IPad opinions?

[Mal]

O2 in the UK has released their pre-paid data pricing now:

500MB + unlimited Wi-Fi £2 a day
1GB + unlimited Wi-Fi £10 a month (30 days), recurring
3GB + unlimited Wi-Fi £15 a month (30 days), recurring

(wi-fi is with "The Cloud" or "BT-Openzone". Both these have pretty good wireless networks in major places such as London CIty, airports, large train stations, pubs, restaurants etc)

So the prices are fairly similar to the Australian data prices, although with free wi-fi included.

 

[markis10]

Supply issues are a problem with Australia now, stock now a week later than published if you did not pre-order in the first two days.

 

[samh004]

It’s amazing it’s selling so well, considering everyone was so disappointed when it didn’t include a camera

 

[simongr]

Hmm - I think my grand plan of buying one in the UK is going out the window...

 

[samh004]

Hmm - I think my grand plan of buying one in the UK is going out the window...

You didn’t reserve one at a store?

 

[Mal]

Hmm - I think my grand plan of buying one in the UK is going out the window...

Yeah, pre-orders now have 7th June shipping. Does indicate that stock will be limited in store I think...

 

[djfuzz]

They'll have stock in their stores. You may have to put in a bit of effort to get them though (either line up or get there early on the 28th).

 

[Mal]

They'll have stock in their stores. You may have to put in a bit of effort to get them though (either line up or get there early on the 28th).

I was thinking last night ... wouldn't it be funny to line up with all the fanbois (while wearing a Microsoft t-shirt), get into the Apple store and go "This is pathetic." and walk out. Bonus points if I was first in the queue!

Then again, with the current weather in London, my apartment is better than spending the night in the cold!

 

[djfuzz]

I was thinking last night ... wouldn't it be funny to line up with all the fanbois (while wearing a Microsoft t-shirt), get into the Apple store and go "This is pathetic." and walk out. Bonus points if I was first in the queue!

Then again, with the current weather in London, my apartment is better than spending the night in the cold!

Sorry Mal, it's been done before. That and worse.

Reckon you could probably find something better to do with your time in any case. I'm sure you wouldn't want to stoop to below the fanbois.

 

[simongr]

I am in the UK from 31 May to 4 June so didnt reserve one in store.

 

[Katie]

I think my main issue will be that I will be arriving a few days after release in the UK so availability might be. I might try and reserve one for day two in the UK... The fall back could then be the Apple store on 5th Ave - but I was really looking forward to buying from the 5th Ave store...

Apologies in advance if you already know this.
My experience with the reservation system with the US Apple stores (picked up a 32GB WiFi iPad for Mother's Day last week in San Mateo) is that you can't reserve for a particular day. After being told in-store about the reservation system on Thurs afternoon, I called back on Friday after making my decision to make a reservation. I had tried online, but whatever I did didn't actually make a reservation. I got an email mid-morning Sunday to tell me my iPad was available. I had 24 hours to get into the store to collect it.
I noticed when opening the package completely at home, my reservation sticker was over someone else's, so I was lucky I guess that they didn't make the 24 hour deadline.

 

[djfuzz]

Apologies in advance if you already know this.
My experience with the reservation system with the US Apple stores (picked up a 32GB WiFi iPad for Mother's Day last week in San Mateo) is that you can't reserve for a particular day. After being told in-store about the reservation system on Thurs afternoon, I called back on Friday after making my decision to make a reservation. I had tried online, but whatever I did didn't actually make a reservation. I got an email mid-morning Sunday to tell me my iPad was available. I had 24 hours to get into the store to collect it.
I noticed when opening the package completely at home, my reservation sticker was over someone else's, so I was lucky I guess that they didn't make the 24 hour deadline.

FWIW, there's no 'reservation' system for our iPad release, unlike the system they had in the US (and that we previously had with the iPhone 3G). They're just available for preorder (and as mentioned above, will no longer guarantee delivery until 7 June). So your best bet without a preorder is to go to a store as early as possible on 28 May.

 

[Katie]

FWIW, there's no 'reservation' system for our iPad release, unlike the system they had in the US (and that we previously had with the iPhone 3G). They're just available for preorder (and as mentioned above, will no longer guarantee delivery until 7 June). So your best bet without a preorder is to go to a store as early as possible on 28 May.

I mentioned my experience with the US reservation system as simongr is considering which country he'll get his iPad in. I just didn't want simongr to rock up to the 5th Ave store without knowing that you don't seem to be able to reserve for a particular day in the US. This is just based on my experience last week in CA, and of course could change in the coming weeks or could be different in a bigger store.

 

[Mal]

Interesting research from Changewave research
InvestorPlace.com: New ChangeWave Surveys Measure Future Consumer Demand and Reactions of New iPad Owners

ChangeWave has just completed two brand new surveys:

* A May survey of 3,174 consumers to measure future demand for the iPad, and
* A second survey of 153 new iPad owners to discover their actual impressions of the new tablet device.

(Admittedly it's not really that high a count of iPad owners)

Out of current owners. Most are very happy:

three-in-four (74%) saying they're Very Satisfied with their new tablet, and another 17% say they're Somewhat Satisfied.

Top likes:

Screen Size and Quality (21%) top the list of iPad likes, followed by Ease of Use (15%), the Overall Size and Weight (12%), and Portability (10%).

Top dislikes:

The top dislike reported by new owners was Lack of Adobe Flash (11%), followed by Internet Connectivity Issues (9%) and Poor Screen Visibility/Keeping it Clean (9%).

 

[samh004]

Top dislikes:

I love how keeping it clean was a dislike. Haha.

As for Flash, I’d welcome them to jailbreak and find out what impact Flash would have on their battery life, as I’m sure the top dislike after that would be poor battery life

I hardly ever use Flash, and I browse a lot of sites. The main things in my browsing experience that are Flash are ads, and you can’t seriously want ads?

 

[Mal]

I love how keeping it clean was a dislike. Haha.

Yeah fanboi drool is hard to wipe off electronic devices

 

[serfty]

...
I hardly ever use Flash, and I browse a lot of sites. The main things in my browsing experience that are Flash are ads, and you can’t seriously want ads?

Become an AirNZ elite and try to do without flash ... :-|

 

[samh004]

Become an AirNZ elite and try to do without flash ... :-|

Actually Qantas has similar elements on their site that require Flash, but they don’t overdo it luckily. You’d think a hip airline like AirNZ would have found a way to give the best experience to their probably many Apple users

 

[anat0l]

Become an AirNZ elite and try to do without flash ... :-|

You must be talking about the myairnz portal, of which I have to agree with you. Real dumb idea that they didn't give non-Flash users a way out. Again, sometimes I think QF's portal, although not perfect, does a fine job. (Now if they stop putting Flash all over MMB views, that'd be awfully nice)

Come to think of it, I think grabaseat is also Flash enabled.

 

[burrco]

Good to see the Australian App Store now up and running - the balance in my US account was starting to run low.