Adding it Up

Gadgets potentially replaced by iPad:

  • Digital Picture Frame: $150.00
  • iPod Touch: $200.00
  • Portable Movie Player: $100.00
  • Kindle DX: $490.00
  • MacBook: $1,000.00 (assuming a home computer)

That’s almost $2,000.00 worth of stuff that could be replaced — essentially 4 iPads, one for every member of my family. I struggled with throwing the MacBook in that list as it is a full fledged computer, but I was thinking about who in my house would be happy with a MacBook and the only one two I came up with are my 8 year old daughter and 3 year old son. Watching the way each of them use Macs leads me to believe that either would be very satisfied with an iPad (until they hit a site that required Flash). Even without the MacBook, the fact of the matter is that this thing may end being seen everywhere at only $500.00.

5 thoughts on “Adding it Up

  1. 3 Things Higher Ed Can Learn from the iPad (for Better or Worse)

    Ive been thinking about this one ever since the big announcement came. Rather than give Apple the halo effect or the horn effect and hold it up as the model of what to do or what not to do, I thought these few lessons were a bit of both: 1. Do y…

  2. Except that it’s too big to fit in a pocket, has limited internal storage, has low-resolution video output, has a glossy, emissive screen, and can’t multitask. Also, it’s tied to Apple’s arbitrary app store approval process. All of those are a deal breaker for me.
    The pad could augment existing computing devices, but I doubt it will replace very many of them.

  3. Hi Derek … I’ve been thinking really hard about just those points. I think it will hit a sweet spot for people unlike us where we need all the things you mention. I will say that multi-tasking is a bit over rated on some types of devices. I only say this because my iPhone doesn’t multi-task, but the UI of the OS allows for multi-taking-like activities. For example, if I am composing a blog post using the TypePad app, I don’t have to leave the app to add the pictures I want … I just tap insert image and it gives me full access to my pictures — almost as if I’ve left the app, gone to the photo app, and exported the photo to the desktop. I know it isn’t “real multi-tasking” but it supports some interesting work flow.
    The people I see it replacing a “real” laptop are folks in a totally different compting space than us. My Father in Law, my parents, maybe my 8 year old, and a whole bunch of other people who rely on their computer to do email and web browsing.

  4. I suppose one could call it WebTV 2.0.
    Often, when I’m spending a Saturday morning parked in a comfortable chair in my living room, I’ve wanted a bigger iphone or kindle. But I inevitably reach for my laptop because I want to do several things at once. The other day I was streaming news in Hulu in a background window, bouncing back-and-forth between RSS and email, running two IM clients, and reading several web pages. That sort of activity just isn’t possible on the ipad today (with the current rev of iPhone OS).
    I share your concerns about the lack of content creation tools on the iPad. I’m also concerned about data input. There’s no video camera, and I’m not optimistic about the on-screen keyboard for much beyond twitter/facebook updates and (very) brief emails.

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