With typical modesty and restraint, Steve Jobs today downplayed the iPad hype. Pouring cold water on some of the hyperbole pundits have lavished on the device, he said:
“We think this is a profound gamechanger. We think when people look back some number of years from now, they’ll see this as a major event in personal computation devices.”
He was responding to a question about being surprised by the initial reaction. Here’s what he said in full:
OPINION: Steve Jobs saved the most important part of his iPhone 4.0 announcement today till last — the new in-app advertising system, called iAds.
The iAds system is important because it allows the App Store to create a completely self-sustaining app economy that is sealed off from the wider Web.
Tech guru Tim O’Reilly says the App Store is already becoming a rival to the web itself. The App Store, he says, is “the first real rival to the Web as today’s dominant consumer application platform.” Consumers will have no need to visit the web on their iPhones and iPads if they get everything they need from apps, which is bad news for companies like Google.
“This is a new phenomenon,” Jobs said about apps at today’s presentation. This is the first time this kind of thing has ever existed. We never had that on the desktop, so search was the only way to find a lot of things.”
The App Store economy is already pretty well developed. There is the app purchase mechanism itself through iTunes, and in-app purchases, which allow consumers to buy stuff from inside apps themselves. But there was a big hole: advertising. Ads are already a big part of the app economy, but clicking on them typically takes consumers out of the app and into the browser, an experience Steve Jobs describes as jolting.
But now Apple has built a sophisticated ad-serving mechaninsm right into the iPhone (and iPad, natch), which will make the App ecosystem like AOL in the early days — a walled garden. And one that has it’s own economy: in-app purchases, and now in-app advertising. There will be no need to go to the wider web anymore — and that cuts out Google.
“What’s happening is that people are spending a lot of time in apps,” Jobs said today. “They’re using apps to get to data on the internet, rather than a generalized search.”
No wonder Apple and Google are at war. Google swooped in a bought AdMob just to keep it out of Apple’s hands (so Apple snapped up Quattro instead). Of course, Google isn’t on the ropes yet. Android is Google’s attempt to keep it relevant in mobile, and so far it’s holding its own against the iPhone.
But if early numbers are any indication, the iPad is going to be an iPhone-sized hit. Combine the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, and that’s a lot of mobile devices in Apple’s walled garden.
UPDATED: Steve Jobs personally demoed the iPad for his daughter at his local Palo Alto store on Saturday, and not, as this post originally reported, “for one lucky customer.” Confusion in the initial post stemmed from typos in a Tweet communicated to Cult of Mac by Twitter user Cédric Lignier, who wrote today to clarify his communication, which should have read:
“Met Steve Job @ Palo Alto today! I gave up my iPad spot 4 let him demoed the iPad 2 his daughter. Unbelievable!”
Jobs was at his local Apple Store on University Avenue in Palo Alto, which did brisk business in iPads Saturday, attracting big crowds. It looks like Jobs walked to the store (he lives nearby and is often spotted walking around Palo Alto). No one seems to have paid him much attention. The staff in the picture above, taken by Lignier, seem more concerned with crowd control.
Meanwhile, the iPad’s top designer, Jonathan Ive, quietly watched the mobs at his local Apple store in San Francisco.
Ive, who is famously shy and self-effacing, attended the iPad launch event at the flagship Stockton Street store, which was a mob and media frenzy. It seems few noticed him either, despite being the most famous designer in the world. The one person who did, Matt Galligan, scored this nice picture with him.
Check it this video of F-cked Company’s Philip “Pud” Kaplan typing full speed on the iPad. Who said the iPad’s no good for typing?
Lots of people are complaining that their iPads aren’t charging when plugged into their computer’s USB port. The battery indicator in the upper right corner says “Not Charging.” The iPad still syncs, however.
Don’t worry, it’s not a glitch. The iPad needs a high-power USB 2.0 port to charge, which are less common on older computers. Many USB hubs and keyboards with USB ports won’t work either.
The complaints seem to be coming from users of older Macs and some Windows laptop users. The front-facing USB ports on a 2006 Mac Pro, for example, don’t put out enough power to charge the iPad, but the ports on a 2009 MacBook Pro (13-inch) do.
Apple has published a support document that advises charging the iPad using the included power brick.
Better get a new Mac to work with your new iPad.
Although the kids have already monopolized CoM’s brand new iPad, here are some initial impressions. My colleague Jose Gutierrez also chipped in.
* It’s seriously WOW. A huge grin broke on my face the first time I swiped the lock screen. It’s so much better than just a big iPod touch. The size of the screen makes it a very different experience. I can already tell, using a mouse and keyboard is going to get old fast.
