IPad opinions?

[simongr]

Don’t forget Apple will likely want a rounder number than given there, so maybe 699, 799 and 949.

Yeah - I had meant to that...

Only of you believe its worth buying in the first place

You have seen my sig haven't you?

 

[anat0l]

You have seen my sig haven't you?

I took that to mean that you have a kid who's pestering you to get one. Obviously then you're trying to uphold your pride as Dad.

Unless the "kid" is the one inside you, so to speak.

 

[djfuzz]

Just for some random speculation I have tried to guestimate what the iPad will cost in Oz - wifi only model that is.

I took the prices charged for various apple computers and an iPod touch. based on this "extensive" research it seems that in Oz we are paying about a 25% premium over current exchange rates for Apple products :| :evil:

So my estimates are:

Ipad	US	93c	Guess	Premium
16G	499	 537 	 671 	 134 
32G	599	 644 	 805 	 161 
64G	699	 752 	 940 	 188

Definitely worth buying in the US at those premiums...

It's definitely worth buying the US, but you haven't factored in sales tax / GST - not everyone can get to New Hampshire.

Most of the range hasn't been repriced since the dollar went up, so my guesses would be:

16GB - USD499 + 10% GST = USD549 = AUD592; est price $649
32GB - USD599 + 10% GST = USD659 = AUD711; est price $769
64GB - USD699 + 10% GST = USD769 = AUD829; est price $899

For the sake of full disclosure though, mine arrived today. Sorry Mal, I am mightily ashamed. That is all.

 

[serfty]

... based on this "extensive" research it seems that in Oz we are paying about a 25% premium over current exchange rates for Apple products :| :evil:
...

Don't feel too put out, that's a bit below the current average premium we pay for every day items here in Oz. (from Big Mac's to books to Mineral water)

A significant premium is on batteries; I purchased a 4 pack of Lithium AA Eveready batteries near Seattle, WA. for ~USD7. Here in Oz the the same costs ~AUD20.

 

[drewbles]

You are absolutely right. The iTunes card is an option. I think I have spent enough with apple this week without having to spend more to get something to work. It came down to a trade off with what I can do in the available time i have here in-between commitments.

I spent a while this morning doing some of the web ideas that were in the search results. The ones I found didn't work as the specific Appstore link that they were based on is not displaying on the iPad.

I think I am going to run out of time on this one.

Also, with the current good exchange rate, there are a lot of sellers on eBay selling the US ITMS cards in Australia for minimal profit. They simply email you the codes immediately after payment.

I know several people who do this to purchase US based content for their Apple TV and iPhones. Great way of doing it!

 

[simongr]

I took that to mean that you have a kid who's pestering you to get one. Obviously then you're trying to uphold your pride as Dad.

Unless the "kid" is the one inside you, so to speak.

The Kid is only 13 months and has already broken an iPhone so he wont get his hands on the iPad until he is at least 2 (when I get the Gen2 iPad )

 

[NM]

You have seen my sig haven't you?

I was thinking maybe you were changing your name to Veruca Salt.

 

[tuppaware]

If you buy an ipad in the US - it would be locked to the US phone carrier I would assume ??
For the 3g version anyways. I wouldn't waste my time on the wireless version.

 

[Mal]

If you buy an ipad in the US - it would be locked to the US phone carrier I would assume ??
For the 3g version anyways. I wouldn't waste my time on the wireless version.

iPads aren't locked.

 

[samh004]

If you buy an ipad in the US - it would be locked to the US phone carrier I would assume ??
For the 3g version anyways. I wouldn't waste my time on the wireless version.

No, I believe this was answered, but it’s open to any carrier, just Verizon’s network isn’t compatible and AT&T is the only carrier than makes Micro-SIM’s in the US currently, I believe.

Besides, exclusivity runs out in June/July… so at that time it’ll all be open. Though you can buy “unlocked” iPhone’s already anyway.

 

[tuppaware]

Thanks Sam,

I might get one on my trip in July... Unless optus does somekind of deal.
I only see myself using it for web surfing at home and to/from work on that most dreaded of things public transport.

I'd still rather the old fashion books.

At work (ie university) is looking at uses of ipad - I know faculty of health is very interested .
And I have been testing the use of iphones and maybe ipads as control devices for lecture displays.
My plan is to maybe create an app that (through wireless) allows a teacher to control and draw over a projected display (I bit like the wii IR pen whiteboard)

 

[markis10]

Well they announced they sold 300,000 over launch weekend, so as long as they have good supplies, they should have enough for a worldwide launch I think.

Surprise Surprise - they cannot make enough - as I thought

"He said Apple had sold 450,000 iPads as of today and 600,000 electronic books have been downloaded for the device.

"We're making them as fast as we can,'' Jobs said.

"Evidently we can't make enough of them yet so we are going to have to try harder.''"

Apple iPhone gets multi-tasking | News.com.au


No point launching something you cannot sell (deliver).

 

[Mal]

Oooh ! Multi-Tasking, and a Spell Check !!!

Apple fans are so spoilt aren't they

I wonder what the other 98 are.

At least this means that Multi-Tasking should be available for the iPad soon. One issue resolved!

 

[djfuzz]

Surprise Surprise - they cannot make enough - as I thought

"He said Apple had sold 450,000 iPads as of today and 600,000 electronic books have been downloaded for the device.

"We're making them as fast as we can,'' Jobs said.

"Evidently we can't make enough of them yet so we are going to have to try harder.''"

Apple iPhone gets multi-tasking | News.com.au


No point launching something you cannot sell (deliver).

I have to assume you're missing a /s tag there markis10.

