 2. iPad will not save the news industry, only hasten its demise: Ravi Somaiya says 'Ask the music industry how the iPod revolution affected them'. ... so? Why does hurting the news industry mean the iPad is a bad product or is wrong for us? I think iTunes has improved the music industry (though they might not like it). 3. First-generation Apple products are for suckers: Gina Tripani says Apple has made it a habit of making quick price adjustments and upgrading later versions I'm sure there will be updates, but I really doubt there will be a price drop after the iPhone fiasco. Also, ask most people who get a first generation iPhone. I doubt you'll find they were disappointed with the decision. 6. iPad is bad for the Internet: Wither freedom? Apple has done a great job empowering web applications and supporting standards like HTML5. Most of the most interesting stuff these days is happening on the internet, not on closed machines. And the iPad excels at running them. 7. iPad is nothing new: Fujitsu had a similar device way back in 2002 And lots of companies produce hardware like the iPhones. It is all in the software and the ecosystem, and no one else managed to do this until now. And the price point doesn't hurt. 8. iPad design is nothing revolutionary: Apart from a fast processor, that is. 80% of the space inside is taken by two large batteries. Fred Wilson says, 'Reading (and watching some video) is how I will use the iPad. It is just not that good for much else.' SOFTWARE--seriously, Apple's hardware has never been too different from the competition. Though their processors does lead to better battery life at a lower price. 9. Typing on iPad is not good: Especially if you like to create long, complex articles. Yep. Long complex articles are for computers with physical computers. 10. iPad Destroys Online Creativity: Jeff Jarvis gives his reasons - 1. Poorly designed iPad apps that do not allow commenting So don't use the app? The iPad makes using Safari fantastic! 11. iPad takes the control of content out of your hands: You can do whatever you want with your Time magazine in Print but not so with iPad app when you are paying the same price. Dan Gilmor wonders why news people aren't saying anything about it. So don't use the app. That's what the browser is for. Honestly, most of these apps seem pretty crappy, but the websites are still pretty good. And the iPad's browser works wonders. 12. iPad is not that better than the Kindle: Kindle is better to read outdoors, is far cheaper and has a longer battery life For plain text books, maybe. The iPad does a little bit more. And the Kindle DX isn't all that cheap. 14. iPad does not use Flash: So, people who are used to Flash-based apps and sites, kids for example, will be disappointed One of the original developers on flash spoke to this. Apart from battery life issues, flash games and software are really keyboard centric. You can't do mouse-overs or click-drag very easily on a touch interface. There aren't many games or software packages that would work straight with a touch interface. 15. The iPad app store is bloated with overpriced, retrograde apps: In fact, iPad applications are more expensive than their iPhone counterparts The retrograde apps you refer to are the iPhone/iPod apps that would cost the same. The higher priced apps are designed for the iPad. Since you don't have to buy apps, and can get the amazing ones (Omni's, Apple's, etc.) this isn't all that serious. 16. You have to pay for everything you put into it: So unlike the PC. So unlike Google, Wikipedia and many other free things online. For example, it costs $30 to turn it into a picture frame. ... if you buy the app. Alternatively, you just open up the photo app and turn that around. Oh, and the photo app is free. And did I mention Safari and a web browser, which means you can get google, wikipedia, etc. the same as any desktop? 18. There's no multitasking: For example, you can't have your Twitter app open at the same time as your browser . Legit point, though this will probably change with a software update shortly. 19. You can't replace the battery: Apple's closed systems fetish knows no bounds. People don't seem to mind too much with the iPhone. 20. Stick to your Laptop: Especially for the holy trinity of "web browsing, video, email" This isn't a reason why the iPad is wrong, it is just a statement. 21. Netbooks are better than iPad in many aspects: And cheaper too - Video chat via web cam, Run Flash, Play (Flash based) Facebook games, Install any media, Swap batteries, Upgrade things like RAM, Do Programming, Upload photos from a camera via USB, Store more than 64GB of data With crappy keyboards, awful screens, cheap build quality, and forced to use awful operating systems. I used an MSI wind for a while, and it was painful. 22. iPad is very fragile: Being an oversized iPhone doesn't help at all. The aluminium cladding is not solid. I haven't heard these complaints. 23. Do not buy the iPad just because some game looks nice on it: After all, you won't want to spend the rest of your playing the same overpriced apps again and again. Ignore this Engadget post. There is more than one game. I've got about a dozen on my phone, and there is a huge audience for these products. You also haven't really shown why these apps are overpriced--$10 is lower than most computer games. Yea, you can't pirate software. That doesn't mean the things are overpriced. 24. The Android version of any e-Reader is worth waiting for: It will be open, cheaper and will conform to the liberating quality of the internet. ... a device != internet. The iPad can access the internet and all of its 'liberating' qualities. 25. Reading News on iPad goes against 15+ years of Internet: For example, the story-to-story navigation style of iPad apps, which is completely differently from browser-based net usage, jumping from link to link at will. So use the browser! Seriously. A crappy NYT app does not mean the iPad is a bad deice. 26. iPad will lead to more news org busting up: Cory Doctorow says 'iPad is the second coming of the CD-ROM "revolution" in which "content" people proclaimed that they were going to remake media by producing expensive (to make and to buy) products.' Once again, only if you waste your time with the apps that have come out thus far. 27. Touchscreens will never beat good, old-fashioned keyboard: Nothing beats the keyboard as an input device. Even if they develop touchless touchscreens in future. This is ridiculous. You have no idea what kind of interfaces will come along in the future. Direct neural links would probably be better than keyboards. But yes, touch screens are worse for extended typing. The iPad offers an analog interface which is better for som ethings and worse for others. 28. There are many alternative to the iPad: Gizmodo lists these options - Kindle Ebook Reader, Acer Aspire One 532g Netbook. Lenovo Skylight Smartbook, HP Slate Windows 7 Tablet, Dell Mini 5 Android Tablet, Notion Ink Adam Android Tablet, Spring Design Alex Ebook Reader. Apart from Kindle, all are open systems. You can read whatever you want, share whatever you want and the spirit of the internet is saved eventually. "the spirit of the internet"--seriously? 30. Do not buy iPad unless they are jailbroken: Then, you can do whatever you want with it. No Steve Jobs controlling what you do with you paid big bucks for. IPad is expensive and closed enough to be jailbroken ASAP. Thank god someone did it already. It has been. 31. Women may find the iPad name weird: iTampons anyone? This is ridiculous. Wii, anyone? 32. Do not make Apple Richer: Apple makes $208 on each $499 iPad. There is nothing cool about a brand that promotes closed systems. Apple is an elitist brand. It charges big money for beautiful things that force users inside walled gardens. It has made a specialty of catering to the wealthy with an image of being cool. Where is the Target for Tech apps? We need beautiful. open things at Netbook prices. These profit margin analyses have been disproven before. No one really knows Apple's profit margin on these products yet. You should buy based on its value to you, not the profit margin of the company.