I'm not an apple fan......but bloody hell it does looks good!

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Now how did I know it was going to be called something like that?!

Did a double-take to check I was on the Apple site properly; just looks like someone's Photoshopped an iPhone and stretched it...

Not entirely sure of the market for this one - is it for the person that doesn't have a smartphone or netbook/laptop? Or are they thinking people will have one in addition?

Steve

I'm sure the cleaver PR machine will sell them and make everyone NEED one.

Of course no ones ever made a tablet PC before, just like there was never a touch screen phone before *rolls eyes*

I can see it sat on the coffee table as a nice little (expensive) toy. Pick it up to play some tunes, look at some photos, send an email etc. It saves opening up the laptop.. other than that i dont see a purpose.

I have heard it will be aimed at students hence the addition of iwork, but i would rather have a laptop any day!

Considering it will cost approx £300-500, you can get a netbook and even a decent spec laptop for that.

Comment I've read somewhere else:

Yes, I thought of the sanitary product link the moment I heard iPad - to me is sounded like incontinence-pad, conjuring up an images of pensioners stinking of ****. Mind you Steve Jobs had pancreatic cancer rather than prostate cancer.

On LBC on my way home listening to LBC, Petrie Hoskin was running an interview with their technology consultant who said if it were a bit bigger the could call it a maxi-pad.

Meh... I'm a little underwhelmed.

'iPad - Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.'

or... 'Our existing technology rehashed into a device not dissimilar to current product at a frankly ridiculous price!'

Starting at $499 and don't you just swap the dollar sign for a pound sign to get the UK price?

Or but one of those touch screen laptops that pivot round and can be used as a tablet.

Sure it may be more expensive than an 'iPad', but it will be a better computer and do most of the 'iPad' features and will be cheaper than buying and 'iPad' and a laptop/netbook

Annoyingly though I bet the apple take on the market will do better, mainly due to advertising and fashion concisous fan boys.

i quite like the look of it actually, if they make it so you can use it as a satnav for the car as well i will definitely buy one

never takes long...

Mark

Having waited for months, I just don't see the point.

No multitasking and the inelegant keyboard solution just make it an oversized iTouch. Absolutely no innovation.

I'll not bother with it... I'll wait for Microsoft Courier instead.

Having waited for months, I just don't see the point.

No multitasking and the inelegant keyboard solution just make it an oversized iTouch. Absolutely no innovation.

I'll not bother with it... I'll wait for Microsoft Courier instead.

totally agree, they'll probably sell millions....

Mark

I thought they were going to announce the new iphone G4 as well :(

I thought they were going to announce the new iphone G4 as well :(

Woah there... one revolution at a time!

Mind you, who can't wait for an iPhone with a 5Meg camera, eh?

Compared to a laptop or netbook it doesn't seem great value , but the same could be said against macbooks and windows laptops.

If you look at it in comparison to a KIndle ($489) or a large screen media player then all of a sudden it's a bargain.

I can see that it won't be long before the second gen iPad with a widescreen display is launched though - that's much better for film use.

My guess is that this is aimed at (rich?) families.

I can never get on the main PC in my house; the wife or kids are always on there. I use the main PC (G5 iMac) for Photoshop or video occasionally but mainly I'm just surfing/checking email, so I bought myself a cheap second-hand laptop. Problem solved!

So, you could have a main PC with all your music, photo's etc saved on, capable of doing any Photoshop type work occasionally (maybe the twin HD Mac Mini c/w Leopard server they launched the other month, running headless & accessed through one of the iPads) and each family member gets their own iPad for surfing etc. I'm pretty sure this will be Apple's thinking.

OK, in this particular example I'm talking over £2.5K of hardware for a typical nuclear family but I'm sure this 'Mac Mini/iPad' or 'HP MediaSmart/your choice of netbook' approach is the next phase of home computing.

I could possibly see myself buying one of these in the future if I had the cash, whereas with the iPhone I never really understood what all the fuss was about.

According the the coverage I heard, it's being marketed on the strength that you can watch streaming video, which obviously you can do on a smartphone anyway, but in either case the screen's too small to make it worthwhile - and you can read iBooks. Which is fine until the battery runs out while you're on the bus, and then you're left lugging a heavy slab of plastic, wishing you'd bought the paper version. 'Ah,' the fanbois will say, 'You can have hundreds of books loaded onto it, so you don't have to carry an entire bookcase with you.' Because people like to have dozens of books on the go at the same time, don't they?

The report also picked up on the lack of a camera, but really?! Who's going to want to take pictures with something the size and shape of a roasting tin? :lol:

As has been said, I'm sure they'll sell millions...

Some of the early reviews have been very negative so far, the lack of multitasking, the closed environment, lack of msoffice compatibility and so on have all been mentioned.

The report also picked up on the lack of a camera, but really?! Who's going to want to take pictures with something the size and shape of a roasting tin? :lol:

The first picture I saw with someone holding what I can only describe as a massive iphone reminded me of "pimp that snack" pictures of massive kit kats and creme eggs.

I know which I'd choose...

Oh, yeahhhh...

Who's going to want to take pictures with something the size and shape of a roasting tin? :lol:

Read somewhere about VOIP app's, so people could also use this as a phone!

Just been watching the video on Apple's website. Thought the iPad looked quite good but what struck me more was the fact that 'Jony' Ive is slowly morphing into Steve Jobs. iClone?

Looks like an iPod Touch for retards

Meh. You probably won't be able to change the battery in it so it'll only be good for 18 months.

Never really seen the point of tablets. Too heavy and awkward to hold, too unstable to put on a table.

I don't like 'I' anything, overpriced shiny tat.

Just watched the video on the Apple website. Tupische american corny rubbish!

Think my favourite quote was: "I don't have to change myself to fit the product. It fits me". Cheezy!!!

Again don't really see who would want one of these other than to show off!

Phil

Im a bit of an iphone fanboy, but i really fail to find much enthusiasm for this.

Other than the instant start up, i cant think of a reason why i'd want one over a laptop.