Ipad Release Date

[TheLaughingMan]

The official release date in the U.S. for the wifi ipad is April 3rd, and for the 3g/wifi ipad the end of April. It seems the rest of the world has to wait until the end of April for any ipad.

I plan on buying the 3g version as I want to be able to surf the net anywhere anytime.... does anyone know how Thailand (or any other country outside the U.S.) is going to implement the micro sim card that is required of the ipad? No point buying the 3g version if it takes a year to get the sim card through True, might as well save money and buy just the wifi version. Anyone?

[Abrak]

Probably better to tether the Wifi version

[britmaveric]

Better off with a netbook - won't support flash and that makes it not doable for heaps of sites.

[hughden]

There are only a limited number of countries listed as getting the iPad at the end of April. The rest of the world has to wait until "later in the year".

Providing micro-sims should not be a problem, but we will just have to wait and see what True comes up with. Expect that the wi-fi version will be more generally available; including through the Apple Thailand on-line store.

I used to have subscriptions to a number of magazines that came from overseas, but the postage costs became prohibitive. Similarly, the cost of buying a magazine here in Thailand is way more than the sticker price. I am hoping to buy subscriptions at a much more reasonable price to read on the iPad. By the time the device is available here, there should be a clearer picture of what is going to be available to run on it.

I have Flash turned off by default in my browser; very rarely do I need to activate it. I have a netbook which I never use. Takes for ever to start up and does everything badly. I will happily forgo Flash for a device that is instantly on, performs quickly and has a quality IPS display. Your mileage may vary.

[TheLaughingMan]

Probably better to tether the Wifi version

You cannot tether the ipad, they have confirmed this, must have the 3g version unless you only want wifi. Perhaps they will have a crack for tethering though, they always find a way around Apples restrictions.

Better off with a netbook - won't support flash and that makes it not doable for heaps of sites.

No absolutely not. The ipad is EXACTLY what I want, a netbook is an inferior product. All my financial programs and word/excel documents for business etc are on my iphone, all just waiting to be transferred to my easier to use (due to increased speed and larger screen) ipad, it cant come out soon enough, been waiting for it so I can increase my productivity. Will finally be able to write my docs quickly on the fly anywhere. This is just using the apps I've already bought, they will be releasing much better software and developing much better apps in the future (ipad has more power and the apps coming out will use that power) making it even better. Flash is dying and will soon be gone.

Ya HUGH, I will most likely have to pay a premium to get an import if Thailand is going to be left behind in shipping dates like the iphone was.....

[britmaveric]

IPAD is an inferior product compared to a netbook I'm afraid.

[hughden]

IPAD is an inferior product compared to a netbook I'm afraid.

No need to be afraid. Such "comparisons" are matters of opinion, and your opinion is that a net book suits your requirements better than an iPad would. That's OK, but no doubt there are millions of others who are going to disagree.

As for the Flash issue, until Adobe comes up with a version that is not a CPU and memory hog, and is designed on touch tablets (where, for example, there is no "mouse over" option); then it is not going to work successfully on any tablet device.

[TheLaughingMan]

IPAD is an inferior product compared to a netbook I'm afraid.

I Guarantee you in a few years the ipad will have exploded across the planet. Students and business people everywhere will be using them. Millions of buyers. The netbook will never come close. Guess we will have to wait to see for you to realise Im right. Hard to imagine an inferior product could do that.

[cdnvic]

The pros and cons of netbooks and iPads is not the topic here, please stay on subject. (There's a topic already running with pros/cons being debated.)

[rogerdee123]

According to Fortune Mag .... on Friday the 12th, the first day Apple took pre-orders for the iPad, they sold an estimated 120,000 iPads generating 75 mill$ in revenue.

Other sites are reporting that pre-order demand is so high Apple has temporarily suspended taking bulk orders for fear of not being able to keep up with the demand.

[saintofsilence]

I agree with you about this and I will be getting my hands on one as soon as I can , these Ipads will be the best thing since sliced bread I say this only after I have an iphone and love it .

The Ipad will do the job well and will take over from netbooks.

Edited March 14, 2010 by saintofsilence

[Abrak]

Probably better to tether the Wifi version

You cannot tether the ipad, they have confirmed this, must have the 3g version unless you only want wifi. Perhaps they will have a crack for tethering though, they always find a way around Apples restrictions.

Cracks for tethering an iphone to an ipad already exist.

http://www.technonix.com/2010/03/how-to-te...ad-with-iphone/

[nikster]

IPAD is an inferior product compared to a netbook I'm afraid.

I Guarantee you in a few years the ipad will have exploded across the planet. Students and business people everywhere will be using them. Millions of buyers. The netbook will never come close. Guess we will have to wait to see for you to realise Im right. Hard to imagine an inferior product could do that.

The iPad is the future of computing. This is what it should have been all along, for the majority of people out there. It doesn't make any sense that auntie, or any non-technical people have PCs in their homes. Except that there wasn't an alternative.

I really hate Apple's closed-everything philosophy (I hope they get sued so they have to open the app store, actually). But you can't argue with the innovation. The iPad is the first computer appliance. Sure you can say it's just a huge iPhone, but the point is that the screen size of the iPhone makes it unsuitable for a very large variety of applications. As much as it can do, there is way more that it can't - enter the iPad.

The most exciting thing about the iPad is that the uses for it will be discovered only later on. Nobody can say right now what this is going to be used for, the possibilities seem endless. Even the basics it can do - my prediction, extrapolating from the iPhone experience, is that once you have used an iPad for websurfing, using a computer with a mouse and keyboard to do the same will suddenly seem stupid.

