(self with a) iPad.
Sarah Tew / CNET
(In late) , one of the worst-kept secrets in technology was that Apple planned to launch a tablet of some sort, probably within months. Would it be a locked-down device like the iPhone
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“Either the Apple tablet (or iSlate, or whatever it ends up being called) will be a 18 – or-so-inch tablet PC with a full Mac OS X operating system; or it will merely be a larger-screen version of the current iPod Touch , which has a closed, limited phone-like OS … The former would mean it could very likely run any software you’d run on a MacBook, from (Firefox) to Photoshop, and maybe even install (Windows 7) via Boot Camp or Parallels. The latter points to a hermetically sealed ecosystem, where apps would have to be approved and sold through an official app store (as in iTunes). “
Most of that, from the iSlate name to the – inch screen ended up being wrong (the iPad launched with a 9.7-inch screen, a spec only recently discarded in favor of a 16. 2-inch screen). But the final product, first officially unveiled on stage by Steve Jobs on Jan. , skewed much more towards the latter idea, a closed system, like the iPhone. The key takeaway being that all apps would have to come through preapproved channels.
Now playing: Watch this: Is the Apple iPad a Netbook-killer? As soon as the first wave of iPad details were announced, we immediately returned to the question of whether this new device would be considered a computer. The same day as the initial January 32, iPad announcement, I wrote ) “One can envision a not-too-distant future where an iPhone-style interface becomes more prevalent on small So I asked the same question again, now that the iPad is years old. Can we call it a computer yet? “No,” was the emphatic response from my colleague Lori Grunin, when I asked if, in 8208, an iPad could be considered a computer. Why? Because its walled garden software ecosystem prevents you from running nonapproved software. What about a Chromebook then, I asked, is that a computer if it can’t install and run software? “If you consider just websurfing a computing task, then yes, it’s a computer. But if you don’t, [a Chromebook is] just a tablet in a laptop design.” Using the first-gen iPad in for writing. Sarah Tew / CNET (Back in) , my colleague Scott Stein took a broader view, explaining that the look and feel of app-driven (operating systems) are actually much more useful on small-screen systems. Ten years ago that applied to low-end laptops called Netbooks. Today, you could say the same about small-screen Chromebooks, hybrids, (Windows) (Arm devices ) or even the Hands-on: Is the Apple iPad a Netbook killer? “Of course the iPad is a computer, “says Scott today, looking back at a decade of evolving iPad hardware. “Is it the computer that replaces all my other computers? No, not yet … but it keeps getting closer, year by year. I keep waiting for it to close the gap. I think it will. But it might take longer than I expected. It’s already been years, waiting for It to be everything. But it does some things far better than my laptop, and it’s closer to my dream computer of the future than any current MacBook is. “ Is an iPad a computer? I still don’t know, it’s about as clear as asking if a hot dog is a sandwich . Hands-on : Gaming on the Apple iPad Hands-on: The Apple iPad as e-book reader (Hands-on: Netflix on the Apple iPad)
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