Comments on: If you like the idea of the iPad but not the iPad… http://blog.driverguide.com/?p=187 Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:03:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Quinxy http://blog.driverguide.com/?p=187&cpage=1#comment-25 Quinxy Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:52:49 +0000 http://blog.driverguide.com/?p=187#comment-25 Great points. I've said it elsewhere, perhaps better than now, but the idea behind the points you highlight is my primary complaint with Apple... Apple [thinks they] knows best; and they are giving you the best [so it would be illogical to allow you to modify or alter their as-delivered product]. They are effectively saying through their product design and OS restrictions: <ol> <li>We know you want AT&T.</li> <li>We know you won't want to visit any of the dozens of Flash sites you visit on your desktop, to watch movies, have a richer experience, etc. Just wait for those sites to be compatible with us and HTML 5 and...</li> <li>We know you'll be near a power supply most of the day so you won't want to have a second battery.</li> <li>We know you won't keep this more than a year or two, so when the battery dies you'll just buy our next device.</li> <li>We know you only like to do one thing at a time. Unless that other thing is listen to music or make a call.</li> <li>We know the iPad is too big for you to want to take a picture with it, or have you to video conferencing with it.</li> <li>We know you'll only want to play your music with our iPod player/interface.</li> <li>We know you won't have any audio/video with codecs other than the ones we natively support.</li> <li>We know you won't want to use any other mail readers but ours.</li> <li>We know...</li> </ol> It's the arrogance that bothers me... I detest many things about Windows and Pocket PC (and Microsoft)... but by god they are infinitely and easily customizable, and can be made to do everything I want to do without violating anyone's terms of use/service/etc. There is a price you pay; I missed about 20% of my calls with my last Pocket PC phone because it would hang, crash, etc. but at least it could do absolutely everything in those minutes it was running. ;) And I think the price may just be worth it (especially with the improvements in Windows Mobile and Windows 7). Great points. I’ve said it elsewhere, perhaps better than now, but the idea behind the points you highlight is my primary complaint with Apple… Apple [thinks they] knows best; and they are giving you the best [so it would be illogical to allow you to modify or alter their as-delivered product].

They are effectively saying through their product design and OS restrictions:

  1. We know you want AT&T.
  2. We know you won’t want to visit any of the dozens of Flash sites you visit on your desktop, to watch movies, have a richer experience, etc. Just wait for those sites to be compatible with us and HTML 5 and…
  3. We know you’ll be near a power supply most of the day so you won’t want to have a second battery.
  4. We know you won’t keep this more than a year or two, so when the battery dies you’ll just buy our next device.
  5. We know you only like to do one thing at a time. Unless that other thing is listen to music or make a call.
  6. We know the iPad is too big for you to want to take a picture with it, or have you to video conferencing with it.
  7. We know you’ll only want to play your music with our iPod player/interface.
  8. We know you won’t have any audio/video with codecs other than the ones we natively support.
  9. We know you won’t want to use any other mail readers but ours.
  10. We know…

It’s the arrogance that bothers me… I detest many things about Windows and Pocket PC (and Microsoft)… but by god they are infinitely and easily customizable, and can be made to do everything I want to do without violating anyone’s terms of use/service/etc. There is a price you pay; I missed about 20% of my calls with my last Pocket PC phone because it would hang, crash, etc. but at least it could do absolutely everything in those minutes it was running. ;) And I think the price may just be worth it (especially with the improvements in Windows Mobile and Windows 7).

