Wow! I have both the old and new AppleTV, and I think the new one trumps the old one hands downs. The old AppleTV was mainly tied to iTunes store. That's not the case with the new and improved AppleTv.
I've been playing around with AirPlay - basically using my iPad as a remote. While using my iPad as a remote, I can navigate to any of my favorite sites, click on any video, click AirPlay and boom - the content streams directly to my AppleTv. Here are just a few sites:
Etc Etc
You are able to stream video from your iPad?! Is the software update for that out yet?
Your post is so spot-on the money that it bears repeating. The "tech-spec weenie" crowd is so balled up in ports, mHz, Megabytes, "open source" that they can't see reality in the consumer mindset. And when a product like the iPod, iPhone, iPad suceeds they simply label the buyers ignorant lemmings.
Non-tech people who buy laptops don't even know what half the ports on the back and sides of the thing are for, nor do they remember how much ram and what speed their cpu is either. That doesn't mean that they don't want the ports or the ram they just don't care as long as it sends email and gets on the internet. The fact that iPad is missing a lot of stuff only matters to the people who miss it. I personally don't think adding a few ports and features would detract from the elegance of the device and they might come in handy once in a while. Less is not more, regardless of what you may have heard.
I don't think it's really fair to compare the iPad to the DVD or the iPhone. When all is said and done, it really is effectively a large iPod touch. ...
I really thought we'd gotten past that meme.
The iPad is a big touch in the same way that Pebble Beach is just a big municipal public golf course.
Size really does matter, and in this case the real estate turns it into a completely different animal.
I use my iPad way more than when I first got it, to the point where it carries 50% of my work load in a shop that barely acknowledges its existence, and my daughter is about to find out that when she starts high school next year, we'll be donating her desktop Mac to charity and she'll get an iPad (w/bluetooth keyboard), with our iMac for the infrequent fall-back.
Sadly there are millions of consumers out there who are, no offence intended, clueless when it comes to technology.
I attribute it to laziness.
Really?
So, do you change the oil in your car (if you own one). Changed your brakes lately? Why those tasks are simple and take a couple of hours tops - what, are you lazy?
Did you grow your own food? There's nothing complicated to gardening. It just takes time - you must be lazy.
Do you make your own clothes? Sewing and cutting out fabric from a paper pattern isn't rocket science - you must be lazy.
....And I could go on and on. Look, obviously you don't get this but not everyone is enamored with technology. Why should someone have to learn all the geeky inner workings of a tool in order for it to function as a tool? Most people have no desire to change oil in their car - something that is several of orders of magnitude easier to do than learn to use a mouse for the first time, but for whatever reason techies get all uppity because average people don't want to delve into the same subjects that they enjoy.
That doesn't make them lazy, it makes them people with different priorities than your own.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
I think most techies react violently to devices like the iPad - especially those in corporate IT support professions - because devices like the iPad pretty much eliminate their need.
Sure, a few will be required, but certainly not to the extent of current general-purpose computer environments. All the hype about "open", wall-gardens, missing features and derision of Apple's success because of "Style" and popularity are more a reflection of their own fears of their impending irrelevance (or at least greatly reduced importance).
Oh well. Suck it up and move on. Time marches on and stops for no one.
... First of all, the advertising and hype surrounding a product is most powerful during its initial release. To think Apple is continuing at the same pace with the iPad is ridiculous. If Apple sold 3.5 million pads in the first three months (AND APPLE HAS BEEN DRAGGING ITS FEET RELEASING THE LATEST SALES FIGURES, I WONDER WHY?) I think you can expect to see about 1.75 million more sold when the release the latest figures on Oct 18...
You have heard of this event we have each year called Christmas, right? The initial hype is nothing compared to the personal testimonials of people who have actually owned and used iPads. With distribution just opened up for Target and Amazon as well as the rumored Walmart availability starting in November the sales figures will probably only be limited by how fast Apple is able to manufacture them.
The most surprising aspect of this phenomenon is how flat footed the competition has been with essentially no response as we enter the Christmas selling period six months after the iPad started shipping. All we have seen is trash talking and vapor. Will anything significant appear before 2011? The others will own the netbook market but it isn't clear if it is a profitable option.
