As Windoze fanboys, many of you technophiles(or wannabes) are obsessed with hardware, specifications, buttons ,features and options....more it seems, is always better, at the expense of simplicity, user-friendliness, purpose, etc...and of course thats ok, cause as nerds with nothing better to do, it gives you the feeling of "satisfaction" to untangle the product to get it to do what it should have been able to do out of the box.

So for the Windoze/PC fanboys to understand something minimalist, simple, streamlined, optimized-for-purpose is unimaginable and incomprehensible.

Dont use a Prius for off-roading, or a spoon to cut your steak, or a chainsaw as a toothpick or a butter-knife to chop firewood. Get a clue about what these appliances were designed for to begin with, instead of just wasting your time with them.

I'm not going to claim I know how it iPad will do (if I really knew I'd be putting some money on betting for or against AAPL) but it's nice to see that all the other gurus are spending their time on here slagging off Apple.
How many of you have even been in the same room as an iPad? No? Noone? Same city maybe? Continent...

One use this device (or one like it) device may help usher in is the true paperless office.

If this thing only had more local storage, I could totally see executives buying it in droves.

our execs routinely get 20-30 or more pdf reports daily, at 3-4mb each.

if it makes reading and viewing these docs easy, it may have a market in corporate offices.

As an unashamedly massive hater of all things mac, this whole saga has really given me a laugh. Thank you Apple!

To my mind, Apple is successful because of:

a) effective marketing - they have managed to become fashionable
b)taking other companies' good product concepts and simplifying them for the mass market. Hence the iphone - a smartphone that your Nan can use.

This latest product, however, has all of the hype but none of the substance of the phone/pod/mac. Basically it's an overpriced gimmick; it'd be a fun toy for £100, but is a complete joke for £300+. Sadly, lots of people will want one anyway because of the "shiny shiny" factor and the easy to remember name.

"given many people spend their entire working day in front of a backlit lcd screen reading text, i think this "you need e-ink for reading ebooks" is a bit wide of the mark."

Not at all. Reading websites, and program code and such is quite different from reading a book.
Reading a book on an lcd screen strains the eyes, reading it on an e-book reader with e-ink doesn't.

I'll pass.

What niche is supposed to fill? None, ok.

I've been looking for a proper e-paper pdf reader and wifi web browser unit for a few months and I've been waiting for some other products to come out. I was going to use it to read my morning news, PDF magazines, e-books, and lookup facts for reference online so it could free me from sitting at a desk for hours. I don't need it for mp3's or games. I could read on my couch, or backyard, the train, etc.
I wanted something with a touch screen, wifi web browsing, and PDF support. Colour was a wish, but I didn't think I'd be able to afford one if it was available. Size is a factor as some are just too small and I was looking for something that was around letter size.

The iPad has pretty much ended my search. I notice there's a lot of haters here, but if you don't need an e-book reader or a giant iTouch to play games then this isn't important to you. Personally, I have a use I can't believe my luck. I was actually looking forward to getting the B&N Nook and hacking Android to browse the Internet. Who the hell cares about B&W e-paper now when this is available.

no, thought not.

given many people spend their entire working day in front of a backlit lcd screen reading text, i think this "you need e-ink for reading ebooks" is a bit wide of the mark.

It's a pretty nifty device. It's just that the market for it is very hazy.

If you only want an eBook reader, then buy an eBook reader. This is clearly vastly more than that. If you want a digital photo frame, then buy a digital photo frame (have fun finding one with an IPS display).

The User Interface is what will give the iPad at least a year's head start over their competitors - even those using Android. The App Store, iBookstore and iTunes Store are other major benefits. iWork is a major benefit, and probably jumps in as the best mobile office software available.

I hope it can tether via Bluetooth to a mobile phone for those of us who already have such contracts.

The 1GHz CPU is enough, especially as the "Apple A4" SoC will surely include hardware acceleration for video and maybe more. The CPU alone is probably competitive with the 800MHz Atoms that Intel offer for this type of device.

Regardless, I'll get one of these if I am to travel anywhere. Picking up a local SIM for data is a great feature, no contracts. A version two should fix all the problems with the first one (no SD slot?! no USB? No HDMI dock? etc). A few books - great, more room for duty free before I hit the luggage limit!

Finally, $499 for an Apple product like this isn't too bad, especially given the price predictions ($1000, up to $1800!).

Crazy and utterly pointless when you can get a 3g equipped EEE with Win7 on it for over £100 cheaper. And the advantages of full multitaking, proper browsing with every bell and whistle wanted, and ability to read ever ebook format going not just those Apple are trying to sell capture the market with.

