The day has finally come.

Do you think the tablet will change your life?
Will it somehow make your Japanese studies any easier?

Personally, I'm disappointed it will run iPhone OS instead of OS X.
I was really hoping to run Simple Comic on it for all my manga.
Not to mention the Apple Dictionary app.

Anyway, I guess we'll have to sit tight for a few more hours.

I don't think it will change anything. There have been tablet PCs for a long time now, so if anyone really needed one they could have bought one.

As for Japanese studies, it could be useful for viewing comics or TV, etc. but then you can already do that on your iPod/Phone already for a fraction of the cost and with longer battery life.

Although I am a big Apple fan, I can't think of anything that would make a tablet really desirable for me, especially since it'll probably be more like iphone than a mac. A compact mac tablet for under $600 would be very desirable, but 99% of everything on the appstore is crap so I'm only interested in it if it runs osx apps.

Personally I'm much more interested in what will be shown of iPhoneOS4.0 (if anything).

I don't get why Apple's marketing is so successful. Apple products are generally not that great and too expensive for what they are.

I've got an iPod touch and that thing is full of bugs and while the touch screen is nice, the software itself is really lacking in features (probably to make it simple to use for newbies). Sure it looks pretty but the usability is actually quite poor.

However, it's still great compared to other mp3 players for reading the embedded lesson notes in language learning podcasts so I don't regret buying it.

Bad things:

- it will run the iPhone OS, not OS X
- I'll have to wait 8 hours to see what the thing is all about because I have to sleep "this evening" (your morning in California when the tablet is unveiled)
- too expensive because it's Apple and I won't be able to afford it

Good things:

- 2 versions will be available: one without 3G networking and I don't want a new cell phone plan just to be able to play with it
- that's the only good thing for me

Conclusion:

- with 3G, it's a big iPhone
- without 3G, it's a big iPod Touch

Re: conclusion

Yup, pretty much. That's exactly why I'm not interested in it since I already have an iPhone. I'd much rather have an OSX tablet with low specs (and thus a cheap price). All I'd use it for is reading, web surfing, and Anki (and maybe the occasional video).

HP is coming out with a tablet as well. I might look into that.

I would be more interested in the HP tablet as Windows 7 has some nice features in that department and it's likely to be much more reasonably priced (or at least higher spec for the cash you're paying).

I still think tablets are pretty pointless for general use (they are okay for a job that requires field work though).

Let's not also forget the Freescale Semiconductor $199 tablet and the $500 Joojoo tablet.
It's been said that Apple is more excited about the tablet than they were
right before launching the iPhone.

So I guess we'll see how it plays out in an hour from now.

Still crossing my fingers hoping for some kind of Mac OS X software compability (or at least for a way for developers to port their OSX software with little or no modifications).

A LightPeak port would be nice to have too...

I'm not a Mac person but even if the tablet ran Windows or Linux
I'm not sure I would be excited.
Other than for those who work in art/design (Apple's main buyers) I don't really see how the tablet will be useful when most people already have computers...

I don't know, never in my life have I been able to afford new technology within a year of its release, so I don't care. Well, once I bought the video iPod when it came out, but I didn't even open the package till a couple of years later, completely forgot I had it in one of my rooms. Guess I'm not really a gadget person unless it fulfills some truly fundamental purpose in my life... /end another useless comment

ok, so ipad now announced:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

It's aiming squarely at the netbook market, i.e. surfing/videos/book reading. Seems cool, though I wouldn't want one.

I was also really unimpressed with this - it's just a giant iPod touch. My ideal device is still probably over a decade away, sadly...

First of all, ePaper needs to improve. I like reading off of a Kindle screen, but the technology's likely to stay at the text/images only level for several years. I also like the idea of tablet PCs (my friends' research advisor bought them for their whole lab and they're pretty nice) since I do a lot of handwriting work. Eventually having a flexible screen that you could write on would be amazing. A type of dual-screen setup would be excellent since I'd love to have one screen devoted to being a digital notepad while I could browse the web / use programs in the other. I guess aside from screen improvements and better handwriting recognition, most of the things I want could be taken care of with software (eg. notes -> LaTex typesetting, or a handwriting interface in Mathematica).

The problem with the tablet market is the only way I could imagine myself getting a tablet-ish device is if it would replace my laptop or drastically change my workflow. I can't see myself spending several hundred dollars for the slight convenience of an iPhone with a larger screen. One can only hope that Apple getting into the market will at least spur other companies to do so as well - a well done tablet device would change my life.