Of course it's coming to the general population next month.
You realize that developers are not Apple' market, right!?
How is the fact that you are a developer being able to play around with something that may or may not ultimately show up in any way relate to my experience from the use of iPad/AppleTV as a member of the 'general population'?
Stick to the product as it is available to the public today. Thanks.
So, do you change the oil in your car (if you own one). Changed your brakes lately? Why those tasks are simple and take a couple of hours tops - what, are you lazy?
Did you grow your own food? There's nothing complicated to gardening. It just takes time - you must be lazy.
Do you make your own clothes? Sewing and cutting out fabric from a paper pattern isn't rocket science - you must be lazy.
....and i could go on and on. ........
That doesn't make them lazy, it makes them people with different priorities than your own.
You realize that developers are not Apple' market, right!?
How is the fact that you are a developer being able to play around with something that may or may not ultimately show up in any way relate to my experience from the use of iPad/AppleTV as a member of the 'general population'?
Stick to the product as it is available to the public today. Thanks.
With all due respect, Apple has already publicly announced that AirPlay will be made available to the public next month. It's rather ironic that you suggest I only talk about things as they are as you eat up the stories posted here on the rumor mill.
That's hilarious - a rumor mill without the speculations, what-ifs, and insider info.
And as I've already stated, the 1st gen ATV pales in comparison to this one - and thats coming from someone who actually owns both.
The iPad is a big touch in the same way that Pebble Beach is just a big municipal public golf course.
Size really does matter, and in this case the real estate turns it into a completely different animal.
Your problem is that you're being defensive about the iPad. Look, I've owned one for months and use mine extensively. It's loaded up with a ton of books, magazines, files, photos, videos and more apps than iOS 3.2 can handle, just waiting for 4.2 to come out so I can reload the rest of my apps currently in cold storage in iTunes. But from a technological standpoint, it really is nothing more than a giant iPod touch. To deny that it relied on the foundation of the iPhone and the iPod touch rather than being an all-new platform like the DVD player and the iPhone that it's being compared to is to contradict Apple's advertising when it was launched, where they kept plugging that it already had 200,000 apps available. You just can't compare something like that with all-new devices that had only nascent ecosystems and claim that the adoption rates are at all comparable. There was a very limited number of titles available when DVD players were introduced, and almost exclusively recent ones, no back catalog titles, no TV show seasons. The iPhone had no third party apps at all. Likewise, color TVs didn't sell well until there was an abundance of color broadcasts. HDTVs didn't fly off shelves until most stations had HD programming available.
As for it being a "completely different animal," does or does not the iPad run iOS as the previous devices do? You might as well claim that a Mac Pro is a completely different animal from a Mac mini. List all the differences you want. In the end, they're both Macs running the same software, although with different capabilities.
With all due respect, Apple has already publicly announced that AirPlay will be made available to the public next month. It's rather ironic that you suggest I only talk about things as they are as you eat up the stories posted here on the rumor mill.
That's hilarious - a rumor mill without the speculations, what-ifs, and insider info.
And as I've already stated, the 1st gen ATV pales in comparison to this one - and thats coming from someone who actually owns both.
Fair enough. I'll wait until 4.2 for the iPad and then revise my rating, if warranted.
I think that Apple would have made a bigger and more impactful statement if it had waited until the 4.2 rev to introduce the new AppleTV.
Your problem is that you're being defensive about the iPad. Look, I've owned one for months and use mine extensively. It's loaded up with a ton of books, magazines, files, photos, videos and more apps than iOS 3.2 can handle, just waiting for 4.2 to come out so I can reload the rest of my apps currently in cold storage in iTunes. But from a technological standpoint, it really is nothing more than a giant iPod touch. To deny that it relied on the foundation of the iPhone and the iPod touch rather than being an all-new platform like the DVD player and the iPhone that it's being compared to is to contradict Apple's advertising when it was launched, where they kept plugging that it already had 200,000 apps available. You just can't compare something like that with all-new devices that had only nascent ecosystems and claim that the adoption rates are at all comparable. There was a very limited number of titles available when DVD players were introduced, and almost exclusively recent ones, no back catalog titles, no TV show seasons. The iPhone had no third party apps at all. Likewise, color TVs didn't sell well until there was an abundance of color broadcasts. HDTVs didn't fly off shelves until most stations had HD programming available.