Or better still, buy the HP Slate, and use it to activate the iSanitary since it runs a proper OS on it and will be able to run iTunes haha.

lets look at it this way.
if the apple faithfull buy this thing in the droves we all expect them to, maybe with the touch screens on most phones thesedays, maybe we will see an eventual shift in the way applications are expected to work in general.

if they are built without keyboards, then the application will expect to have to present it's own buttony front end to the user.

as a result i hope and expect most applications will get simpler to use and more intellegent when it comes to data input given the more restricted options available.

imagine those swishy wooshy GUI's we were predicted to all be using by ... oh look... 2010... keyboards may be going the way of the floppy drive.

as much as i won't have one, and will no doubt be annoyed by those that do get one and proclaim it as the saviour of something-or-other, can't help but notice that the mass populace is being herded towards these type of devices.

fine by me. maybe technology is finaly heading towards doing what it's been proported to have been doing for the past 40 years and make life easier for us all - instead of more complicated.

going all minority report would be cool, just so long as the flash drives don't play the ... video files that are on them on their own little display.

I think it'll be a pretty good seller. My guess is that the future of the computer will be a hand-held device like this, not a space-hogging desktop. Hopefully, the OS for the computer of the future will be open source - maybe Android? Ironically, the future machine could be a simpler configuration running small apps - how it used to be 25 years ago. I'd like that. :-)

i'm curious to see how it stacks up against the archos 9.

Morning folks .... has that an ithingy been sat on?

At least its not a 4 figure piece of crap ... its a 3 figure even less inspiring piece of crap ..at 1GHz! .. meh ...

Yaaawwwnn .. good night

If it even remotely appears that these things have an actual market then there will soon be a non Apple product with better specs, more features and have an even better price. I had to chuckle when I saw the Maxi iPad only had 64 Gigabytes. Then I noticed the screen resolution and no USB ports. This iPad is great for kiddies to play with. Adults better keep looking or just wait for the better equipped versions from the non trendy vendors. (Not Apple)

"We're not quite sure who would want such a device"

I am quite sure its marketing department does. It's its job.

Skynews has just pointed out that this will be aimed at those just wanting to browse the internet. They also pointed out it can't handle Flash yet the sheep will buy it

Aquapad, 2001. FIC should think about suing apple for trademark infringement selling a product with a name so close to it's own.

Segway. All the hype then something you'll only occasionally see and be amused by.

If you look back you'll see that I didn't say that the iPhone was only popular because of fanboyism, I merely said that this (crappy) product will only really appeal to Mac-addicts, and those wanting to show off on the train.

Dear Mr Poko-poko,

I would like to thank you for your thorough feedback on our iPad product. I think you'll be happy to hear that we just ceased all manufacturing and are currently re-designing the iPad to meet your expectations.

It's because we care about your opinion so very much Mr Poko-poko.

No, really

Steve Jobs
CEO
Apple Inc.

P.S. You like the name "iPad", right? Because if you don't, we can change it as well.

No multitasking? -- Gadget
No keyboard? -- Oversized Gadget
1024x768??? -- Oversized Piece of shite!
No USB?? -- Worthless piece of shite!

Heck, what can one do with it? Surf the web and do ONLY what Big Brother Jobs approves.

Guess it's gonna be popular with those who like to show how affluent (and stupid) they are.

If this little thing (http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Notebook/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2835) had multi-touch capabilities, it would wipe the floor with this Icrap.

BTW... Ipad is a registered trademark.... and not registered by Crapple!

This would not be my device. Cause it doesn't suit my need. I want an ebook reader with this spec:

1. Able to read PDF. Protected or Not.
I'll be using it during repair on
site.

All my manuals already in PDF file.
Also a lot (and I mean A LOT..!!) of
magazine/paper/tabloid already in PDF
format.

2. I DO NOT WANT a display that is
still back-lighted. It is annoying
to read hours and hours to my LCD or
monitor to read files. I want
something that look like a paper!!!

Have you ever sit in airplane/train
at night, and the person next to you
working with laptop while you are
trying to sleep? It is ANNOYING!!!

I could tolerate if he/she read a
book/novel/etc and lighted the over-
head lamp. That's why i want this
reader NOT to use something that
produce light (LCD/OLED/etc)!!!

Also have you ever read an LCD at
night while the room light is OFF??
Did you notice how BRIGHT your
screen is?

