Apple’s iPad
I’ve read with interest the introduction of the iPad from Apple yesterday, and have surfed through Macworld’s stories about the iPad.
I have a post for my Mercer CSC125 class with several links to the Macworld material, including photos, video, and some editor’s reactions. You can view that post HERE, over at csc125.blogspot.com.
I threw the lesson plan out the window, and we had a very interesting discussion about the student’s reactions to the iPad – was it a usable thing now, could it be usable on the job – in business, etc.
What surprised me was that the overall reaction was “yeah, it’s cool, but I don’t see how it’s useful for me”. Several questioned droppiong $500 on something they weren’t sure they’d use (which was actually nice to hear! I’m sure their parents would be proud.)
Most of the kids have smartphones and laptops. Abvout half of them know about multi-touch capabilities, but relatively few have multi-touch capable devices. A surprising number said the omission of a videocamera was a deal-breaker for them – most who said this use video chat on Skype to stay in touch with home (several states away, even across the ocean in Britain).
My take?
A very cool technology which will again change how we interact with the computers in our lives – after the concept of “no keyboard” is adopted across the industry. I can see using one, especially given the iWork apps (which are Office compatible), projector interface, and the fact that I do all my email on the web anyway.
This is going to be interesting!
Techrepublic posted a few snippets from the presentation by Steve Jobs:
…and here are some reactions from the PC World and MacWorld editors:
