2011: Year of the iPad 2!

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
At least Apple sticks fairly close to a year-long cycle... so you can plan your purchases accordingly. Unlike other companies that just release things nilly-willy and you have no idea if you should delay or jump in.

All my friends/relatives have been asking me on my opinion about buying an iPad since before Christmas and I kept telling them they should wait until the iPad2 is announced because as many speculated, it would have video cameras with FaceTime (which is a big sell to me for families).

P.S. Anyone who is thinking about buying a VZW iPhone 4 now should wait... the iPhone 5 is coming in June/July and it should be both AT&T and VZW compatible.
 
Heard that the cameras in the IPad2 are pretty rudimentary. Certainly you don't need IMAX quality on the front camera, but the back one should be better than what I've seen people talk about. Any feedback on similar camera strengths in existing phones would be helpful.

Rule #1. Never buy a first cycle Apple product. EVER. You'll always lose money and miss features that will come out faster than you expected.

My .02c
 
The specs are vague for now until someone like iFixit does a breakdown... the rear is capable of 720p HD video which means it can be 1MP or higher. The front is VGA which I think is 0.3MP (like most web cams).

They are not going to be the best picture taking cameras but for video conferencing and shooting home videos of stuff... it should suffice.

Not sure about your Rule #1 when it comes to the iPad. It's still a pretty good value for $500 considering no one else has been able to release a comparable product for that price... even with cameras.

I find it funny that most of Apple's stuff is overpriced but the iPad is actually one thing the competitors can't match in pricing.
 
Ijebus 1 wasn't so hot until the 3G version came out 12 months later. Verizon's Ijebus 4 is going to be replaced in 120 days. Ipad is what, a year and a half old, and a significant improvement to the device is only a few days away from release. Their track record is one of poaching dollars swiftly out of the "must have" crowd's wallet matched only by the best of pickpockets.

Nice to see pricing staying where it is for IP v1. It will force better machines to hit that price point or lower. If I were a laptop maker I'd be pretty frightened what with tablets becoming more powerful and utilitarian. The desktop dumb machines are also starting to look like they are going to become more of a niche tool than one for every day use. 
 
Actually... the iPad is only 11 months old... released April 3rd last year... the iPad 2 is almost a month early.

While it does suck for things to be obsolete after only a year, at least Apple is pretty much sticking to these year-long cycles (the iPhone is usually a June/July refresh) so you can plan accordingly (ie... don't buy if the next refresh is less than 5-6 months away).

There have been articles detailing how it's difficult for competitors to hit the price points the iPad is at due to Apple's overwhelming purchasing power for tablet components.

And remember how everyone said that the iPod can't dominate the MP3 market forever? I see less competing MP3 players today then back then.

But I don't think tablets will push out notebooks in the near future... until they can figure out the keyboard issue... we'll probably see more notebooks with touchscreens than tablets replacing them.

Now we just need Jobs to work on those teleporters from Star Trek.
 
HA!

I picture Jobs doing the Vulcan Mind Meld, telling every hipster that logically, form over function is well worth the price of admission.

Teleporters? Pfthhhh! We want Phasers BABY!
 
Starlight East said:
2011 - Year of the iPad 2! Are you kidding? It's just a minor upgrade, they should call it iPad 1.1.

2011 will be the year of the non-Apple tablet. Motorola Zoom could be a contenter assuming they release a Wifi version in same price range as iPad and Google fixes Honeycomb. HP and RIM are coming this year too, I hope.

This competition might even force Apple to release iPad3 in time for the holiday shopping. So it's better to wait right now.
Click to expand...
Care to place an iBet on that?

Not only will Apple outsell any other single tablet this year, the iPad 2 may outsell all of them combined.

They sold 15mil in 9 months when people were on the fence about tablet computing as a market... now that everyone has decided it is one who do you think they are going to run to?

While I am probably going to get an Android tablet (currently favoring the 7" Galaxy Tab) for myself, we will also be getting one or two of those Ipad 2s for the wife and kids.

Like I said before... the problem(s) with the competition is although they may have better specs, they can't match the iPad in price, apps, perception and saturation.

I actually think Apple could have started their pricing at $399 for the iPad 2 but since they realized their competition can't even match $500... why bother? Instead, save that price drop for the holiday season... because the iPad 3 isn't coming out until next year again for 2012 to be the year of the iPad 3.
 
Alright, here's my chance.  Picture the guy in the Geico commercial living under a rock.  Yeah, that's me when it comes to today's technology.  I left the gottahaveit camp almost 10 years ago back when standalone PDAs went out of style.  I have in my drawer next to me my old Sony Clie (not saying I use it).

So what do you folks with the phones, pads and droids do with your stuff?  I mean, what apps do you use the most?  Where do they come in handy?  How have they changed your life?  What am I missing out on?  A buddy of mine showed me a couple things he likes.  They are certainly cool, but so far nothing I would actually use very often, if at all.  Who actually uses a tablet on a daily basis?  I have a netbook that's pretty small, but it's still too big to take anywhere.  I can't imagine carrying an ipad with me either.
 
For me:

Phone
1. Internet to look up tons of stuff (I don't need to remember anything anymore, the Wikipedia and Google have replaced my brain)
2. Maps for directions to places (don't need a GPS)
3. Redfin app (heh)
4. Games (for me and the kids)
5. Taking pictures and video (don't have to carry a camera around)
6. Music (don't need a separate iPod player)
7. YouTube
8. Netflix
9. Fantasy sports apps
10 Calculator
11. Texting
12. Email
13. OpenTable (restaurant reservations)
14. FaceTime (video teleconferencing)
15. Uh... phone calls?

Tablet

I don't have one yet but I imagine all of the above except phone calls. The nice thing about tablets is the instant-on feature and being a bit more portable form factor than a notebook. It will probably be primarily for the Mrs. so she can use the Internet which is mostly what she does on her notebook now. I assume it will eventually lead to her using more apps as there are tons of things out there. It will also probably be a kid-tertainment device... although an expensive one.

I do think 10" is a bit large... so I'm looking at the smaller ones like the Samsung 7" Galaxy Tab (they also have an 8.9" thin one coming out) or the RIM 7" Playbook. Maybe Apple will come out with an iPad Nano (although Jobs declared 7" tablets dead on arrival).
 
If you don't want to wait in lines tomorrow... the iPad 2 starts selling ONLINE at 1am PT.

Looks like I'll be up late... or will have to set my alarm.

I also plan on stopping by the Spectrum, South Coast or Mission Viejo Mall to see how long the lines are tomorrow night.

Edit: Correction... I meant selling ONLINE at 1am... not in stores.
 
I'm not sure about movies... but you can share Apps using different Apple IDs onto mutiplle iDevices. We bought Angry Birds once but it's on both our iPhones.

The only video content I really use is Netflix or YouTube. If there was a movie (since many DVDs now include a digital copy), I use the VLC Player App (which is no longer available on the App store), it plays any video format and you just sideload it into iTunes via the App transfer utility. I guess I'll have to look into how to get video content onto the iPad w/out VLC Player.
 
Oh... I had to go back and edit my other post... iPad 2s will be sold ONLINE at 1am... not in stores.

But... they will be on sale at Best Buy, Target, Walmart, AT&T and Verizon stores too at 5pm (we'll see how well they stick to that deadline).
 
Yeah... lines are going to be much longer than people think.

Even with the additional sales outlets (Best Buy, Target, Walmart etc), those places have limited supplies (some only 5 or 10) and if Best Buy only has the 64GB model, will you pay the extra $200?

If you didn't order online at 1am, you're in for a longer delay, current orders are showing a 2-3 week shipping date.

I think Apple sold 1mil iPads in a month... they'll probably sell that many iPad 2s in a week... if not this weekend alone.

I wonder where the shortest Apple store line will be? Spectrum, Mission Viejo or South Coast?
 
Don't think I'll wait in line at the Spectrum... according to the OC Register... the line is 400 people long. iLounge says the SCP line is 200 long but we'll see.

Maybe I'll check it out at the Spectrum and then find out how long the lines are elsewhere.

Local Best Buys are sold out already... they probably only got like 10 each.
 
bones:

Already know those things... and confirmed tonight on the demo models that those are minor compared to the improvements Apple made over the iPad 1.

I'm not going to wait another year for the iPad 3... I'll just buy that when it comes out too.

Right now, if I want an iOS tablet... it's the iPad 2.

Spectrum and SCP closed their lines shortly after 5pm. Tried to make it to Mission Viejo but they had closed the line about an hour before I got there (why do my kids have to eat? :P ).

They say they don't have more but I don't believe them... I doubt they sold out... we'll see how this weekend shakes out.
 
bones said:
Dude wouldn't it be easier to just order online - rather than run all around town?
Click to expand...
I did... but it would be nice to have one in-hand sooner than later.

I only went to Mission Viejo Mall (after dinner)... all the other places I found out through the extensive Orange County IHO iPad 2 Network.

The hunt is part of the fun... hehe.
 
Did anyone get one?

Starlight: Are you still wondering if 2011 will be the year of the iPad 2? Estimates for this weekend alone have sales at 600k to 1mil units.
 
Xoom hasn't hit 600k. It's been out for 2 or 3 weeks. I don't even think Xoom has hit 100k.

WebOS is too little too late. HP will be lucky if they sell ONE million in 2011. They took too long and allowed the WebOS ecosystem to die while Android ramped up. WebOS is going to have a hard time competing with both iOS and Android. If they want to compete, they can't match iPad's $499, they have to beat it, start at $399 or else it will just end up like a Pre. They are making the same mistakes Palm did, to think that a Pre could compete on its own again the iPhone, the Touchpad can't compete on its own against the iPad.

RIM's Playbook might sell more than the Touchpad... at least is can run Android apps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top