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Anyone Pre-Ordering the iPad?
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Topic Started: Mar 12 2010, 09:24 AM (216 Views)
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 12 2010, 09:24 AM
Post #1
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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I got the e-mail today. I'm trying to make my mind up.
If I do, it'll be a 3G model.
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Mikhailoh
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Mar 12 2010, 09:25 AM
Post #2
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Mik = late adopter
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 12 2010, 09:26 AM
Post #3
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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Typically, I am too.
The thing that is highly attractive to me about the iPad is the everywhere internet access.
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Axtremus
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Mar 12 2010, 09:52 AM
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I'd get the Verizon MiFi thingy rather than the 3G version of iPad. I can use the MiFi thingie for every WiFi capable device and essentially make "Internet everywhere" available to all my WiFi devices; and it's cheaper than the additional cost to add 3G to iPad.
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Aqua Letifer
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Mar 12 2010, 09:54 AM
Post #5
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Nope.
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I cite irreconcilable differences.
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 12 2010, 09:54 AM
Post #6
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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- Axtremus
- Mar 12 2010, 09:52 AM
I'd get the Verizon MiFi thingy rather than the 3G version of iPad. I can use the MiFi thingie for every WiFi capable device and essentially make "Internet everywhere" available to all my WiFi devices; and it's cheaper than the additional cost to add 3G to iPad. What's the monthly cost of MiFi for people who don't use Verizon for a phone, Ax?
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Axtremus
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Mar 12 2010, 09:59 AM
Post #7
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Last time I checked, it's $40/month for 250 MB of data per month, or $60/month for 5 GB of data per month -- not attached to any phone plan.
(Sprint offers the MiFi thingie too ... though Sprint's coverage is generally considered inferior to Verizon's. No equivalent offering from any other wireless operator in the US.)
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 12 2010, 10:02 AM
Post #8
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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I just checked. It's $40 a month for 250MB (versus $15 for the iPad) ... or $60 a month for 5GB (versus $30 for unlimited for the iPad).
If you can live with 250 MB, you'll pay for the iPad in three years on the difference in the monthly rates.
If you can't, you'll pay $30 per month more, and have a 5GB cap.
And, on the iPad, you can turn it on and off, while Verizon requires a two-year agreement. If you want it only one month at a time, that's $50 per month, and you're limited to 500MB.
No thanks, Verizon.
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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kenny
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Mar 12 2010, 10:29 AM
Post #9
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- Aqua Letifer
- Mar 12 2010, 09:54 AM
Nope. Oh no. We agree again.
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Mark
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Mar 12 2010, 10:45 AM
Post #10
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No pre-ordering.
I will wait until 1 of two things happen.
1) We get the new customer contracts 2) v2 is released.
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___.___ (_]===* o 0 When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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Axtremus
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Mar 12 2010, 01:55 PM
Post #11
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- QuirtEvans
- Mar 12 2010, 10:02 AM
I just checked. It's $40 a month for 250MB (versus $15 for the iPad) ... or $60 a month for 5GB (versus $30 for unlimited for the iPad). Oh... I didn't realize that the monthly rate for iPad's data plan is so favorable. Cool!
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George K
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Mar 13 2010, 07:00 AM
Post #12
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http://www.pcworld.com/article/191436/ipad_preorders_for_idiots_only.html
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iPad Pre-Orders: For Idiots Only
Friday morning, the fool's parade started. Apple is taking online "pre-orders" for its iPad tablet, which is supposed to begin shipping on April 3. Buying a new kind of product sight unseen is foolish. Especially given how mysterious Apple has been on what the iPad can do and what restrictions on capabilities and media access it will place on users and content providers.
Why blow $500 to $830 on a device that may not be what you expect? Just wait a mere three weeks to see for sure what it actually does and what surprises, good and bad, Apple has packed into the iPad.
Don't get me wrong: The iPad concept is promising in many ways. And I have no doubt that the iPad will appeal to many people even if it's not p
erfect. But we've all seen promising product demonstrations that resulted in major letdown when we finally got a hold of the real thing. Why take that chance? After all, the first-generation iPad is particularly likely to have disappointments, as it's the version that will tell us what, after the hoopla dies down, Apple should have done.
Sure, we can expect Apple to make future innovations in the iPhone OS (which the iPad uses) available to the first generation of iPad devices through OS upgrades -- as Apple has nicely done for iPhone and iPod Touch owners. But the iPad's hardware isn't upgradable, so you'll be stuck with the iPad's relatively low amounts of memory and its lack of connectors such as USB that I would expect Apple to remedy inthe future. And you'll be stuck with whatever iTunes-based content locks Apple decides to place on media content and e-books.
