The iPad Is Here
in [Mac Systems]
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From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Per_R=F8nne?= on 28 Jan 2010 00:48 Tom Harrington <tph(a)pcisys.no.spam.dammit.net> wrote: > In article <michelle-754B39.14431027012010(a)news.eternal-september.org>, > Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote: > > > In article <000fa8c4$0$2269$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, > > JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > > > > > BTW, if their 3G version will be crippled like that of the iphone > > > (locked to a particular network), it will be useless to those who would > > > use a tablet the most: > > > > It is unlocked. All you need to do is replace the SIM card. > > But it uses a "micro-SIM". Is that commonly available? I don't know a > lot about SIMs but replaceability only matters if replacements are > actually available. I don't think that will give major problems to the carriers. Internationally. But I do hope that tethering with iPhone 3Gs will be possible for those of us who don't want to have yet a subscription. -- Per Erik R�nne http://www.RQNNE.dk Errare humanum est, sed in errore perseverare turpe
From: JF Mezei on 28 Jan 2010 01:17 Invid Fan wrote: > > there's a link at the bottom of this page: > http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/ Many thanks for the pointer. Steve Jobs is looking a bit better than last year. But presentation style not as "wow" as older presentations. Runs just over 1:30. This presentation makes me wonder what the future is for OS-X and the intel based macs. He focused so much on "mobile" market. OK, Steve confirms they are unlocked. But Apple is negotiating deals with individual carriers. For instance, AT&T agreed to provide a prepaid $29.95 for unlimited data for the iPAd. No contract. The choice of micro-SIM instead of current sim card format is questionable. The iPad is big enough to accomodate the already reduced SIM cards (the original ones were credit card sized, and when the smaller one (current) was introduced, they woudl give you a credit card size SIM and you could punch out the smaller SIM from it). A disadvantage is that you won't be able to use your existing SIM card onto the tablet and vice versa. So you'll need a data plan for your phone and a data plan for your ipad. The unanswered question now is what happens to iphone pricing and business practices. Will Apple finally give up its monthly revenues from iphones and allow unlocked iphones to be sold at competitive prices ? Someone mentioned "no flash". Yet, there is a Youtube application. Does youtube supply ipads with different video formats ? I could see myself using this during a bike/backpacking trip. I could see myself using it on a bus/train for commuting. It wasn't that long ago that such a form factor was considered science fiction and you only saw those on star trek etc. This will cannabalise some laptop sales. In terms of the keyboard, hopefully there will be an option for the full sized mechanical keyboard "dock" instead of just the small one. I heard no mention of SMS. Just wondering if a "data only" subscription would still give one access to SMS capabilities on a GSM network. Perhaps this is something missing from the ipad 1.0 which Apple is reserving for its 2011 announcement.
From: nospam on 28 Jan 2010 01:28 In article <000ce271$0$2251$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > The choice of micro-SIM instead of current sim card format is > questionable. The iPad is big enough to accomodate the already reduced > SIM cards (the original ones were credit card sized, and when the > smaller one (current) was introduced, they woudl give you a credit card > size SIM and you could punch out the smaller SIM from it). > > A disadvantage is that you won't be able to use your existing SIM card > onto the tablet and vice versa. So you'll need a data plan for your > phone and a data plan for your ipad. since it's not a phone, you'd lose phone functionality if you swapped sims, plus future phones will be using micro sims so you'll be able to do that, regardless. > Someone mentioned "no flash". Yet, there is a Youtube application. Does > youtube supply ipads with different video formats ? h.264, an industry standard. it's been that way since the original iphone. > I could see myself using this during a bike/backpacking trip. I could > see myself using it on a bus/train for commuting. It wasn't that long > ago that such a form factor was considered science fiction and you only > saw those on star trek etc. i'm still waiting for the transporter:) > I heard no mention of SMS. Just wondering if a "data only" subscription > would still give one access to SMS capabilities on a GSM network. > Perhaps this is something missing from the ipad 1.0 which Apple is > reserving for its 2011 announcement. there are a *lot* of sms apps for the iphone/ipod touch that don't use the phone network, so you don't pay ridiculous prices for sending a tiny burst of data.
From: JF Mezei on 28 Jan 2010 02:13 Barry Margolin wrote: > I think it's best to think of the iPad as a big iPod/iTouch, not a small > MacBook. > But this is where this topic become "on topic" for this group. Apple is making oodles of money from its iphone/ipodtouch/ipod ecosystem with the App store, Itunes and now the book store. The installed base is probably orders of magnitudes greater than for real Macs and the real OS-X. Granted, today was about the iPad, so obviously, the keynote focused on that. But all Mighty Steve mentioned only laptops, he didn't mention desktops or servers having a place within Apple. From a business point of view, it seems Apple is making more money from this mobile gadgets such as iphone than from real computers, so Apple would have some duty to continue to milk this more profitable market. But from the point of view of us poor shmucks on real Macs and real OS-X, it probably means reduced emphasis on OS-X development because Apple is focusing resources on its gadget/mobile devices. On the other hand, Apple did refresh its Mac line in 2009, and until Intel comes out with the next generation of 8086 chips, there isn't much from a point in upgrading the hardware. SnowLeopard wasn't an upgrade. It was a cleanup with some downgrades in the user interface (Quicktime 10 for instance) and some useless eye candy changes. My fear is that if development of the real OS-X languishes, it may start to lose important appications and revert to the sad state of MacOS during the 1990s. Both OS-X and Windows could be blindsighted by Linux is they become complacent in the desktop market and focus only on the mobile "appliance" market.
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Per_R=F8nne?= on 28 Jan 2010 02:26
nospam <nospam(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > In article <000ce271$0$2251$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>, JF Mezei > <jfmezei.spamnot(a)vaxination.ca> wrote: > > > The choice of micro-SIM instead of current sim card format is > > questionable. The iPad is big enough to accomodate the already reduced > > SIM cards (the original ones were credit card sized, and when the > > smaller one (current) was introduced, they woudl give you a credit card > > size SIM and you could punch out the smaller SIM from it). > > > > A disadvantage is that you won't be able to use your existing SIM card > > onto the tablet and vice versa. So you'll need a data plan for your > > phone and a data plan for your ipad. > > since it's not a phone, you'd lose phone functionality if you swapped > sims, plus future phones will be using micro sims so you'll be able to > do that, regardless. Furthermore, we can hope that the iPad will support tethering with an iPhone - which would reduce the need for the 3G models. I do know that is not an issue in the US but other countries don't have the 3G problems the AT&T has ... -- Per Erik R�nne http://www.RQNNE.dk Errare humanum est, sed in errore perseverare turpe |