First iPad Reviews Are In

[40hz]

In the end, I think it all comes down to the amount of personal control you're willing to give up for what you think you'll get in return.

Some people don't feel the need to look much beyond what's in front of them so long as they believe they're getting what they want.

For people like this, Apple products are a match made in heaven. Immediate gratification and no-brainer choices are a big plus as far as they're concerned.

More power to them.

It's also worth noting that owning the 'correct' brand of something is very important to these folks. Correct brand names provide instant credibility and validation - something George Alistair Sanger (aka The Fat Man*) once described as: Buying your cool.

The way 'buying your cool works' is that you don't need to know squat about something just so long as you can name drop and shoot the breeze without sounding too stupid.

Owning the right stuff grants you permission to name drop; whereas shooting the breeze (without sounding stupid) is more of a personal gift. Nice to have, but not crucial.

Many blog sites have proven that not having such a gift is still no impediment if you're a real Apple fanboy.


Then there's people (like so many of us) who are only willing to give up so much personal control - and so much personal choice - before we say: You can keep it!

This is the crowd who insists on having the final say on how their technology works, and even more importantly, what they're allowed to do with it. And if too many strings come attached to something, they won't care if it can hand them the world on a silver platter - they ain't gonna buy it.

"Different strokes for different folks!" as the old song goes.

I'm not a Mac...

And I'm sure as hell not a PC!

I'm not anything but me.

Now...who are you?  



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Note: This is The Fat Man himself in one of his trademark spangled cowboy suits:



He's not fat at all. And he's also from Maine - so why is he wearing a spangly cowboy suit?

Curious, no?

http://fatman.com/

[zridling]

Is it only about the money and "instant cool" though? I can't recall Jobs doing anything charitable on any scale with his company or his gadgets. Whatever I may think of Mr. Gates's company, the man has spent the last decade giving back around the globe in demonstrable ways. It's like the guy (Arnold?) who went out and bought the biggest Hummer made just to show that he could burn more gas than your biggest SUV. Or perhaps the rich lady who spends tens of thousands of dollars on a special purse to carry their fluffy dog around with them in airports. And SuperboyAC, most of the Apple people I know are on my teevee, telling me how great their new shiny toy is. No matter how hard I try, I can't respect CNBC's Erin Burnett.

[superboyac]

Is it only about the money and "instant cool" though? I can't recall Jobs doing anything charitable on any scale with his company or his gadgets. Whatever I may think of Mr. Gates's company, the man has spent the last decade giving back around the globe in demonstrable ways. It's like the guy (Arnold?) who went out and bought the biggest Hummer made just to show that he could burn more gas than your biggest SUV. Or perhaps the rich lady who spends tens of thousands of dollars on a special purse to carry their fluffy dog around with them in airports. And SuperboyAC, most of the Apple people I know are on my teevee, telling me how great their new shiny toy is. No matter how hard I try, I can't respect CNBC's Erin Burnett.

-zridling (April 08, 2010, 05:33 PM)

Ha!  yeah, I'm on your side.  All I'm saying is that a few years ago, I would have bashed apple to a pulp.  now, I really see how it makes sense to other people.  I still will never get one, but I'm not so vocal about bashing it anymore.  I mean, especially when guys like Stephen Fry and my other smart friends can intelligently rationalize why it makes sense to them, I give them that respect.

The other great thing about Apple is it gets people off my back.  back in the day, i'd jump at the chance to fix any problem anyone had with technology.  Now, I pray that they don't bother me about this stuff.  So, if they are happy or think they are happy with their ipod or ipad, good.  They leave me alone with my gadgets, and I leave them alone with my (superior) gadgets.  That's a big reason why I've softened my stance.

[JavaJones]

40hz, perhaps you're not really suggesting that there are "only" these 2 camps, but even suggesting they're the majority seems dubious to me. I think both the gadget/brand nuts and the tech nuts like us are in the minority. It's the reaction of the average people that everyone claims is Apple's market that I'm interested in.

So many arguments about the iPad have gone Person 1: "I hate it, it locks me in to proprietary Apple stuff and doesn't let me do what I want, therefore it will fail!" Person 2: "It's not even meant for you, it's super simple and easy to use, it's meant for average Joe who doesn't even want to think about how to use his computer.", and the latter *would* be a compelling argument if it weren't for some of the comments I'm hearing about "hard to hold and use for long periods of time", "awkward to watch movies on", "expensive for an e-reader", "no direct camera connections", "no USB, easy plug-and-play", "need to use cumbersome iTunes-based process to sync docs with wires, does not work wirelessly", "no flash", and on and on. Thse don't seem like a product that the mainstream, "average Joe" will love.

Not to mention the frustration that will come when a user removes an app from their iPad for whatever reason, only to lose all their documents associated with it. I mean seriously, is that the message Apple wants the average consumer to get?

The sad thing is I think it *will* appeal to average people on the face of it, and it'll only be after some use that they realize how awkward, annoying, etc. it is. I'm just baffled by how bad a first gen Apple product really can be, I guess. I mean they got so much right, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the core concept - I'm not against a simple pad-like device, even if it runs iPhone OS and is limited in some ways - but it really seems like there are some all-too-glaring faults to me. *shrug*

- Oshyan

[cmpm]

With it's limitations and lack of up to date connections.
(Should be USB 3 on there)

Seems like something to find at a yard sale for 5 or 10 bucks.
16gb? Sheesh!