Remember, the same thing happened with the iPod Touch, Apple's iPhone-based PDA. The first-generation iPod Touch could play only a few sounds and even then only at a whisper, so its calendar alarms and new-email alerts were useless unless you wearing its earphones. You couldn't change the volume without using the touchscreen -- a real issue when driving, jogging, or carrying groceries. There was no microphone, so you couldn't take voice memos or use services like Skype. (Apple even blocked external microphones from working on it!) Despite Apple making sure each iPhone OS revision has continued to support the first-generation iPod Touch, those hardware limits remain in the actual devices.
You can bet that similar types of issue will be discovered in the first iPad.
Maybe I'm wrong -- maybe the iPad will be the full "magic" that Steve Jobs promises. Wonderful! If that's the case, buy one when you know it really is magic -- after people not employed by Apple have had a chance to really use it and put it through its paces. Until then, why send Apple your money until you know for sure? Doing so would be, well, foolish.
One positive sign in all this iPad hoopla: One of my breathless local TV news stations had its tech reporter at an Apple Store Thursday night hoping to find people lined up to camp out so they could be first in line Friday morning (at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, 5:30 a.m. Pacific) to order an iPad -- the station was clearly hoping for the kind of lemming-like frenzy we saw for Windows 95 (remember that?), the first iPhone, and for fan-driven movies like the "Star Wars," "Star Trek," and "Harry Potter" franchises.
But guess what: There was no line. Sure, it looked like a few people were willing to go online first thing in the morning to order their iPads sight unseen, or even head to an Apple Store before work today to order one. But only a few. Maybe the infamous Jobs reality distortion field does have limits after all. (Yes, I know you can't pre-order an iPad at the Apple Store. Clearly the TV station's anchorwoman didn't know when she asked the on-the-scene reporter if people were lining up already. And I doubt she's alone in that misimpression.)
A fool and his money are soon parted, the saying goes. Let's hope most Apple fans are as smart as they claim to be.
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A guide to GKSR: Click
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.
I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 13 2010, 10:28 AM
Post #13
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited YOU ....
I haven't ordered one yet, but I was just on the phone telling a friend the reasons why I thought I'd wind up getting one.
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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George K
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Mar 13 2010, 04:39 PM
Post #14
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Three Questions to ask: http://www.xconomy.com/national/2010/03/12/the-apple-ipad-three-unanswered-questions/?single_page=true
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The Apple iPad: Three Unanswered Questions
Today is the first day that consumers can put down money for an Apple iPad. If you pre-order a Wi-Fi model now, you can avoid waiting in the inevitable around-the-block lines when the gadget hits Apple Stores on Saturday, April 3. (If you want the Wi-Fi + 3G model, though, you’ll have to wait until late April.)
I know I’m going to buy an iPad sooner or later, but I don’t think I’ll pre-order one, mainly because of three big questions that haven’t yet been answered to my satisfaction. One of these is a matter that Apple could clear up, but hasn’t. The other two are questions that may not have definitive answers until the device has been out for a while and people have had some time to use it, and developers have had some time to figure out the best business models.
1. What will it feel like to use the iPad? I want to test-drive the device in a store before I decide which version to buy. In part, I’m concerned about the iPad’s ruggedness. If it strikes me as an all-purpose device that I can throw in my backpack and take everywhere, I’ll probably spend the extra for a 3G version. On the other hand, if it seems more like a delicate accessory that I’m only going to use on my couch at home, then one of the Wi-Fi versions will be perfectly sufficient.
Just as important, it’s still not clear to me how people will actually hold the iPad. In ads like this one, Apple almost always shows iPad users reclining with their knees raised, with the device positioned against their legs. If this is the only posture that makes ergonomic sense—that is, if the device has to be perched upon some kind of surface, such as your lap, before you can use it to full advantage—this could limit the machine’s usefulness, skewing it more toward recreation than productivity.
I’m hoping that it will be possible to hold the iPad with one hand while operating it with the other, but that all depends on how heavy it feels, how much gripping friction its glass and aluminum surfaces provide, and what kinds of accessories are available. All reasons that I want to try an iPad before I buy one.
2. Which existing iPhone apps will work on the iPad, and which will not? Apple has been careful to say that the Pad will run “almost all” of the more than 150,000 apps already available for the iPhone and the iPod Touch in the iTunes App Store. That “almost” is what I’m curious about. It’s a critical issue, because there are a few iPhone apps that would work so much better on the iPad that their exclusion from the new platform would be a serious shame. Yet I’m afraid that some of these are the exact apps that Apple may plan to exclude.
Apple’s decisions about two apps, in particular, could indicate whether the company sees the iPad as an open platform for all sorts of software, lifestyle, and business innovation, or, as some commentators have suggested, simply as a channel for selling digital content such as music, games, books, and videos.
One of these apps is Ignition, from Woburn, MA-based LogMeIn (NASDAQ: LOGM). It’s a $29.99 app that lets you control your PC or Mac from the screen of your iPhone.
