I assume everyone has heard about the iPad news by now?

**Encrypted** · 01-28-2010 01:05 AM

So I assume everyone has heard about the iPad news by now.. what are your thoughts?

I think it's stupid.. just an over-sized iPhone / iPod Touch.

**akula** · 01-28-2010 01:46 AM

its a good opportunity...
the thing's gonna sell + peripherals
i heard iphone wholesalers/retailers made quite a dollar when the thing was released

**brandoncdg** · 01-28-2010 02:04 AM

I am still in search of the positives of this device in a real environment. I don't think it will do well. But I also like using a cell phone purely as as a device to text and call, and I know how well the Iphone did.

**Encrypted** · 01-28-2010 02:24 AM

Originally Posted by brandoncdg

I am still in search of the positives of this device in a real environment. I don't think it will do well. But I also like using a cell phone purely as as a device to text and call, and I know how well the Iphone did.

It'll sell simply because it's an Apple product at this point, but I don't see anything fantastic about it. People will probably buy it just so they can say "Look what I have!" and then after a few months it'll be in their closet or something.

**ryanfromrethink** · 01-28-2010 06:30 AM

Originally Posted by akula

its a good opportunity...
the thing's gonna sell + peripherals
i heard iphone wholesalers/retailers made quite a dollar when the thing was released

Yea ! We made a killing, haha. I have some associates in Russia and the Ukraine who were turning Iphones over for 8-900 a pop as many as we could sell. When the Iphone first came out (2g version), you could call apple directly and order as many iphones as you wanted... it was pretty interesting. I'd buy 20 at a time, package them up in 4-5 a package and across the pond they go. Now when the 3G came out Apple did a 180 and you ONLY could buy 1 phone and ONLY with a 2 year plan.... but not in Australia :P Our aussie brothers were able to get Iphone 3G for ~$550 USD (or thats what I was paying, it may have been marked up a bit).

I stopped after that, Russian mail carriers seemed to misplace a few too many packages. But if the demand is there, yes.. ton's of profitability in these things.

Personally, this iPad has no real usability so I don't know who they'd be marketing this to. Iphone OS is a joke for any serious meat and potatoes productivity.

**kimono** · 01-28-2010 06:35 AM

There is not much creativity in this product. I think it's more or less a byproduct of iPhone.
Watching Steve Jobs selling it just made me laugh. I bet deep down inside he probably thinks as i do - "what a load of bull!"

iPad is probably introduced too early to the market. Apple should wait until iPhone market fully capitalised. Sending mix messages (iPhone & iPad) to the market now is making consumers more confused.

**akula** · 01-28-2010 07:08 AM

An investor’s take on the iPad — how to parse the hype | VentureBeat

As an investor, whenever a major consumer electronics launch creates a fuss (especially when it’s from the master himself), I try to step back and see the bigger picture. Is this a game changer in any way? Does it create real investment opportunities that didn’t exist before? What companies or technologies will be impacted by this? Can I make a buck here or not?

**akula** · 01-28-2010 07:11 AM

The Apple iPad’s Impact on Mobile, Gaming, and E-Books: Local Techies and Startups React | Xconomy

The wait is over, but the endless mulling of the details and implications is just beginning. As Apple unveiled its long-rumored tablet device, the iPad, at a press event today in San Francisco, mobile industry insiders in Seattle, Boston, and elsewhere were watching closely. Which is exactly what you would expect, given Apple’s track record of disrupting industry after industry with previous iProducts like the iPod, iTunes, and the iPhone.

**akula** · 01-28-2010 07:12 AM

startups capitalising on ipad...

Inkling lets textbook makers embrace the iPad | VentureBeat

The ten-person San Francisco startup, stacked with pedigreed veterans of Microsoft and Google, Harvard, MIT and Stanford, came out of stealth mode after this morning’s iPad launch. Funded with about $1M in seed money led by Ram Shiram and Mitch Kapor, Inkling is working with McGraw-Hill, Pearson and other top textbook makers.

**brandoncdg** · 01-28-2010 12:05 PM

Coming from an engineering background, I don't see the replacement of text books with the iPad for college. It's nice to see what people are thinking of using these things for though. I still find this intro odd as tablet PC's have been out for so long. It's not like the iPod made mp3 players any better, so maybe the iPad will find some huge audience just because of the Apple logo once again.

I remember going to Munich around when the Iphone first came out and customs searched all my stuff and I asked what they were looking for after they tore through my bags. They told me people were bringing in Iphones! I couldn't stop laughing.

**criniit** · 01-28-2010 02:22 PM

Well with a 499$ price tag the IPad, i believe will replace all net books immediately. Not to mention all the Mac Heads will buy one (I'm one so..yeah..lol)

For people that all they do is surf the web, and email on their computer (which for most of us is all we really do) the IPad is a cheap replacement for a laptop/desktop. I think it will sell well. not to mention the new IPad apps will be a new gold rush, smaller than the beginning of the Iphone one, but a gold rush for the first apps none the less.

**kimono** · 01-28-2010 07:40 PM

Interesting that you mention this.
I talked to one of the colleagues this morning, an iPhone user. He said "Everything that iPad does can be done in iPhone. So what's the point having this mammoth carrying around?? Crazy!!"
The guy has the point.

Originally Posted by criniit

Well with a 499$ price tag the IPad, i believe will replace all net books immediately. Not to mention all the Mac Heads will buy one (I'm one so..yeah..lol)

For people that all they do is surf the web, and email on their computer (which for most of us is all we really do) the IPad is a cheap replacement for a laptop/desktop. I think it will sell well. not to mention the new IPad apps will be a new gold rush, smaller than the beginning of the Iphone one, but a gold rush for the first apps none the less.

**ryanfromrethink** · 01-28-2010 08:37 PM

I think this device may offer competition ONLY for the Amazon Kindle. Other than the e-book feature, this device offers less productivity than a similar sized netbook, and is double the price.

It's cool, but very impractical, a paper weight in 2 months kind of purchase.

**burnsrunner** · 01-31-2010 03:19 PM

Yes, you are right about it seeming like some over-sized itouch, etc.

But I LOVE gadgets! I'm not buying it anytime too soon, but if I had the opportunity to get it, I wouldn't even think twice.

Drool!