It has two things the iPad needs: 1) Stylus input (not the crappy 3rd party stylus) and 2) full Windows 7 handwriting recognition that can handle multiple languages as well as mathematical notation.
WHY CAN'T THE IPAD DO THIS??? So many of use students, polyglots, and artists would kill for a slate that could do this!
There's nothing wrong with the third party pens for the iPad. I use one when drawing. It works just fine. The problem with Win 7 on a tablet, is that because of the poor interface Windows presents on a tablet, a stylus is required. It's not optional. That's bad, not good.
As far as handwriting recognition goes, what's the big deal here? How many people really need, or want that? Useful, but required? I doubt it.
5,000 units at $800 is only $4 M - and that even assumes that the retailer doesn't keep any of the selling price.
There is no retailer. HP is selling this direct to businesses through its online store and business reps.
Quote:
There's no way HP would develop a product for $4 M. Even if MS did all the software work, the tooling costs, marketing cost, testing costs, and support costs alone would more than eat up that much money.
You're assuming HP planned to make 5000 all along. They've been developing this for a long time, at least as long ago as last January, when Ballmer announced it. Their plans obviously changed at least once. There was a time when the Slate was rumored to have been cancelled and HP neither confirmed nor denied it. They probably finally realized that the iPad has the lion's share of the market and they couldn't compete in terms of quantity with a Windows 7 tablet. But that doesn't mean they couldn't have other reasons for completing and selling it. It could still be a learning experience for their WebOS tablet, a way to test technologies they intend to use, like the 7" multitouch screen and the cameras. Better to get the bugs out with a small production batch of an insignificant product than to find out about them only when their mass market consumer device is released. Besides, HP customers can be as loyal as Apple's. I know someone in an all-HP shop who was evaluating the iPad for an in-house app for customer field reps. He wasn't happy at all about doing it, calling the iPad a limited functionality toy and hoping for the day the Slate would be released. I'm sure pressure from people like that factored into HP's thinking.
As far as handwriting recognition goes, what's the big deal here? How many people really need, or want that?
Maybe about 1.3 billion Chinese, another 120 million or so Japanese, some Koreans, Vietnamese, etc.? Not everybody uses languages that rely on small alphabets that are conducive to keyboard input.
What fizzle? On other sites, I read that orders for 9,000 HP Windows Slate 500 tablets was considered overwhelming demand. I'm looking for HP stock to rise because those extra 4,000 tablets weren't priced into target prices. It's only fair. Apple might sell only 12 million iPads this year and fail to meet analyst's predictions of 13 million. Look for Apple share price to take a big hit because of underwhelming iPad demand. Thanks to Ashok Kumar for that juicy bit of possible information.
I think that HP released this because of a commitment to MS.
Bingo.
Plus, there were likely a lot of sunk costs (R&D) that couldn't be recovered. Taking the final step of launching the device probably didn't cost them too much more.
The other less obvious motivation would be to gain more experience. The teams of people at HP developing this device will probably have many valuable insights that they can integrate into the next, more serious tablet device.
For a lot of people (myself included), the iPad is way too big and heavy. Apple has to make something smaller and/or lighter to attract our $$.
There's a niche for everyone, but in this case I think your lack of normal human muscle structured and inability to handle 1.5 pounds is a unique situation. Medical therapeutic aids are better suited to meet your specific needs. Seriously dude... whine much?
A 7 inch screen is "meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size," Jobs said. He added that Apple has done extensive research on touchscreen interfaces and what works best for users, which is how it arrived at a 9.7 inch display for the iPad.
If a 7 inch screen is to small then how do people manage to use the iPod touch and iPhone?
Apple fanboyism strikes again, and who is a greater fanboy than Daniel?
Oh, man, I love you Daniel, but really, how on earth do you know that the Samsung Galaxy Tab was "quickly turned to anticipation of the next model"? Do you have the numbers that they are selling? FYI, they are already selling here in Portugal and I am still waiting for an iPad. Go figure...
You negated yourself, turbo.
Of course the Slate is already on sale in Europe, and as you pointed out, that's exactly why you're still waiting for the iPad. You don't need a single fanboy to reach such a conclusion, nor does it take one to point it out.
I am surprised HP didn't wait to release this until they could put a different OS on.
I'm not. Apple's way is to keep a product in house for years, throwing out prototypes and starting over until it is perfected to the point of being a serious product. Others companies prefer to learn by doing. They put something out, then keep replacing and updating until they finally get it right. The Zune is a good example. The risk is that your early failures tend to make you lose credibility. Or that by the time you get it right, Apple has a huge, and perhaps insurmountable lead. Android has a third strategy, flood the market with different hardware versions and see what floats.
Your comment made me think of the notion that the hardware is just a vessel for whatever OS you might want to pour into it. Apple developed the hardware and the OS to go together. I think that approach tends to result in a superior product.
If a 7 inch screen is to small then how do people manage to use the iPod touch and iPhone?
Too small for what you would prefer a tablet for. I have read a book on my iPhone, but much prefer to do it on my iPad. For ease of data entry and interaction, and for viewing content rich screenfuls, the large format is better. Small screen iPhone for extreme portability, large screen iPad for productivity or media consumption.
