Apple iPad unveiled

[Elysian]

The iPad questions Apple won't answer | Mobilize - InfoWorld

What exactly does Apple have to hide about the iPad? Ten days after CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPad with words like "magical" and "revolutionary," any questions regarding key capabilities remain unanswered. If history is any guide, Apple's ongoing silence may mean the first-generation iPad will not be as compelling or as useful as many of us had hoped.

I've asked Apple a set of questions about what Jobs and Apple have not revealed about the iPad, and more than a week later, Apple PR has yet to get me the answers or receive permission to relay those answers publicly. Others in the press and analyst community are also getting the silent treatment regarding the iPad capabilities that matter to many prospective users.

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Famously tight-lipped, Apple often views the press as an extension of its marketing effort, treating all but a favored few to a sadistic game of hard-to-get. When Apple extends this silence beyond a product's razzmatazz unveiling, it's usually meant that the product in question could not deliver the functionality journalists have asked about. With that in mind, unanswered queries about the iPad may imply that the iPad is less "magical" and "revolutionary" than Jobs suggests.



Here are the questions Apple has not yet answered, and why the "silence = no" implications diminish the iPad's value:

iPad question No. 1: Can you save and transfer documents to the iPad?
Anyone who uses an iPhone or iPod Touch with an office productivity app such as Quickoffice knows how frustrating it is to access Office documents. You have to set up a wireless connection over a local Wi-Fi network, enter the IP address, and transfer the files, or you send the document via email on an Exchange account so that it can be opened as an attachment.

Apple says its "no save" restriction is meant to prevent malware from being placed on the iPhone or iPod Touch. I've never bought that argument, as the iPhone and iPod Touch allow you to save images to what is essentially a folder and sync those images via iTunes -- so why not other file types? Of course, that may be a loophole Apple is closing: The iPad's Photos app (a photo gallery), like the iWork for iPad app, appears to do away with saved photo files altogether, instead embedding them into the app itself.

More in the article.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Elysian

The iPad questions Apple won't answer | Mobilize - InfoWorld



More in the article.

I'm not putting too much stock in anything some of these bloggers on InfoWorld, ComputerWorld, etc. have to say about anything these days. There was an article last week on 10 reasons why the blogger was going to skip the iPad. Which is fine, clearly it's subjective. However the reasoning for 50% was either uninformed or flat out wrong.

The iPad isn't out yet. Apple engineers said there will be additional feature announcements closer to launch. I will wait until then to pass judgment.

[DomitianX]

Originally Posted by Jeff

Apple engineers said there will be additional feature announcements closer to launch. I will wait until then to pass judgment.

Exactly. Why dont we wait until it comes out before we pass judgment? But I suppose the pundits on both sides have to show everyone how smart they are without knowing exactly what will be shipped.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by DomitianX

Exactly. Why dont we wait until it comes out before we pass judgment? But I suppose the pundits on both sides have to show everyone how smart they are without knowing exactly what will be shipped.

...OR the pundits are in the business of taking existing information, making a few reasonable assumptions, and then sharing their opinions through the media:

Pundit - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I mean, totally your call of course, but just because they happen to disagree with your opinion doesn't mean that they're pompous and showing off. I mean, they're sort of EXPECTED to make some sort of preliminary judgment before the thing ships, you know?

[DomitianX]

Originally Posted by Drew

...OR the pundits are in the business of taking existing information, making a few reasonable assumptions, and then sharing their opinions through the media:

Pundit - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I mean, totally your call of course, but just because they happen to disagree with your opinion doesn't mean that they're pompous and showing off. I mean, they're sort of EXPECTED to make some sort of preliminary judgment before the thing ships, you know?

Pundit = critic = 9 times out of 10 a douchebag.

I dont like pundits of any kind really. I never said I didnt agree with them did I? I said pundits "of both sides" have to show people how smart they are. A pretty blanket statement that they can all bite me.

My point is people should just reserve judgment on what actually get shipped and not ASSUME, which is what this article is doing, what will or wont be there because Jobs, or anyone else at Apple, wont answer questions.

It like the article I read on CNN yesterday "Soda causes pancreatic cancer" and then after you read it and see the interview its actually saying that too much sugar and not watching your diet contributes to diabetes and obesity which is a high risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

People twist information they have, or dont have, to suit their agenda. I find that annoying. And just to be clear. I find it annoying on "both sides".

[Drew]

...except, and not to single you out or be an asshole, but clearly there's media demand for this kind of stuff, or one there wouldn't be so many pundit blog posts about the probability of future success for the iPad and two we wouldn't be discussing it here.

Simply, if there's no market, it wouldn't exist. It exists in spades. Therefore, I think it's pretty reasonable to conclude that these "full of themselves" pundits are actually providing a service a whole lot of people other than yourself want. Call them douchebags if it makes you happier - that doesn't change the fact boatloads of people are willing to listen to their opinions.

Demanding of people who face strong demand for their projections of success for the iPad that they "wait until it's in their hands before forming an opinion" is basically akin to asking them not to do their jobs, which is to make educated guesses on how well the iPad will do on the market.

Furthermore, these guesses aren't happening in a vacuum. I think Adam's post about the pundit who still hasn't been able to get an answer out of Apple on whether or not you can save documents on the iPad, one week later, raises an interesting point - that's the sort of omission that will probably make the iPad less successful than it would otherwise be, if it were in fact true. If it IS true (which at this point only Apple knows), Apple can go out, do some research, see that people are concerned about the lack of saving on the iPad, and think, "hey, we need to add this feature before the release, because obviously a lot of people are surprised and disappointing it's not there!" The product will be better for it - how is THAT a bad thing?

