At last! It’s here! But is Apple’s brand spanking new tablet-y, computer-y, entertainment-y, eBook-y, baking-tray-y iPad worth your time and money if you already have an iPhone or an iPod Touch? Via the medium of Skype, we Wooters have a little look at what Steve Jobs spent last night having nightmares about…
Danny Woot: So the iPad – doth it rock or doth it suck?
Jimbo Woot: Don’t you mean the Really Big 3G Ipod Touch?
Danny: I think it looks like a baking tray.
Jimbo: I am an Apple snob. So obviously love everything about it. I just don’t see myself ever needing one.
Jenna Woot: It could be the new version of the Trigger Happy “HELLO!” sketch.
Danny: “YEAH… YEAH… IT’S AN IPAD… NAH, IT’S RUBBISH…”
Jimbo: I would definitely consider buying one if my daily commute was an hour or so, and if as Jenna suggested earlier in the kitchen, it had an amazing sketching app. I also think that it is quite a bold move for Apple to rely on the delivery of saucy apps determining the success of it.
Jenna: Yeah, I’d love it to sketch on, thing is you can get this awesome stuff – paper and pencil – that costs next to nothing…
Danny: Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that.
Jenna: I’d buy it if it would let me play super flight control.
Danny: So what other apps are going to be available? I’ve read about the New York Times one, but that’s another “should we pay for the news?” issue.
Jimbo: They have the basic word processing and spreadsheet apps.
Jenna: They have plenty games.
Jimbo: Sky News is free on the iPhone. Again, the relevance of the device is determined by third parties. Weird.
Dino Woot: Not really, look at the original iPhone. It was massively successful without an app store.
Jimbo: BUT IT WAS A PHONE.
Dino: But the app store definitely blew it away.
Jenna: Otherwise you have a glorified mp3 player and web browser.
Jimbo: HAHA! I would love to buy an iPad just to walk around pretending to talk on it!
Dino: That would be classic. I am disappointed that it runs on the same OS as the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Danny: What kind of OS would suit it better?
Jimbo: The OS is irrelavant if apps are created properly. This set of pics gets me excited about the iPad.
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Jimbo: Imagine walking into a job interview, and showing your portfolio on it. THAT would be sick.
Jenna: If you could use a stylus with illustrator it would be really good for logo design/illustration.
Danny: I could definitely imagine using the bottom right image – kind of like an old word processor machine.
Jimbo: Have you guys ever seen this video?
Jimbo: It’s about Multi Touch interface. Imagine taking some of this and adding it into it – and this was in 2006!
Jenna: eBooks are really popular and they cost £150+.
Jimbo: The new Kindle is £200.
Danny: And what’s the RRP for the iPad?
Jimbo: No one really knows yet.
Danny: Care to hazard a guess?
Jimbo: Starting @ £400? It says it will start at $499 in the US. The Kindle DX Wireless is $489.99.
Dino: That is stupidly expensive for en eBook reader.
Danny: So, without the opportunity to get one on contract like an iPhone, are people really going to pay that much?
Jimbo: Good question. I might actually get suckered into a £20/month contract if I get one for free.
Danny: They can bill you at the same time they bill you for your iPhone.
Jimbo: The standard rule of thumb is generally to wait for 3rd gen anyways 
Jenna: You can get Apple products on credit, it would be sort of like paying for a contract.
Danny: I suppose so, but I think you’re right about waiting – how much of this will be obsolete by the time the next one comes out?
Jimbo: Well for a start they are going to have to increase the memory size.
Danny: Any more physical size and you could do oven chips on it.
Jenna: You could have your steak cooking on the PS3 and chips on the iPad – thats multi-use technology!
Dino: The option for removable media is also disappointing. The lack of, anyway.
Danny: So final thoughts – good or bad?
Jimbo: Only time and the app developers will tell.
Jenna: If I had a private yacht I would totally get one to use on it- it would definitely be my web browsing/word processing device of choice
Danny: I still struggle with an iPod, so I’m going to wait until five years after everyone else has one and then consider getting one second-hand.
Dino: I really think that it has potential in terms of what third parties will do with it, and I am quite excited to see what they will put out. But at the same time I am quite disappointed that it doesn’t seem much more than an enlarged iPhone. Maybe my disappointment will turn around when I see what is really possible with it.
