iPad to drive stronger tablet sales worldwide: study

How much is the monthly charge for the new iPad? Including Internet access?

@zichi,

That's pretty much the same way for me, having traded my desktop with a 23" monitor for a 10" HP netbook and a WebOS-powered smartphone. Perfect :)

I can switch between Windows XP and 7, Ubuntu (Lucid Lynx) and MacOS Leopard (quadruple boot FTW!!!). I can carry the machine on one hand and use the phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot when on the go. No amount of desktop power can replace the freedom of the more mobile smartphones, tablets and netbooks. So this news in not surprising.

Oops.. meant to say "in one hand"... too many typos lately

The age of PCs is more or less over... or at least has been redefined thanks to Apple. It's not quite the same, of course, and takes some adjusting, but you know, when I type these words out I don't have to send my typewriter head to the left again when I read a line. Things change, and in this case things are changing faster than ever. Good or bad, we've Apple to thank, though the copies from other companies will come through flawed and less expensive in a year to three years (three if it's a windows-based system).

iPad is literally changing the way a lot of things are being and will be used in the future.

Far from over. Mobile device hardware doesn't even come CLOSE to current desktop quad core architecture. The IPAD is simply a window into the internet and the interface is mediocre at best. Typing on an ipad is ridiculously difficult, and it's still too heavy to comfortably hold while lying down.

I have both the ipad2 and ipad3, and the ipad3's network connectivity issues needs to be addressed. With Steve Jobs out of the picture, Apple's woes are only beginning. They've lost the edge. The retina laptop just came out and perhaps that is the best personal computing machine available. Windows laptops have touchscreens in place of Apple's track pad. But these devices cannot allow people to use the "computer" as tools since REAL work on a PC still requires a keyboard and mouse. Most people use the ipad and tablets for email, net browsing and watching youtube. It is not a personal computer form-factor that can render 3D, write essays and documents, do video editing, or mix music on.

I beg to differ. Apple doesn't change nothing about the way we work with computers. Tablets and smartphones have been out for too long, but people weren't interested in using/buying them. What Apple did was choosing the right time to market their overpriced tools. I wasn't amazed at all though. Computers will stay mainstream for decades. End of story.

@blackrock,

Apple has done a lot to make those devices less clunky and more marketable. They aren't exactly my cup of tea, too locked down, but their presence has given enough push to the competition to improve their offerings.

The iPhone has popularized UNIX/Linux powered smartphones with glass touchscreens and full featured web browsers. While Google has already been working on Android before the iPhone was announced, and things were already heading in that direction, the iPhone set a standard that everyone else has measured themselves against.

The iPad was a departure from what most people expected a tablet computer to be. Tablets before it were heavier, hotter, thicker and were powered by an Intel x86 type processor with a desktop-like Windows installation that wasn't really suited for touchscreen use. The old tablets were essentially keyboard-less laptops, while the iPad is more of a scaled up iPhone, with an ARM processor, glass multi-touch screen, no fan, and a longer battery life.

Yes, tablets existed before the iPad came to be, but they were a niche product that didn't sell well for the reasons i mentioned. What Apple has come up with has solved the physical issues, and extending the iPhone apps to run on the iPad has solved the "lack of content" and UI issues. Now, children, hospital nurses, the elderly and many people who were averse to regular computers, absolutely love their "oversized phones". It's the people who don't need everything the old tablets had to offer. So yes, tweaking an existing product is Apple's strongest point, but "the right time" doesn't have much to do with it. Right features, an app ecosystem and decent battery life are what makes the devices popular. The same could be said for my netbook, a non-Apple product. A full width keyboard, wide, bright screen, good battery life and Windows XP, with the millions of apps and viruses that can run on it. Decent hardware, decent software, and proper presentation. That's it.

I only own an old iTouch from '10, which i bought to test some code for compatibility, and like you, i'm not an Apple fanboy. However, i give them credit for spotting the issues that kept tablets from being adopted by a wider audience. I mean hey, well done :)