As for it being a "completely different animal," does or does not the iPad run iOS as the previous devices do? You might as well claim that a Mac Pro is a completely different animal from a Mac mini. List all the differences you want. In the end, they're both Macs running the same software, although with different capabilities.
Your assesment is erroneous. You don't seem to realize that Apple redesigned the UI specifically for the iPad. The iPhone/Touch also use iOS and CocoaTouch, but the ipad's UI is designed for the device. For you to say that it's nothing more than taking iOS in the iPod Touch and adding it onte iPad HW the way one would display a desktop OS on a netbook or HDTV makes me wonder if you have even used an iPad or if you chose your words poorly.
As it being a "completely different animal" just look at them. One is pocketable, the other isn't. Both have multiple-touchscreens, but one has a primary I/O that is 8x as large as te other. You can use your Deaktop OS example for the output, but having 8x the surface area to interact with the device makes a huge difference in what you can do.
Take a look at all previous tablets for the last decade. They all tried to put a desktop OS into a tablet thinking that was enough. Now everyone is following Apple. There is a reason for this. Now take a look at how iPhone/Touch apps look on the iPad. Not just the jagged graphics and different aspect ratio but the size of the controls that were made for a 3.5" display that are now spread over a 10" display. It doesn't feel right and I quickly removed all non-iPad or Universal apps, even moving to webpages for Facebook and such even though the iPhone app is great.
PS: The AppleTV runs iOS 4.x. Would you call that an iPod Touch, too, or is your snyposis based on both devices using CocoaTouch despite the clear rewrite for the new display size and all the pros and cons that go along with it.
WOW. That's cool... AirPlay, I didn't know it could do that. A "hidden" feature of AppleTV no one seems to know or talk about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Postulant
Wow! I have both the old and new AppleTV, and I think the new one trumps the old one hands downs. The old AppleTV was mainly tied to iTunes store. That's not the case with the new and improved AppleTv.
I've been playing around with AirPlay - basically using my iPad as a remote. While using my iPad as a remote, I can navigate to any of my favorite sites, click on any video, click AirPlay and boom - the content streams directly to my AppleTv. Here are just a few sites:
............
Let's not forget Hulu and Netflix...the list goes on and on. And this doesn't even include music,ie., Pandora and Tunein Radio etc.
Already this week we've learned the new AppleTV can handle apps. I'm sorry man, but the old AppleTV can't hold a candle to this.
Fair enough. I'll wait until 4.2 for the iPad and then revise my rating, if warranted.
I think that Apple would have made a bigger and more impactful statement if it had waited until the 4.2 rev to introduce the new AppleTV.
So, will this be available for the iPhone too?
Yes, it's available on the iPhone as well...
AirPlay is really a clever idea. I don't know if you've downloaded any of the enhanced books from iBooks that play interactive video, but AirPlay works with those, too. Imagine reading an interactive childrens book to a small child, and streaming video content from the story to your widescreen tv.... Eh, at least I thought it was pretty cool.
Also, let's not forget interactive video in magazines and newspapers. Instead of reading the news, I can now stream it from the USA Today app directly to my TV. I cancelled my cable subscription, so to me this is huge.
For those who want a device that does everything in a portable, touch screen form factor, then take a look at the $2500 Motion tablets.
I'm sorry, but I consider myself a tech geek and I find the Motion tablets are postively useless. I mean, yes, they run Windows 7 and they have handwriting recognition. But they definitely don't have a nice software keyboard like the iPad, they don't have the cool apps, they don't do LogMeIn (well anyway, definitely not as well as the iPad). So I'm definitely sold on buying an iPad over a Motion tablet, even if the iPad cost more. I had a customer who brought in one to install Office and it had one USB port... that wasn't even USB 2. It ran Windows 7, but it was just about horrible to try to type with a stylus on it. I mean, you HAD to use the stylus, because Windows was so lame about not having fingers hit the screen... not that the keys on the on-screen keyboard were big enough to hit with fingers anyway. It just sucks, and even the customer admitted that the iPad would've been a better buying decision after we installed Office on his tablet. Ideally, you'd have an iPad and it'd be a full computer that would connect to other computers as well. But no such product exists.
Your assesment is erroneous. You don't seem to realize that Apple redesigned the UI specifically for the iPad. The iPhone/Touch also use iOS and CocoaTouch, but the ipad's UI is designed for the device. For you to say that it's nothing more than taking iOS in the iPod Touch and adding it onte iPad HW the way one would display a desktop OS on a netbook or HDTV makes me wonder if you have even used an iPad or if you chose your words poorly.
Yes, I guess I've never used an iPad. That must explain the whole section you refused to read that said I have owned one for months and have it mostly full. Yes, the iPad is completely redesigned. That must explain why after owning an iPod touch a couple of years ago, using an iPad was instantly familiar. Apple redesigned the UI for some apps. Not the OS. You still have the home screen with the 5x5 matrix of apps and the home button. You still zoom, copy, paste, and all the other functions invoked exactly the same way.
Quote:
As it being a "completely different animal" just look at them. One is pocketable, the other isn't. Both have multiple-touchscreens, but one has a primary I/O that is 8x as large as te other. You can use your Deaktop OS example for the output, but having 8x the surface area to interact with the device makes a huge difference in what you can do.
A difference in user experience does not make something a whole different animal. I have a 30" 2560x1600 LCD on my desktop right now next to a 24" LCD. It doesn't make my Mac a completely different machine from my old G4 with a single 17" CRT. They're both still Macs and with a few exceptions, they both run the same applications.
Quote:
PS: The AppleTV runs iOS 4.x. Would you call that an iPod Touch, too, or is your snyposis based on both devices using CocoaTouch despite the clear rewrite for the new display size and all the pros and cons that go along with it.
Funny, I wasn't aware that the AppleTV has a multitouch screen or even any screen built in or that I could play Tap Tap Radiation or Angry Birds on it. I'll have to keep an eye out in the App Store for all the tens of thousands of apps that say "Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and AppleTV."
within its first (less than) 2 months on the market the Nintendo DS sold 2.84 million units. Of course that was a combined US/Japan release at the start of November, so it had xmas on it's side.
Even with a huge dropoff in average monthly sales, I think it still would have sold 430 000 units in it's 3rd month of existance.
Not to diminish the significance of being the fastest selling Tablet ever, of course, but just trying to put it in perspective. Also note that the DS had a similar revitalizing effect on the handheld market as the iPad has to tablet PCs, despite competition from more established players...
Comments
Wow! I have both the old and new AppleTV, and I think the new one trumps the old one hands downs. The old AppleTV was mainly tied to iTunes store. That's not the case with the new and improved AppleTv.
I've been playing around with AirPlay - basically using my iPad as a remote. While using my iPad as a remote, I can navigate to any of my favorite sites, click on any video, click AirPlay and boom - the content streams directly to my AppleTv. Here are just a few sites:
Etc Etc
You are able to stream video from your iPad?! Is the software update for that out yet?
Please enlighten.
I must have somehow missed it.....
Any details? Just the lock-in, or bigger issues than that?
Here are my complaints, from a previous thread: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...42#post1726742
Your post is so spot-on the money that it bears repeating. The "tech-spec weenie" crowd is so balled up in ports, mHz, Megabytes, "open source" that they can't see reality in the consumer mindset. And when a product like the iPod, iPhone, iPad suceeds they simply label the buyers ignorant lemmings.
Non-tech people who buy laptops don't even know what half the ports on the back and sides of the thing are for, nor do they remember how much ram and what speed their cpu is either. That doesn't mean that they don't want the ports or the ram they just don't care as long as it sends email and gets on the internet. The fact that iPad is missing a lot of stuff only matters to the people who miss it. I personally don't think adding a few ports and features would detract from the elegance of the device and they might come in handy once in a while. Less is not more, regardless of what you may have heard.