That kind of ties into Jeff's point - the probability of this being an "additional feature update closer to release" rises proportionally to the amount of furor it causes on the pundit/blogosphere.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Drew

...OR the pundits are in the business of taking existing information, making a few reasonable assumptions, and then sharing their opinions through the media:

Pundit - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I mean, totally your call of course, but just because they happen to disagree with your opinion doesn't mean that they're pompous and showing off. I mean, they're sort of EXPECTED to make some sort of preliminary judgment before the thing ships, you know?

the problem is the pundits are often way off base, and people take their opinions as facts, and then run with it.

The one from last week was saying that she didn't want the iPad because it doesn't run Skype, and even if it did, it wouldn't run over 3G. Wrong on both counts, as Skype runs on the iPhone already (therefore it will run on the iPad) and Apple announced last week (before the article was written) that they would be allowing VoIP calls (including Skype) on 3G.

Opinions are fine, especially when they're coming from someone who has a bit of knowledge on the subject. However when opinions based on erroneous information, that's a problem.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by Jeff

the problem is the pundits are often way off base, and people take their opinions as facts, and then run with it.

The one from last week was saying that she didn't want the iPad because it doesn't run Skype, and even if it did, it wouldn't run over 3G. Wrong on both counts, as Skype runs on the iPhone already (therefore it will run on the iPad) and Apple announced last week (before the article was written) that they would be allowing VoIP calls (including Skype) on 3G.

Opinions are fine, especially when they're coming from someone who has a bit of knowledge on the subject. However when opinions based on erroneous information, that's a problem.

Well, that's sloppy analysis. However, unless you think that's a pretty good measure of the average intelligence and diligence of an analyst's research (and I doubt you believe that - you're pointing to it more as an example of an extreme instance rather than a mean), that doesn't change the value of having analysts make projections in general, does it?

[DomitianX]

Originally Posted by Drew

...except, and not to single you out or be an asshole, but clearly there's media demand for this kind of stuff, or one there wouldn't be so many pundit blog posts about the probability of future success for the iPad and two we wouldn't be discussing it here.

Simply, if there's no market, it wouldn't exist. It exists in spades. Therefore, I think it's pretty reasonable to conclude that these "full of themselves" pundits are actually providing a service a whole lot of people other than yourself want. Call them douchebags if it makes you happier - that doesn't change the fact boatloads of people are willing to listen to their opinions.

Demanding of people who face strong demand for their projections of success for the iPad that they "wait until it's in their hands before forming an opinion" is basically akin to asking them not to do their jobs, which is to make educated guesses on how well the iPad will do on the market.

Furthermore, these guesses aren't happening in a vacuum. I think Adam's post about the pundit who still hasn't been able to get an answer out of Apple on whether or not you can save documents on the iPad, one week later, raises an interesting point - that's the sort of omission that will probably make the iPad less successful than it would otherwise be, if it were in fact true. If it IS true (which at this point only Apple knows), Apple can go out, do some research, see that people are concerned about the lack of saving on the iPad, and think, "hey, we need to add this feature before the release, because obviously a lot of people are surprised and disappointing it's not there!" The product will be better for it - how is THAT a bad thing?

That kind of ties into Jeff's point - the probability of this being an "additional feature update closer to release" rises proportionally to the amount of furor it causes on the pundit/blogosphere.

There is a lot of people that make their living standing on a corner with a sign that reads "the world is going to end in 2012", and lots of people buying into it, that doesn't mean I should give them any legitimacy.

I have no problem with people giving opinions on products as they are stated or released, but the whole idea that its going to be a flop because Apple wont answer a question is pretty stoopid in my opinion.

I'm sure Microsoft wont answer a lot of questions about code name "Windows.Next" (or Windows 8 as some people are calling it) that doesnt make it a flop. Or the fact they dont answer a lot of questions about Windows Mobile 7 means its going to be a flop.

And again, I am not sucking Jobs dick here either. Its pundits (especially those that assume more than discuss known quantities) in general that are annoying. They are half the problem with product launches like Apple's iPad. They blow hard about how fantastic its going to be, how its going to cure cancer and save the children of Haiti only to turn into douchebags when it doesnt meet the expectations they set forth in their punditry.

Apple had ZERO hype up until the launch day. They released zero information on the product and the people that keep saying Apple hyped it up before the launch are morons. But because of the pundits assuming it was going to be epic because Apple said nothing, people bought into this whole idea Apple was going to release a device on the order of time travel only to be disappointed that it was a product well suited for what it was designed to be.

These so called "experts" created the problem they are whining about. Lots of not-so-called experts figured it was a tablet device to compete with the Kindle, me included. I told my wife they day I heard the first rumor back in Oct/Nov it was going to be a kindle killer device and I was holding off buying a Kindle until I heard more.

Guess what. It met my expectations. Am I upset? Nope. Am I going to buy one? Maybe, I want to get it in hand first, but I probably will. Its either a Kindle or iPad and for a few extra bucks I get web surfing, email and music with the iPad. Pretty simple to me.

[Zepp88]

Lets hope they reveal some good features before or at launch...because I still see no point to this thing. Especially when this exists.