Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Another crippled Apple product

In case you have been sucked in by Apple hype Apple Ipad was announced today. It costs about $800, plus $30 per month, depending on options.

It is crippled as usual. It has no keyboard, no memory slot, no telephone, no removable battery, very limited battery life, no camera, no GPS, and no multi-tasking. There is no ability to run any apps, except those that have been approved by Apple. Web pages that use Flash, Java, ActiveX, or Silverlight will not work.

It is the modern equivalent of a dumb terminal. I think that this product will be a dud. Serious computer users will have no interest in it.

A lot of people think that Apple can do no wrong, after its success with the Apple ipod. But that product only became successful when Apple persuaded the big music labels to put their music exclusively on the Apple itunes store, with digital rights management to prevent you from listening to the music on other devices. But now there are much better music players, and you can buy unencumbered music from Amazon and other places.

Update: Also, it won't work on the T-Mobile wireless network, and it has no USB port. I do not expect to buy any computer without a USB port for the foreseeable future.

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