Patrick Rhone on the iPad:

Everything you know about the “office” metaphor of computing, with files, folders, desktops, etc. is changing. Apple created it. Now they are replacing it. I think the confusing thing for many people is that, this time, they are not setting the paradigm from the top down (desktop to mobile) but from the bottom up (mobile to desktop).

Exactly.

Since the iPad’s announcement there have been countless complaints regarding its lack of multi-tasking, regretfully, myself included. But, while you can’t run native applications in the background, except for the default apps that Apple allows You to (e.g. iPod), there is one way to run applications in the background, web apps. I understand that me saying this is a lot like Apple telling developers that the only way to build apps for the iPhone is using the web, but hear me out.

I’ve heard John Gruber say countless times that he uses Safari on his iPhone more than any other app. And, I’m willing to bet that’s the case for most people who own an iPhone, I know that’s the case for me.

When I initially wrote about the iPad I complained that I couldn’t view a new document window and a web page at the same time, and although that is true I completeley forgot that Safari could be, not just the web page viewer, but also the new document window. This is already the case on my iMac where I view a web page and make use of WordPress’ “Press This” bookmarklet to do all of my writing. I could do the exact same thing on the iPad and simple switch back and forth between the two open Safari windows. If I need to make references, quote, etc. I can do that right in Safari.

From what I’ve gathered (and assuming it’s the same on the iPad), you can have 8 web pages open at a time. From my experience on the iPhone that doesn’t always work out too well. Often times the iPhone has to dump one of the web pages to free up memory for the current page but I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t happen on the iPad, due to the iPad’s faster processor and the likelihood of more RAM.

The further we get from this announcement the more I get it. This is a replacement for my notebook. I can’t think of a single thing that I actually do on my notebook that I couldn’t do on the iPad.

iLounge provides some details regarding Apple’s iPad accessories. Apple will be offering a new VGA to Dock Connector Adapter which will cost $29 and allow you to connect your iPad to a projector or monitor and a Camera Accessory Kit which will also cost $29 that will come with a USB and an SD card reader adapter in one package.

Apple will also offer an iPad case for $39 that still gives you access to all the iPad’s ports. It can also flip around and act as a stand for the device.

In terms of docks, Apple will offer a standard dock for $29 with audio and dock connector ports on the back. They will also offer a keyboard dock which offers the same ports as the standard dock but also includes a built in keyboard. It will cost $69, but it includes some very interesting keys (view this image at full size). There are several new keys in the function row such as search, lock, a blank one, one with a keyboard on it, and a couple others that I can’t decipher. Also interesting is the inclusion of control, option, and command keys on the keyboard. One would assume that these are for typing special characters but I wonder if Apple is planning to use those for new functionality, maybe even application switching.

Another interesting bit pointed out by iLounge is that the iPad will be compatible with Bluetooth keyboards. I’m really happy to hear this, I wasn’t too jazzed about the idea of having to spend another $69 if I wanted to use a real keyboard with the device.

Predictions:
Tablet
iPhone software 4.0
iWork ‘10/’11
iLife ‘10/’11

Minutes after I first learned that Apple would be holding an event on January 27 I created the note above in Simplenote. I haven’t touched it since then.

I wasn’t too far off with my predictions but I wasn’t expecting all of these announcements to be so uncharacteristic of the type of announcements Apple does. I hate the name iPad, I think the name “Tablet” would have been a much better name, I also think the name is too similar to “iPod,” but Apple knows a lot more about naming great products than I do. Regretfully, I should have known that Apple wouldn’t be talking about the iPhone, instead focusing on one device (hence the singular “creation” in the invite).

The iPad is a good step forward but not exactly the notebook replacement I was hoping for. It’s close, but the inability for me to quickly switch between apps is a big deal for me, the device has the horsepower, why can’t I switch apps?

I’m sure there will be a lot of people excited about the iPad but I have a very short list of tasks that I need to do on a notebook and the iPad only hits a couple of them, more specifically, news reading and media consumption will work great on the iPad. Writing on the other hand, isn’t going to be as easy as with my notebook because I won’t be able to view both a compose or new document window and a web page at the same time.