Bit disappointed that its basically just a supersized iPhone. Would've loved an undersized macbook. I guess its still a nice product on its own, and certainly fairly priced, however the only tasks it can do are the one's my iPhone already excels at. The stuff my iPhone can't do would be the stuff that would make the device interesting for me - aka a more mobile version of the macbook.

@Jaunty A DS like version of a tablet PC would be awesome, being able to take notes on the bottom screen while watching stuff on top would be great. Or reading manga on top and having a dict open down.
I think the 2 screens work great on the DS, and I would certainly be interested in a more note/netbook like product that replaces the keyboard part with a second screen.

I think it will be a great experience to study with the tablet..(ipad)
it will get better and better. as for me the ipod touch really helped my study of Japanese! cant wait to get one!

What a joke, seriously. Anyone who buys this is a fool, there I said it.

EDIT: Quick justification for my opinion, it's basically an oversized iPod, non upgradeable, a netbook would be a better and cheaper investment.

While an OS upgrade might change this, the most disappointing thing is the inability to run multiple apps. Makes it almost useless as a studying tool, when compared to my netbook. At any time, I'll have 3-4 programs running on my netbook while studying.

I'll take utility of a netbook at a cheaper price over the wow factor of an iPad.

The eBook app does look rather catchy, though.

Codexus Wrote:I don't get why Apple's marketing is so successful.

The low bar set by Microsoft products? Just guessing.

It's obviously Apple's entry into the eBook reader market. Kind of a reader with benefits. I'm certainly looking forward to checking it out at the Apple store. Although I like the portability of the Touch, and the way it fits in my hand (and my pocket), the larger screen is very alluring. Actually, if it came with OSX I'd be all over it.

Their next product will be called iCantThinkOfaBetterName

My daily train commute is over an hour each way -- very common for Japan. Sitting/standing in the train, a laptop computer is too awkward and the iphone screen is too small.
Not sure about the iPad itself, but I can see the tablet category becoming a very popular commuting device in Japan.

I'm sure manga, light novels, and PDFs will look great on the iPad.
Honestly, that's probably what I'd use it for.

Now that I save my drama TV scripts in PDF form,
I can highlight sentences and notate the PDF with notes.

Too bad I won't be able to multitask and copy/paste into Anki, but
I guess I'll save that for my desktop at home... :-(

DavidZ Wrote:My daily train commute is over an hour each way -- very common for Japan. Sitting/standing in the train, a laptop computer is too awkward and the iphone screen is too small.
Not sure about the iPad itself, but I can see the tablet category becoming a very popular commuting device in Japan.

I take it back. Reports say it's not possible to type on the iPad with one hand while standing.

That'll be a disadvantage on the train, compared to smartphones and regular keitai.

Codexus Wrote:I don't get why Apple's marketing is so successful. Apple products are generally not that great and too expensive for what they are.

I've got an iPod touch and that thing is full of bugs and while the touch screen is nice, the software itself is really lacking in features (probably to make it simple to use for newbies). Sure it looks pretty but the usability is actually quite poor.

I generally agree, but in the case of iPhone it's very competitive.

Ignoring that it has so much software support, competing products generally do some things better and some worse, for example you may be able to run Flash on Android, but you get a slower, choppier browsing experience without multi-touch gestures. Until they can overcome that, I think the iPhone is still going to be more desirable to most punters. If they put iPhone on Verizon the "Droid does" would be so "Droid done for".

I'm not very interested in iPad right now, but I think its good if it helps get the ball rolling further in the tablet market.

I hate the small screens of most devices these days. I'd buy this just for the size of the screen combined with lightness. Laptops are too heavy, ipod touch and iphone too small. I think watching a movie on the subway would be awesome on this, as well as photos. I don't want to do work on my device. Save that for the office or home. So I don't need osx. I want to be entertained when I'm out and about and standing in a line or in a coffee shop, etc. Surfing the net, reading a mag, watching a movie is enough.
And if you build it they will come. In other words, the app developers will make most of what you guys are demanding, now that they have a popular platform. I think the tablet could be a kindle killer. And for a smaller number of people, (who can SIT on the train, i.e. not in Tokyo!) even a blackberry killer, judging from the size of the touchscreen keyboard.

I'm no apple lover but I think this tablet will do fine. Personally I don't like it since I already have a tablet PC and an iphone and this new product doesn't come close to either of this machines. However, this product is really focused for certain types of people. Kindle readers, people who don't use their PCs aside from internet and email. I think the iPad would be a great gift to my mom. I don't expect this to be nearly as big as the iPod or iPhone but it'll do miles better than the Air.

Side note: Can't stop thinking of maxipads when I hear iPad.