While your assessment of the hardware is somewhat fair, what it CAN do is what you are missing.

It will be able to run Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

It will be able to go online (and 3G - which is something a ton of people already pay way too much for and iPad's data is a lot less).

You can access the Apple Store and buy music, movies, casual games, applications, and e-books that will sync to your PC or Mac.

Online data backup services will allow you to access your files from anywhere.

The docking station gives students access to a full keyboard for note-taking, and a great screen for watching videos and surfing the internet between classes or in their dorm.

Those are the things that the majority of people want, and the majority of people will pay for. Realistically, the target market isn't people commenting on articles about it, or writing articles about it. It's for everyone else.

I finally figured it out! Nick doesn't make enough money to buy quality toys so he disses Macs and the like because he can't afford it. So I vote that he gets a raise substantial enough so that he can buy himself a Lexus, no a BMW and an LED LCD 55" TV, a 27" iMac and a really big meal for himself. Hopefully this will help him write better articles, like ones with vision and profoundness and eloquence. Please INQUIRER give Nick a raise so that he might write with wisdom he so lacks now.

I mean, the idea of the pad or tablet -that's old. And I always believed in it, but when I look at the specs, locked in... We're years away from a version of this I want.

I think, what I -really wants is a thin client. In a pad.

That you could do now.

The degree of ignorance displayed, and the incredible assumptions made by so many of the posters here (including author Nick) is astonishing. I'll bet next week's wages not one of you has used an iPad, and precious few have seen one in real life. And yet all of a sudden you're experts in what it won't do and what it isn't good for. I've no idea whether it's good for what I want or not, and I'm going to make up my mind once I can test drive one. Maybe the engine will be completely fine. Apple was criticized for introducing the mouse, for doing away with floppy disks, for forcing people to use USB, for introducing iPods and iPhones - all things that are now totally accepted by tens of millions of people. Apple is still criticized for being "closed" despite the fact that there is still not one single virus for mac, and there are umpteen gazillions on your preferred "open" windoze systems. There's even a virus for the symbian phone OS. No thanks. Apple does one thing better than everyone else - it makes stuff that is easy to use and just works. For the vast majority of people, that's really important. BTW - you "experts" who think that the iPhone OS doesn't support multitasking are merely emphasizing your ignorance. I can listen to music at the same time as writing emails or browsing the web, as well as talk on the phone while using Safari or email. It reminds me of the schoolboy definition of "expert" - an "ex" is a has-been, and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure.

There are a lot of people with sand in their vaginas here.

This does have some practical purposes. I can imagine using it for web surfing or using remote desktop to connect to a more powerful machine.

That way I could easily get an sort of computing done while holding a small lightweight device using wifi. This would be great for wifi enabled buses or relaxing on the couch where a larger device would be too cumbersome.

yeah, it would be nice if the ipad was more powerful, but not at the expense of size and weight. I can do anything with this thing with wifi and remote desktop.

Hard not to agree with Nick's reasoning here.

I just don't get the excitement either.

It's kinda like all that art/music junk, I mean like, my kid could paint that "Starry Night" thing for about $10 worth of materials, and I looked at Mozart's Symphony 41 (Jupiter indeed!), and it's just a bunch of little notations on some paper with lines. Can you believe people pay money for this crap? What a bunch of fanbois.

I live in New York and I can go downtown and find a bunch of out of work artists that could do pretty much the same thing for a hot meal and subway fare.

Another thing, I was in China last year and I saw commercials for iPhone clones that were going for about $40 US and you could even use them underwater!

Love the comments, hate the dictator.
Karma is a bitch, looks like it hit the dictator in his pancreas. Too bad that he's got the big C, even worse that the fan boys have filled his bank account. You'll never see the dictator or his wife donating to charitable causes like the Gates family.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Google-drops-clues-on-more-documentcentric-Chrome-OS-for-tablets/1265127667

http://gizmodo.com/5459308/slate-showdown-ipad-vs-hp-slate-vs-joojoo-vs-the-android-tablets

Oh please. How many know-it-alls like you complained about the iPod and iPhone when they were launched? Mocked it for all sorts of reasons? And then watched as Apple changed the music industry, the smart phone industry - and the way people listen to music and use their phones. Give me a break with the irrational vitriol already. You're clearly not the target market of the iPad. I'm betting it will succeed, whether you and other Apple haters want it to or not.