The use of AT&T 3G doesn’t surprise me at all, but the data pricing and the lack of contract does. $14.99 per month for 250MB of data and $29.99 per month for unlimited data sounds too good to be true. But when considering that this thing clearly isn’t a notebook replacement — instead built to dock with your real computer — I can’t imagine that they’d be able to charge any more without hearing a myriad of complaints from consumers. The lack of contract is a huge deal as well, you can cancel the contract at any time and only pay for the months where you’ll actually use it.

The Wi-Fi only iPads will be shipping in 90 days with the 3G versions shipping 30 days after that. $499 for the 16GB version, $599 for the 32GB version, $699 for the 64GB version, and an extra $130 to add 3G to any of them.

The keyboard dock is an incredibly interesting announcement, I figured Apple would announce a dock but I never thought they’d actually build a keyboard into the dock. It seems so odd — not something I’d expect from Apple in my wildest dreams. I thought that if Apple was ever going to let users use a hardware keyboard with the device you would have to do so with a Bluetooth keyboard, Apple would support Bluetooth keyboards but fully expect most users to go the life of the device without ever making use of that feature. Boy, was I wrong.

I like the way the device works with all current iPhone apps. Letting you choose to view it centered on the screen at it’s native resolution or to scale it up to full screen — I can’t wait to see how odd some applications look when scaled up — all of these apps weren’t built with this type of scaling in mind.

I find the use of a “1GHz Apple A4 chip” interesting but not surprising, Apple bought PA Semi for a reason and I fully expected their chips to start showing up in Apple’s devices soon. I doubt Apple would have been able to get 10 hours of battery life with a month of standby time without using their own chips.

I was happy to see Apple bring back the iBook name, in the form of e-books for the iPad. The interface for it looks gorgeous, but you have to wonder if the designers behind the app were fans of Delicious Library. Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette Book Group are all there, with more publishers to come.

Apple has developed versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for the iPad. They are credible versions of each, not pared down versions but what appears to be nearly full featured versions of each. Each of the applications will be priced at $9.99, which is exactly what they should cost.

I think that Apple expects this platform to eventually replace the use of notebook computers. It isn’t there quite yet, which is exactly why I am still undecided about purchasing it, but this announcements has me really excited about the future of the platform. Apple did exactly what they needed to do today, the announcements were solid and the pricing was where it needed to be. This is going to be a big deal.

Apple iPad

McGraw-Hill CEO, Harold McGraw III, was recently interviewed by CNBC, when asked about their textbooks on Apple’s tablet he replied:

Yeah, Very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now — we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.

The bit above comes in at about the 2 minute 50 second mark.

There has been some speculation that this was a controlled leak by Apple. And I doubt it, this doesn’t show any signs of a controlled leak. Instead, this has “big mouth” written all over it.

The Financial Times is reporting that Apple is attempting to halve the cost of TV Shows from $1.99 to $1.

Apple’s belief, media executives said, is that drastically cutting prices could spur sales of TV shows on the iTunes digital entertainment storefront, which have so far frustrated Apple executives.

The article goes on to mention that Apple has “floated the idea” of offering a television subscription service, including a “best of television” offering that would include News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom, Disney, and CBS content for $30 per month.

Kasper Jade reporting for AppleInsider:

When Apple finally takes the wraps off its long-anticipated tablet next Wednesday, the device will strike a familiar chord with owners of the original iPhone, with similarities in industrial design trickling all the way down to the handset’s button and connectivity components, AppleInsider has learned.

I think we’ve all assumed that the tablet would look a lot like a bigger iPhone. What’s more interesting is the ports and connectivity that the tablet offers. It’ll obviously have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a headphone jack, but Kasper Jade also says that it will have speakers, a microphone, GPS, 3G, and a 30-pin dock connector.

iLounge corroborates on the design but says that the tablet will have two dock connectors so that it can be docked in either portrait or landscape orientations, also giving added flexibility to accessory makers.

There is some question as to what Apple will actually call their upcoming tablet device. Much like with the introduction of the iPhone, no one is exactly sure what Apple will name it.

There have been many rumored names (e.g. Slate, iPad, iSlate, iTab). And, there are also many speculated names (e.g. Canvas, iBook, Easel).

But before the iPhone was announced, all of the rumor sites were calling it “the iPhone,” and guess what? Apple decided to unveil their handset under the name “iPhone.”

