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Portables Apple

iPad Will Beat Netbooks With "Magic" 1010

entirely_fluffy writes "In a talk intended to woo investors, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said the iPad will win over potential netbook buyers, but not because of specs or features. No, Cook said, the iPad's magical properties will seal the deal. 'The netbook is not an experience people are going to continue wanting to have,' Cook said, according to Macworld. 'When they play with the iPad and experience the magic of using it ... I have a hard time believing they're going to go for a netbook.'" Another thing that would help would be a camera and a $100 discount, but hey Magic is cool too, provided they have enough mana.
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iPad Will Beat Netbooks With "Magic"

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  • Hunters.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:37AM (#31273244)

    Given mages constant grieving towards hunters, they will most likely stay away from this.

  • Magic huh? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mashiki ( 184564 ) <mashiki@gmail.cBALDWINom minus author> on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:39AM (#31273276) Homepage

    I hope he knows I've got the patent on magic, and the magic blue smoke in devices.

  • Sales? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Strange Ranger ( 454494 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:39AM (#31273298)
    ""When they play with the iPad and experience the magic of using it... I have a hard time believing they're going to go for a netbook.""

    So your sales strategy involves a free trial for everyone?
  • by gestalt_n_pepper ( 991155 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:40AM (#31273312)

    How much magic is left in the Apple Lisa?

    I wouldn't depend on *that* for long.

  • Err... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AlexiaDeath ( 1616055 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:40AM (#31273320)
    To a regular netbook person the magic is price... They are barking up a wrong tree, if the intend to compete with netbooks without competitive price.
  • by Microlith ( 54737 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:41AM (#31273340)

    So many people treat computers like a black box that I wouldn't be surprised if this does give netbooks a run for their money. It's doubtful that it will take hold in the more technically oriented community (closed as it is,) but in the "I don't care I just want it to work" arena it may do quite well.

    As for what the hell the magic is, above and beyond being a giant iPod/iPhone, I do not know.

    • by natehoy ( 1608657 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @12:02PM (#31273696) Journal

      Does it honestly need to be anything more beyond a giant iPod Touch?

      I would never have spent the money on an iPod Touch, but I won one in a contest. I'm a full card-carrying geek, but at the risk of losing my geek card, the iPod Touch was a magical little device. It's absolute crap for listening to music (limited storage space, crappy tinny speaker, etc) but as a little miniature computer it is truly amazing. I played with it for about 1 day before my wife latched on to it and wouldn't let go (what the hell? saved me buying her an iPhone).

      During the time I've used it, I found myself occasionally thinking, "gee, you know, the interface is top notch, the tablet form factor is perfect for casual surfing, but I just wish the screen was bigger".

      The geek in me hates the closed nature, the fixed memory, the non-replaceable battery, the Reality Distortion Field telling me what apps are OK for me to run and what are not.

      The "screw it just want to surf the web in the evenings and maybe read a book occasionally" is fighting with the "but you can't spend $600 for THAT!" accountant in me over whether I want one.

      A netbook is cheaper, probably has better battery life, is less "closed", and by all accounts is a better solution to any problem you care to name. But, sitting in bed or lounging in the easychair wanting to look up some obscure bit of trivia or watch a video from the Olympics (can't do it on the desktop - Linux Users Need Not Apply at nbcolympics dot com), I find myself snagging the iPod more often than I dig out the laptop. The tablet-style form factor is just too convenient.

  • Also known as (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SailorSpork ( 1080153 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:44AM (#31273396) Homepage

    Or, in business terms, "we could sell poop in a box and people would buy it because of their trust in Apple, also know as brand equity, which we will burn in exchange for cash with this product."

  • by nweaver ( 113078 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:44AM (#31273406) Homepage

    "Magic" is really a good description for trying to create the maximum user experience.

    As a happy owner of the iPad Nano (aka iPod Touch) for over a year now, Apple has real potential here in the scaled-up version, and this really is a good description of why the iPad may sell and the iPhone has sold: a cohesive user experience.

    And here's one of the big uses: VNC. Have the iPad be the remote desktop to your "real" computer.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jDeepbeep ( 913892 )

      "Magic" is really a good description for trying to create the maximum user experience.

      I just call it 'aesthetic'. *shrug*

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Bigjeff5 ( 1143585 )

      There is a huge difference in scale here.

      The iPhone and iPod Touch work well because touchscreens work well when held in one hand and manipulated with another (or held in both and manipulated with both).

      Apple may be good at UI design, but once you start setting the iPad down because it is too big to keep holding all the time, things will start to get annoying in a hurry. Laptops are bad enough without a stand as far as neck-strain and the like are concerned when you don't have a stand, a touchscreen PC wil

  • by Gothic_Walrus ( 692125 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:47AM (#31273430) Journal

    What's wrong with netbooks?