Maybe someday the Apple brainwash machine may get the rest of us non-fans. Remember the movie "Invasion of Body Snatchers"? Remember everyone being taken over by those "pod" things? Seriously!

If the iPad were truely a tablet, and not an oversized iPhone, it really would change things. If the touch screen works as well as the iPhone, you won't miss a real keyboard. But without the ability to multitask, its useless. IM, music, internet browsing. These 3 things are what this unit will be great for, and all 3 should be able to happen at the same time. Another issue I have is the App Store. Apples restrictive approach to software development really limits things. Basically why get this when you can have a netbook for a fraction of the price that will do a little more for you? I hope it fails, so I can pick up a used one from ebay cheap and 'jailbreak' it so I am able to do with it what I want.

Anybody who wants to write about the iPad should have to read this first:

http://speirs.org/blog/2010/1/29/future-shock.html

My mom's pretty goofy and not able to deal with too much high tech. She keeps trying to touch the screen of our (yes still have one) CRT...could this be the perfect device for old folks?

I also am into drawing...anyone heard of this as a good replacement to a Wacom?

...but not on this device/version apparently. It's quite a disappointing limitation.

Is the iPhone OS really OS X? So all the little apps run on desktop Macs then? That's escaped my notice if true.

I might use an iPad as a media player or as a terminal to a PC (is there an app for that? a VNC?), but I'm more likely to use a tablet PC, which I've got. But I don't dislike it enough to say "It WILL fly... if you throw it with the right wrist action." I enjoyed saying it, but not because I really think the iPad should be thrown away.

"start playing with it in front of children and watch how many of them will want to touch and try it for them self "

could also be said for an assault rifle;)

Here we go again, everyone knows better than the one guy who's actually got several billion runs on the board. To Nick and others here, how many ipod's have you invented? Been staying in front of the curve long ppl? While i personally don't own 1 piece of apple hardware, and do enjoy a chuckle at the fanboys, this post is decidedly like something we read a while ago about a device called the ipod..
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=500 seems that all these ppl 'in the know' were right on the money too.. luckily apple isn't being run by these types of visionaries.. Surely, we've all understood by now that apple has an excellent knack for launching products we didn't even know we wanted yet... i predict another smashing success...

...Because I will buy one for grand'ma knowing that she will be able to use it in minutes.

It will replace her digital phto frame, iMac G3 and PDA.

The target customer is not the geek, but everyone else. That is why it will work.

Don't forget the plans from the media and publishers to charge for material already free on the internet. And of course no flash player.

I love all the apple fanboys who proclaim that this tablet without a keyboard is a revolution and that the world as we know it has changed yet again because apple decided to release their version of a device which has already existed for many many years. At least with the Ipod one could understand that it was a new-ish sort of concept (though I had been using an MP3 CD player for a while before they came out.) I suppose the Iphone was the first phone I knew of with a touchscreen. But this? A tablet PC that can't even multitask? An ebook reader without eInk? If I wanted that, I could easily buy a refurbed Fujitsu Stylistic on ebay for ~$150 and still multitask on the thing. I could get a tablet with a keyboard for about a hundred more. Why waste my money on this? Why act like this changes anything when the class of devices has already existed for the longest time? It's so funny how Apple's legion of clunky-glasses-wearing hipsters will eat up anything if it has an Apple logo on it. It's even funnier how they think they're buying something from a 'better' 'less-evil' company than Microsoft (an excuse I've heard several times.) Continue to eat up that marketing and do whatever Jobs says, blokes.

I heard many of the supporters allege that this is not a computer, its a media vewing/reading device. I have to disagree and simply point out that it cannot be called a media viewing device if it cannot use flash. That's just a fact of life in 2010. Perhaps in 2011, flash won't matter. In my experience, and I have plenty of experience, flash diminishes media availability online to the point of futility. Supporters will say oh, but youtube works. The obvious response is simply youtube is weak. Justintv is where media content is at. The youtube argument signifies something deeper than a misunderstanding of media and internet. It demonstrates the conditioning of these people to limit their own utility with respect to using the internet. They are perfectly happy having a company rip out any consumer surplus they might otherwise have benefited from and then say, its in my own best interest because I can't be trusted to use the internet as I see fit.