I tweeted a couple of weeks ago pointing out that John Gruber had been calling it “The Tablet” in all of his writings, he replied simply stating:

I totally and completely made up “The Tablet”. Needed something to call it before it’s announced. That is all.

I believe that he doesn’t actually know what the device will be called — he spent the last week speculating about what the name might be (he tweeted his bets on January 22).

What if we’re spending all this time speculating on a name that has already been decided? Apple will unveil the device on Wednesday under the name “The Tablet.”Not just because it is the most simple and obvious name, but because we’ve already become accustomed to calling it that. Why would Apple go against the grain after months, maybe even years, of rumors that referred to it as “The Tablet”?

BusinessWeek’s Peter Burrows reports that Apple is in talks with Microsoft to make Bing the default search engine on the iPhone.

Apple is in talks with Microsoft to replace Google as the default search engine on its iPhone, according to two people familiar with the matter. The talks have been under way for weeks, say the people, who asked not to be named because the details have not been made public.

I wouldn’t doubt that Apple would talk with Microsoft about this, they are the number two search company, and Google and Apple haven’t exactly been getting along as of late.

But, John Gruber found the most interesting part of this BusinessWeek piece. Buried in the last paragraph is this little gem:

Even if it’s consummated, an Apple-Bing deal may prove short-lived. The person familiar with Apple’s thinking says Apple has a “skunk works” looking at a search offering of its own, and believes that “if Apple does do a search deal with Microsoft, it’s about buying itself time.” Given the importance of search and its tie to mobile advertising — and the iPhone maker’s desire to slow Google — “Apple isn’t going to outsource the future.”

I’ve often thought that Apple only works with other companies until they have enough time to build a better version of the other companies product. Apple has been using Google Maps in the iPhone since its introduction but will most likely be using PlaceBase’s maps in their mapping application soon. And, given Apple’s want to control every aspect of the user experience, search is a logical progression.

One of my favorite gifts from Christmas was the Amazon Kindle. Up until now I didn’t have much to write about it. The device displays text that is very crisp and readable and the battery life is fantastic. The browser isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and the 5-way navigation button isn’t that great. But, overall I really enjoy my Kindle.

I have to admit something though, I don’t read books on it. To date, I’ve only read one book on the Kindle, William Strunk’s “The Elements of Style.” It’s the only book I’ve read on the Kindle, and I’m only 14% of the way through it (apparently the Kindle doesn’t display page numbers).

I instead use my Kindle as a way of reading articles that I’ve saved with Instapaper. When you want to read an article but don’t have time to right now, you just hit the Instapaper bookmarklet and the article is saved for you. Now that I have a Kindle I’ve set up Instapaper to send me the 20 most recently saved articles every morning.

Instapaper just announced some enhancements to the automatically delivered Kindle files. The files Instapaper generates are now formatted like Kindle magazines and newspapers. Tapping left and right on the 5-way navigation button will jump between articles, only the most recently sent Instapaper file is shown on the home screen, etc.

Instapaper isn’t the only one that is making the Kindle better for me, Amazon has announced the Kindle Development Kit. The beta starts next month and will give developers access to sample code, documentation, and a Kindle Simulator for Mac, PC, and Linux. The unfortunate part of the whole deal is the pricing. Amazon will take the thin side of a 70-30 revenue split but there will be limits on data transfers and the developer is responsible for overage fees.

Active content will be available to customers in the Kindle Store later this year. Your active content can be priced three ways:

• Free – Active content applications that are smaller than 1MB and use less than 100KB/user/month of wireless data may be offered at no charge to customers. Amazon will pay the wireless costs associated with delivery and maintenance.
• One-time Purchase – Customers will be charged once when purchasing active content. Content must have nominal (less than 100KB/user/month) ongoing wireless usage.
• Monthly Subscription – Customers will be charged once per month for active content.

So, if a developer wanted to offer a free or one-time purchase application, they would be limited to less than 100 kilobytes of data per user per month. Go over that limit, and the developer would have to pay the bandwidth bill.

The Kindle is a fantastic device and I enjoy using it everyday. Whispernet is one of the best features of the Kindle, but it clearly comes with some downsides, especially for developers.