Side note, netbooks are just cheap sub-notebooks. Cheap sub-notebooks are great, because they are so cheap. But that's about it

[TheLaughingMan]

Probably better to tether the Wifi version

You cannot tether the ipad, they have confirmed this, must have the 3g version unless you only want wifi. Perhaps they will have a crack for tethering though, they always find a way around Apples restrictions.

Cracks for tethering an iphone to an ipad already exist.

http://www.technonix.com/2010/03/how-to-te...ad-with-iphone/

Ya I already knew about the tethering crack but I was assuming that apple would find a way to stop it from being used with ipad, but guess I really shouldnt give them so much credit. Looks like I'll be buying the straight wifi version.

[TheLaughingMan]

IPAD is an inferior product compared to a netbook I'm afraid.

I Guarantee you in a few years the ipad will have exploded across the planet. Students and business people everywhere will be using them. Millions of buyers. The netbook will never come close. Guess we will have to wait to see for you to realise Im right. Hard to imagine an inferior product could do that.

The iPad is the future of computing. This is what it should have been all along, for the majority of people out there. It doesn't make any sense that auntie, or any non-technical people have PCs in their homes. Except that there wasn't an alternative.

I really hate Apple's closed-everything philosophy (I hope they get sued so they have to open the app store, actually). But you can't argue with the innovation. The iPad is the first computer appliance. Sure you can say it's just a huge iPhone, but the point is that the screen size of the iPhone makes it unsuitable for a very large variety of applications. As much as it can do, there is way more that it can't - enter the iPad.

The most exciting thing about the iPad is that the uses for it will be discovered only later on. Nobody can say right now what this is going to be used for, the possibilities seem endless. Even the basics it can do - my prediction, extrapolating from the iPhone experience, is that once you have used an iPad for websurfing, using a computer with a mouse and keyboard to do the same will suddenly seem stupid.

Side note, netbooks are just cheap sub-notebooks. Cheap sub-notebooks are great, because they are so cheap. But that's about it

Exactly, I still don't understand how and why people argue that the ipad will fail, the majority of the world STILL doesnt know how to use a pc very well. The ipad is a device for dummies and it makes everything not only easy, but beautiful. A small segment of the population will insist on sticking to laptops, the rest of the world will be using an ipad or a device just like it. It is the future. Computers should be super easy and intuitive, not difficult and frustrating like so many people find them.

[Abrak]

Ya I already knew about the tethering crack but I was assuming that apple would find a way to stop it from being used with ipad, but guess I really shouldnt give them so much credit. Looks like I'll be buying the straight wifi version.

I look at it slightly the other way round. Why would Apple actually release a product that cant be tethered? I mean there is no difference in cost, simply in the number of 3G connections sold. Personally, I suspect the 'no tethering' refer to ATT whereby you cant tether because the network spots it through the IP address of the PC it is tethered to.

I would not be surprised if you could actually tether the Ipad through bluetooth (it is one of the main reasons to include it). I also think this is all likely to be an excuse for ATT to introduce tethering rather than the other way round.

Think how silly the micro-sim 3G port is throughout Asia if you cant tether. Everytime you go to another country in order to avoid roaming charges you need to find a pay as you go micro sim data provider.

As to how I think things will eventually turn out, I think it will work like this. Either you pay x for a wifi ipad or you pay the same amount for a 3G ipad but you take on a US$30/month 3G contract for 2 years. Most network operators are happy to subsidize the hardware.

Edited March 15, 2010 by Abrak

[motoyen]

Probably a dumb question but if 3G is not available does the iPad switch to EDGE?

[TheLaughingMan]

Yes it will use edge if no 3g.

[TheLaughingMan]

Ya I already knew about the tethering crack but I was assuming that apple would find a way to stop it from being used with ipad, but guess I really shouldnt give them so much credit. Looks like I'll be buying the straight wifi version.

I look at it slightly the other way round. Why would Apple actually release a product that cant be tethered? I mean there is no difference in cost, simply in the number of 3G connections sold. Personally, I suspect the 'no tethering' refer to ATT whereby you cant tether because the network spots it through the IP address of the PC it is tethered to.

I would not be surprised if you could actually tether the Ipad through bluetooth (it is one of the main reasons to include it). I also think this is all likely to be an excuse for ATT to introduce tethering rather than the other way round.

Think how silly the micro-sim 3G port is throughout Asia if you cant tether. Everytime you go to another country in order to avoid roaming charges you need to find a pay as you go micro sim data provider.

As to how I think things will eventually turn out, I think it will work like this. Either you pay x for a wifi ipad or you pay the same amount for a 3G ipad but you take on a US$30/month 3G contract for 2 years. Most network operators are happy to subsidize the hardware.

Ya I agree with all that but to answer your question: Apple would release a product that cant be tethered for the usual reason, control. But, having looked at apples track record for keeping control they havent been able to do it. I have been jailbroken for over 2 years and been able to do all the things apple doesnt want me to do so I'm agreeing with you that I should be able to easily tether with a work around that gets past apples attempts at control. This will save me some money on the product at purchase and also on buying a second 3g/edge phone plan for a second device since I'll only have to use and pay for one phone plan.

[saintofsilence]

Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May," Apple said in a statement.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/apple-de...0-1225853844662

"Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks.

"We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10.

"We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason - the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far."

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The new tablet computer from Apple went on sale in the US on April 3, with prices starting at $US499 ($537).

[TheLaughingMan]

Now I can bask in my sense of justification for buying the iPad at a premium now.