As an Iphone 3gs user, I admit I was interested enough after all the jailbreaking to pay 200 bucks for one. Now, 4 months later) i'm in the market to get rid of it asap to either go back to windows mobile (b/c inter alia, flash browsing is available) or switch to android which allows multitasking in a realistically usable manner.

With respect to the argument that it is a good e-book reader, I'd say so is an iphone and so is an android phone and so is a winmo phone and so is a kindle and so is any laptop with 100mhz processor and 64kb of ram.

For fanboys and hateboys alike, the truth is simply this: The iPad is 80% marketing and 20%product. The 80% market allows the company to convince you that such a weakly featured product is worth the price you're paying for it. In fact, all that is happening here is Jobs is squeezing from those willing and able to pay, as much consumer surplus and providing as little consumer utility as physically possible. You wrap a product in a shiny cover and most people won't care how limited the thing is b/c its pretty to look at and play with and does some of the things you want to do well; but, can't do most of the things you need to do at all.

My Grandma asked me to look at the air conditioning in her car - 'cos it wasn't working - 'cos she hadn't pressed the A/C button.
The iPad is perfect for almost all of my senior family members - closed software environment="perfect", easy email & web="perfect", no installing plug-ins or downloading Adobe readers.

You guys are all capable computer people - 70% of the world isn't !

If I gave a linux system to my Grandma - she'd look at me like I just gave her a dog turd.

ive always wanted an iphone that couldnt fit in my pocket or make calls.

Google has recently released it's phone, the nexus one. Which has been heralded by some as being the first mobile phone to rival the iphone in the slickness departement.

One can only wonder what would happen if google made something to rival this. It would seem to be the perfect opportunity to make good on their promise of a version of android for netbooks.

Personally it does look shiny enough to have appeal to people who will completely fail to understand the technical problems it currently has. Altough if they manage to get multitasking to work on this they might have themselves something that can and will compete against e-readers and pdas (with a nice dinky bluetooth keyboard).

Apple products are expensive but at the same time come with great software, hardware and excellent customer service if you live in a big city like london. Apple has raised the bar in Operating System graphical User Interface, Useable internet on mobile, low power consumption and Exceptional User Experience among other things. The numbers for the iphone apps and customers speak for themselves. Most people as not tech savy to use Linux or deal with viruses and software and hardware incompatibility of MS Windows. No one has ever gone wrong by buying an tried and tested Apple product. Much better than buying underpowered netbooks, crap overheating HP touchscreen tablets and other Android and Windows mobiles with buggy and mismatched software and hardware. The IT world is a much more innovative place thanks to Apple products unlike the big tin manufacturers who specialise in selling poor quality chinese made rebranded clones and white boxes. All the designer types prefer Apple products because they can just get on with their work instead of worrying about driver issues, viruses and tons of preloaded bloatware and trial versions of unwanted subscriptions and software.

Steve Jobs + Apple = Hype about nothing.

@nECrO

"Upmarket? Is that what they're calling over priced crap these days?"

Unfortunately......Yes! And not just "these" days.

Want to know the codename for this while it was in development?

Drumroll.........

The iCantbelievewekeepgetting awaywiththisshit.

..but i'm gonna wait for the Alienware M11x.. Windows 7 it might be, but tiny, powerful, and a great gaming machine it also is..and at $799 for the basic model, a comparable price for a non-handicapped PC.

As to those who are calling this overpriced, I actually checked the prices of some competitors netbook tablets.

Apple ipad is actually one of, if not the cheapest.

iPad (10.1" lcd, 10 hrs battery): $499
Gigabyte M12 (8.9" lcd, 4hrs battery): $699
asus t91 (8.9" lcd, battery 5 hours): $450

Granted, ipad is weaker in cpu and storage.

But $499 for a wifi tablet, no keyboard (this to me is a plus)? pretty good if you ask me.
Larger on board storage though would be nice.