Only on Apple fanboi sites will you see reality distorting headlines like this. Why is that? It's not like Jobs needs the support or otherwise won't sell his iDevices. I love the iPad and wouldn't want anything else than my Mac but I absolutely hate the way Jobs and his cronies want to dominate the PC market, the internet and now even TV with their closed down, dumbed down, sandboxed apps (coming soon to your Mac too!). HP even believed the anti-hype and very conservatively estimated to sell 5000 units. Imagine everyone's surprise when they actually sold 9000! Leave it to appleinsider to turn even this kind of success into a description of failure. It reminds me of religious fundamentalists that see every unexplained scientific fact as "proof" that their invisible magical friend actually exists.
Maybe about 1.3 billion Chinese, another 120 million or so Japanese, some Koreans, Vietnamese, etc.? Not everybody uses languages that rely on small alphabets that are conducive to keyboard input.
You would have a point, except that the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch all have Chinese and Japanese handwriting input, built-in. Or did you not know that?
Maybe about 1.3 billion Chinese, another 120 million or so Japanese, some Koreans, Vietnamese, etc.? Not everybody uses languages that rely on small alphabets that are conducive to keyboard input.
I guess you never used Japanese keyboard on iPhone/iPad.
You would have a point, except that the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch all have Chinese and Japanese handwriting input, built-in. Or did you not know that?
Do you mean CJK Input, or CJK Handwriting Input? I mean - can I actually write the kanji characters on the screen and enter text that way? I know they have the Keyboard option - but that is not the same as Handwriting Input.
But in any case, talking about entering CJK - you would be amazed at how adept the Japanese (and I am sure the Chinese and Koreans too) are, at entering text in their native language, using just the 12-button keypad of feature phones! In fact some are so good at it that they can enter text extremely quickly, and even without seeing the keyboard!
For a lot of people (myself included), the iPad is way too big and heavy. Apple has to make something smaller and/or lighter to attract our $$.
If a ten inch tablet that weighs less than a hardback text book is too big and heavy for you, I suggest you get down the gym. Apple do make something smaller and lighter - choose from the iPad or iPhone.
The most reckless 'fanboyism' on this site inevitably comes from the haters who show up like clockwork, screaming "iSheep". They're so predictable you'd think they were a bunch of... droids. I suppose you could point out that their own commercials show them being happily reduced to mindless, humorless automations, but of course the irony would be lost on them.
Oh the hatred. Spare me. I love Daniel rants on RoughlyDrafted, but that doesn't detract from the fact that he is a fanboy and it shows. He does it with style, and that's why I like it, but sometimes he just jumps the shark, almost doing so in every AI article.
In this case, it's his desire for the Galaxy Tab to be unsuccessful that makes him report as a fact what was Job's prediction that the tab will be a DOA. That's a confusion. Having the Galaxy S sold like hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Galaxy Tab selling well too. They do have something iPad doesn't have, video-chat. Apart from that, I agree that the iPad is better. But will the public agree with that?
Perhaps someone knows about this. But I haven't seen any numbers reported thus far.
Comments
It has two things the iPad needs: 1) Stylus input (not the crappy 3rd party stylus) and 2) full Windows 7 handwriting recognition that can handle multiple languages as well as mathematical notation.
WHY CAN'T THE IPAD DO THIS??? So many of use students, polyglots, and artists would kill for a slate that could do this!
There's nothing wrong with the third party pens for the iPad. I use one when drawing. It works just fine. The problem with Win 7 on a tablet, is that because of the poor interface Windows presents on a tablet, a stylus is required. It's not optional. That's bad, not good.
As far as handwriting recognition goes, what's the big deal here? How many people really need, or want that? Useful, but required? I doubt it.
5,000 units at $800 is only $4 M - and that even assumes that the retailer doesn't keep any of the selling price.
There is no retailer. HP is selling this direct to businesses through its online store and business reps.
There's no way HP would develop a product for $4 M. Even if MS did all the software work, the tooling costs, marketing cost, testing costs, and support costs alone would more than eat up that much money.
You're assuming HP planned to make 5000 all along. They've been developing this for a long time, at least as long ago as last January, when Ballmer announced it. Their plans obviously changed at least once. There was a time when the Slate was rumored to have been cancelled and HP neither confirmed nor denied it. They probably finally realized that the iPad has the lion's share of the market and they couldn't compete in terms of quantity with a Windows 7 tablet. But that doesn't mean they couldn't have other reasons for completing and selling it. It could still be a learning experience for their WebOS tablet, a way to test technologies they intend to use, like the 7" multitouch screen and the cameras. Better to get the bugs out with a small production batch of an insignificant product than to find out about them only when their mass market consumer device is released. Besides, HP customers can be as loyal as Apple's. I know someone in an all-HP shop who was evaluating the iPad for an in-house app for customer field reps. He wasn't happy at all about doing it, calling the iPad a limited functionality toy and hoping for the day the Slate would be released. I'm sure pressure from people like that factored into HP's thinking.
As far as handwriting recognition goes, what's the big deal here? How many people really need, or want that?
