Now, I will agree that it’s probably NOT going to happen. Although HP is trying to create an app store and such for their slate, I doubt they will be able to create a soup-to-nuts solution like Apple does.

But I have to say, as much as I appreciate how well Apple stuff works together (most of the time), I am starting to feel the pinch of their my-way-or-the-highway attitude. Sure, the iPhone is a good phone… but what if I wanted to use Google Voice? Whoops! And why is Apple so petty about the use of the hardware? I am speaking of the deal where Amazon (who bought Lexcycle, makers of the Stanza ebook reader) had to update their iPhone reader app to STOP using the USB cable for book syncing. I mean, what the heck is that all about? Every other phone out there allows apps to utilize nearly any part of the phone’s hardware. But not Apple… and that stunts the growth of the device, in my opinion.

And that’s when it’s easy for other players in the same space to come along and make something that could woo away Apple’s customers. As I’d indicated, I would really like to have a Nexus One… dang AT&T contract!

But I guess the proof is in the pudding. If Apple can keep a lid on the iPhone and iPad, then as time goes on, the competitors will probably see a lot of issues appear (viruses, etc.) as a result of their openness.

Time will tell…

-Mike

- Andreas

Sure, the iPad will be successful… because it’s Apple… and Apple is sexy. Period. That doesn’t mean it’s the superior platform.

Your comments about Windows 7 are, to me, unfair. It is imminently possible to put a gorgeous and user-friendly UI on a Win7 platform… it’s just that no one’s done it yet. But it’s still, technically, possible.

As for Netbooks… I see your point. But what if the form factor were like the iPad (read: multitouch and tablet-style)? Slap on a good UI and a handful of useful apps, and boom! You’ve got everything the iPad is plus everything it’s not.

You are 100% correct, though… this is an emotional debate. Do I want an iPad? You betcha! Am I gonna get one? Probably not… especially if I can find something else that serves my purposes better for around the same price. As much as I love my iPhone, I do envy the Nexus One users who can do FAR more with their phones than I can.

In the end, I can’t see the iPad as a complement to a desktop machine. If the syncing were more free (read: wi-fi) and if I didn’t have to plug it in periodically to move things back and forth, then I might see it as more of a way to free myself from the desktop tether.

-Mike

Well, I don’t see the iPad as a replacement for a MacBook, certainly not. But it could be the easy-to-use mobile device for all the things we want to do everywhere – and that’s communication and social interaction, and not DTP, CAD, programming. I would agree with you up to a point – it’s a couch browser, emailer, a photo album, yes, but what kind of a photo album: Watch your grandma when you hand over the iPad to her, and she can just switch from photo to photo like turning pages of a book. I bet she’ll love it.

This will never work with a netbook or a laptop for two reasons: the UI which makes this device so different from any other computer, and because you can’t hold a netbook with only one of your hands. You always need both hands, or you place it on the table, your lap. It looks like a machine, not a photo album.

Something like the iPad can be handled like a book, not like a computer. That must be a terrific experience, even for us, the computer addicted people. I certainly remember the moment when I touched a mouse for the very first time (1986, it was an Atari!). Before that we had to interact with a computer by cryptic commands, and suddenly almost everybody was able to control a personal computer. Now with the iPad we get a powerful device with a touchscreen – this is again a paradigm shift! The iPad will – most likely – extend the reach to the rest of the people which still refuse to work with a computer (like my mom). You wold never get them with a Win7 machine.

The iPad hasn’t been designed for the computer nerds and geeks. It’s target group is the rest of us (the “early majority”, not the “early adopters”). Therefore it’s hard to argue with technical features (no multitasking, no DVD, you name it), because the target group isn’t interested in this discussion: “I don’t care about the microprocessor, as long as there is an Apple around”. The discussion is an emotional debate. You like it, or you don’t like it – that’s it.

And honestly, a computer doesn’t have to be an awful box. I love beautiful things – why can’t a computer be a ‘beautifully’ thing? People have an emotional relationship to many things like cars, books, watches, and the pay a lot for a new bicycle.

Nobody has to buy the iPad, but obviously many want to. The customers will decide about the success of the iPad, not Steve Jobs. I doubt that Apple will sell as many iPads than iPhones, but for me it’s clear that this will become a success story.

Yes, usually we have to pay more for an Apple device than for devices from other vendors. But don’t we get something more from Apple than a piece of hardware? They have again invented a new type of computer (after the Mac, iPod, and iPhone), and we as customers will decide if this will be a success, or if it is technology crab. For me the iPad could be the perfect complement to the desktop computer. Let’s see what happens if can touch one

- Andreas

But I doubt it. Seriously… so far, all we’ve seen is basic Netbook-type functionality. Sure, it’s prettier (which you’ll pay more for) and it’s Apple (which you’ll pay more for), but in the end, it boils down to a couch/toilet browser/emailer.

For a few hundred more, you can get a Macbook. For less, you can get a Windows 7 Netbook.

For about the same price (or even less, depending on options), you can get an HP slate, or an ExoPC: http://www.exopc.com/fr/exopc-slate.php

As long as the interface is usable (which is a big IF, I understand), I’d take a full Win7 tablet over the iPad any day.

But I do understand your point… not all of us have needs/desires outside what the iPad delivers. Not all of us wish to write programs, rip DVDs and CDs, watch Flash video (bazinga!), play Flash games, read books in a format other than Apple’s ordained format, annotate PDFs, take notes, use a stylus, etc.

But then again, many of us do…

-Mike