Answers on this will range from:
USB devices involve automatically installing drivers, Apple was afraid that this process, which can sometimes cause a major headache, detracted from what the iPad was supposed to be all about.
USB is too universal, people have too many options on USB peripherals. By not having a USB Apple can sell you vastly more expensive peripherals that only connect with Apple specific connectors.
This is a good point, but you’re overstating it.
Apple only hits a handful of specific market segments. They don’t have a low-end laptop, or a super-top-of-the-line model. They don’t have a mid-range desktop, or a high-end-but-not-top-of-the-line, or a gamer system.
When you’re looking for something in one of the segments they hit, they’re not bad deals. In fact, at my previous job, coding Windows/Linux server software, most of the devs used a MacBook Pro running Windows or Linux as our laptop, and both of our managers used MacBook Airs, because they really were the best laptops in the price range for our needs.
When you’re looking for something else, they’re terrible deals. You either have to settle for something that doesn’t do everything you need, or waste a lot of money for things you don’t need. Not one of us had an iMac or MacPro on our desk, because an iMac was too slow for our compile jobs, while for the price of a MacPro we could have had two separate Dells to run Windows and Linux at the same time.
And really, this is why comparing Apple to IBM or Dell is unfair–even if you ignore OS X. Anyone can pick some use case where nothing beats an iMac, and anyone can pick some use case where no Apple model is even close to appropriate. What does that prove? Nothing, except that Apple isn’t in the same business as IBM and Dell.
Anyway, getting back on topic, this is why Apple pulled off the iPad. They found (or created) a pretty narrow market that they can sell into, which is what Apple is best at. Unless Dell can find (or create) a wider market that they can cover more broadly, they can’t do what they’re best at. At the moment, I’d say that’s an open question. But Dell’s success or failure doesn’t necessarily mean the opposite for Apple.
That’s just the thing with USB ports. They require drivers.
“It has a USB port. Now I require it to support my obscure device. Apple suxxors because they don’t support my device!” :rolleyes:
They make a camera connection kit that supports a lot of different cameras and SD cards. But they don’t and are not going to support your big joystick/game controller plugin, or 8,000 kinds of printers, or the UltraMegaZeeboUSBHaxxorDevice Pro.
It isn’t about making money from selling specific things that connect to the iPad. It is about not loading it down with bloatware in the form of 20,000 different kinds of USB drivers that might be connected to the device someday, somewhere. Or alternately, being required to allow people all the various other means of installing drivers and then being able to access, update and maintain them - it isn’t a fully accessible computer OS.
Again, the device isn’t aimed at replacing full-blown computers for people who need full blown computers. It is about providing all the functionality of what the vast majority of people need, and doing neat things that people hadn’t quite thought of before, in a package that is more convenient for doing those computer-like tasks as well as a format that works really well for entertainment (books, movies, etc).
Back when I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, it was still very common for households to have only one TV. Having more than one was an unnecessary extravagance for many people. At this stage, my 70-something parents have something like five 5 TVs for the two of them. The same process is happening with computers. The 22 year old guy who sits next to me has 4 computers at home. As I said earlier, the iPad, and limited use tablets like them, will suffice for more than 90% of the computing needs of the vast majority of people. My mother never accesses anything beyond her mail and a few websites. The iPad would not only suit 100% of her needs, but open up mobile movies and books, and a raft of other uses, like having all her pictures at her fingertips. Then too, the iPad isn’t made to work in a vacuum. You need a full blown computer to work with it, to manage content and update it. It isn’t a replacement for your computer, it is a supplementary computing tool. Ranting or complaining because it is NOT a full blown computer is downright silly, and within 10 years, that argument will make about as much sense as arguing that your iPod isn’t a full blown 250 watts per channel stereo system, if it doesn’t already.
The thing is, stuff like the video consoles have USB ports without supporting everything. But there are some limited things a USB port would be good for which take very few drivers–like disk access, joysticks, keyboards, and mice. That’s four drivers, if the devices use the normal standards.
Plus, there are already apps for the iPad/iPhone that make them work with printing.
Yeah, as true as all that is though, most printers these days have a USB port and I don’t see people blowing them up by trying to hook up USB microwave ovens to them.
Nonetheless, I can see the driver argument (in fact, I’m the one who brought it up), but no SD card compatibility? That’s asinine, and virtually no argument like you can make for USB applies to SD cards. I think that really just comes down to the fact that Apple doesn’t want you to have the ability to expand your storage space, if you want more space they want you to buy a model with more onboard storage.
Can’t really argue that one with you. Here’s to hoping they get the clue and allow the upgradability of putting in your own SD card by the iPad 3.
Other people have gotten away with providing a port and only supporting specific devices on it. For example, I’ve had a TiVo and a sampler that both had USB ports to attach an external hard drive. Neither one would do anything if you plugged in a webcam or printer or WiFi adapter.*
Part of the problem is managing expectations. What would I expect my TiVo to do with a printer? But someone might expect an iPad to be able to print, so, it’s harder to get away with those kinds of limitations. Maybe once Apple gets everyone used to what an iPad is and isn’t, they can pull something like that off, but I suspect they didn’t put a USB port in the first model because 98% of their customers wouldn’t know what to do with it and most of the other 2% would want to know why they couldn’t plug in a printer.
I used the SD slot in my Sharp Zaurus to hook in a GPS, a wireless modem, and… I forget what the third thing was. I think I had to compile new driver modules for them, and then slap together a tiny GUI app to unload the modules so I could safely unplug whatever was plugged in when I was done with it.