"So, want to play music while reading or browsing? Too bad, no multitasking..."
You've been able to do that since day one on the iPhone. No multi-tasking is a limitation only applied to 3rd party apps, the core OS (OS X, which is based on Mach Unix) multitasks very well thank you. The limitation was applied to 3rd party apps to prevent everyone from leaving apps in memory (which is limited on a phone sized device) and running in the background (using CPU cycles and battery power, which are also limited). Apple have provided a centralised notification service that these 3rd party apps can use to flag pending items (like waiting instant messages) so mostly they don't need to be in the background anyway.

I have actually met a couple of apple fanboys down my local and I think this is exactly the type of thing that would appeal to them. If it was useful, did more than one thing at once, or had a purpose it would have universal appeal. The last thing an Apple user wants is to be like everyone else.

This new device plays directly to their captive market and will continue to help their users stand out from the crowd!

"This is most likely driven by a POWERVR graphics core integrated into Apple's A4 chip..."

A4 is a System-on-a-Chip, or SOC, that integrates the main processor [ARM Cortex-A9, identical to ones used in nVidia Tegra and Qualcomm Snapdragon] with graphics silicon [ARM Mali GPU], and other functions like the memory controller on one piece of silicon.

Try reading the news once in a while. Fanboys should all be flown into space and left there.

It is not meant to be an alternative for a smart phone or a laptop or a game console it is supposed to fill a slightly different niche that does exist (for some). It is primarily a specialized private portable visual media consumption and browsing device with enough interactivity and connectivity to aid in that goal. It is not intended to replace any existing device.

"I was considering an e-book reader, and if this can also get me internet, email, music, photos and video. Well, it's like perfect for me."

So, want to play music while reading or browsing? Too bad, no multitasking...
This thing is an epic fail. Nothing more than an iPod Touch with a bigger screen. If they sold it for the price of the Touch...

On my e-book reader (B&N nook) I can play music and read a book at the same time.

Appler's just can't help themselves. They get excited over simple stuff that is overpriced and shiny. It shows off their wealth a little bit, and for a short time that makes them feel better.

This gadget will sell ok, next version will sell better.

I think it would be good for reading magazines on the toilet.

Does it come with a toilet friendly charger/stand?

;-)

I remember my reaction in 2001 when Apple released the original iPad. Everyone said, almost to a person, that it was klunky (it was), that is was severely limited with regard to format (it was), that it's sound quality wasn't very good (basically true), that it was severely constrained in space and wasn't expandable, that it had a non-user serviceable battery, that it was so outrageously expensive that no one would buy it. Well, we all see how that turmed out.

I am not personally fond of the iPad because I don't like closed systems and absolutely hate the app store (and iTunes to a lesser extent). I wanted a fully functional tablet that I had control over, on which I could easily add data, applications, etc. (As one reviewer said, this closed architecture gig has gone from being like Studio 54 to being like an imposed stay on the Juniper Creek Compound from Big Love). But the damn thing has neither a USB port or an SD Card slot. That said, I still think the thing will sell ten million units this year, hands down, and not only to fan bois, as Nick implies, but also to many others of the great unwashed. I just won't be one of them. If I want something like this, I'll stick with a MacBook Air or a Dell Adamo which can do everything the iPadded Cell can and then some.

No surprises. Just another overpriced lame $h1t that will become obsolete in like 3 months or so.

Apple, somehow, found a good way to fool people into buying their crap, and they will sell a lot, again.

Whether their products are really too good and only the faithful ones can see that, or there's too much stupid people with too much money to spend.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

What a bunch of sad knobs these commenters are. You come across as a pathetic flock of Windows sys admins frantically clutching onto your fading relevance as the world passes you by.

I am saving this page, however, so two years from now --after millions of iPads have been sold and the device is busily changing the world-- you carping, pinched little dumb*sses can be reminded how devoid of vision and credibility you've always been. Get bent!

Having used tablets since the old Compaq TC1100 and writing this on a HP/Compaq TC4400 dual core 2gig memory 320G hard drive etc, the only additional things I really want are touch sensitive screen and less weight (PC & me). Both things that are available in the current gen of tables from Gigabyte MSI ASUS & HP for far less money and come with all the missing features. Someone should put up a table of features of the Gigabyte M912 ASUS T91 and the Apple iSuck. It would show the fanbois what they are missing as well as their cash and brain cells.

