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News Apple iPad 2 enters production

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by arcticstoat, 9 Feb 2011.

  1. <A88>

    <A88> Trust the Computer

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    Given time I'd wager that tablets will be just as ubiquitous as laptops, and that the technology itself will become cheap to the point of almost disposability. Tablets are the next level of media consumption and fill the void left by laptops for tasks such as ebook/text reading that more traditional form factors can't fulfil. I don't have to worry about printing off every article we're sent to discuss in our seminars at university anymore because I can just load up the email and open the file at any point during the session, and once textbooks are more widely available through digital stores it'll almost be as big a no-brainer to have a tablet for university as it is to have a laptop.

    In your specific case I'd definitely take a good look at the HP Touchslate first and compare it to whatever Apple comes out with. WebOS is the closest thing you'll get to the feeling of iOS and is in many ways a better platform, minus the obvious shortages of Apps and accessories ecosystem.
     
  2. leveller

    leveller Yeti Sports 2 - 2011 Champion!

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    Things just get hotter and hotter in the Apple camp.

    http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/10/apple-tv-as-a-gaming-console/

    iPad streams/controls AppleTV perfectly so I wonder where Apple take all this ...

    Side note: I wouldn't currently recommend AppleTV to anyone who already has a media streamer. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't and uses iTunes for all their music etc. It makes life very easy. But with limits of course.

    Added: but with the news linked above ... that recommendation could be a bit swifter in coming ... who knows.
     
  3. Snips

    Snips I can do dat, giz a job

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    But then that is I feel the most restrictive part of iTunes. If you have an Apple device then it's fine but if you don't and want to play media through another source then you need two versions of the same data folder. One for iTunes and one for normal formats.

    Didn't I read somewhere recently that Apple are getting hassle from TV execs for the steaming content being either too expensive or something? let me see if I can dig it out.
     
  4. Byron C

    Byron C Multimodder

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    I have two words for you: Jailbreak and XBMC. XBMC is now available on jailbroken iOS, and that includes both models of Apple TV. No need for content transcoding ;). Assuming of course you're not using stuff from iTunes...
     
  5. perplekks45

    perplekks45 LIKE AN ANIMAL!

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    I do largely agree with you on this one. Tablets are the natural successor to notebooks/netbooks and are another step towards true ubiquitous computing. What I think will have a very strong, though short-lived, effect on tablet sales will be the pick-up rate of wireless video transmition.
    I am looking forward to the day I can sit on the sofa with my tablet (most likely 7-8" as I find anything bigger [i.e. the iPad] too heavy and uncomfortable over longer periods of time), browsing the internet while happily streaming a video from my NAS to my 40"-50" FullHD TV (possibly UHD) using the tablet. No need for a HTPC let alone a desktop.

    I know that this is pretty much possible right now already but the cost for early adopters is too high and 1080p streaming on current tablets & using anything below 802.11n is just not practicable.

    Right now I don't think I'm in the market for a tablet, & I don't think I'm alone, because it doesn't offer enough advantages over say a MacBook Air or Lenovo Edge to sacrifice the freedom that comes with the latter two.
     
  6. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    You say that, but then you say:
    I can't help but think that there is a bit of cognitive dissonance reduction at work when people point at Apple's marketing as the reason for its success. It is just another way of saying: "OK, I know that Apple products sell like hotcakes but it can't be because they are actually any good... It's the marketing, I tell ya. Yeah, the marketing! Steve's reality distortion field! Apple customers being easily seduced sheep! Anything but the possibility that Apple might actually design a halfway decent product...

    Ironically Apple does not get worshipped. The haters are just projecting. Microsoft sells flawed products, Sony does. They all market their products as great. But no brand attracts the hate-sheep like Apple. Perhaps because it does really produce something that dares to differ from the throng. That doesn't slap a USB port on something just because everyone else does, regardless of the lack of function for it.

    The reason Apple products sell well is not because Apple has better technology; it has the same tech as any other company. It is not that it has better marketing. It has the same ubiquitous, almost viral marketing as any other company. It is because Apple applies the technology better. It works backwards from the customer, not forwards from the technology. It does not advertise what specs a product has, but what you can do with it.
     