]]> By: Gary http://blog.driverguide.com/?p=187&cpage=1#comment-24 Gary Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:22:25 +0000 http://blog.driverguide.com/?p=187#comment-24 I agree with you. I can't see the future, but I have the feeling the iPad is going to primarily appeal to the hardcore Apple fans. I don't think it's going to be a massive breakthrough into the mass market. Granted, the iPhone made a huge splash, but it's a phone. It's a whole different class. While I feel a little silly actually saying this, we all need phones. We don't all need tablets. We have options in the form of laptops, netbooks, and the larger tablet PC's. But what I feel(And I am aware that this is just my opinion) is really going to hurt it are things like a non-replaceable battery(I absolutely love my iTouch, but it irritates me to no end being unable to change my own battery), no multitasking(The iTouch and Iphone can't do that either, but that really doesn't affect me personally, and I can see it being a big issue in something that is intended to at least partially replace the PC), Apple's heavy hand in terms of software development, no browser plugins, and no Flash. And I know someone will come in and say that Flash is just a disaster in terms of security, bugs, and whatnot. But let's face it. Flash is EVERYWHERE on the net. You absolutely cannot dispute it's dominance out there, and it's not going away anytime soon. Besides the non-user servicable battery, it's my biggest complaint concerning my iTouch. All things considered, I'd much rather have the Blade. While it is probably going to be more expensive than the iPad, it delivers much more of what I want. So, in effect, it's a better price. I can write my own software. I can multitask. I have flash and plugins. I can change my battery. And heck, since it's Win7, I can have iTunes as well. But again, that's only my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions. Opinions are like b-holes. Everyone has one, and they all stink. I can't see the future, so for all I know the iPad could be a massive hit. Apple has been very successful, and make a great product. But they have also had their share of stinkers over the years. The Lisa and the Newton are the first ones that come to mind. I just don't see it breaking very far out of the hardcore apple fan market. Not when there are products like these that will appeal to a far greater general audience. Maybe if the iPad was significantly less expensive, but that's not going to happen. And that's the primary reason I have no desire to own a Mac. Like I said, I freely admit that Apple makes a great product. More often than not, their stuff is of a much higher quality than any comparable product on the market. But not so much so to be worth the higher than premium price that comes with it. Being a long time system builder, I can put together twice the machine for half the price. I agree with you. I can’t see the future, but I have the feeling the iPad is going to primarily appeal to the hardcore Apple fans. I don’t think it’s going to be a massive breakthrough into the mass market. Granted, the iPhone made a huge splash, but it’s a phone. It’s a whole different class. While I feel a little silly actually saying this, we all need phones. We don’t all need tablets. We have options in the form of laptops, netbooks, and the larger tablet PC’s.

But what I feel(And I am aware that this is just my opinion) is really going to hurt it are things like a non-replaceable battery(I absolutely love my iTouch, but it irritates me to no end being unable to change my own battery), no multitasking(The iTouch and Iphone can’t do that either, but that really doesn’t affect me personally, and I can see it being a big issue in something that is intended to at least partially replace the PC), Apple’s heavy hand in terms of software development, no browser plugins, and no Flash.

And I know someone will come in and say that Flash is just a disaster in terms of security, bugs, and whatnot. But let’s face it. Flash is EVERYWHERE on the net. You absolutely cannot dispute it’s dominance out there, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Besides the non-user servicable battery, it’s my biggest complaint concerning my iTouch.

All things considered, I’d much rather have the Blade. While it is probably going to be more expensive than the iPad, it delivers much more of what I want. So, in effect, it’s a better price. I can write my own software. I can multitask. I have flash and plugins. I can change my battery. And heck, since it’s Win7, I can have iTunes as well.

But again, that’s only my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions. Opinions are like b-holes. Everyone has one, and they all stink. I can’t see the future, so for all I know the iPad could be a massive hit. Apple has been very successful, and make a great product. But they have also had their share of stinkers over the years. The Lisa and the Newton are the first ones that come to mind. I just don’t see it breaking very far out of the hardcore apple fan market. Not when there are products like these that will appeal to a far greater general audience.

Maybe if the iPad was significantly less expensive, but that’s not going to happen. And that’s the primary reason I have no desire to own a Mac. Like I said, I freely admit that Apple makes a great product. More often than not, their stuff is of a much higher quality than any comparable product on the market. But not so much so to be worth the higher than premium price that comes with it. Being a long time system builder, I can put together twice the machine for half the price.

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