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Apple Mac's worst kept secret finally revealed

My theory is that they were going with Slate, but Microsoft and HP poisoned the well, so they had to go back to a second choice (and "iPad" sounds like it came from the same level of hell as the original name for the iMac, "MacMan").

iTablet? iSlab?

iCan'tbelieveit'snotbutter?
 
My prejudice favors Mac. I have had probably a dozen Macs and 3 generations of iPod. So I have been hoping for this day for over a year!

At first I didn't like the Mac. I came into work in mid-1984 to find this little plastic thing that claimed to be a computer on the boss' desk. I was laying out the catalog (we were a poetry distribution service), and tracking inventory using Basic programs I had written. I would take printed output of blurbs and such and cut them up and hot wax them onto pages. I looked at the Mac and declared it a useless toy that would never fit in a work environment.

Boy was I wrong!

Within a year I was doing everything on that Mac and the boss had to go get his own. It saved us so much money, it paid for itself.

Every time Apple comes up with another invention, I see these people who make similar brash declarations. All I can say is, only once did I ever doubt the awesomeness of Apple, and I had to eat my words.

You watch. Within a year people will be buying fake PC-based imitations of this and telling us why they are so much better than an iPad. They will declare this in derisive tones, calling iPad users "fanboys", etc. They will deny that Mac was the first, and point to a similar product by ViewSonic 5 years ago. They will complain about some minor item, like the functionality of one 3rd party app and say that it is Apple's fault. And they will be proud of themselves for this.

Happens every time.

I just recommend that people not listen to these so-called forecasters, because they have always been wrong. Apple sold more COMPUTERS last year than it has ever sold in a single year. Not iPhones, not downloads... computers. Chew on that.
 
It still looks like a giant iPhone to me.

Hmmm. A giant mobile communicator. Where have I seen something like that before?

168xtw2.jpg


;)

My theory is that they were going with Slate, but Microsoft and HP poisoned the well, so they had to go back to a second choice (and "iPad" sounds like it came from the same level of hell as the original name for the iMac, "MacMan").

iTablet? iSlab?

iCan'tbelieveit'snotbutter?

iRonically, for anti-piracy purposes, they will need an iPatch. ;)
 
I like it. I'm curious as to Microsoft/HP's product, as I am an avid user of HP and Microsoft products. I do like Apple, though, and am curious as to how this might work. I would find a hundred uses for this, because I'd rather have that than a laptop, when it all boils down to it. It just depends on how cumbersome it would be.
 
I like how this is basically a giant sized iPod Touch. I might have been interested if they were actually releasing this with Mac OSX, but since it's basically a closed platform (figuratively and literally, since there's only a proprietary Apple port), I can't see this being useful as a computer or a reader.

Welp, hopefully this drives the Kindle cost down anyway.
 
^ And there's the big twist for me right there. I want a Kindle. However, the Kindle is way too expensive for me. The Apple iPad is about the same price and has more features and flexibility. It would be nice to see the Kindle pricing cut in half. Then I'd buy a basic Kindle.
 
You watch. Within a year people will be buying fake PC-based imitations of this and telling us why they are so much better than an iPad. They will declare this in derisive tones, calling iPad users "fanboys", etc. They will deny that Mac was the first, and point to a similar product by ViewSonic 5 years ago.
At the risk of being wrong, what has Apple ever done "first?"
Not the personal computer... the GUI... the mouse... the MP3 player... touchscreen phone... tablet...
 
At the risk of being wrong, what has Apple ever done "first?"

To me, Apple was the very first brand to ever give me a boner about one of its products. And it's the crux of Apple strategy: creating want.
 
It still looks like a giant iPhone to me.

Hmmm. A giant mobile communicator. Where have I seen something like that before?

I miss Dom Jolly. :(

I remember the short sketch with father christmas stuck in the chimney, and he got that chimney sweep to unclog it, and just as he bent down to peer up unknowingly, father christmas fell out like a tonne of bricks, and the chimney sweep's reaction was just brilliantly funny. :guffaw:
 
You watch. Within a year people will be buying fake PC-based imitations of this and telling us why they are so much better than an iPad. They will declare this in derisive tones, calling iPad users "fanboys", etc. They will deny that Mac was the first, and point to a similar product by ViewSonic 5 years ago.
At the risk of being wrong, what has Apple ever done "first?"
Not the personal computer... the GUI... the mouse... the MP3 player... touchscreen phone... tablet...

That's exactly my point. People will act like they are claiming to be "first", when they are not. It's a straw man, you see, to argue about a point they aren't even staking claim to.

They make alliances.

Consider Postscript. That was an alliance with Adobe. At the time Adobe was just a font company, but they had this idea called Postscript as a page description language. It revolutionized the business I am in. And Apple put it on all their printers. Before long, you HAD to have a Postscript printer.

It's the same with all your topics. Their PC wasn't the first, but it worked out-of-the-box. It's like saying they didn't invent the telephone. So? They made the phone that is considered the coolest based on sales and polls. etc. etc.

So they didn't invent mp3 players. But they created iTunes, and now that Amazon sells mp3s everyone seems to forget that.

Read enough of PC World Magazine, and you will believe that Apple is comunist, I tell ya. It's positively anti-progress. If we had let Microsoft develop all the products in a competitionless environment, we would still be using DOS.

Mac raises the bar every time. That's why they rock!
 
Well, your Blackberry is not causing other people to drool, though, is it? :evil:

You know what's funny? My wife started out the day telling me not to get caught up in iPad fever. She's a Sys Adm and she's techno savvy, so she pointed out that it is never wise to buy the 1.0 version of anything.

This afternoon she's telling me about when the tax refund comes I can pre-order it, and asking whether I want 3G! She's been reading the press reaction. She's officially bitten! I love it! And her too...
 
So Apple took a laptop, neutered it in every way possible, gave it one of their "cool" "i"-names, and then decided to charge $500 for it.

And the sad thing is? People will lap this up like it's the best thing ever.
 
Mac raises the bar every time. That's why they rock!

The battery on my Blackberry lasts 5.5 days.

How long does the battery on an iPhone last for...?

Wow, you picked a really bad example there because the iPhone was actually Apple's MOST 'bar-raising' product. More than the Mac. More than the iPod. More than anything they'd done.

Smart phones had existed for years, mostly led by your friend there, RIM. And for all those years the development just crawled. Sure, they got smaller and a little bit faster, but the way the devices worked didn't change all that much over a 10 year period.

Then the iPhone came out and within 2 years every smartphone was expected to have:

* Wifi
* Some kind of multitouch screen
* A high DPI screen that can play videos
* An easy-to-use web browser
* A wide selection of applications

These things all existed before, but Apple is who made them all mandatory for anyone wanting to sell a successful smart phone.

THAT'S a revolutionary product. The iPhone didn't invent anything new, but it made these features critical for anyone that followed.

So you shouldn't bring up the iPhone as it's the product that most disproves your point.

- - - -

That said, the iPad is pretty much the opposite side of the spectrum. It's a nice product that a lot of people will enjoy but it's basically the adopted little brother of the iPhone/iPod Touch.

It's like the Mac Mini. It's nice, but not really important in the grand scheme of things.

- - - -

EDIT: But even though it's nothing amazing, of course this device should be special to people like us.

http://twitter.com/levarburton/status/8307245263

Need I say more?
 
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