I had planned on staying out of the online discussion of the newest member to the Apple family. If it was brought up either in class or I brought it up because of something I was forced to watch in class, well that is a different story. But really, the citizens of zero's and one's don't need another person's discussion on what Apple would love to have you believe is the newest and hottest piece of technology to hit the market since, well, since the internet hit the mass market.
But, mashable recently posted an article that talks about the war that has already broken out between Apple and Amazon. A modern day clash of the titans. (the article if you wish to read it can be found here)
Let's get personal biases out of the way first. I really wanted to like the Apple table computer, but as much as I want to like it.... I can't bring myself to do it.
I could go on about how the name is just... how can I put this nicely... damning to the product. (really hope that somewhere highish up in Apple there is a woman laughing at all the 'oh-so-smart-men who said "naming it IPad will really help it sell to our demographic.") Sorry Apple, your product would have to be ground breaking, fresh, and astounding for Ipad to not work against you. (no matter what experts say)
First, this isn't ground breaking. No matter what Apple is trying to feed you there isn't really anything groundbreaking about it. It's a giant itouch. The keyboard dock makes it slightly more versatile and interesting, but with no usb ports or a stand to put it in to watch movies not interested in it as a computer. No matter how much I like (should be read abso-freaking-lutly LOVE) touch screen and interactive technology it really isn't practical for more than an ebook reader. (or a REALLY expensive desk calendar.)
And it isn't like the technology is new. As a bigger more beefy version of an Itouch (or Iphone if you have a kickin wifi connection and VoIP) there isn't really anything stellar about it. You'll notice that in the intro video they weren't running, say, a web browser, writing a paper in word or an equivalent, and Skyping. And that when they showed a person using it, they were sitting like they were holding a book. For the most common computer usage this is unacceptable. I don't want to have to lean over my lap awkwardly when surfing the web and I dont want to hold it in front of my face like a book either. Same for movies, or typing an email.
And it isn't like Microsoft doesn't have the tech (check out the Microsoft Surface) which has the capability (and the vision) for way cooler things.
In the end, if I was rolling in a little bit ( or a lot of bit) more dough and I wanted a super nice ebook reader ( prefer the hard copies personally, but that is just my nostalgia) that I could use to occasionally surf the web and look up... maybe show times and such, then I might be wiling to spend the 5oo dollars on it.
Right now, I think that it is an over-hyped giant touch that makes a decent ebook reader that will help drive down the prices of ebooks (hey competition in the market is good) and has a horrible name.
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