Jobs came out with some absolute corkers today - he's a master showman, but jeez he could use a dose of humility once in a while.

I'm relatively happy with what they're doing with multitasking - seems a pretty effective application for a mobile device, where full multitasking would likely require negative compromises with the CPU/memory/battery - be nice if the delay for the iPad OS 4 brings some additional features, like OTA printing perhaps?

As for the new OS not being available for 3G iPhones and older, I believe that's due to the 128MB of RAM in the older iPhones, and I would have thought entirely fair enough - since when is hardware being superseded anything new? At least the bulk of the OS continues to be tweaked and made available for free.

Mal, would be interested to hear your thoughts on the new enterprise / email features - I'm sure they would still fall far short of what you'd consider necessary for a corporate workhorse, but I wonder if they're closing the gap in any meaningful way at all.

FWIW, whatever benchmark the sales are measured against, stock is still plentiful in US Apple Stores. They did reaffirm the late April limited international release (inc Australia), but as you said, 'late April' is readily exchangeable for 'early May' in the Reality Distortion Field (TM).

PS Am typing this from the iPad over WiFi with no worries whatsoever, but I am a typically blind early adopter, so discount appropriately.

 

[simongr]

be nice if the delay for the iPad OS 4 brings some additional features, like OTA printing perhaps?

Just for clarity there is no "delay" is the release of the OS - the OS updates are released generally around June/July to coincide with the new hardware.

My first look at the new features look pretty good - I am especially interested in folders.

Multi-tasking is a non-issue for my iPhone but will greatly enhance the iPad I think

 

[djfuzz]

Just for clarity there is no "delay" is the release of the OS - the OS updates are released generally around June/July to coincide with the new hardware.

simongr - the iPad version of OS 4 has been delayed until the US Fall, whereas the iPhone/iPod Touch version will be released in the US Summer to coincide with the new iPhone hardware launch. That is what I meant.

 

[simongr]

My mistake - I only got up to about 100 of 800 comments on the "keynote" before I had to get dressed this morning so did not see that.

That is very disappointing. I am not sure that will delay my iPad purchase (as I will be in the US so will get it cheaper) but it will be frustrating

 

[drewbles]

I have to assume you're missing a /s tag there markis10.

Jobs came out with some absolute corkers today - he's a master showman, but jeez he could use a dose of humility once in a while.

I'm relatively happy with what they're doing with multitasking - seems a pretty effective application for a mobile device, where full multitasking would likely require negative compromises with the CPU/memory/battery - be nice if the delay for the iPad OS 4 brings some additional features, like OTA printing perhaps?

As for the new OS not being available for 3G iPhones and older, I believe that's due to the 128MB of RAM in the older iPhones, and I would have thought entirely fair enough - since when is hardware being superseded anything new? At least the bulk of the OS continues to be tweaked and made available for free.

Mal, would be interested to hear your thoughts on the new enterprise / email features - I'm sure they would still fall far short of what you'd consider necessary for a corporate workhorse, but I wonder if they're closing the gap in any meaningful way at all.

FWIW, whatever benchmark the sales are measured against, stock is still plentiful in US Apple Stores. They did reaffirm the late April limited international release (inc Australia), but as you said, 'late April' is readily exchangeable for 'early May' in the Reality Distortion Field (TM).

PS Am typing this from the iPad over WiFi with no worries whatsoever, but I am a typically blind early adopter, so discount appropriately.

Not quite right re the 3G and prior not working (I'm running it on my 3G iPhone right now; we're part of the developer program for some apps we're developing). It doesn't, however, support what Steve called the '7 tentpegs' of the new OS. The major one that is only on the latest iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS (and coming to the iPad) is Multitasking. As you say, the lack of memory is their justification on this one.

The big big thing is SSL VPN support as well as IPSec VPN Support (see my earlier rant) and a more detailed suite of corporate deployment tools.

This is good news for iPhone and iPads in the corporate world. I think Apple have done a good thing here.

Still playing with it, but it's definitely Beta. Have found quite a few problems with it (Would also appear as though the 3G does not permit you to set a wallpaper, only the lock-screen wallpaper). Creating folders for Apps caused some strangeness too, which appears to have been resolved with a reboot. And there's a maximum of 12 Apps per folder, which is a tad annoying.

 

[djfuzz]

My mistake - I meant to say multitasking not new OS.

What other tent pole features are lacking on the 3G? You'd hope the email / enterprise features aren't part of that carve out.

Do you have access to a 3GS to give multitasking a whirl?

 

[drewbles]

My mistake - I meant to say multitasking not new OS.

What other tent pole features are lacking on the 3G? You'd hope the email / enterprise features aren't part of that carve out.

Do you have access to a 3GS to give multitasking a whirl?

I don't have a 3GS here unfortunately (our entire corporate deployment of 10 iPhones are all 3G's).

It's very very beta thought from my initial playing with it. There's a lot of bugs/crashes.

I do know a few people with 3GS's but I'm not too sure if they're going to be willing to install it for testing purposes.

Another thing, for those interested in the SSL features (Which I am very interested in), is that they'll be supported by 3rd party Apps from Juniper and Cisco (At this stage). This assumes you'll require multitasking to establish the VPN, then background the connection to use the VPN. This of course means that you will have to have a 3GS.

I just hope Apple have a new handset around the corner (I would imagine they'll have to release something new). Also it's been found there's a background process running called iChatAgent, fuelling speculation over what is going to be on a new handset (people predicting camera iChat type things).

4.0 has potential, but not for anyone with a 1st gen or 3G iPhone (or older iPod Touch).

I may go back to 3.1.2, as this is proving to be too unstable at present on a 3G iPhone.