Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

ipadwatcher.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 113 posts

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#101

Post by tzs »

smakz wrote: post #13
vtail wrote: post #6

What's interesting is that they have only sold 1.5M books, or 1.5 books per device. Amazon Kindle should be safe.

If you ever tried to actually read on an iPad you would understand why. The glossy screen means you can't read in natural light, and the backlit screen causes eye strain. For long stretches of reading, iPad can't replace books the same way the Kindle can. Although I'm personally not surprised that books aren't that popular on iPad, but I was curious if people would overcome the above deficiencies with the form factor…

"The glossy screen means you can't read in natural light, and the backlit screen causes eye strain"

This is commonly claimed, but I've never seen a cite to any science to back it. All I've been able to find is scientists saying its a myth.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#102

Post by tzs »

ugh wrote: post #36
jacoblyles wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For students, the eye strain might be worth it just to get a decent PDF reader. The eInk readers available are universally horrible at rendering PDFs.

The iPhone’s PDF viewer is pretty crappy, though. It’s pretty much the only thing on the iPhone that feels unbearably slow. I don’t know how much the iPad improves that but at least on the iPhone reading (long, i.e. ten or more pages) PDFs is no joy.

Try GoodReader.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#103

Post by alt219 »

jacquesm wrote: post #46
mos1 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Kindle and an iPad. The iPad isn't a reader. iPad doesn't work worth a damn in the sun (the finger smudges show up, and the screen washes out), and even in the dark it's just not as nice as reading from paper or kindle. I've found a bunch of use cases where the iPad excels, but there's little to no overlap with the Kindle.

> I've found a bunch of use cases where the iPad excels What are those ? edit: why would a genuine question out of curiosity be modded down? I'm really weirded out by that. The ipad is a reasonably new form factor and new form factors bring new use cases, and I'd like to know what those are.

With summer coming up soon (for those of us in the northern temperate zone), I'm especially looking forward to trying the iPad out as a 'vacation computer'.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#104

Post by b3b0p »

andymoe wrote: post #12
frou_dh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An ergonomic mouse.

Joking aside, the "magic mouse" is my favorite piece of apple hardware so far. It's just awesome. Best 70 bucks I have given to apple.

Agreed. I wish they would make a USB version though, it seems to really suck down batteries. I have 2 Magic Mice and except for the occasional lag and batteries, it's the best mouse I have used.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#105

Post by ojbyrne »

tghw wrote: post #82
codyrobbins wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at that point, you’re spending as much as an iPad for something that has a fiftieth the functionality, and not to mention no color screen. I still just don’t get it.

Kindle 2 costs $260 new. The cheapest iPad is $500. Want 3G, like the Kindle has? $630, plus $15/month. It does one thing, and it does it well: reading books.

The $15 a month plan is pointless. I doubt anyone will ever use it more than one month. It costs $30 a month for data, for all intents and purposes.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#106

Post by ojbyrne »

mos1 wrote: post #29
vtail wrote: post #6

What's interesting is that they have only sold 1.5M books, or 1.5 books per device. Amazon Kindle should be safe.

I have a Kindle and an iPad. The iPad isn't a reader. iPad doesn't work worth a damn in the sun (the finger smudges show up, and the screen washes out), and even in the dark it's just not as nice as reading from paper or kindle. I've found a bunch of use cases where the iPad excels, but there's little to no overlap with the Kindle.

I think the exception to this (and not yet realized) is when color is an integral part of the book. I.e. copiously illustrated books. I would love to see an e-book version of Tufte's books.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#107

Post by ojbyrne »

jacquesm wrote: post #46
mos1 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Kindle and an iPad. The iPad isn't a reader. iPad doesn't work worth a damn in the sun (the finger smudges show up, and the screen washes out), and even in the dark it's just not as nice as reading from paper or kindle. I've found a bunch of use cases where the iPad excels, but there's little to no overlap with the Kindle.

> I've found a bunch of use cases where the iPad excels What are those ? edit: why would a genuine question out of curiosity be modded down? I'm really weirded out by that. The ipad is a reasonably new form factor and new form factors bring new use cases, and I'd like to know what those are.

Netflix on the train. I figure an episode of any half-hour tv show is perfectly matched for my commute.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#108

Post by jsz0 »

smakz wrote: post #13
vtail wrote: post #6

What's interesting is that they have only sold 1.5M books, or 1.5 books per device. Amazon Kindle should be safe.

If you ever tried to actually read on an iPad you would understand why. The glossy screen means you can't read in natural light, and the backlit screen causes eye strain. For long stretches of reading, iPad can't replace books the same way the Kindle can. Although I'm personally not surprised that books aren't that popular on iPad, but I was curious if people would overcome the above deficiencies with the form factor…

By natural light do you mean direct sunlight on the screen? That is a problem but otherwise the iPad is usable outdoors in most situations I've found. I used it in a car the other day (no, not while driving) with lots of sunlight coming in the windows and it was usable. Definitely not up to par with an e-ink display but for someone like me who has no interest in a dedicated e-ink device it's certainly good enough. I don't think there's much doubt e-ink readers will be the choice for heavy readers. Of course we also don't know how many iPad owners bought the device with the intention to read books on it. We know about 99% of Kindle owners bought their device for one specific purpose.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#109

Post by jsz0 »

Readmore wrote: post #7
smakz wrote: post #3

I've only got one question for apple: What's next?

A new AppleTV that uses iPhone OS and lets you buy apps from your TV screen as well. Just my thought/hope.

I bet you're right. With Google's Android TV project pending it wouldn't surprise me to see this at WWDC. Between games and media it seems like the obvious next step.

Re: Apple has sold its millionth iPad in just 28 days

#110

Post by megablast »

illumin8 wrote: post #73
vtail wrote: post #6

What's interesting is that they have only sold 1.5M books, or 1.5 books per device. Amazon Kindle should be safe.

The numbers on iBooks are cooked. When you download the free app, there is a free download available, Winnie the Pooh, prominently featured. This means they can count 1 download of a book for every free download of iBooks. The fact that there are probably only 500,000 books sold so far does not bode well for the iBooks store. In my anecdotal experience, the selection is very limited in the iBooks store. I found much…

You have no proof that this what they did, you are just making stuff up. Not sure how you got modded up. The press release said they have sold 1.5 million books, this would indicate the free book is not included.

Also, not everybody has the iBooks applicaiton, since as you say, it is a download, and does not come with the device.

Post reply on HN