[40hz]

40hz, perhaps you're not really suggesting that there are "only" these 2 camps, but even suggesting they're the majority seems dubious to me.

The sad thing is I think it *will* appeal to average people

-JavaJones (April 08, 2010, 07:37 PM)

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (April 08, 2010, 07:37 PM)

Actually, for the purposes of this discussion, I am suggesting just that.  

But I don't mean to imply either side has an automatic advantage when it comes to technical sophistication or depth of knowledge. Sorry if I might have come across that way.

To me it comes down to whether or not you're comfortable living within a completely closed information and software ecosystem.

If you don't have a problem with that, Apple's product philosophy will work for you.

If you do have a problem with some entity arbitrarily deciding what you can have and what you can do with it, then it won't. And that's a problem that will remain for this group even if they never actually do exercise their freedom of choice. Having available options is what's crucial to them.

Group A-types believe in the notion of a single "best" way to do things.

Group B-types believe in the notion of a selection of "better" ways  to accomplish things.

So yeah, I guess I really do believe it breaks down into two groups.

The funny thing (to me) is how I keep hearing about the so-called "average person" or "average computer user." From my experience, I'm firmly convinced there's no such a thing - unless you want to apply that label to all the people who don't much care what they use and who therefor take whatever they're given.

Again, this is just my two cents on the topic - but I see a very significant crossroad coming up for the personal computing community. And I see the iPad as one of the first manifestations of the direction it could go in if this product (or some philosophical equivalent) gains widespread market acceptance.

Apple always maintained they were more about vision, ideas, and attitudes than they were about physical products. I think the iPhone and iPad represent an alternate vision of where Apple thinks the world is going (or should be going) when it comes to ubiquitous data access and communications.

It's hard not to sound melodramatic, but the simple truth is there's an awful lot at stake here. You have two irreconcilable visions of how the future web and infospace should work.

And the market will ultimately decide which path the world will go down based on what sells best.

So I guess we'll have to just wait and see if George Orwell - or should I say Steve Jobs(?) - is right.

 


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Note: did a minor edit to correct the grammar in one rambling sentence.

[JavaJones]

OK, so I get the split between those who care - whether in principle or otherwise - about "lock-in" and those who don't. Makes perfect senes, and I agree. This does not surprise or bother me at all; it makes perfect sense. And in fact it mirrors much of the way the rest of the world works, for example the difference between politically active people and those who just don't care about politics (even if they still vote).

What *does* surprise me is how Apple is screwing its target demographic of "those who don't care about lock-in" with all these bizarre limits, issues, etc. I guess it just surprises me that they get away with it.

- Oshyan

[40hz]

it mirrors much of the way the rest of the world works, for example the difference between politically active people and those who just don't care about politics (even if they still vote).

-JavaJones (April 09, 2010, 12:14 AM)

I agree with you 100%  

What *does* surprise me is how Apple is screwing its target demographic of "those who don't care about lock-in" with all these bizarre limits, issues, etc. I guess it just surprises me that they get away with it.

I guess it surprises me too - even though it shouldn't any more.

But isn't that just another example of your excellent point that it's much of the way the rest of the world works?  

People often treat others in a shabby manner courtesy of the meme which says: those who allow themselves to be pushed around "don't deserve" to be treated any better.

 

[wraith808]

The big thing about this 'closed ecosystem' mentality is that for most people for most devices, this has always been the case.  Cell phone?  Unless you get a smartphone, it's pretty much closed in any case.  And people want their phones to work first and foremost as a phone.  That's why I defected from WinMo... as much as I wanted to be on a platform I could actually program for using my existing skillset, the fact that my phone crashed so often was a disconcerting thing.  And it didn't get better at a speed that made me comfortable.  My last WinMo phone was only a little over a year ago.  And my wife had to use it after me for a bit until I could get her iPhone.. she's not a techie by any means, though she does have a bit of technical know how.  She longed for her LG Shine over the WinMo phone that I gave her, and was ready to throw it out of the window.  Closed ecosystem or not, the iPhone just works, and she's not in any way frustrated with it.  Before the phone it was the MP3 player for Apple.  Again, how many people *really* did anything out of the ecosystem of MP3 players?  What difference does it being closed matter to most people?  Not much, I hazard to say.  And the iPod, again, just works.  I loved my Rio Karma, but in the end, the experience between the Karma and the iPod were night and day.

So now they find themselves getting into a different market.  I think that's the reason that books are so important on the iPad.  The eBook readers are, again, a closed system.  Sure you can do some thing with them outside of the manufacturer's thinking- but for most people, they are just book readers.  But where I think Apple is going to have to adjust is at the same place they had to adjust on the iPhone... price.  No matter what they say, the price point puts it at the same place as devices with a lot more functionality.  And no matter the additional functionality, perception puts it not much above an eReader or iPhone.  Maybe they can get past this without lowering the price... but I tend to doubt it.