That being said, I don’t think people would expect an SD GPS to work on an iPad. I’m not sure they even sell those things anymore.
No one expects their TiVo to be able to print, or read from their camera, but they most certainly would if the iPad came with a USB port. Like you said, it is about managing expectations, and from a certain perspective I think not having the USB port was a brilliant way to state “this is not a full-blown computer, stop expecting it to be one and start thinking about what it IS”.
Except that it is a full-blown computer. Granted, it’s intentionally crippled in a bunch of ways - most of which are entirely reasonable and even desirable, as they contribute to such features as the excellent battery life and sleek form factor - but saying it isn’t a full-blown computer is buying into the niche marketing line. It’s got a cpu that probably matches desktops from no more than a dozen or so years ago. It outputs to a screen. It’s got human interface inputs in the form of keyboard (touchscreen or peripheral) and pointer. It networks via standard protocols. And it’s got a peripheral port into which arbitrary devices can be plugged, provided you can load the appropriate drivers. It can do anything that a “full-blown computer” with similar overall processing power can. Provided that you can convince Steve to let it do it.
This is why things like the lack of printing are annoying. The thing can create and modify documents, edit images, etc, etc. But to print you’re supposed to sync back to a “full-fledged computer” and print from there. That’s just silly. It’s drawing a line around what the device can do in a very arbitrary way, and not one that is at all technically defensible. The only defense for it is the marketing-driven definition of the tablet as not a real computer.
It’s hard to say if this is going to succeed in the long term, or even in the mid term. Certainly the competition aren’t going to restrict their devices in this way. They’ll come out with card slots, usb ports, hdmi jacks, and any other standard port someone thinks might be useful, and there won’t be many if any artificial limits on what you can do with them. Of course, this will engender various compatibility issues and such, so that things won’t “just work”, and we’ll see just about exactly the same sort of split between the sort of person who prefers Macs and the sort who prefers PCs. But I’m not at all sure that the extremely artificial nature of the iPads limitations isn’t going to result in Apple removing or relaxing a good many of them. I’d wager that a 4th generation iPad will print directly to wifi-enabled printers, for example. But it still won’t have a microSD slot because that would force Apple to compete with card manufacturers when they price the higher capacity models.
Version 4.2 of iOS, to be released in November, will include printing support (from the iPad and iPod Touch and iPhone).
I think this is a purely technical limitation - if they could have had printing and multitasking available at launch, they would have.
What other limitations are you thinking of? The inability to use external storage is probably just a desire to keep things simple - Apple doesn’t want users having to keep track of where their data is stored.
i had thought it was obvious. they’re filling an apparent gap and making whatever consumers are complaining about the ipad’s shortcomings - its weight, lack of flash, price, usb ports etc. that is, they’re making products that attempts to solve all of consumers’ “existing problems that they know they have”. i’m going to guess that the same consumers will simply have more complaints about these products than Apple’s.
You’re right. I was unclear. When I said “clout” I meant “financial clout,” which means they can afford to pay the price.
It’s a very difficult line to define and draw. Virtually all progress in electronics is evolutionary and incremental. When was the last time we really saw whole new architectures designed from the ground up?
Jobs said that they’ve tested the user interface at that size. Check the transcript here.
He didn’t directly say, “Hey, we already built a 7-incher and it’s only useful for shoving up your ass like it’s a 7-inch dildo,” but he strongly implies that they’ve already made and tested a smaller form factor.
Another non-Apple source says that they’ve already developed a 7-inch tablet and opted for the larger size.
And right now there’s probably only one tablet (a 7-incher) that could compete with the iPad at all, and it’s almost as expensive as the larger 3G iPad. So another thing that Jobs said turns out to be right on target: other manufacturers can’t match them on price. They’re offering less for more.
That may well be true. I was an Apple desktop support agent once upon a time. Clueless, screaming angry people who can’t find the document they actually put on an external hard drive that they don’t have in the room at this moment is not a fun call. A good third of those people will still be angry with YOU because THEY don’t have that drive in their hands and somehow YOU are wasting their time.
“Where the %^# is all my MUSIC???”
(Has guy navigate to his itunes preferences)
It appears that iTunes is pointing at an external drive.
“WHAT??? I don’t have that drive with me. I left it at home!”
Yup, but you had to have specifically changed the preferences to point at that drive because otherwise it would be on your hard drive.
“Of course I did, you idiot! I don’t want all that junk taking up my hard drive space!”
Ok, so you chose to keep it on another drive, and you don’t have that drive with you, but you’re screaming at me because you can’t get at it?
“Bah, you’re wasting my time! Just help me play my music RIGHT NOW”
Step 1: Go get your drive. Step 2: Play Music.
“F%$@ you. Get me my music RIGHT NOW”
Sure thing. I’ll just wave my magic wand…
(*Actual Call I once received)
Finally, a tablet with the functionality I’ve been looking for.
On of my complaints about the iPad is ideally I would like it to be slightly bigger not smaller. Like maybe an inch or two. I can totally believe that the user experience worked out to be more favorable on the 10-inch model than the 7-inch model. A seven-inch tablet is a complete non-starter for me. Might as well just use an iPod touch at that point.
Lenovo X201s - 12". About a pound heavier than the 11" air (but that’s with a magnetic hard drive instead of flash), thinner and it has a 3 hours longer stated battery life.
Here is a side view of the X201s.
Here are some pictures of the MacBook Air:
Don’t think the X201s is thinner.
Ah yes, I see I mixed up inches and cm.