* It’s got great heft and feel. It feels tough and substantial, but the 1.5 lbs weight is going to take some getting used to. In fact, it’s heavy. Definitely need an armrest. Next model will likely be plastic backed. The glass screen makes it top heavy, especially when typing it portrait mode.
* At first I thought the screen was scratched — but there are shooting time lapse images of stars on the Home screen wallpaper. Hard to believe Steve Jobs didn’t spot this.
* The screen is bright and very sharp. HD video looks astonishing.
* It picks up greasy fingerprints super fast — in spite of the oleophobic coating.
* Out of the box it won’t turn on until you set it up through iTunes.
* Set up is super simple. Connect to iTunes (you need version 9.1) and there’s two choices: start from scratch or back up from iPhone.
* The UI is very fast. Apps launch instantly.
* Being able to put six apps in the dock is awesome. Many features like this and the custom wallpaper need to make it to the iPhone. Bookmarks bar in Safari is very nice.
* Keyboard needs work. Very difficult to type in portrait mode. In landscape, the keyboard dominates the screen. Might be a deal breaker for some.
* iPhone apps look horrible, especially Facebook.
* Some apps have bugs, due to lack of hardware availability to developers. Simulators can only do so much. Expect firmware upgrade soon as well as many app updates.
* The iPad’s speaker is pretty loud and perfectly adequate for watching TV or movies, even with background noise.
Overall a good product but will become an awesome product when people’s favorite apps are optimized for the iPad. A firmware update is needed to work out some bugs. Perfect for relaxing at home or on a plane. Not ready for the working world. iWork just not quite good enough due to file management constraints.
Please chip in your impressions in the comments. What do you guys think?
Here’s the user manual for the iPad. It’s a single sheet that shows the layout of the three buttons. That’s it.
There’s some info about syncing on the back, and I know there’s a bunch of guided tour videos on Apple’s website, but this is a stark illustration of the radical simplicity of the device. And it is radical. You need no introduction. You pick it up and use it: no RTFM necessary.
(The backside picture is after the jump. It says download the latest version of iTunes and plug in your iPad to sync.)
Here are CoM’s obligatory iPad unboxing pix. The biggest surprise is the lack of a cleaning cloth (the iPad is already sticky with greasy little prints). There’s also the austere minimalism of the box’s contents. There’s hardly anything in it.
If you’re looking to score an iPad this AM, it may be wise to check the shopping site Milo.com before heading out.
The site has a page listing the availability of iPads at Apple’s retail stores and Best Buy.
The system hooks into the internal stocking systems at Best Buy and thousands of other retail stores (not sure how it has data from Apple).
Milo.com, tracks the real-time in-store availability of Best Buy products, and almost 50,000 other retail stores nationwide. No more driving to or calling all of the Best Buy stores in a hundred mile radius to locate what you are looking for. Early adopters in hot iPad pursuit can simply enter their location and type “iPad” on the Milo.com Web site or from their mobile phones and Milo.com will find the nearest Best Buy location with it in stock.
Woah, look at the giant line this morning in Pittsburgh! Is that Anderson Cooper?
CC-licensed photo by Rob Beschizza (of BB Gadgets).
Anyone having a UPS anxiety attack? Hitting refresh every 30 seconds and still not seeing those magic words: “out for delivery.”
Our friend Leigh in Texas says he still hasn’t received his iPad, and it’s after 10AM. He’s standing by the window, acting like a “nervous mother.”
Are you freaking out? Please tell us what’s going on in your neck of the woods.
iFixit sent three staffers to the east coast to score an iPad as early as possible, CEO Kyle Wiens told me yesterday. Looks like it worked and they are busy tearing it apart. They are posting the dissasembly as they go — you can watch the action as it happens. It’s the perfect distraction while standing in line for an iPad.
Some highlights:
* This machine is absolutely gorgeous inside. There’s clear symmetry that is there for aesthetics alone.
* The rear case is CNC machined from a solid block of aluminum, using the same process as the MacBook Pro.
* Apple has used more epoxy to secure chips to the board than we’ve seen before. This indicates that it is designed to be even more rugged than their laptops.
* The battery isn’t soldiered onto the motherboard. That means replacing the battery *is* feasible for users who do not want to give up their precious for a week. (And then get back someone else’s iPad!)
* This unit is different from the FCC photos. Toshiba DOES NOT have the flash memory in the production units! Instead, Samsung has secured a major win.
Update: Wiens’ local paper has a story about what iFixit is up to this morning and how they document the teardowns.
Woz was camped out all night at the Valley Fair Apple store in Santa Clara, Calif. He seems to somehow have gotten his iPad early, because it’s still a couple of hours before 9AM on the west coast. But here he is holding it with a big sh*t-eating grin on his face.
“iPad delight…wow this is better than I ever imagined!”