  7. VipersGratitude

    VipersGratitude Multimodder

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    Actually, they do.


    Dares to differ from the throng. That sums up the Apple marketing message right there. The reason Apple inspires such hatred is because their marketing has been devisive for...well, as long as I can remember anyway. Apple has always positioned themselves as "the other", the very cool other at that - You need only look back at their "Think Different" campaign, where they used deceased historical rebellious figures to posthumously endorse their products to see that. The reason this has grown in to hate is the following:

    Insecurity: Most people, and therefore most geeks, grow up with Windows. Mac OS is quite different. It has created an area of computing that intimidates people because they are excluded from it - Which brings me on to my next reason...

    High price of entry: Most computers are budget Windows-based PCs. Apple products are expensive - a "low range" Apple product is in the mid-to-high price range of every market they're in. Apple don't cater to poor people, which makes their products appear elitist and inherently exclusive...Which brings me on to my next reason...

    Apple aren't a technology company: Apple, for a long time, have in fact been a fashion company. Yes, they make tech, but if you take a step back they can only be seen as a fashion company. Take the latest "What is iPad?" commercial and replace the word "iPad" with another fashion product and you'll see it works perfectly - "What is Chanel No. 5? Chanel is beautiful. Chanel is magical. It is a revolution and it's only just begun..." They employ all the tactics of a fashion company - The desire for individuality (think different) and the high price of entry to allow their consumers to ostentatiously project their success. That's without even mentioning the hipster iPod...or Apples own anthropomorphizations of a Mac and PC (I'm a PC)

    So, Apple's marketing machine has made equal measures of Apple lovers and haters for socio-economic reasons...They want you to see Apple as producing different, rebellious, cool and aspirational products, but some people see right through the spiel even if they aren't quite able to articulate their insight. It's not quite so simple as regurgitating their marketing message of the last 20 or so years.
     
  8. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    But if people can cut past the crap and evaluate Windows objectively --no, wait... :worried:

    I would agree to an extent with the above, except the notion that Apple is not a technology company. It clearly is, judged by the products it produces. Vertu is a fashion company and its mobiles are just plain ol' re-badged mobiles in an exclusive jacket. Apple however makes stuff and creates technological niche markets that leaves other technology companies struggling to catch up. Apple is not just a pretty face. It just uses fashion marketing strategies.
     
    Last edited: 12 Feb 2011
  9. VipersGratitude

    VipersGratitude Multimodder

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    Funny you should say that, because one of the lines from that iPad advert is "It lasts all day"

    And thats the thing...geeks do...they trade ease-of-use for power and freedom-to-tweak...all within the same price bracket.

    Mark my words once the veneer wears off the iPad and their competitors catch up the thing that's going to kill apple is their walled-garden approach. It has never worked in the tech industry. Not once. Remember CompuServe? The model works as people get used to a new technology then crumbles as they become increasingly more fluent.
     
  10. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    Yes, but it does. That's the point.

    Not judging by some of the comments about Windows I read here...

    Maybe. Maybe not. Even though PCs are excellent gaming rigs, consoles are still doing quite well. Some people just prefer the closed-wall approach, not because it is less complicated, but because it is more convenient. And I see is people jailbreaking the iPhone rather than skipping to a more open platform. Has to tell you something.
     
  11. eddtox

    eddtox Homo Interneticus

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    The point is that apple makes products for people who are not geeks, or for geeks who don't want to spend all day making something do what they want it to, they just want something that does its job so they can get on with other things. These two markets are not likely to go away in the near future.
     
  12. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    Sometime back in the 80's when Microsoft was releasing their MS-DOS 2.0 Steve Jobs had allready the vision for an easy to use PC and Apple developed their first OS with GUI and mouse-pointer (Lisa OS), which was shortly followed by Macintosh System Software in 1984.

    Microsoft was still developing one after another DOS-Version and only added Windows as an additional tool starting with Windows 1.0 in 1985, before they finally released their first integrated GUI for an OS with Win 3.x in 1990.