Sorry for not being a native English speaker. I just try my best. But comments like yours really hurt, and add nothing to the discussion of the article.

Kindle - too expensive and locked down. iPad - even more expensive and locked down and worse screen / battery life.
Sony Reader - not so locked down, cheaper, soon to get free 3G, memory card slot, 2 weeks on a single charge. Sounds like the best of the bunch, and might go and buy one now.

Well the iphone is a mini computer and look at the apps on it which piss all over what a netbook can do!!!!

Comapre the Iphone apps and then what you can do with such a small small screen netbook with over 2 minute boot time Lol its a joke

At least he ipad stays logged in no boot times, and the large touch screen allows for better usability.

Do the netbooks on the market support resolution independence a like the Iphone can you pinch and zoom and scale webpages on the fly?

but you say a netbook can do more its got a desktop OS and atom processor yeh but how usable is this desktop OS on such a small screen?!!!!

You know I was not convinced whether or not the IPad would succeed but after reading Nicks comment I am sure Apple has a hit on their hands. If Nick hates you know it is going to sell big. Nick is one who said Ipods will never sell we have CD's and Iphone who wants a phone that can connect to the web. App Store know one is ever going to buy apps for their phone. Nick you proved to be so right about all these Apple flops I know your are right now.

isn't this a much better deal?

I am eagerly waiting for Google/HTC/Acer/Asus/Nokia's response for this

Nick, I enjoy your articles and I know this is a Rant, so granted, your editorial on this semi-new Apple product is classified properly and I stay open minded to your commentary.

Nevertheless, I have to say that I do disagree on the whole. I think your expectations were way too high and overshadowed the reality of products in this market segment. I might be more willing to jump on your bandwagon and even take turns driving if the product was launched in the 800+ hardware segment. However, it was placed in the "over priced toy" segment. This area is for devices that have special properties that make it unique in some way and being an Apple product… well that could be enough (that is arguable but well…)

Regarding graphics, I'm sure it has more graphics power than at least your standard netbook without Nvidia tech. It might be less powerful than Tegra graphic wise and power saving wise, but this device is really not made to play Unreal Engine 3. That was a tech demo for just for sh%ts and giggles; nevertheless, having the UE 3 running opens up development possibilities for games with enhanced graphics appropriate to this device.

It will play casual games with enhanced 3D graphics very well and that should be all one expects. It will allow you to do basic things like email, chat, and surf the web (granted san Flash/Silverlight and other browser plugin support). Things may get better with HTML5 support.

Yes it is a larger iPod Touch. It has no HD video output, I say big deal. That was a decision they made that I could live with honestly (less forgivable with a settop box). Even if it could, you are not seeing the full HD glory in such limited pixel space, but a video formatted to the screen's realestate would still look gregarious on the device. So it really fills in a space in a product line that supports pretty darn good experiences. We are paying more for the time focused on that, not the hardware spec cost. It has a keyboard doc accessory that Apple will surly price gouge customers will to pay. Is that really so bad, if this is not like something we are not used to with Apple. The device will evolve hardware wise and software updates will add or make better use of functionality.

Apple iPhone/OS X Light, Google-Chrome OS, Intel-Moblin OS, and perhaps Microsoft-Windows Mobile 7 are/ will be in unique positions once they get devices off the ground, that are built around the software that support targeted and well thought out experiences. When there are products that are not trying to be PCs, (we have PCs for that) we will see some cool things happen. It is time the PC hardware is used to work in another way like the initial MP3 players and the media players. This is an evolution of these devices.

Open ended functionality can sometimes hold back a product from having focus or doing things well. Apple gets this to some extent. The competition will continue to learn and see that an underlining market does exist and is not just where Apple dwells.

I disagree that this is a useless device.

It is large and obvious enough to allow the general public to easily identify completely brainwashed Apple fanbois/grls who were gullible enough to empty their wallets for it "and all its many accessories".

Loser Identification Unit. Excellent!

Ipad is like a bus, you can get on and go somewhere, but you have no choice how, when, and with whom you arrive.

A netbook/laptop is like a car, you decide how, when, with whom (software / browsers), what options, and where you want to go.

The choice is yours, and the price is nearly the same.

