woohoo.

I am so fucking sick of reading about the goddam iPad. If I wanted a tablet computer, I would buy one. There are dozens on the market. They've been on the market for over a decade.

I get where you'd use one for business applications.
What's the selling point for personal use?
Touch screen laptop? Doesn't make sense due to the normal size of a laptop screen.
A touch screen desktop monitor makes sense, because you can get a huge, 28 inch wide screen (and more visual real estate)
Here's hoping more fanboi monkeys blow more of the money on this shit.

This doesn't sound like a good idea at all.

The kicker here is that Apple has never confirmed (nor denied) that they are working on a tablet. These rumors have circulated for years but really took off once they released the phone. I hope to god they don't announce anything about it this month so the techno idiot fanbois will shit another load of bricks, but on the other hand I hope they do announce it so they can make this failure official. I'm really just sick of reading about it and would love for it to go away once and for all.

Yes, a tablet computer would be great for business use. They're pretty popular in the medical field. Problem is PCs already dominate this market.

It's one thing to make a dent in the phone market on the wings of fart apps, but I don't see software developers falling all over themselves to port their professional software to this and I certainly don't see the heads of IT departments willingly incorporating mroe macs onto their networks just so everybody can look cool. Trust me, every time I tell the help desk to tell them Lotus Notes ate my email, or my Mac just forgets what the printer IP addresses are, or I can't open the folder I JUST MADE on the server I can hear them cussing Steve Jobs name.

As for personal use, it's no more than just a toy. Jobs is gonna charge $1800 for a solid aluminum web browser. Have fun with all that.

It's too big of a pain in the ass to really dig into developing for Apple.
You * have* to have a Mac to even get the IDE (Xcode).
Then, you gotta know Objective C. NOONE besides Apple uses that shit.
(to compare them to MS, with MS's API, you can use C#, VB, versions of python and ruby, a version of Java, and C++)
So, no, except for some boutique places that are already sold on Apple (I assume those exist) and already have someone who knows Objective C, the iSlate won't make a big splash.

That's a fascinating story.

tell it again.

I wonder if Unca Wally will let me sit in his lap.

Look at the Apple's past products:

iPod the undisputed mp3 of the masses

iPhone industry leader for smart phones

I think the same will be said of the iSlate when it comes to ereader/netbook market.

If they get the price point right, I think this will be another huge win for Apple.

sooooooo.... according to you, apple has only released market changing products. okay.

is that what i said?

any points you ever make are those of a fanboi. Never from a technological or a needs filled point of view.

the iPod got the mp3 player right.
the iPhone pointed people in the right direction for smartphones.
I can grant you both of those points.
I'll even throw in that they did somethings with OSX to make the os better for laptops (to some degree)

But what need does the iSlate fill?
Do people at home need something they can write on? Or draw on? If they did need that, would they be willing to spend upwards of 2 grand on it?
I'm not saying the touch screen whizbang factor won't be high, but will people, these days, be willing to spend a premium amount for that functionality?
I say no.

By leaving off the Newton? By leaving off that cube computer thingy? How about the ROKR? All the early iMacs? every single mouse Apple has ever created? How about the original Mac OS? Did you ever work on it? It was a buggy piece of shit and made my life a living hell for years.

By only naming the 2 most popular products and basing your opinion of the iPad's success solely on that, yeah, that's kinda what you said.

it'd be akin to saying Microsoft rocks because of Windows 7 or Office (say what you will, Office 2003 was good).
Let's also remember Bob, the Xbox 360 RROD fiasco, and the versions of Windows Mobile that quite frankly have blown goats.

you kill me man.

Why didn't you mention the Lisa computer also? The apple newton came out in 1993? You are going to call the ROKR an apple product and not a motorola product?

So the original Mac OS was a buggy piece of shit, how about the original windows OS?

I understand that you hate all things apple, I get it I really do.

Gam may hate Apple, but for me personally, I can't take the smug Apple fans, like they had anything to do with the design, programming, or marketing of all things Apple.

Ok, you saved up and bought yourself an iPod. Bully for you. (you in general, not you specifically, Rockme)

how do you consider me a fanboy?

I think the iSlate is going to fill the ebook reader/netbook/ cheap offering from apple. That was the reason I mentioned the iPod and iPhone because I see the markets for ereaders the same mp3 and smart phone market at the time of their release, ie. a new market, with a couple competitors.

Again I think if they make the price comparable to the high end netbook market they have a possible winner. One of the rumors I have heard is that the iSlate may be offered thru AT&T like a phone. 2yr contract and $500 for the product, if that is the case it makes the iSlate even more interesting.

I may be overdoing it calling you a fanboi. You're not as obnoxious as I've heard and seen.
(this chick iJustine makes me absolutely want to puke)

if they make it in the area of a NetBook, then yes, that's interesting.
If the put it out as another MacBook priced item, then what I said stands.

Why are you bringing up Microsoft? Stay focused.

Do you understand what an ebook reader is? If you did you would know that it doesn't have an LCD screen, but an e-ink screen. Unless this iPad has an e-ink screen it will NOT be considered an ebook reader.

The only way the iPad will be considered a valid netbook replacement is if it has a physical keyboard. The purpose behind netbooks is to view the web and answer email. If you're typing that much you have to have a physical keyboard, period.

Their best target market would be in the over sized PMP area. check www.archos.com to see the competition. That puts it in the category of T-O-Y. I'm sure it will be a nice, super thin, very aesthetic solid aluminum toy, but a toy none the less. Definitely not a game changer.

oh i forgot, you and your love affair with a physical keyboard, that is why you don't consider the iPhone a smart phone because it doesn't have a physical keyboard.

serious question did steve jobs rape your mom or something?

You win.