That is why technology like e-ink
is the one i like for my ebook reader

3. I want my ebook reader to last at
least 1 week in use. I often forget
to charge my phone, let alone having
to remember to charge this thing
everyday!!!

The problem is, if you use LCD that's
use a LOT of the battery juice for
it's backlight (CFL/LED)!!
So NO LCD please!

4. I DO NOT need to have a video/anima-
tion for my ebook reader. It is al-
ready annoying enough to see a web
page with many flash based ads!!!

That's why I always use script/ad-
blocker for browsing.

I DO NOT want to read NY-Times while
the ads is flasing EVERYWHERE on my
screen!!! So again e-ink looks like
a big winner for me.

5. Color display is not important. All
my manuals is B/W anyway. Even most
textbook/novel text are B/W also.

6. I do not need touch sensor. I want
to work with ebook reader on my left
hand and tools on my right.

I might, many times, hold the reader
in centre side of it. So, I DO NOT
want the reader to think it's time
to flip the page every time I hold
its side!!!

7. The same is true for motion sensor
(that flips the display Landscape-
Portrait).

Please do not include it. Or at
least, give me option to disable it.

8. I do not need computer function.
Even the best hand recognition SW
is piece of shit when you truly want
to write some lengthy mail/document.

So if I want something to write give
me REAL keyboard to type to! I do not
type fast enough on a plate of glass!
No matter how beautiful you give me
the display of each button on those
glass display!!!

If you want to give computer function
PLEASE provide a proper keyboard!

9. Let me DL anyway I like. NOT through
some piece of DRM-Infested piece of
software CRAP!!!

I already PAY for your reader. It's
MINE!!! NOT YOURS!!! Let me use ANY-
WAY i like!!! NOT like YOU WOULD
LIKE ME to behave, OK Pal!?!?

10. Let the screen be at least A4-size
please. A5 is OK for novel. But
reading manual & textbook I like
to see the whole page while STILL
able to read the TEXT please!

11. Price should be less than $500 for
first batch, and less than $300
after 2 years runs.

That's, i think is a reasonable one.

So while I like the Skiff Reader.
It haven't materialised (ready on store)
yet!

And unfortunately, I don't know
whether it would be DRM-infested and/or
how much it would be cost.

So, any taker for this spec???

"Magical and Revolutionary" Indeed. They've been smoking too much of the funny stuff in Cupertino.

I was kinda a little depressed when i didn't get to see what type of rant nick was gonna have on it

Even the Zune HD can do A LOT MORE than this tablet. What a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge dissapointment.

You can’t seriously offer up a device that claims to be an Internet appliance without some ability to play Flash videos.

The omission is all the more curious because Flash Player is available for ARM. Though maybe it’s only available for Linux...

what does this have in common with the Newton? At least I could take notes with that thing. Granted you wouldn't want to write a novel with it though.

So simply are these ~Neo~ Tablets, anything like those Tablet-PC Laptops from.... (Gee has it been that long?) Ten Years ago?

If not WHY?!?!?!?!?!

The iPad is clearly an Iphone for the Na'vi.

Prediction:

After a brief rally, Apple (AAPL) stocks fell sharply after the release of the iPad. Analysts attributed this to the underwhelming feature set of the device, which did not live up to the expectations induced by the hyped-up PR leading up to the release.

Strangely, Steve Jobs was quoted as saying "this will be the most important thing I have ever done", as stocks fell still further.

iPad, eye-Kotex? Does this mean your eyes will start bleeding from the backlit screen after reading a book on this thing?

The good:

- Now that Apple has "played its card", other manufacturers are free to invest funds into easily outclassing this limited media tablet.

- The lower rates that Apple "forced out of" the wireless carrier (ATT) will now have to be matched for other devices (such as Android netbooks and tablets). Good for everyone.

The bad:

- No USB
- Proprietary processor (as others have mentioned, locks you into the Apple foodchain).
- No webcam or camera of any form
- No true GPS
- Fixed memory capacity (another "Apple-appliance")
- No daylight-readable screen, only backlit LED (not a true e-reader, will cause eye fatigue, eats power all the time, limiting battery life).
- No keyboard included (sorry, that's extra).
- Onscreen keyboard not good enough for any serious data entry.
- Non-replaceable battery (when it's dead, it's dead).
- Closed, source - no "user-modifiable" parts.
- Forces you to become a part of Jobs' food chain.

Of course, upcoming Linux tablets (or -- even better -- convertible tablets which also can be used as netbooks), will not have these limitations. But certainly people should feel free to empty their wallets for Apples latest creation (to each her/his own).