For me the no USB is a killer. It forbids the use of the transfer medium of our time: thumb drives and external HD's. Without it I would be stuck emailing files to myself for spot transfers, or needing to carry a cable at all times. I haven't emailed files to myself since High School. Even the stupid $150 WinCE smartbooks K-Mart mislabels netbooks can do USB.

It is not only about technology. Apple owns the complete food chain for the device, contents, OS, SW and HW. Specially with the apps store, itunes, ibook. Therefore they can provide a unique usage experience which has been proved by the ipod and iphone, both did not innovate much on the technology. I think apple is brilliant in building on the iphone success. Applications are available on the spot and the bigger screen will provide a much better user experience. So this is a new usage model category. I think it will be enormously succesful.

$600 and with an Iphone OS?!? And Plus you need to get into a contract with AT&T? For WTF can I use this? I mean it looks cute, but hey what are the specs of this? Would it be a Mobil Core Duo @ 2Ghz? 1024MB of ram? Can I use Win 7 on it? If the answer is no then I will call it the ICrap tablet Pod. Ohh I know that it will sell like hot cakes due to the Blessing of Steve the God Jobs and I’m very sure that Mr Eoghan will buy it for re-hab.

Nick is very right that the iPad is not really anything new or something to get excited about. That's not to say it is without potential. Keep in mind that this is the first generation, much like the first generation iPhone left much to be desired. That said, there are certainly some areas where the Ipad can be improved. At least 1 (maybe 2) cameras for conferencing and photos etc... is a must in the future. I like the phone OS choice, and the efficiency/battery life. To make the iPad more useful and possibly a netbook replacement/competitor, a slide-out qwerty keyboard similar (much larger) to those found on cell phones and a screen kickstand for desktop use (and slightly more powerful CPU/multitasking) would really knock this thing out of the park. It is still overpriced like many/most Apple products, but it does offer a new take/vision of where tablets/netbooks could be and where they may go from here. I do see real possibilities here, but Nick is right that in it's current form, the iPad is very overpriced and limited, but it is a start...

I have been wanting a touchscreen colour reading device with a decent screen size for years now.

I plan to surf on my couch, and read cbr/cbz and pdfs.

Sign me up for this, or perhaps I will wait and see if acer/sony/asus, etc comes up with a less expensive clone. But the form factor i have been waiting for.

The other thing I find odd, people complain about $600 because it is no horsepwer and isnt a computer...but dont complain about $479 for a kindle when they first came out. It is even less a computer than this.

This is not a computer, it is a content reading/viewign device.

Yep, an expensive netbook without a keyboard. If it was half the thickness, half the weight, had double the battery life and a $99.99 price people would be rioting in the streets trying to get one. With the specs as they are and a $200 price, it would be a solidly successful, but undistinguished product. At $500 for the base model, over $800 for the model you really want (not counting the optional keyboard most people would need), it's the Lisa for the new millennium. As I recall, people were excited about the Apple Lisa when it first came out, they just didn't buy one, primarily because it was too expensive for what it could do.

Soon the iPad will join other misfit Apple products like the Newton, Cube, Air etc. It really is nothing, its no netbook, no gaming handheld, no smartphone, no ebook reader. Apple tried to do it all but failed to do it right.

Isn't iPad a mouse pad? Yes it is, and more than likely a trade marked name.

Can Apple make anything without stealing something from someone else. I can say I am not at all surprised.

I thought adding the word "tablet" to any device automatically quadrupled the price regardless of manufacturer.

To remind you of what the rest of us learned 10 years ago, take a $600 low end laptop, add some tricky swivel hinges and a touch sensor to the screen. It's now a $2400 "tablet PC". Where's the rant for that?

$600 for any tablet is actually a real bargain. And I don't see Acer/Asus doing it (yet).

Ps - While we're on the subject, how about ranting how adding touch to an LCD screen automatically doubles its price.

The Apple fetishist strikes again!

Yep, a chance to write an article about Apple appears, and so does Nick..

Will the Apple make a good games machine? Well, having actually played a game on a iPhone and finding it to have quite a powerful graphics chip, I'd have to say yes.

Will it succeed? I don't know (Windows failed on Tablets, but doesn't scale well), but I think Apple have got a better chance of making it work than any of the PC manufacturers.

