6 ms·

lack of front facing/any camera mystifies me

eli 17y ago
Well, you'd look ridiculous trying to point the thing at someone to take a picture. And the truth is that hardly anyone really wants videochat.
- lliiffee 17y ago
  In my experience, people want videochat to look at their grandchildren.
  - roc 17y ago
    The question is: are there a lot of them itching to spend several hundred dollars to do that via a wireless picture-frame in their lap? In my experience those people are reasonably well served by sitting down at a PC with a webcam.
    - lliiffee 17y ago
      I agree. I think that the main impact of no-camera-on-iPad might be that fewer people use it as their only computer. (This might be by design.)
    - ZeroGravitas 17y ago
      You can of course see your grandchildren via the iPad if they've got a laptop or desktop camera, it's the person with the iPad that won't be seen.
- run4yourlives 17y ago
  Wait for ver2
- cglee 17y ago
  And I was thinking of buying this for my mom (who's never used a computer in her life) so we could videochat.
  - eli 17y ago
    There are several cell phones with forward-facing camera. I think Nokia's internet tablet has one too. You just don't hear much about them because, well, video conferencing is far less fun than it sounds.
mcav 17y ago
Someone can make an accessory webcam.
- blasdel 17y ago
  Bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth, and while Apple has a program for approving attached accessories, only a handful have made it to the public: Apple strangled a lot of products in their cribs.
- frankus 17y ago
  Yup, the device is designed to have "no particular orientation", so the dock connector can be on top. I wouldn't be surprised to see a dock-connector iSight at some point.
jared314 17y ago
There are environments that limit or disallow cameras on devices, e.g., hospitals.
- bdmac97 17y ago
  And yet every other device they make (basically) has one...
Kilimanjaro 17y ago
iPad 2.0 You have to leave some features for the next release.
jsz0 17y ago
I think a front facing camera was probably just too awkward to use. If you're sitting with your legs crossed resting the tablet on your knee a front facing camera isn't going to be showing your face. People will get a good look at your shirt though. If you have it laying down at a usable angle on a desk (say 30 degrees inclined) you're going to get a shot of the celling. I imagine this is something you'd see in the form of a third party accessory with a movable camera.

eli 17y ago

Well, you'd look ridiculous trying to point the thing at someone to take a picture. And the truth is that hardly anyone really wants videochat.

lliiffee 17y ago
In my experience, people want videochat to look at their grandchildren.
- roc 17y ago
  The question is: are there a lot of them itching to spend several hundred dollars to do that via a wireless picture-frame in their lap? In my experience those people are reasonably well served by sitting down at a PC with a webcam.
  - lliiffee 17y ago
    I agree. I think that the main impact of no-camera-on-iPad might be that fewer people use it as their only computer. (This might be by design.)
  - ZeroGravitas 17y ago
    You can of course see your grandchildren via the iPad if they've got a laptop or desktop camera, it's the person with the iPad that won't be seen.
run4yourlives 17y ago
Wait for ver2
cglee 17y ago
And I was thinking of buying this for my mom (who's never used a computer in her life) so we could videochat.
- eli 17y ago
  There are several cell phones with forward-facing camera. I think Nokia's internet tablet has one too. You just don't hear much about them because, well, video conferencing is far less fun than it sounds.

mcav 17y ago

Someone can make an accessory webcam.

blasdel 17y ago
Bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth, and while Apple has a program for approving attached accessories, only a handful have made it to the public: Apple strangled a lot of products in their cribs.
frankus 17y ago
Yup, the device is designed to have "no particular orientation", so the dock connector can be on top. I wouldn't be surprised to see a dock-connector iSight at some point.

jared314 17y ago

There are environments that limit or disallow cameras on devices, e.g., hospitals.

bdmac97 17y ago
And yet every other device they make (basically) has one...

Kilimanjaro 17y ago

iPad 2.0 You have to leave some features for the next release.

jsz0 17y ago

I think a front facing camera was probably just too awkward to use. If you're sitting with your legs crossed resting the tablet on your knee a front facing camera isn't going to be showing your face. People will get a good look at your shirt though. If you have it laying down at a usable angle on a desk (say 30 degrees inclined) you're going to get a shot of the celling. I imagine this is something you'd see in the form of a third party accessory with a movable camera.