You are able to stream video from your iPad?! Is the software update for that out yet?
Please enlighten.
I must have somehow missed it.....
Developer release...
Of course it's coming to the general population next month.
I don't think it's really fair to compare the iPad to the DVD or the iPhone. When all is said and done, it really is effectively a large iPod touch. ...
I really thought we'd gotten past that meme.
The iPad is a big touch in the same way that Pebble Beach is just a big municipal public golf course.
Size really does matter, and in this case the real estate turns it into a completely different animal.
I use my iPad way more than when I first got it, to the point where it carries 50% of my work load in a shop that barely acknowledges its existence, and my daughter is about to find out that when she starts high school next year, we'll be donating her desktop Mac to charity and she'll get an iPad (w/bluetooth keyboard), with our iMac for the infrequent fall-back.
Sadly there are millions of consumers out there who are, no offence intended, clueless when it comes to technology.
I attribute it to laziness.
Really?
So, do you change the oil in your car (if you own one). Changed your brakes lately? Why those tasks are simple and take a couple of hours tops - what, are you lazy?
Did you grow your own food? There's nothing complicated to gardening. It just takes time - you must be lazy.
Do you make your own clothes? Sewing and cutting out fabric from a paper pattern isn't rocket science - you must be lazy.
....And I could go on and on. Look, obviously you don't get this but not everyone is enamored with technology. Why should someone have to learn all the geeky inner workings of a tool in order for it to function as a tool? Most people have no desire to change oil in their car - something that is several of orders of magnitude easier to do than learn to use a mouse for the first time, but for whatever reason techies get all uppity because average people don't want to delve into the same subjects that they enjoy.
That doesn't make them lazy, it makes them people with different priorities than your own.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
I think most techies react violently to devices like the iPad - especially those in corporate IT support professions - because devices like the iPad pretty much eliminate their need.
Sure, a few will be required, but certainly not to the extent of current general-purpose computer environments. All the hype about "open", wall-gardens, missing features and derision of Apple's success because of "Style" and popularity are more a reflection of their own fears of their impending irrelevance (or at least greatly reduced importance).
Oh well. Suck it up and move on. Time marches on and stops for no one.
... First of all, the advertising and hype surrounding a product is most powerful during its initial release. To think Apple is continuing at the same pace with the iPad is ridiculous. If Apple sold 3.5 million pads in the first three months (AND APPLE HAS BEEN DRAGGING ITS FEET RELEASING THE LATEST SALES FIGURES, I WONDER WHY?) I think you can expect to see about 1.75 million more sold when the release the latest figures on Oct 18...
You have heard of this event we have each year called Christmas, right? The initial hype is nothing compared to the personal testimonials of people who have actually owned and used iPads. With distribution just opened up for Target and Amazon as well as the rumored Walmart availability starting in November the sales figures will probably only be limited by how fast Apple is able to manufacture them.
The most surprising aspect of this phenomenon is how flat footed the competition has been with essentially no response as we enter the Christmas selling period six months after the iPad started shipping. All we have seen is trash talking and vapor. Will anything significant appear before 2011? The others will own the netbook market but it isn't clear if it is a profitable option.
Developer release...
Of course it's coming to the general population next month.
You realize that developers are not Apple' market, right!?
How is the fact that you are a developer being able to play around with something that may or may not ultimately show up in any way relate to my experience from the use of iPad/AppleTV as a member of the 'general population'?
Stick to the product as it is available to the public today. Thanks.
really?
So, do you change the oil in your car (if you own one). Changed your brakes lately? Why those tasks are simple and take a couple of hours tops - what, are you lazy?
Did you grow your own food? There's nothing complicated to gardening. It just takes time - you must be lazy.
Do you make your own clothes? Sewing and cutting out fabric from a paper pattern isn't rocket science - you must be lazy.
....and i could go on and on. ........
That doesn't make them lazy, it makes them people with different priorities than your own.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
++1..
You realize that developers are not Apple' market, right!?
How is the fact that you are a developer being able to play around with something that may or may not ultimately show up in any way relate to my experience from the use of iPad/AppleTV as a member of the 'general population'?
