[Discuss] [OT] iOS from a power user's perspective

[Jerry Feldman]

On 01/07/2013 05:04 PM, Rich Pieri wrote:
> On Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:45:55 -0500
> Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org> wrote:
>
>> This is true. It is not something that I would buy. The advantage of a
>> tablet with a separate keyboard is that the consumer has a large
>> number of keyboards to chose from.
> Joe Consumer doesn't want a large number of keyboards to choose from.
> Joe wants the same shiny thing that his neighbor has. The extent Joe's
> desire for choice is to get a red cover instead of a blue one like his
> neighbor has. That way his identical-to-his-neighbor's shiny thing isn't
> obviously identical to his neighbor's shiny thing.
>
I don't entirely agree. When you buy an iPad from Apple you can buy a
case, a keyboard and many other accessories. When most people buy
laptops, they also buy an external mouse because most people don't like
the built-in touchpad. The nice thing about the Surface is that the
keyboard comes with the unit whether you want it or not. We'll have to
see whether people use the Surface primarily as a laptop type device
that they can use as a tablet when they don't have a desk.

My thought is:
A tablet is a portable device designed to be used portably, but that you
can also add a keyboard and use it as a desktop device, bit it also
lacks the connectivity a laptop has because you cannot connect it
directly to a CAT-5 cable or a monitor. (although some have HDMI).
The surface and HP Envy X2 are basically laptop devices that you would
primarily use while sitting at a desk, but also are portable. I think
that these devices bridge the gap, and are only the first. The
marketplace will decide the winners and losers.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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