1ghz cpu - weak.

Wow! There are still people out there who think you can meaningfully compare disparate CPU architectures by clock speed?

1983 is calling you. They want you to come back home.

I actually expected alot more.
It's just a big ipod touch. It doesn't run mac osx. This is a toy. I'd probably have fun with it, but it's still a toy.

I guess the market is for the person who already has a laptop and a netbook and a smartphone but still feels like their life could use one more gadget. I have two coworkers with e-readers and they thought 10 hours of battery life was terrible. They get much better than that on their sony readers.

I do hope we can get an asus (or whomever) version for $200-$300 that runs win 7 or linux (so I can put real applications on it...). I'd like to mount them in a couple places in my house for home automation/surveillance/etc tasks.

And can it work in my car? If so then I would be interested but wait for the Windows 7 HP/Dell coming soon.

1ghz cpu - weak.
No usb - weak.
Touchscreen - nice.
No Keybd - good, so long as screen is good.

No demo of the actual product - fail.

This thing does everything the iPhone does but with a bigger screen and no phone. It therefore doesn't offer anything that an IPhone or Laptop can do and it definitely doesn't offer MORE than a Netbook does. You can do actual work on a Netbook. This thing is just a content delivery device for subscription charging cash strapped businesses. Sorry Apple, but you missed the boat on this one... kind of like the Cube....

You do mean the iBattery, not just a simple unbranded battery (ugh, might have been made anywhere, did they disinfect it before shipping it?), do you not?

Okay, a lot of the commenters are claiming it's too expensive, which doesn't surprise me a bit with it being an Apple product. But what is the actual cost of the thing? $500? It wasn't mentioned in the article.

Very much looking forward to a $250 or cheaper version which won't be an Apple product and will hopefully show up before Christmas. I'm not thinking of anything in particular, it just seems like something like that should show up soon, and $250 is my preferred price point. Unless, of course, someone goes lower. ;)

""Laptop screens are bad for prolonged reading of texts."

I'd like to know more about this."

Eye-strain. Eye-fatigue. Personal experience.
Just compare a laptop screen with an ebook reader's eInk, and you'll understand.

The iTampon...er...iPad has a nice proprietary processor so Apple can control what runs on its system. They don't want people easily hacking it running whatever they want. They only want stuff running on it that they can profit from.

Secondly. You still can't replace the battery. Once it's fried after warranty you basically have to buy a brand new one so they can make more money off of you.

Lastly, why the large functionless border around the screen? Why not just fill the entire iPad with a functional screen? I think that would've looked extremely cool...border to border full screen.

Oh well. I'll stick with my iPod Touch.

There is some research that indicates that retention of material via reading increases with the pixel resolution of the text. Printed words on paper are very high resolution compared to a computer screen. The implication is that reading stuff off a screen is less good than reading it off paper.

That said, now my rhyme.

On an ebook reader it is impossible to riffle through the pages of a book. Trying to find a term or graphic referenced on the current page in previous pages using a paper book is quite easy and fast: doing the same on a Sony ebook or Amazon ebook (the two I've played with) is very slow. Just flipping through an ebook is very slow.

IMNSHO paper books are very highly optimized for presenting written works if only because one can change pages quickly. Ebooks are too slow.

Of course carrying a paper library around is likely to cause muscle strain. If an ebook existed that could flip through pages very quickly and still present each page highly legible as it flashes by, and make the flipping of pages very natural, then I'd say that would be a good product, it would approach the usability of paper books.

But no such ebook exists.

It is not even a matter of horsepower: web browsers and PDF readers and word processors on my 3.2 GHz+8GB RAM quad core desktop are just as brain dead for reading books as they are on my ASUS 1000HA netbook.

Paper books are just the best way we've ever found to present the written word. Tablet PCs from any vendor are not as easy to use.

I'd rather throw $250 in the trash for nothing than spend $500 for one of these. My prediction? It'll sell just well enough that it won't be immediately discontinued.

"Laptop screens are bad for prolonged reading of texts."

I'd like to know more about this.

"For a person like me who spends his/her life either on the road or on flights and hates dealing with a full fledged laptop for email and looking over documents will definitely be interested."
That's what a netbook is for. And much cheaper to boot.

"Plus I bet it makes one heck of an ebook reader."
No, it won't. Laptop screens are bad for prolonged reading of texts.
eInk is sooo much better. And yes, I have an ebook reader, and can compare this.

