So, the mythical Jesus Tablet has finally been announced and revealed. My initial impression was lackluster. As the presentation grew on, it started to make more sense. Once the pricing was revealed? Ohman. They took it. Apple just killed the Kindle. Why would you buy Amazon’s $500 9.7″ black-and-white-just-a-reader when, for the same price, you get a full-color, touchscreen, multi-capable almost-laptop? Sure, there’s still the $250 Kindle, but .. again, why bother? Why be so crippled and limited?
Personally, I want the Kindle to fail. Amazon’s taking SEVENTY FUCKING PERCENT of the price on e-books and magazines. That’s just insane and fucking wrong. Sure, they’re providing the platform – but since the entirety of the platform depends on the content you consume with it, they’re cannibalizing their entire market. Also, the average price for Kindle books is $10. For Apple’s iBooks store? $5. Bam! G’night, Amazon.
Why it’s a game changer
Right off the bat – forget e-book readers. They’re dead in the water now. Unless they all drop to under $100, they’re just not even worth it.
So, 16GB is WAY more than any current e-book reader has. Not that it matters, you can fit like 10,000 books on a $5 thumb drive. I was a little bummed about the 3G functionality tax, but $30/mo for UNLIMITED 3G, NO contract? That’s a “holy shit” price.
Here’s something you might not have considered, which only just occurred to me a few minutes ago – I have an iPhone, as do millions of others. The iPhone supports tethering. AT&T is supposed to enable tethering soon. What this means for an iPhone-and-iPad owner is : you can save that $130 3G tax AND the $30/month, and still get unlimited 3G service 24/7 just by using the iPhone’s 3G signal as your mobile WiFi hotspot. Fuck yes.
Suddenly, it all makes sense. Throw in that kick-ass keyboard stand, and it’s like having an iMac anywhere you go. Better even than a laptop in some cases : longer battery life, less distractions, thinner, lighter, smaller, higher viewing angle. As you may know, I’ve been writing a book, and while I prefer to chill on my couch or in bed and type out on my laptop – I’m using a 17″ MacBook Pro. I still haven’t found a comfortable way to sit there and write, without lighting my damned lap on fire and/or contorting my body in some manner to fit the damned thing on my lap but still giving me room to type.
The idea of being able to sit there with a slab of 1/2-inch-wide, 10-inch-diagonal touchscreen tech that’s practically weightless, doesn’t overheat, and lets me type on a full-size keyboard anywhere I’d want to sit? Dude – Amazing (or, ya know “magical“).
What’s Missing?
A camera. I can hardly believe Apple didn’t toss a camera up in that bitch. It would be trivial to add, would add something like $2 to the manufacturing cost, and would increase it’s utility by a wide margin. While you can pretty much bet the farm that the 2nd-gen iPad will most definitely include a front-facing camera, I wouldn’t be too surprised to find someone (maybe even Apple) make a dock-connected camera accessory soon. Personally, it doesn’t matter too much to me, cause I’ve already got a perfectly capable Macbook Pro with integrated webcam and video conferencing software, but it’d be damn cool to be able to do Mitcz : The Expert with a thin slab of tech.
All of that being said… I want one. It’s quite possibly the greatest thing Apple’s ever done.
UPDATE :
Looks like Apple’s already announced dongles for things like USB :
So, I give it about 1 month after launch before there’s a webcam solution.
Loading ...