Now, many people rave about Ignition, and it’s definitely cool, but the fact is that on an iPhone, it takes a lot of scrolling and zooming to navigate between all the buttons and menus on a typical Mac or PC screen. On the iPad’s much larger screen, this problem would presumably be solved. Even more intriguing, an iPad version of Ignition would essentially turn the Apple device into a kind of virtual PC, giving users access, via a remote connection, to many standard applications that don’t run natively on the iPhone or the Pad, such as PowerPoint or Quicken.
Will Apple allow this? There’s every reason it should, if it wants to sell iPads to people who take their computing seriously. But it’s the kind of thing that may conflict with Apple’s own ideas about what the iPad really is and how it should be used—so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cupertino giant balk at this one.
Ditto for Amazon’s Kindle app, which has been available on the iPhone since March 2009. I love this app, because it lets me read any e-book that I purchased for my Kindle on my iPhone. This is extremely handy when I have a few minutes to do some reading but I don’t have my Kindle with me. The issue here, of course, is that an iPad version of the Kindle app would basically turn the iPad into a color Kindle, meaning that the Kindle app would compete directly with Apple’s own forthcoming iBooks application.
Well, not quite directly, since you can’t buy books through the Kindle app—you can only read the books you’ve already purchased, whereas iBooks will have a built-in wireless iBookstore. But if I can continue to purchase e-books through Amazon and read them on my iPad, that’s what I’ll do, since Amazon’s prices are generally lower than the $12.99 to $14.99 per book that publishers reportedly plan to charge through the iBookstore. So the Kindle app is another one whose absence from the lineup of iPad apps would not surprise me. (On the other hand, I’ve read reports that Barnes & Noble is building an e-reader app for the iPad, a project it probably wouldn’t undertake without positive signals from Apple, so maybe Apple doesn’t see the other online booksellers as a serious threat to iBooks.)
3. How much will iPad-only apps cost? Will developers price apps developed especially for the iPad more like iPhone apps, which average around $1 or $2, or more like desktop apps? Apple may be setting an important precedent here by charging $9.99 each for the iPad versions of its iWork productivity programs. One of the nice things about the generally low prices on iPhone apps is that you don’t sweat buying them on impluse, just to try them out. If iPad apps are significantly more expensive than their iPhone counterparts, there will probably be less of that. On the other hand, a slightly higher price regime could help to weed out a lot of the junk apps.
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As I said at the beginning, the real question isn’t whether I’m going to buy an iPad, it’s whether I’m going to pre-order one, and which model I’ll go for.
In the worst-case scenario, the iPad will still be good for browsing the Web, watching videos purchased from the iTunes Store, looking at digital photos, and reading e-books and magazines, which is worth $499 to me. In the best-case scenario—one where Apple treats the device as an open platform, and doesn’t try to dampen competition through artificial controls—the iPad could prove considerably more valuable, meaning I wouldn’t mind spending $829 on a top-of-the-line model (then saving up for the inevitable iPad Pro in 2011).
Unfortunately, it may not become clear which scenario we’re going to get until several months after the iPad hits stores, just as the real value of the iPhone didn’t become clear until Apple launched the iTunes App Store in the summer of 2008, a full year after releasing the phone itself. We’ll have to see whether my inner gadget freak can wait that long.
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A guide to GKSR: Click
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.
I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18
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Axtremus
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Mar 13 2010, 06:01 PM
Post #15
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- from George's post
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... skewing it more toward recreation than productivity My impression of the iPad is that it's meant for recreation, not productivity.
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Luke's Dad
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Mar 13 2010, 06:45 PM
Post #16
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- Mikhailoh
- Mar 12 2010, 09:25 AM
Mik = late adopter Me too. Especially with game systems. I find that by being a little behind on the game systems , I can save a ton of money on games and sytems, and all the graphics and games still seem phenomenal to me, by comparison. Next week I'm going to pick up one of those PlayStations!
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The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 15 2010, 06:38 AM
Post #17
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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120K the first day, but only a third of those were 3G-enabled.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/15/ipad-sales-hit-120000-on_n_498834.html
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 15 2010, 06:41 AM
Post #18
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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But sales have dropped off since the first day fanboi craze ended.
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/category/apple-2-0/
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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jon-nyc
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Mar 15 2010, 06:45 AM
Post #19
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- Luke's Dad
- Mar 13 2010, 06:45 PM
Especially with game systems. Me too, I haven't bought one since I was 12.
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In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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QuirtEvans
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Mar 15 2010, 07:02 AM
Post #20
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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- jon-nyc
- Mar 15 2010, 06:45 AM
- Luke's Dad
- Mar 13 2010, 06:45 PM
Especially with game systems.
Me too, I haven't bought one since I was 12. That's because little NYC is still a crib-let.
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It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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