[dB Cooper]

I just bought a Macbook and don't regret it on the basis of anything announced yesterday.  Mine has four times the storage of the largest Pad, twice the screen size, multitasks like a mofo, and more.

As for the Pad: It's cool, and no doubt has its uses, but as others have pointed out, it's basically an oversized touch. It will be successful but the people who buy for fashion-statement type reasons may find themselves thinking "Gee, I shoulda bought the laptop instead" before long.

[maxwalrath]

I'm not making comments on it's usefulness, but there's no arguing that surfing the web, reading, watching tv / movies, and looking at photos on the Touch or i-Phone would be a million times better on a bigger screen. 

I think it'll bring new customers into the market.  The Touch is a bit of a mystery to non-i-users.  The i-phone is only carried on one network, and a shitty one at that.  If this is marketed right, it should just crush the kindle for texts, books, magazines, and newspapers.  And apple products always look cool, so people will see it as a semi-portable flat screen TV. 

[Wind Chaser]

I don't understand all the hoopla around the $500 dollar price point for the entry level unit.  Last year I paid $200 less for a Toshiba Laptop with a dual core processor and real keyboard complete with a camera among many other goodies.

Apple has always embraced a tradition of selling yesterdays hardware at a premium.  Personally, I rather pay less and have better hardware.  Never understood the Apple cult, even though I've owned a number of Macs over the years.   

[Toka]

I don't see how comparisons to laptops are valid as the iPad isn't meant to compete with that market. Its really for the person who carries around a Kindle, iPod, and a laptop (the latter simply for checking e-mail, web surfing, etc) and now they have all of that in one small device...a device with a superior, highly polished interface (and a bigger screen for movies, games, etc). No multi-tasking is a bummer but a minor one given the scope of the device. And of course people will be lining up to buy one and Apple will sell/make millions.

[oneinthepipe]

Apple has always embraced a tradition of selling yesterdays hardware at a premium. 

????

I haven't heard that before, even from die-hard Apple haters.

My impression that Apple's tradition has been selling technology of the future, regardless of the price, such as the Macintosh, Apple laser printers, the Newton, the laptops, the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, the LCD monitors, and the Mac OS.  Undoubtedly, Apple could produce a net book. 

[WGH]

It's official. Now that I've slept on it I'm underwhelmed. I don't see this as a revolutionary device whatsoever in its current iteration.

Brilliant minds think alike:

Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet

[ctviggen]

I don't see how comparisons to laptops are valid as the iPad isn't meant to compete with that market. Its really for the person who carries around a Kindle, iPod, and a laptop (the latter simply for checking e-mail, web surfing, etc)[]

How many of those people are there?  And how many of them carry around all three at the same time? 

I must be behind.  I only have an iPod.  The wife refuses to buy a Kindle, because she can buy used paperbacks for cheap, and give them to someone else when she's done.  You can't do that with a kindle. 

Plus, want to download your emails while reading the book you just bought?  Can't do it. 

And the high end version of this is over $800.  That's insane. 

I really don't see this "pad" having that large of a market. 

[Crimson]

Plus, want to download your emails while reading the book you just bought?  Can't do it. 

Actually, you can.

[zybar]

How many of those people are there?  And how many of them carry around all three at the same time? 

I must be behind.  I only have an iPod.  The wife refuses to buy a Kindle, because she can buy used paperbacks for cheap, and give them to someone else when she's done.  You can't do that with a kindle. 

Plus, want to download your emails while reading the book you just bought?  Can't do it. 

And the high end version of this is over $800.  That's insane. 

I really don't see this "pad" having that large of a market.

The Kindle rocks!

As somebody who travels a lot on business, the Kindle has become as much a necessity as my iPod.

I bet Apple doesn't have any major problems selling the iPad.  Yes, it could have done more, but it will still sell.

George

[mcullinan]

Im a Mac fan being a web designer/ art director, so we have several Macs. We have a Macbook which is great for surfing the web playing videos... This past holiday I picked up a Kindle. All I want it for is reading books.. I probably wont get any Newspaper subscriptions/magazines, but it has a great non reflective paper book like screen and makes flipping pages a lot easier when lying in bed. The interface is a little obtuse, but easy enough. The iPad doesnt really have a place or a need for me, but others may make a diff choice. I would rather it had the actual version of the Mac OS than the iphone OS. Would have made it more like a computer...

[jkelly]

Kinda wished it ran OSX.

Also kind of wished it wasn't called the iPad.

[oneinthepipe]

Also kind of wished it wasn't called the iPad.

Why, does iPad sound hygienic?

[jkelly]

That's a nice way of saying it!

[Wind Chaser]

Mad TV did a skit on the iPad (among other iProducts) back in 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTzhXMbOWHE&feature=related

[maxwalrath]

Also kind of wished it wasn't called the iPad.

Even though I want one, I had the same thought immediately.  Where's the vomiting emoticon?

[lonewolfny42]

Even though I want one, I had the same thought immediately.  Where's the vomiting emoticon?

.....

[oneinthepipe]

Boston University had an entry on their blog this morning that discussed the possibility of having text books on the iPad.

http://www.bu.edu/today/

[Crimson]

Another spoof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4

[K Shep]

The wife refuses to buy a Kindle, because she can buy used paperbacks for cheap, and give them to someone else when she's done.  You can't do that with a kindle. 

And the high end version of this is over $800.  That's insane. 

I really don't see this "pad" having that large of a market.

Sales of the Amazon Kindle may be higher than expected, according to CitiGroup analyst Mark Mahaney, who inferred once again that the e-reader is the Apple iPod of the book world.

 (Credit: Amazon.com) The analyst said Monday that he expects the Kindle to sell about 380,000 units in 2008. The figure is double that of his original sales estimate for the e-reader, and equal to the amount of iPods sold during the first year of release.

Mahaney wrote in a client note that the Kindle may become one of the hottest gifts of holiday season, citing the fact that Kindle is still topping Amazon's best-selling electronics list and customer reviews are positive and abundant.

He wrote that he expects the e-reader to contribute $1 billion in sales by 2010, making up 4 percent of the online retail giant's revenue.

Amazon shares rose almost 10 percent after the Citigroup announcement, closing at $88.09.

The device, which can access more than 150,000 books and hundreds of newspapers and blogs, debuted on Amazon.com in 2007 and was sold out for weeks after its release. It currently is priced at $359.

The iPad will allow you to down load books from the Apple online store.  So the iPad will do what the Kindle does.  Plus you may load photos on the iPad, watch videos while traveling, browse the internet, send and receive email and you may also control iTunes in your listening room.  From $499-$829 I consider the iPad a reasonable price point. 

[ctviggen]

Regardless, neither my wife nor I am going to buy a kindle or any other reader.  We can get used books too cheaply.  Also, I can give a used book to someone else to read.  You really can't do that with a Kindle or an iPad. 

I realize that there are tons of people buying Kindles.  Good for them.  As for me, I refuse to do so.