Is Apple iPad Actually a Stepping Stone to iSystem ?

Apples new iPad won't let us run apps in the background, diminishing it's usefulness to this audience I suspect (it's a bit big to be "just" a phone).

However, if the end game is actually to create a fully converged browsing tablet, computer and phone (the joined-up thinking approach), then perhaps each element will have to contain some form of "independent yet seamless" communications feature ?

Quote:

...Apple had, and still has, an opportunity to apply system thinking about the way these 3 types of devices (phone, tablet, laptop) could interact and connect with each other in the physical and virtual sense and also extend this through to other elements outside the Apple system. Now that would have been a revolutionary launch context for the iPad.

http://blog.voxygen.co.uk/?p=28

Reply from dibsmft on Jan 29, 2010 - 02:38 PM

I read the item on the Popular Science web site. The new Apple offering did not seem very interesting. I am not sure what on earth I would use it for. It is a step up but perhaps not a big one from the best picture frame that I have but much more expensive. It does not look rugged enough to carry off for the camping holiday... that large screen for one thing. I suppose they will have to offer some sort of a hard case.

Reply from satphoneguy on Jan 30, 2010 - 02:04 PM

for someone who buys an iPad with 3G and carries it around, would that person still keep a 'smartphone?' or will we see a switch back to very small, light and simple voice/texting only devices. i think this is more likely in places like the USA where cellular data is nearly always an all(unlimited) or nothing thing as opposed to europe were it is popular to pay as you go on data or buy small bundles. even for many people who keep a smartphone i could see many turning of the data to compensate for the 3g expense on the iPad.

on the other hand i believe many iPad will never leave a living room. they will become a coffee table fixture. if that becomes the case they need to have multiple user accounts since they will likely be passed around between family members as opposed to a cell phone which is a very single person/single device sort of thing.

Reply from middletn on Feb 02, 2010 - 09:30 PM

Having finally gotten an Iphone 24 hours ago, I absolutley love it, and that's from someone who hates new devices (getting too old to learn new tricks all the time). However, I can see me using the Ipad when I can justify the cost. For me, I spend half my time away from the PC in meetings etc. I would find this an extreamly useful device, replacing the laptop in most cases. I think it will do very well for activities where not alot of data input is required.

regards

Reply from martyndavies on Feb 07, 2010 - 12:01 PM

It looks to me like an interesting convergence device. As an app platform it can call on the extensive library of iPhone apps and games. Because the iPad uses the same SDK as the iPhone/iPod Touch, I suspect that a lot of apps will rapidly get enhanced to use the bigger screen space. The introduction of iBooks is an interesting twist, with Apple bringing several large publishers onboard at the start. I think that people would like to be able to buy books on iTunes, as they do their games, music and video. The iPad is a highly personal and multi-entertainment device, where new content is only a few clicks away. In my mind this is the next step of convenience over what people like Amazon have already put in place. I've been pretty unimpressed by the whole Kindle/eReader experience so far, and I'm prepared to believe that Apple (with their accent on design and user experience) are poised to shake this whole area up. The iPad not that much more expensive than the 10" Kindle, but it does so much more besides. The eReader market is about to have its 'iPhone moment', i.e. the entrenched experts (in the case of phones it was people like Nokia, BlackBerry etc) will have the rug pulled out from under them. To be a really interesting communications device, though, I think we're probably waiting for next years' iPad. We have scant details on the 3G-equipped iPad, it doesn't have a camera (although I think Charlie Brooker pointed out, if it did, it would be staring up our nostrils anyway), and of course it doesn't multi-task. But I think these things will come right in time.

Reply from dibsmft on Feb 07, 2010 - 12:31 PM

This device looks interesting. Powered detachable screen etc. Is it for real?... price looks good.

http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/

Reply from andyk on Feb 07, 2010 - 09:24 PM

There has been some comment on the fact that there's apparently deemed to be only enough space inside for a micro-SIM, or is it for another reason.

The Wikipedia page on micro SIMs has been endlessly revised since this was announced

And on another forum, someone tells me that for people who don't trust themselves to cut their SIM themselves, there will be plug-in adapters available to take the more normal mini SIM size, and this device will be on the outside of the case

I've lost track of which of us was being serious and which was satirically joking.

Reply from satphoneguy on Feb 08, 2010 - 01:31 AM

lately I have been running a small computer shop that sells bargain priced used computers and provides service. I agree with much i read about who the target audience for the iPad might be. when i look at some of my customers who consistently bring me their PC's every 60 to 90 days for either a virus cleanup or more likely a total nuke and reinstall of windows I start to change my traditional thoughts about computers. Many of these users do not even know what I am talking about when I ask what programmes they installed recently. They also show no interest in learning how to protect their computer in the future. they consider it completely hopeless beyond requesting that i do everything I can to install antivirus software that takes care of everything automatically without them having to know as much what the name of the security software is or how to run a scan on their own. I am now convinced that perhaps half or more of computer owners really should not have general purpose computers but rather 'computerized devices' that can get them onto the internet which is anyway the only reason they own a computer in the first place.

how does this relate to the iPad? well i agree in one respect with the people out there who see the iPad as the 'computer for everyone else' a closed but simplified device for accessing internet content and apps from a walled in and protected garden. what i am not sure about is whether the right answer is to also move to a tablet format at the same time. i tend to think what is really needed is an iphone style software suite in a laptop like format. yes i said laptop and not netbook. my experience is that the less experienced computer users very much prefer the largest screen possible on their machines even the portable ones. i also believe a keyboard/trackpad format will make these users more comfortable to give up windows since it would feel like a more natural transition.

perhaps the google chrome based machines will eventually fill this space, and i do hope they at least try machines with screens a bit larger than todays netbooks.

p.s. back to the subject of the iPad. i definitely want one for myself despite the limitations. i was as critical as anyone to the iphone when it came out and believed it to be quite over hyped. but since i have owned one myself i know that it is simply amazing. my biggest question is will i be able to get an iPad and somehow but the microSIM in an adapter to use as data only in my iphone sometimes? i do not use my iphone for voice/text. i have a simple cell phone for that so $30/month for unlimited prepaid without a contract looks real attractive especially if it can be swapped between devices. perhaps even if it is somehow locked down specifically to the iPad there will be a way to tether other devices over wifi.

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