Here are some fancy photos of the iPad overnight at Apple’s 5th Avenue store in Manhattan, courtesy of our friend Richard Gutjahr, who is currently first in line for an iPad.
Check out Richard’s campout blog here (BTW: it’s in German, but there’s a Google translate button).
If you’re going down to the Apple Store to buy an iPad on Saturday morning, here’s what to expect:
Even though Amazon’s hardware Kindle reader will be toast at 9AM Saturday morning, Amazon has just released its Kindle app for the iPad.
The app is free and available for download from the App Store.
Professional line sitter Greg Packer has been bumped from the front of the iPad line at the 5th Avenue Apple Store.
Packer didn’t reserve his iPad, so he’s dropped behind German blogger Richard Gutjahr, who did reserve an iPad.
“Apparently nobody before me in the original line had a reservation,” Gutjahr just emailed me from his iPhone. “Crazy.”
As we reported yesterday, Packer began his campout to be first in line for an iPad on Thursday. Packer is a professional line sitter who has gained considerable media attention for being first in line for scores of events, including the original iPhone and Ground Zero.
Gutjahr says Packer is angry about getting bumped. “He seems to be really mad,” Gutjahr wrote. “Funny thing: the media still thinks he’d be the number one who gets the iPad. But he needs to wait until the reserved line is done. And that one is lead by me. Who would have thought this?”
Gutjahr says there are about 20 people in line so far at the flagship Manhattan store. He and the others in line plan to camp out all night until the iPad goes on sale at 9AM. Gutjarh is blogging the event.
Crowds are expected to be light because Apple offered pre-orders and reservations. Most people will receive their iPads by UPS tomorrow or will pick up reserved iPads at Apple stores in the morning.
Still, the absence of a big crowd at the Cube-shaped store — normally a huge tourist attraction — is giving Gutjahr pause. “Hope its not a flop,” he wrote.
A pair of alpha nerds, BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow and Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani, have just published strong anti-iPad pieces. Neither is buying the iPad, for different reasons.
Doctorow is firmly against the iPad because it’s too commercial and locked down. He wants an open device he can hack. And Trapani thinks the Mark II iPad will be so much better than the first, only an idiot is will buy the first version:
Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing): Doctorow has a host of reasons he’s not buying the iPad, among them: it’s the second coming of the CD-ROM “revolution,” you can’t share media with others, the device itself is glued closed and it hastens the Wal-Martization of software. “… there’s also a palpable contempt for the owner. I believe — really believe — in the stirring words of the Maker Manifesto: if you can’t open it, you don’t own it.”
Gina Trapani (Lifehacker): Trapani predicts the price will halve in short order, and that next year’s model will be much better. “First-generation Apple products are for suckers. Only lemmings with no self-control and excessive disposable income buy first generation Apple products, especially in a new gadget category.”
CoM’s take: I don’t change the oil in my truck and I don’t want to change the batteries in an iPad. It’s open where it counts: access to the web. And I bought the first iPhone, the first iPod, the first Airport and plenty of first-generation Macs. Haven’t regretted buying any of them (except the first Time Capsule, which just died).
Doctorow has a Sad Mac tattoo, btw.
It’s possible to hack UPS tracking numbers to monitor other people’s iPad orders, consultant Stephen Foskett has discovered.
If you have a genuine iPad tracking number, you change the last two digits to get valid tracking numbers for other people’s iPad orders. I just checked, and I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with an iPad on a slow plane from China.
Here’s how the UPS tracking number breaks down, according to Foskett:
… the standard UPS format is “1ZAAAAAATTIIIIIPPC”, where AAAAAA is the account, TT is the service type, IIIII is the invoice, PP is the package, and C is the check digit. These numbers are not encrypted or at all random, and CodeProject has a complete decoding method.
To hack the tracking number, you increase the last number by one (the checksum), while decreasing the penultimate number by one (this is the last digit of the package number).
So if your package number ends in “63,” you can substitute “54,” “45,” “36,” “27,” and “18” to get valid tracking numbers for five more packages.
The hack works — I just tried it. I can now follow iPad packages going to Manchester Center, VT; Inverness, IL; Waverly, MN; Bridgewater, NJ; and Saint Louis, MO.
To make sure the packages are iPads, check the origin location (Shenzhen, CN) and weight (1.4Kgs).
Foskett suggests the hack could be exploited by analysts trying to figure out how many iPads Apple shipped this week. He thinks it could also reveal how many people are ordering two iPads, and the distribution of customers around the country.
UPS is gearing up for a massive, “all hands” iPad delivery day on Saturday. UPS says ALL iPads will be delivered en masse on Saturday except to customers in very remote locations.