Maybe about 1.3 billion Chinese, another 120 million or so Japanese, some Koreans, Vietnamese, etc.? Not everybody uses languages that rely on small alphabets that are conducive to keyboard input.
I think that HP released this because of a commitment to MS.
Bingo.
Plus, there were likely a lot of sunk costs (R&D) that couldn't be recovered. Taking the final step of launching the device probably didn't cost them too much more.
The other less obvious motivation would be to gain more experience. The teams of people at HP developing this device will probably have many valuable insights that they can integrate into the next, more serious tablet device.
For a lot of people (myself included), the iPad is way too big and heavy. Apple has to make something smaller and/or lighter to attract our $$.
There's a niche for everyone, but in this case I think your lack of normal human muscle structured and inability to handle 1.5 pounds is a unique situation. Medical therapeutic aids are better suited to meet your specific needs. Seriously dude... whine much?
A 7 inch screen is "meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size," Jobs said. He added that Apple has done extensive research on touchscreen interfaces and what works best for users, which is how it arrived at a 9.7 inch display for the iPad.
If a 7 inch screen is to small then how do people manage to use the iPod touch and iPhone?
Apple fanboyism strikes again, and who is a greater fanboy than Daniel?
Oh, man, I love you Daniel, but really, how on earth do you know that the Samsung Galaxy Tab was "quickly turned to anticipation of the next model"? Do you have the numbers that they are selling? FYI, they are already selling here in Portugal and I am still waiting for an iPad. Go figure...
You negated yourself, turbo.
Of course the Slate is already on sale in Europe, and as you pointed out, that's exactly why you're still waiting for the iPad. You don't need a single fanboy to reach such a conclusion, nor does it take one to point it out.
I am surprised HP didn't wait to release this until they could put a different OS on.
I'm not. Apple's way is to keep a product in house for years, throwing out prototypes and starting over until it is perfected to the point of being a serious product. Others companies prefer to learn by doing. They put something out, then keep replacing and updating until they finally get it right. The Zune is a good example. The risk is that your early failures tend to make you lose credibility. Or that by the time you get it right, Apple has a huge, and perhaps insurmountable lead. Android has a third strategy, flood the market with different hardware versions and see what floats.
Your comment made me think of the notion that the hardware is just a vessel for whatever OS you might want to pour into it. Apple developed the hardware and the OS to go together. I think that approach tends to result in a superior product.
If a 7 inch screen is to small then how do people manage to use the iPod touch and iPhone?
Too small for what you would prefer a tablet for. I have read a book on my iPhone, but much prefer to do it on my iPad. For ease of data entry and interaction, and for viewing content rich screenfuls, the large format is better. Small screen iPhone for extreme portability, large screen iPad for productivity or media consumption.
It's not that hard.
Maybe about 1.3 billion Chinese, another 120 million or so Japanese, some Koreans, Vietnamese, etc.? Not everybody uses languages that rely on small alphabets that are conducive to keyboard input.
You would have a point, except that the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch all have Chinese and Japanese handwriting input, built-in. Or did you not know that?
Maybe about 1.3 billion Chinese, another 120 million or so Japanese, some Koreans, Vietnamese, etc.? Not everybody uses languages that rely on small alphabets that are conducive to keyboard input.
I guess you never used Japanese keyboard on iPhone/iPad.
You would have a point, except that the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch all have Chinese and Japanese handwriting input, built-in. Or did you not know that?
Do you mean CJK Input, or CJK Handwriting Input? I mean - can I actually write the kanji characters on the screen and enter text that way? I know they have the Keyboard option - but that is not the same as Handwriting Input.
But in any case, talking about entering CJK - you would be amazed at how adept the Japanese (and I am sure the Chinese and Koreans too) are, at entering text in their native language, using just the 12-button keypad of feature phones! In fact some are so good at it that they can enter text extremely quickly, and even without seeing the keyboard!
For a lot of people (myself included), the iPad is way too big and heavy. Apple has to make something smaller and/or lighter to attract our $$.
If a ten inch tablet that weighs less than a hardback text book is too big and heavy for you, I suggest you get down the gym. Apple do make something smaller and lighter - choose from the iPad or iPhone.
The most reckless 'fanboyism' on this site inevitably comes from the haters who show up like clockwork, screaming "iSheep". They're so predictable you'd think they were a bunch of... droids. I suppose you could point out that their own commercials show them being happily reduced to mindless, humorless automations, but of course the irony would be lost on them.
Oh the hatred. Spare me. I love Daniel rants on RoughlyDrafted, but that doesn't detract from the fact that he is a fanboy and it shows. He does it with style, and that's why I like it, but sometimes he just jumps the shark, almost doing so in every AI article.
In this case, it's his desire for the Galaxy Tab to be unsuccessful that makes him report as a fact what was Job's prediction that the tab will be a DOA. That's a confusion. Having the Galaxy S sold like hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Galaxy Tab selling well too. They do have something iPad doesn't have, video-chat. Apart from that, I agree that the iPad is better. But will the public agree with that?
Perhaps someone knows about this. But I haven't seen any numbers reported thus far.