Stick to the product as it is available to the public today. Thanks.
With all due respect, Apple has already publicly announced that AirPlay will be made available to the public next month. It's rather ironic that you suggest I only talk about things as they are as you eat up the stories posted here on the rumor mill.
That's hilarious - a rumor mill without the speculations, what-ifs, and insider info.
And as I've already stated, the 1st gen ATV pales in comparison to this one - and thats coming from someone who actually owns both.
I really thought we'd gotten past that meme.
The iPad is a big touch in the same way that Pebble Beach is just a big municipal public golf course.
Size really does matter, and in this case the real estate turns it into a completely different animal.
Your problem is that you're being defensive about the iPad.
As for it being a "completely different animal," does or does not the iPad run iOS as the previous devices do? You might as well claim that a Mac Pro is a completely different animal from a Mac mini. List all the differences you want. In the end, they're both Macs running the same software, although with different capabilities.
With all due respect, Apple has already publicly announced that AirPlay will be made available to the public next month. It's rather ironic that you suggest I only talk about things as they are as you eat up the stories posted here on the rumor mill.
That's hilarious - a rumor mill without the speculations, what-ifs, and insider info.
And as I've already stated, the 1st gen ATV pales in comparison to this one - and thats coming from someone who actually owns both.
Fair enough. I'll wait until 4.2 for the iPad and then revise my rating, if warranted.
I think that Apple would have made a bigger and more impactful statement if it had waited until the 4.2 rev to introduce the new AppleTV.
So, will this be available for the iPhone too?
Your problem is that you're being defensive about the iPad.
As for it being a "completely different animal," does or does not the iPad run iOS as the previous devices do? You might as well claim that a Mac Pro is a completely different animal from a Mac mini. List all the differences you want. In the end, they're both Macs running the same software, although with different capabilities.
Your assesment is erroneous. You don't seem to realize that Apple redesigned the UI specifically for the iPad. The iPhone/Touch also use iOS and CocoaTouch, but the ipad's UI is designed for the device. For you to say that it's nothing more than taking iOS in the iPod Touch and adding it onte iPad HW the way one would display a desktop OS on a netbook or HDTV makes me wonder if you have even used an iPad or if you chose your words poorly.
As it being a "completely different animal" just look at them. One is pocketable, the other isn't. Both have multiple-touchscreens, but one has a primary I/O that is 8x as large as te other. You can use your Deaktop OS example for the output, but having 8x the surface area to interact with the device makes a huge difference in what you can do.
Take a look at all previous tablets for the last decade. They all tried to put a desktop OS into a tablet thinking that was enough. Now everyone is following Apple. There is a reason for this. Now take a look at how iPhone/Touch apps look on the iPad. Not just the jagged graphics and different aspect ratio but the size of the controls that were made for a 3.5" display that are now spread over a 10" display. It doesn't feel right and I quickly removed all non-iPad or Universal apps, even moving to webpages for Facebook and such even though the iPhone app is great.
PS: The AppleTV runs iOS 4.x. Would you call that an iPod Touch, too, or is your snyposis based on both devices using CocoaTouch despite the clear rewrite for the new display size and all the pros and cons that go along with it.
Wow! I have both the old and new AppleTV, and I think the new one trumps the old one hands downs. The old AppleTV was mainly tied to iTunes store. That's not the case with the new and improved AppleTv.
I've been playing around with AirPlay - basically using my iPad as a remote. While using my iPad as a remote, I can navigate to any of my favorite sites, click on any video, click AirPlay and boom - the content streams directly to my AppleTv. Here are just a few sites:
............
Let's not forget Hulu and Netflix...the list goes on and on. And this doesn't even include music,ie., Pandora and Tunein Radio etc.
Already this week we've learned the new AppleTV can handle apps. I'm sorry man, but the old AppleTV can't hold a candle to this.
Now that's video content at your fingertips.
Fair enough. I'll wait until 4.2 for the iPad and then revise my rating, if warranted.
I think that Apple would have made a bigger and more impactful statement if it had waited until the 4.2 rev to introduce the new AppleTV.