"and without the high price of the Macbook Air."
Still a price waaay too high. ebook readers are much cheaper, netbooks are much cheaper.
This is a fail.

For a person like me who spends his/her life either on the road or on flights and hates dealing with a full fledged laptop for email and looking over documents will definitely be interested. Plus I bet it makes one heck of an ebook reader. There are countless times I have dropped PDFs onto my IPod to read in flight or on layovers. Laptop screen without the laptop, and without the high price of the Macbook Air.

I had expected it would have come
either foldable to 1 by 5 by 5

or it was a brick 1 by 5 by 5 with a hollow suite generator

but so : dead on arrival
you can burn 500 at your bank

It needs more memory. As an entertainment device on the bus, on an aeroplane or on a train it looks very nice. But I'd wnat to copy all my movies and music to it - I want about 1 TB storage, not 64GB.

Ultimately one must be able to type on it. Without a keyboard input method it is very much an output device for online content providers... which just might be the point of it.

A lot of verbalization was heard on CBC today about how this thing will save newspaper publishers. Maybe it will if it catches on, given that it is essentially an Internet enabled Ebook.

I like the form factor. If I can plug a USB keyboard into it and install a webserver/PHP/Python/DBMS stack and a C++ compiler then I think it might be worth buying. If it will run Linux then so much the better.

Otherwise I just do not see what it is good for beyond very passive entertainment... there is a well proven technology that leverages paper and cardboard that competes very well with this thing and which needs no batteries. Can you guess what that technology is called?

Wao, I hope this will make many other gadget vendor to ship their gadget with S-IPS panel. I think Apple has can be get world record for shipping the smallest S-IPS panel. I hate those TN 18 bit emulated, intepolated 24 bit.

For an alarmclock, a pictureframe or a diary it has much functions, if Apple sells it for 200$ I will buy one...

Apple make some great products. Clearly they do. iPhone adoption is not what it is because people worship fruit and aluminium.

The point is with the iPad is that it is a product looking for a market. A market that is probably very limited when it comes down to it.

I will bet it will sell in the short term due to its looks and novelty, but will struggle in the longer term.

Where it will succeed or fail in the medium term will be on the basis of how good the book store and by extension the reading media is on it.
The base model at least is looking at competing with e-readers and has some parity here and with a very pretty interface. They have gone to some effort to get some level of launch exclusivity with the Times.

I think it is a big ask though that the apple book store and iPad will re-write the book by which the written word is read (sorry). But then it could. iTunes did it for music. iPad just doesn't have the existing market the iPod did though...

I'm wondering about the name of the CPU. A4 was the technical name of the V-2 rocket. More than 3000 of them have been fired on the targets London and Antwerp during World War II causing the death of ca. 7250 people.

So next time you are visiting an Apple Shop: Don't mention the war!

You must be new here. Welcome to the inquirer.

iPhones clearly just ain't ostentatious enough any more.

A Mac netbook with no keyboard for £500 (probably), who's going to buy that? Oh yeah, sorry ....forgot about the fanbois

It can never be used as a work tool (e.g. in the manner sales people in my company use Lenovo tablets with swivel screens)... because you can't multitask or use productivity apps in any real way.

It misses out on casual non-work use because it isn't a phone.

It is a big and ungainly netbook without all the things that make a netbook worth having - multitasking, keyboard, webcam, etc.

Why would you bother? Buy a Mac Air if you want portable shiny aluminium that actually does something.

This device will succeed only in the short term as competition to e-readers as it has at least some degree of parity here in price and function. But let's face it, both people I have ever seen wandering around with an e-reader to date in London will be buying cheaper ones than the base model iPad in about a month.

Haha, I certainly liked what I read after all the hype from Apple fanboys. Now, an interesting comparison is with the Nokia N900 that you reviewed earlier today -- it packs in so much more functionality (and a phone!). Okay, you wouldn't want to watch films from it while on the move, but that's what the laptop is for (as well as any other heavy tasks that one might want to perform when mobile). The bottom line is that if one still needs a phone *and* a laptop in addition to this thing, what is there left for the Ipad to do? Nothing as far as I can see.

Although it had a better niche than today's launch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs

Thanks for the technical information. You might want to work on your sarcasm a bit to keep it from sounding so callow.

will the faithful be able to say it ?

799+130=829?

Pish, pish and more pish

"surprised absolutely no-one" ... have to admit that no one seemed to be able to guess the name of the thing!

<major

I am curious to know who plans on buying this and why they would want one.