As for this comment (not from Nick), "The iPad is completely pointless, it needed an iPatch before it was even released. AND don't forget the DRM's.". It may be pointless (although the same argument could be applied to any of a number of consumer devices up to and including blu ray and DVD players), but the patching and DRM?

Remind me how many patches fresh installations of XP and Linux need before they are even close to secure? XP needed 93 patches last time I checked. As for DRM, remind me, who is the company who allows copies on five devices, and for a lot of music, actually removed the copy restriction. I'll give you a clue. It was not Microsoft..

Will I buy one? Doubtful. I have no need for it.

Seriously.

Any Netbook has a faster processor (1.6GB) Real desktop choices (Windows XP, Windows 7 basic, Linux) Real desktop applications, a keyboard, a 1.3mp Webcam, USB and Media card reader, and if the screen is too small for you, a video port to hook it up to any larger VGA display for HALF what Jobs is charging for a dodgy tablet that offers less, does less, and is essentially an iPhone with a larger screen and no phone. PLUS on top of all that, IF you want 3g, you have to pay more for it AND buy and ADDITIONAL DATA PLAN? Anyone who buys this thing is just plain stupid!!

Read the title...thought "Gotta be Nick". Got as far as the author...and scrolled straight to the bottom to post this.

I just knew it would be a completely vitriolic rant, as per usual. Journalism at it's finest, I think not.

Oh, and no - I won't be getting one - no streaming from a media server (not even itunes) across wifi. Deal breaker.

No it does not have one and the claimed up to 10hr battery (From Apple.com) is probably more like 7 or 8 when new. The black bezel is too wide too. Less frame and a little thicker would have been better. If I ever go for one I will wait and maybe pick up one when it can have Linux (Android) on it and I can change a real 20 hr battery out myself. I don't care if it is a little thicker either and black plastic will look better too. Otherwise my Slim 6-7hr Ubuntu laptop is doing just fine and yes I can easily remove the battery from my 13.3" Acer Timeline.

"Well, it's like perfect for me."

Well it's <like the most annoying f***in' word in the English language when I hear it being said by a teenage girl let alone it being typed out on the interweb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4

"start playing with it in front of children and watch how many of them will want to touch and try it for them self "

A disturbing insight into the mind of an Apple fan, there.

Way cool!

I see you can plug a keyboard into to the iTab.
It comes with a camera connection kit with an SD card reader, a 30 pin to USB cable for connectivity, and audio outs.

Also runs the iWork office suite.
Do those other tablets and phones run MS Office, or Open Office?
I'm not a real geek, so I don't know.

I can see these getting left on Sofas and sat on, with such a large piece of glass surely we are going to see a spate of visits to A&E to get shards of said glass removed from people's jacksies.

BTW can you print from it?

I think Farrell is correct this time.

I love Apples products. They have a different interpretation of how to build consumer technology than most any other company. However, this ipad nonsense is a pretty much a flop already

After all the hoopla, this thing has almost ZERO value, except to Apple fanbois who need their self esteem boosted by their affiliation with Apple and google and whatever. If it was $149, then I would buy one for everyone in my large family, but as it stands, the thing has such limited use, it may be their first flop in many years.

Their run of kickass products had to run out sometime, and this just may be it

Nick you are so much wrong :)

First this device is beautiful – plain and simple. Most of the people will want one just to touch and play with it.
Why do you think that people by things because they are useful or they really need them?
No, they mostly by them for the fun and the pleasure, I personally will by one (if I have the money ) just to have something this slick, or to watch movies in the bed or to draw balloons and trees in “Paint” like program :)

Keyboard – what do you need it for? Most of the time people browse click and read/watch. How much time did you spend writhing personal e-mail’s at home?

$499 is an average price of any 10” 1,5kg/3 ponds netbook …

When the Ipad is available make a test – start playing with it in front of children and watch how many of them will want to touch and try it for them self :)

....that too many people have too much money to waste on crap they dont need.

Oh and that they have a short memory.

Ok two things.

I think you guys are missing the point: No multitasking? - well, it's not a laptop. You are not supposed to use it as a computer.
No phone? - well, again, it's not a phone :)
You don't like it? - well, then it's not for you :). I was considering an e-book reader, and if this can also get me internet, email, music, photos and video. Well, it's like perfect for me.