So, will this be available for the iPhone too?
Yes, it's available on the iPhone as well...
AirPlay is really a clever idea. I don't know if you've downloaded any of the enhanced books from iBooks that play interactive video, but AirPlay works with those, too. Imagine reading an interactive childrens book to a small child, and streaming video content from the story to your widescreen tv.... Eh, at least I thought it was pretty cool.
Also, let's not forget interactive video in magazines and newspapers. Instead of reading the news, I can now stream it from the USA Today app directly to my TV. I cancelled my cable subscription, so to me this is huge.
WOW. That's cool... AirPlay, I didn't know it could do that. A "hidden" feature of AppleTV no one seems to know or talk about.
Read the AppleTVs 5 secret weapons on 9 to 5 Mac.
For those who want a device that does everything in a portable, touch screen form factor, then take a look at the $2500 Motion tablets.
I'm sorry, but I consider myself a tech geek and I find the Motion tablets are postively useless. I mean, yes, they run Windows 7 and they have handwriting recognition. But they definitely don't have a nice software keyboard like the iPad, they don't have the cool apps, they don't do LogMeIn (well anyway, definitely not as well as the iPad). So I'm definitely sold on buying an iPad over a Motion tablet, even if the iPad cost more. I had a customer who brought in one to install Office and it had one USB port... that wasn't even USB 2. It ran Windows 7, but it was just about horrible to try to type with a stylus on it. I mean, you HAD to use the stylus, because Windows was so lame about not having fingers hit the screen... not that the keys on the on-screen keyboard were big enough to hit with fingers anyway. It just sucks, and even the customer admitted that the iPad would've been a better buying decision after we installed Office on his tablet. Ideally, you'd have an iPad and it'd be a full computer that would connect to other computers as well. But no such product exists.
Your assesment is erroneous. You don't seem to realize that Apple redesigned the UI specifically for the iPad. The iPhone/Touch also use iOS and CocoaTouch, but the ipad's UI is designed for the device. For you to say that it's nothing more than taking iOS in the iPod Touch and adding it onte iPad HW the way one would display a desktop OS on a netbook or HDTV makes me wonder if you have even used an iPad or if you chose your words poorly.
Yes, I guess I've never used an iPad. That must explain the whole section you refused to read that said I have owned one for months and have it mostly full. Yes, the iPad is completely redesigned. That must explain why after owning an iPod touch a couple of years ago, using an iPad was instantly familiar. Apple redesigned the UI for some apps. Not the OS. You still have the home screen with the 5x5 matrix of apps and the home button. You still zoom, copy, paste, and all the other functions invoked exactly the same way.
As it being a "completely different animal" just look at them. One is pocketable, the other isn't. Both have multiple-touchscreens, but one has a primary I/O that is 8x as large as te other. You can use your Deaktop OS example for the output, but having 8x the surface area to interact with the device makes a huge difference in what you can do.
A difference in user experience does not make something a whole different animal. I have a 30" 2560x1600 LCD on my desktop right now next to a 24" LCD. It doesn't make my Mac a completely different machine from my old G4 with a single 17" CRT. They're both still Macs and with a few exceptions, they both run the same applications.
PS: The AppleTV runs iOS 4.x. Would you call that an iPod Touch, too, or is your snyposis based on both devices using CocoaTouch despite the clear rewrite for the new display size and all the pros and cons that go along with it.
Funny, I wasn't aware that the AppleTV has a multitouch screen or even any screen built in or that I could play Tap Tap Radiation or Angry Birds on it. I'll have to keep an eye out in the App Store for all the tens of thousands of apps that say "Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and AppleTV."
within its first (less than) 2 months on the market the Nintendo DS sold 2.84 million units. Of course that was a combined US/Japan release at the start of November, so it had xmas on it's side.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS_sales
Even with a huge dropoff in average monthly sales, I think it still would have sold 430 000 units in it's 3rd month of existance.
Not to diminish the significance of being the fastest selling Tablet ever, of course, but just trying to put it in perspective. Also note that the DS had a similar revitalizing effect on the handheld market as the iPad has to tablet PCs, despite competition from more established players...