You can download apps and iTunes stuff directly onto the iPad (just like an iPhone). But it will be handy to help set the thing up from a Mac in the first place. Then just regular maintenance. But FAR less frequently than before!!! —- Worn out parent support!

@ Poivre:
“the iPad doesn’t seem to be “PC independent” You still need a computer to fill it with content, synchronize it and back it up… How my mother will use it if she has no Mac or PC?”

That’s wrong. The iPad is a stand-alone product, I found out after I did more research on the Apple website. The iPad has its own iTunes and App Store (and iBooks Store) application portal, which means it can purchase/download new apps on its own, without the need for a Mac/PC to mediate. You do need an existing broadband connection at home to take advantage of the WiFi. And even if you do not have broadband internet at home… uhhh… just walk down to the nearest Starbucks or any place that gives out free WiFi internet connections, and there is your free internet connection.

Yes u can use the iPad barefoot – without Mac or PC support. However certain adim tasks will be easier with a Mac PC host.

I think the same people that are saying that iPad sucks for having a movile OS are the people who never bought a Win Tablet that had a Full featured OS. Will they buy the new tablets with Windows 7? I really doubt it.

Time will tell.

As a teacher-in-training, I really see the benefits that something like the iPad could bring to the classroom. In fact, my first thoughts upon seeing a video of the device were “Wow! I wish I could get my hands on 20 of those things to teach a lesson.”

Alas, that’s probably a pipe dream, but a nice one, right? I want to pick one up just to see what I could do with it and how I could possibly enhance a child’s education with one.

I’ll be buying one to take apart, but I think I will be able to use it a lot , a few business apps and this thing could replace a lot of stuff, even in the music industry and who knows what else, could be limitless. I can see a lot of people dropping them :)

First off, I’m planning on buying one. $500 for a portable device with a nearly 10 inch screen, 10 hour battery life, and it only weighs 1.5 pounds (not to mention having iWork)? That’s significantly better than having to cart my laptop around, which cost $1500 new (with accessories), has a screen that’s only slightly larger, has at best a 5 hour battery life, and weighs 5.1 pounds.

I don’t really care about the lack of system access (besides, I do like that it prevents third-party code from actively messing with other apps [input managers on the OS X side, toolbars, etc. on the Windows side]), and judging from the SDK, the device seems somewhat more open (shared file directory, for instance). Also, It does have USB support (and SD card support) through the Camera connectivity kit advertised on the bottom of Apple’s iPad page.

It doesn’t have multitasking, but with the significant speed improvement over the iPhone 3GS, apps will open faster. Besides, I strongly suspect that we’ll see multitasking in 4.0 and that the reason we haven’t seen it yet is the same one behind the lack of copy/paste on the original iPhone (i.e. Apple is still working out a UI for it).

Lastly, Flash needs to die a fast death. Forgetting its horrible memory and optimization issues, its numerous security problems, and its widespread use in annoying ads, video can be served using HTML5 (which Safari supports), and Flash games can be recompiled into iPhone games using the latest version of Adobe’s Flash development tools. Not to mention the fact that websites done in Flash often use widgets that look native (native buttons, menus, even links) but do not behave like native widgets (i.e. you can’t open a Flash link in a new tab!) and the fact that Flash dominance puts a significant portion of the web in danger of being at the control of Adobe, and Adobe can’t really portray itself in any sort of positive light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R2Q74x1GLU

I don’t get it, what did people expect? Ok, it doesn’t have a camera so you still have to use your laptop/desktop to ichat. Oh no. Yeah, only 64GB of space, if you got more space you would be complaining about the prices. Not running the full-blown OSX, trust me, you want it that way, the point is simplicity and efficiency. You can’t simply and efficiently run a full blown OS on something that small, yet. Look, I have a MBP and an iPhone and I will still be getting one and here is why…It’s all about replacing devices right? What did iPhone do? It gave me the best smartphone in the world along with the best iPod in the world. Plus it gives me a camera, not top end but enough for what I need on the fly. Now what about iPad, what does it replace, what roles can it play? How about a portable dvd player? Now you can play movies on a screen bigger than the typical portable dvd player. Don’t have to carry dvds around with it. And it will last longer. For those of you that think that this approach enslaves you to use iTunes…you are an idiot, most movies come with digital editions and this is only going to take off. So there is one thing, you can’t tell me that watching movies on the iPad would be far better than the iPhone. Digital picture frame, there you go, you have one, one that works better then the others and you can easily take with you. eBook reader, yes it is better than the kindle and here is why. People talk about battery life, ok the kindle wins there, but are you telling me you are going to be reading more than 10 hours without plugging it in at all? What does the iPad do better? You can read it in the dark, in bed with the wife trying to sleep. You have color. You can take the iPad farther than the kindle, this could be the first time newspapers and magazines on devices like this really makes sense. You can even insert mini-movies, not just color pictures. It can serve as your portable gaming device. If I have to explain to you why this will be the best portable gaming device in the world than you are retarded. So there are things it can replace. It also to an extent can replace my laptop, because lets face it mostly what I do is surf the net, email, and enjoy iTunes content. iPad has all that in a lighter form factor that won’t cook my lap and is easier to take wherever with me. If I need to do something, I got iWork. Alright, I am done typing, I will just finish by saying if you don’t understand the point, don’t get one, that is fine, enjoy crappy netbooks or whatever you use to do the things I just mentioned. I will be happy with my iPad even though it doesn’t cure cancer.

You said “The iPad is the first computer for people who are completely computer illiterate — and there’s millions of them.”

The trouble is, though the iPad will probably be much easier to use than a conventional computer, there is still a lot of old-school computer infrastructure that needs to exist for a person to really make use of it.

Things like cable modems and wireless routers, and networked printers. And because this thing is tied so closely to iTunes, some kind of a “mothership” conventional computer is needed to host it.

So any thought of just sending one of these to an computer-illiterate relative or friend and having them just start using it without considerable support is still a fantasy.

Apple still has a lot of work to do to achieve their vision of “a computer for the rest of us”. First, they need to make it possible for the iPad to be completely functional without syncing with a host computer. That means moving iTunes to “the cloud”, and making MobileMe a free service. Second, they need to keep pushing the telecommunications carriers to provide wireless coverage everywhere at a reasonable cost.

“But similar reactions greeted the iPhone, the iPod and the original iMac (no keypad, closed system, no floppy), and look what happened to them. They’re just the most popular smartphone, MP3 player and single model of a PC ever built.”

Stupid misleading comments like these makes me immediately unable to take this author seriously. I wonder why the iMac was the best selling *SINGLE MODEL* of a PC ever built. Oh thats right, because Windows gave consumers choice in the manufacturer of their computer based on its application (dedicated mathematical computations down to just typing documents) and their price range.

Please, don’t try give us the idea that the iMac was amazingly innovative when the VAST majority of consumers passed over it for a Windows PC.

Exactly the same for smartphones. Why are there more iPhone in particular that other smartphones? Ahh, because other brands give you choice!. There are FAR more Blackberry phones than Apple’s iPhone, and evidently enough from their stellar sales, Blackberry phone models have proven much more popular than iPhones, and the fact that consumers were able to choose which model they wanted is only a plus.

I read this article up to that point and already lost interest.