But again, it's not a laptop, so comparing it with laptop features is missing the point.

Anyway, time will tell. I'm personally not extremely excited about it, but will probably get one.

given how wrong his predictions on the iPad have been to date.

He's wrong about a whole bunch of technical facts as usual. It may not have an integrated keyboard (which probably isn't too important as it's targeted mainly at consuming media, not creating it), but it can use both wired and bluetooth wireless keyboards for those who want them.

One of the big selling points is the display, an LED backlit IPS panel which should make any netbook look poor in comparison. This is most likely driven by a POWERVR graphics core integrated into Apple's A4 chip, which makes it quite capable of playing 3D games at decent quality, and these were demonstrated live at the launch event. We've yet to find how it behaves in strong lighting but eInk is far from a perfect solution also (B&W, slow refresh and low contrast in poor lighting). Providing battery life is near Apple's claim it shouldn't matter that its LCD screen draws more power.

Another point, iPhone OS is in fact OS X after some dieting to fit it onto phone sized hardware. It's much closer to full OS X than, for example, Windows Mobile is to Windows.

Final point, what is going to make this sell (or not as the case may be) is software. The same precise thing happened with the iPhone. Looking at the spec sheets the iPhone didn't look to be anything special. The way that the software wrapped it all together and made it easy to do the kind of things that users wanted to do is what sold the device. Adding the huge software ecosystem of the App Store was a cherry on the cake. If Apple have got the software right (and to the extent that you can trust demos it looked pretty slick) then there should be a fair amount of demand for the device.

I was expecting something that much better. How bout a front-camera for video conferencing? How bout a thinner bezel? How bout a modern looking industrial design. How bout some multitasking for god's sake!!??

Huge fail.

Someone give me a win 7 pad with all of this. Zune pad anyone (courier)?

Multitasking will probably be available with a firmware upgrade. Then, the Macfags will be like "Oh, Steve is so nice! He gives us new features for free!" Having said that, I want to try it.

This thing looks like an iphonie for the Elohim race of giants.

(good one... car without an engine...:)

"The Ipad is a netbook without the usable keyboard."

Says who?

"It is an Iphone without the phone."

That would be an iPod Touch.

"It is a games machine that can't do graphics well."

Says who?

"It is an e-book reader without the e-ink to make the print easy to see."

LCD is easier to read than e-ink (more contrast), except in extreme conditions.

"In short, it is the veritable chocolate teapot of hardware."

In short, a veritable chocolate teapot of a comment.

Can't play games? that's probaby not fair, I suspect it would make a good frizby.

hit the nail right on the head. Of course fanbois have been moist about this for weeks and will say it's great regardless of any facts. They'd buy it if it only had 30 mins of battery life and no connectivity at all, and still say it's the best thing since a mud-brick. The iPad is completely pointless, it needed an iPatch before it was even released. AND don't forget the DRM's.

What's the use for a giant phone that cannot make phone-calls?

The worst part of this announcement, after the no web cam, no usb, no keyboard trifecta, was that you can only run one application at a time. One! IM window while playing solitaire? Out of the question. Read a book while playing some music? Don't get greedy.

Of course, multitasking is a relatively antiquated concept. Heck, it's so old we were still doing it back on Windows 3.11. Wouldn't want to get back to those dark ages would we?

I agree with Nick... What a load of c@#ap.
I have a buddy at work who loves anything that has Apple logo on it. He was amazed by yesterdsya's demo.
Then today thereality kicked in....

How can you play a game worth playing on the iPhone operating system? Farrell is right this machine is useless for god and man.

I am confident to predict Eoghan's utter fanboy noobiness.

Upmarket? Is that what they're calling over priced crap these days?

Once again nick misses the point.

This device stymies Intel and microsofts bid to kill off the netbook by going upmarket and (because it is a single architecture) will have a vibrant gaming scene.

I am happy to predict Nicks utter wrongness

I was thinking of a good analogy for this, cheers Nick .. motor without and engine just suits perfectly.

Anyone know a good place for fruity forums? I'm kinda not in the mood for work so i could use a laugh.