    I got one for $300 a few months ago, and it does pretty much everything I'd ask it to. Office applications, internet, chat (and it does have a webcam and microphone, something I believe the iPad doesn't), and it even does (some of) the games on my Steam account. Not to beat a dead horse, but it doesn't hurt that the netbook has a faster processor, four times the storage of the biggest iPad, Flash, and USB support, either.

    I'm not going to deny that the iPad can do things my netbook can't and that it's a much sexier piece of hardware, but I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with "the netbook experience."

  • Nothing new... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by x1n933k ( 966581 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:51AM (#31273502) Homepage

    The article doesn't really add anything new, it's just spouting the general opinion that's been floating around since the launch.

    I would say Apple's own logo and buzz will make people want it. We have to keep in mind it isn't the geeks that make these gadgets popular, it's when the soccer moms are buying them for themselves and their husbands, or the middle-age blue-collar worker who can have all his Steven King novels with him where ever he may be. These are the people that make up the sales, they're the middle-class. It doesn't matter to them if you can 'alt-tab' to an already running program. Camera or not, it's still a great device that is priced to sell to a large audience. I would have never though of buying a Kindle after seeing one, E-Ink doesn't offer enough for the price. Now there's a easy-to-use E-Reader/Netbook that would fit a lot of people, it's as simple as that.

    Then again maybe I should just blog my opinion and put it somewhere where I can make revenue for ads like this site.

    [J]

  • by Alistair Hutton ( 889794 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:55AM (#31273566) Homepage
    Apple reallllllly need to stop mentioning netbooks.
    The cheap, gimped, version of the iPad is twice as expensive as a netbook. Every time they say netbook it reminds people that there's a perfectly adequate device that is in many ways more capable than their device for far less money. Everyone was initially amazed that Apple had produced a tablet computer for $500, their amazement waned when they realised Apple hadn't produced a computer.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      I've never understood why there is all this comparison to netbooks. The iPad isn't really competing with the netbook market at all. Its a new advice with a different target market and different feature set. All this comparison is like saying "A Dodge Caravan is go much better than a BMW Z4 Roadster. Its less than half the price, has three times as many seats, a built in cooler and a DVD player for the back seats. Why would anyone buy a Z4 when they could get a Caravan?"
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by BitZtream ( 692029 )

      Most consumers who buy netbooks to web browse and check email, not to use as a desktop replacement. The iPad is just more expensive for the same purpose to most people.

      The iPhone/iPad interface is also about 1 to 2 billion times better than other existing interfaces for most people.

      And there is why it will sell better.

      You think Apple is trying to beat netbooks they way YOU look at them.

      Apple could give a flying fuck about you and everyone else on slashdot.

      They want the people who bought a netbook to browse

  • Witchcraft! (Score:5, Funny)

    by sajuuk ( 1371145 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @11:58AM (#31273608)
    More evidence to prove my case calling for Apple to be burned at the stake!
  • Magic definition (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Azureflare ( 645778 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @12:06PM (#31273760)
    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
    - Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law)

    My guess is that Apple is betting that they can advance tablet technology far enough to make it indistinguishable from magic. I don't think I'm alone when I say that I feel extremely skeptical of this claim. We'll see when it's released how "magic" it seems.

    Personally, I think a magic tablet would be one that is holographic AND can do everything my computer can, plus everything I would like it to do.

    A tall order, but that's what you get when you start making claims about magic.
  • Master Jobs (Score:5, Funny)

    by DarthVain ( 724186 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @12:09PM (#31273840)

    "This isn't the netbooks you are looking for. Move along."

  • by AxelBoldt ( 1490 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @12:17PM (#31273968) Homepage

    and experience the magic of using it...

    I guess you should ask them again once they have used the ipad to type in twenty email messages or blog comments.

  • Magic = usability (Score:4, Insightful)

    by drumcat ( 1659893 ) on Thursday February 25, 2010 @12:17PM (#31273972)
    You guys bashing don't get it. Your Netbooks will do more. That's the point. Apple is all about giving you the 50% of functions you need, and polishing the hell out of it.

    My grandmother won't get a netbook. She will get an iPad. She's not encroaching on your geek demographic.

    For you logic types, iPad potential customer base > Netbook targeted customer base.

    It will win because it does less.

    Until you understand that concept, stay in your sheltered Netbook world. Oh, and update your virus definitions. And defrag your disk. Be sure to reboot today. Oh, update those drivers, too.
    • Of course most of the people here don't get it. To most geeks, who suffer a minor form of stockholm syndrome when it comes to using computers (if you don't suffer, you're not a true power user), a user interface is a handful of UI buttons which postpend the correct command-line switches to the underlying command-line application.

      Actually using a usability designer is foreign to most developers. And creating an environment which my mother can grok without a Ph.D. in Computer Science? Magic. Black fsckin' ma

"The medium is the message." -- Marshall McLuhan

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