Yesterday, the Earth stood still as Steve Jobs announced the Apple iPad. People everywhere got excited and many cannot wait until the day they can get their hands on one.
Many months ago, tech pundits were predicting how the Apple tablet was going to make netbooks as obsolete as type writers. Now that the iPad is out and we’ve heard and read what it’s all about, we can safely say that the iPad is not killing netbooks anytime soon.
Here are a few reasons why:
1) The iPad is not a computer
Netbook buyers are computer users who want to do tasks such as web browsing, edit the odd word document, watch movies, listen to music and store data. The Apple iPad can do most of these tasks but it’s really limited. I kind of like the external keyboard accessory it comes with though!
2) Without Wifi or 3G Internet access, the iPad is just a bulky iPod.
An iPhone without a data plan can still make phone calls and send and receive text messages. An iPod without internet access can still play music, run applications and play videos. An iPad without an Internet connection is pretty useless as you could do everything you want to do with an iPod. Unless you strictly want to read a book or watch a movie.
As netbook uses his or her machine to perform tasks that a computer does with or without internet access.
3) The iPad is expensive.
The cheapest is $499. The best-selling netbook, the Acer Aspire One, can be purchased for $329. It’s still portable, capable and can be equipped with 3G for an always-on Internet connection.
Netbooks do what an iPad can do and even more and are cheaper.
I could go on and on but I am sure that you too have some points to add so let’s hear them in the comments section below.
Personally, I think that I will get the iPad eventually (two years from now or so) because I think that developers will come up with apps that will make the tablet very useful and different to a laptop.
So yes, I will be a geek with a Blackberry, a laptop and an iPad. What will be ditched are the iPod and iPhone.
I can’t wait to see people who will be hauling the iPad around listening to music on it as if it was an iPod. I am laughing out loud in advance!
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