    Windows 95 was released as an revolutionary OS in 1995 and Bill Gates and the Microsoft PR-Department hyped it beyond belief... Apple had a system like Windows 95 for several years allready (MacOS 7 with all the features of Win95 was released in 1991!) but they didn't hype their products back then.

    Actually it's not Apple to blame for playing the game better these days then their competitors, who started marketing their products way more agressive then Apple ever did during the 80's or 90's allthough Apple basically invented the kind of PC and OS we all use these days back in that time.

    Instead of picking on Apple constantly, people should actually applaud them for keeping the other manufacturers on their toes trying to invent better products for the customers.

    Without Apple and the visions of Steve Jobs back in the 80's we would still all use the command-line.
     
  13. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    ^^^ What he says. Most people here may be too young but I still remember the media campaigns and news reports on Windows 95. It was like the second coming of Christ.

    Now Windows 95 was indeed a massive improvement on Windows 3.11, but the Apple Mac had been doing the same thing for 4 years already.
     
  14. leveller

    leveller Yeti Sports 2 - 2011 Champion!

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    This.

    They are moving our beloved industry forward and dragging the other manufacturers with them.
     
  15. Snips

    Snips I can do dat, giz a job

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    Are you *%£@ing me?

    Apples campaigns were everywhere and far more in your face Ridley Scott directed than anything Microsoft did.

    Christ, how some people here suffer from selective memories.

    Can someone please turn of Job's Reality distortion field now so you can all see you've been conned again.
     
  16. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    ORLY? You don't remember Dame Edna Everage (a.k.a. Barry Humphries) launching Windows 95 then? "The world will never be the same again!" Cue catchy Rolling Stones number: "Start Me Up". Jay Leno did a nice little intro too.

    I also remember how hordes of people queued around the block to be the first at the till with a copy of W95 when it officially came on sale at midnight. Yes, shops opened at midnight. To sell an operating system. I remember watching all this on the news, a shopping frenzy that makes the iPad launch seem sedate by comparison and think: "Jeez, it's just an OS...".

    Selective memory? We all know you are just a bit subjective, Snips.
     
  17. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    And now start looking around for stuff that happened in the 80's and 90's and then come again to tell me please....

    The only one selective is you there.

    I don't own an iPad, iPod or iPhone... I wouldn't buy an iMac or PowerMac either as all these devices don't suit my needs actually. I'm no fanboy at all, but I'm objective on this whole Apple/Wintel topic whereas 90% of these forums aren't.
     
  18. <A88>

    <A88> Trust the Computer

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    Honestly, the weight given to Apple's marketing contribution to its success is completely out of proportion. Sure, they're usually persuasive ads, and sometimes funny, but they haven't plastered them all over websites or bought any more TV airtime than most other competitors.

    Apple's biggest and most successful marketing campaign is the one that they neither produce or pay for- it's people showing their products to friends and families and letting them see how easy and intuitive they are to use.

    I've never been the company's biggest fan but I'm not stupid enough to think they millions of crappy half-arsed products just because they've stuck a few posters in a tube station.
     
  19. VipersGratitude

    VipersGratitude Multimodder

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    This makes it sound like Apple actually invented Xerox's WIMP GUI, not just happen to be the first to market with a mainstream commercial version.

    Netbooks last all day too...And outsell the iPad

    The success of consoles has nothing to do with them being a closed system. It has more to do with things like price of entry, perception of parents (many see a PC as a potential pedo-magnet), and the increasingly social nature of gaming.

    As far as rampant jailbreaking on the iPhone goes, that tells me that already people are resisting the walled garden. The reason they haven't switched yet is because they are most likely tied in to minimum term contracts. Usually 2-3 yrs which is a an eon in smartphone terms. 2 yrs ago Android had only just been released.
     
  20. outlawaol

    outlawaol Geeked since 1982

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    [troll] Lets use literal thinking here. Apples (the fruit) are pretty, plentiful and all exactly the same in one big basket sold by farmer Jobs.

    PC has a literal meaning. Purely Customizable. :thumb:

    Just say'n :hip: [/troll]

    Dont ban me bro! ;)
     
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