5 ms·

It's a very funny bubble to watch. I just can't see it going mainstream.

by axod 17y ago

ZeroGravitas 17y ago
Apple's move seems to be based partly on the success of the iPhone but partly on the fact that they can't make a cheap, intel netbook without destroying their brand values, and can't make an ARM netbook without breaking compatability. (The latter applies to Microsoft too). The fact that you can buy an external keyboard (a very un-Apple move) suggests they'd have shipped a conventional laptop form factor if they could get away with it. I'm hoping the Apple ARM tablet leads to Android tablets which will then open the door for those ARM netbooks we've been promised for the last couple of years.
- Perceval 17y ago
  >...they'd have shipped a conventional laptop form factor if they could get away with it. One can imagine some combination of Apple's old 12" Titanium PowerBook and the new MacBook Air into a MacBook Air Nano. Still, it's not clear how attractive that kind of form factor would be as a netbook offering.
- jodrellblank 17y ago
  > The fact that you can buy an external keyboard (a very un-Apple move) So you buy a £50 Apple bluetooth keyboard to connect to your $500 iPad so you can use the $10 iWork suite to do less than you could on your $1x00 Apple laptop? Sounds like a very Apple move.
- jsz0 17y ago
  ARM netbooks have an uphill battle. When most people see something that looks like a computer they expect it to run Windows.
anonjon 17y ago
The strangest thing for me is that I'd love to have a touch screen as my desktop monitor or as a replacement/augment to my keyboard and mouse (I like the clickieness/feel of my keyboard for touch typing, however). That would be totally killer, and definitely useful from a UI perspective... But no one is interested in offering me this. The focus seems to be on mass-market 'consumer electronics'... apple and google and such are trying to make big bucks with 'the next ipod/iphone etc.' Which, while an interesting and fun application of the technology (possibly profitable), might not be the most pragmatic application of it. I guess the example would be if Apple had come out with a version of OS X that was designed to be used with a touchscreen monitor, and then seriously marketed it as an improvement/innovation over windows. I mean, right now it seems that there is little real innovation within the iPad as a product. It is a gigantic iPod touch. It may very well be a beautiful piece of hardware, and useful to a certain demographic, but I can't help but feel it isn't really the big step forward it has been marketed as. I think from a hardware perspective an analogous product might be the Sega Nomad. (Although from a marketing perspective there is no analogy there).
mattmanser 17y ago
I totally can. Lounging watching TV, pick up the tablet from your coffee table, check out facebook, see what's on at cinema, check latest score on the tablet, pop it back down again? Quick check of email, only need to write back a couple of lines, not at work after all. Much easier to use than red button on tv. Much better than a notebook or laptop. Much less intrusive than them too. I think they'll turn out to be totally handy, laptops and desktops will start gathering dust until people who don't need to write articles or code for a living wonder why bother buying a new one?
- axod 17y ago
  >> " Lounging watching TV, pick up the tablet from your coffee table, check out facebook, see what's on at cinema, check latest score on the tablet, pop it back down again? Quick check of email, only need to write back a couple of lines, not at work after all." This is how most people use a laptop/netbook. I'm with you on TV. No one wants to use their TV for internet/computing.
- jamesbritt 17y ago
  This is how I use my g1. Check some sites, answer mail, make some notes to myself.
- hyperbovine 17y ago
  My iPod can do every one of those things you mentioned at a fraction of the weight, size, and cost. Why would I buy a tablet? This was exactly my point--tablets occupy a gray area between laptops and iPhones and the jury is still out on whether there is any value there.

It's a very funny bubble to watch. I just can't see it going mainstream.

by axod 17y ago

It's a very funny bubble to watch. I just can't see it going mainstream.

Apple's move seems to be based partly on the success of the iPhone but partly on the fact that they can't make a cheap, intel netbook without destroying their brand values, and can't make an ARM netbook without breaking compatability. (The latter applies to Microsoft too). The fact that you can buy an external keyboard (a very un-Apple move) suggests they'd have shipped a conventional laptop form factor if they could get away with it. I'm hoping the Apple ARM tablet leads to Android tablets which will then open the door for those ARM netbooks we've been promised for the last couple of years.

Perceval 17y ago
>...they'd have shipped a conventional laptop form factor if they could get away with it. One can imagine some combination of Apple's old 12" Titanium PowerBook and the new MacBook Air into a MacBook Air Nano. Still, it's not clear how attractive that kind of form factor would be as a netbook offering.
jodrellblank 17y ago
> The fact that you can buy an external keyboard (a very un-Apple move) So you buy a £50 Apple bluetooth keyboard to connect to your $500 iPad so you can use the $10 iWork suite to do less than you could on your $1x00 Apple laptop? Sounds like a very Apple move.
jsz0 17y ago
ARM netbooks have an uphill battle. When most people see something that looks like a computer they expect it to run Windows.

anonjon 17y ago

The strangest thing for me is that I'd love to have a touch screen as my desktop monitor or as a replacement/augment to my keyboard and mouse (I like the clickieness/feel of my keyboard for touch typing, however). That would be totally killer, and definitely useful from a UI perspective... But no one is interested in offering me this. The focus seems to be on mass-market 'consumer electronics'... apple and google and such are trying to make big bucks with 'the next ipod/iphone etc.' Which, while an interesting and fun application of the technology (possibly profitable), might not be the most pragmatic application of it. I guess the example would be if Apple had come out with a version of OS X that was designed to be used with a touchscreen monitor, and then seriously marketed it as an improvement/innovation over windows. I mean, right now it seems that there is little real innovation within the iPad as a product. It is a gigantic iPod touch. It may very well be a beautiful piece of hardware, and useful to a certain demographic, but I can't help but feel it isn't really the big step forward it has been marketed as. I think from a hardware perspective an analogous product might be the Sega Nomad. (Although from a marketing perspective there is no analogy there).

mattmanser 17y ago

I totally can. Lounging watching TV, pick up the tablet from your coffee table, check out facebook, see what's on at cinema, check latest score on the tablet, pop it back down again? Quick check of email, only need to write back a couple of lines, not at work after all. Much easier to use than red button on tv. Much better than a notebook or laptop. Much less intrusive than them too. I think they'll turn out to be totally handy, laptops and desktops will start gathering dust until people who don't need to write articles or code for a living wonder why bother buying a new one?

axod 17y ago
>> " Lounging watching TV, pick up the tablet from your coffee table, check out facebook, see what's on at cinema, check latest score on the tablet, pop it back down again? Quick check of email, only need to write back a couple of lines, not at work after all." This is how most people use a laptop/netbook. I'm with you on TV. No one wants to use their TV for internet/computing.
jamesbritt 17y ago
This is how I use my g1. Check some sites, answer mail, make some notes to myself.
hyperbovine 17y ago
My iPod can do every one of those things you mentioned at a fraction of the weight, size, and cost. Why would I buy a tablet? This was exactly my point--tablets occupy a gray area between laptops and iPhones and the jury is still out on whether there is any value there.