First of all, it looks great, and the iPhone interface on an eBook device is very cool.
But....
It doesn't have a display that can be viewed well outdoors (as far as I can tell). Color and animation are great, and probably necessary to allow the flexibility of the device. But without an eInk display of some type, the usefulness of this device as an actual e-book reader diminishes drastically.
The iPhone is useful because, beneath all the glitz, it's still a cellphone, and EVERYONE needs a cell phone to carry around. With the iPhone, you get a cellphone, camera, music player, web browser, and etc. etc. all in a device that fits in your pocket. It's a cell phone! You can carry it anywhere!
The iPod is an advanced music player, with many cool features. You can listen to music while jogging, sitting on the train, or walking the beach. And... you can carry it anywhere!
For an ebook reader, if you're carrying it around with you, you're probably going to be carrying it outdoors. However, without a screen that can be easily viewed in sunlight, the practicality diminishes drastically. If I'm laying out at the beach, the iPad sounds like an expensive paperweight in those circumstances. If I have to read a book in ideal lighting conditions, I might as well buy a regular hardcover book and turn the bedroom light on. Much cheaper.
The presumed primary function of this device, an "ebook reader," is thus diminished.
For games: still no built-in controller.
Without a built-in cell phone, the iPad is in a weird position. The iPhone already apparently has much the same capabilities in portable form, albeit with a small screen. The iPad DOESN'T have a cell phone built-in. Will people outside of Apple loyalists be gung-ho about this thing? After all, reading is something most people can do without a high-tech device, and do it much cheaper. Figure in a worldwide recession, and it becomes hard for the average person to justify the price for a fancy "book."
Apple needs a true killer app for this thing to really catch fire. It could be VERY CHEAP newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Without cell phone or camera built-in, it doesn't sound much more practical than a tablet PC, as cool as it is as a toy.
I think that the iPad will be a reasonable success, only because Apple has developed a cult following. But this product looks VERY vulnerable to competition. ebook readers with Android OS and a color eInk display could be very dangerous to the iPad. The iPhone and iPod were (and still are) state-of-the-art products, but this thing seems more like an iPod with a big screen!
First of all, it looks great, and the iPhone interface on an eBook device is very cool.
But....
It doesn't have a display that can be viewed well outdoors (as far as I can tell). Color and animation are great, and probably necessary to allow the flexibility of the device. But without an eInk display of some type, the usefulness of this device as an actual e-book reader diminishes drastically.
The iPhone is useful because, beneath all the glitz, it's still a cellphone, and EVERYONE needs a cell phone to carry around. With the iPhone, you get a cellphone, camera, music player, web browser, and etc. etc. all in a device that fits in your pocket. It's a cell phone! You can carry it anywhere!
The iPod is an advanced music player, with many cool features. You can listen to music while jogging, sitting on the train, or walking the beach. And... you can carry it anywhere!
For an ebook reader, if you're carrying it around with you, you're probably going to be carrying it outdoors. However, without a screen that can be easily viewed in sunlight, the practicality diminishes drastically. If I'm laying out at the beach, the iPad sounds like an expensive paperweight in those circumstances. If I have to read a book in ideal lighting conditions, I might as well buy a regular hardcover book and turn the bedroom light on. Much cheaper.
The presumed primary function of this device, an "ebook reader," is thus diminished.
For games: still no built-in controller.
Without a built-in cell phone, the iPad is in a weird position. The iPhone already apparently has much the same capabilities in portable form, albeit with a small screen. The iPad DOESN'T have a cell phone built-in. Will people outside of Apple loyalists be gung-ho about this thing? After all, reading is something most people can do without a high-tech device, and do it much cheaper. Figure in a worldwide recession, and it becomes hard for the average person to justify the price for a fancy "book."
Apple needs a true killer app for this thing to really catch fire. It could be VERY CHEAP newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Without cell phone or camera built-in, it doesn't sound much more practical than a tablet PC, as cool as it is as a toy.
I think that the iPad will be a reasonable success, only because Apple has developed a cult following. But this product looks VERY vulnerable to competition. ebook readers with Android OS and a color eInk display could be very dangerous to the iPad. The iPhone and iPod were (and still are) state-of-the-art products, but this thing seems more like an iPod with a big screen!
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