“We’ve got all hands on deck for a huge wave of Sat. deliveries,” says MikeAtUPS, who is providing UPS customer service via Twitter. “Unless you’re in a very remote area, your iPad’ll arrive on Sat.”
Thanks to UPS’s flip-flopping tracking system, the shipping company is being inundated with iPad customers asking where their packages are.
On Tuesday, UPS’s tracking system appeared to show that many iPads had left China and were in Louisville, KY, where UPS has a giant international shipping center. However, a few hours later references to Louisville were removed and iPad packages were listed as still being in China. (Some CoM readers with knowledge of UPS’s system suggested that references to Louville were some kind of internal UPS admin message).
It now appears that many iPads left China at 4.30 AM last night (April 2 local time) — just two days before iPad launch day.
MikeAtUPS has been busy answering queries from customers asking where their iPads are.
“The iPads will all be delivered on Saturday, iPad Launch Day,” is the same reply he’s been giving.
One customer said he was “freaking” because he didn’t know where his iPad was. “There’s no need to freak,” MikeAtUPS told him. “Everything is going according to plan.”
He’s also been asked several times if UPS can deliver iPads early. “Afraid not,” he says. “By Apple’s decree, they’ll all be delivered on Saturday, Launch Day!”
UPDATE: Another UPS customer service rep on Twitter, ThomasAtUPS, says iPad launch day is a “major operation for UPS.”
“The iPad deliveries are a major operation for UPS,” says ThomasAtUPS. “While we can’t say much now, we might later. I’d be interested. :)”
The first round of iPad apps are live on the App Store. There’s already a wide selection of apps, from NetNewsWire for iPad to AOL’s AIM.
But in a world accustomed to $0.99 apps, there might be some sticker shock.
Prices of iPad apps seem to be $3.99 and up. There’s a handful of fre apps, but not many.
Wonder how long early-adopter pricing will hold up before there’s the inevitable race to the bottom?
The best review of the iPad is from BoingBoing’s Xeni Jardin, who brilliantly describes the joy of the iPad’s touch interface.
But the best quote comes from Theo Gray, the creator of a magical new iPad education app — The Elements — a fantastic, interactive Periodic Table. (You can briefly see it in action in the PCMag video review below. Hit the 3:47 mark).
Xeni asked Grey to put into words the magic of the iPad, and he said:
“The Elements on iPad is not a game, not an app, not a TV show. It’s a book. But it’s Harry Potter’s book. This is the version you check out from the Hogwarts library. Everything in it is alive in some way.”
Go read the rest of the review. It’s well worth it.
Hulu is coming to the iPad, and possibly as a subscription app, charging a monthly fee for watching popular TV shows, says the NYT.
Citing “four people briefed on its plans,” the NYT says Hulu’s 200-odd partners are pressuring the site to raise more revenue for online TV, and that a monthly subscription on devices like the iPad has obvious potential.
(Hulu’s CEO) declined to talk about any future Hulu products, but he waxed enthusiastic about the coming wave of ultra-portable tablet computers like the iPad.
“Typically media consumption in the house was confined to the living room or home office,” he said. Tablets, he added, “allow consumers to serendipitously discover and consume media in every room of the house.”
The news is no surprise, really. It’s obvious that Hulu, which has done more than any other company to mainstream online TV, would not pass up a major media-consumption device like the iPad.
Plus, Hulu’s videos are already encoded in H.264, so they should run on the iPad without a problem. The big issue is making sure Hulu’s ads — all of which are in Flash — are iPad ready.
PCMag’s iPad review is a must watch. It’s a quick, breezy tour through the iPad and what it can do (iWork, games and eBooks, etc.). The best I’ve seen so far, including Apple’s guided iPad tours.
The big three tech reviewers — Walt Mossberg, David Pogue and Ed Baig — have all given the iPad pretty enthusiastic reviews. Of course, being pro reviewers, they are obliged to remain cooly professional and criticize shortcomings like the lack of Flash, multitasking and camera. But read between the lines, and these are pretty much double-thumbs-up:
WSJ’s Walt Mossberg: iPad has better than 10 hours battery life, email and other writing is surprisingly easy and productive, and digital newspapers are “gorgeous and highly functional.”
As I got deeper into it, I found the iPad a pleasure to use, and had less and less interest in cracking open my heavier ThinkPad or MacBook.
NYT’s David Pogue: Thinks nerds will be unmoved but technophobes will love it. Says it’s not as good as a laptop for “creating stuff,” but miles better for consuming books, music, video, photos, Web and e-mail.
For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience — and a deeply satisfying one.
USA Today’s Ed Baig: Says Apple is “rewriting the rulebook for mainstream computing.”
Apple has delivered another impressive product that largely lives up to the hype.