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Tablets and Mindshare: It’s All About the iPad and What It’s Good For

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Admittedly there is nothing scientific about reactions and responses from the Chicago branch(es) of our family. Also admittedly none of them read what I write about here on GBM much, unless it is a post with a video that we put up featuring my lovely wife Thomasin. But boy, howdy have I been getting hammered these last few days with questions about the iPad. Of the family members we’ve visited at least two (we’ve seen a lot of folks so it is tough to keep count) families that now have iPads in their possession post Christmas. The number who are considering getting one is much larger.

The question I’m most frequently asked isn’t about Apps (that’s surprisingly way down the list).  Those who are watching others use the iPad and asking what is it for are curious about what the device is useful for. I give my usual song and dance and I also add that this year will see a number of other competitors on the market, many featuring Android. For those who own an Android phone that means something. Except for the one relative who has an Android phone but didn’t know he had one. He continues to insist that it is a US Cellular Phone and that’s it. The next biggest question from those who already have an iPad is “How do I get my pictures on this?” For those still not in the game you can see their curiosity increase when they sit down to look at pictures on an iPad.

Bottom line here in this circle of every day Joe’s and Jane’s is regardless of what happens with new Tablets and Slates (and with new smartphones) those who are trying to compete will have a long way to go in gaining any mindshare traction. Apple’s devices succeed on many levels but there’s no question here that Apple’s PR and marketing have created an iPad world.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. tivoboy

    12/29/2010 at 8:17 pm

    Yeah, gave out a few pads this xmas, spent a LOT of time helping people get setup and running, and using and enjoying them.

    Here’s one BIGGEE question. I setup one family member who must use windows at school, with a mobileme account – which I really like for the syncing and viewing across apple devices. The gallery app on the ipad cannot be beat, and for the other family members who got apple tV products they can view peoples galleries easily, etc. It is a nice setup of the ecosystem across products and family members.

    That being said, there is NOT GOOD WAY to sync folders or galleries or even photos from a windows PC product to mobileme. Yes, they can “open a browser, login to their mobileme account, make a gallery, upload photos, etc” But, that is HARDLY the simple usage model of the iphoto integration (okay, that IS WHAT STEVE IS TRYING TO TELL/SELL US!) but still, why isn’t there a better way.

    • Hgomez78

      12/29/2010 at 10:49 pm

      @tivoboy I sync my iPad with all my laptop’s including my recent purchase of Galaxy Tab using Google Sync. All contacts, calendar, and email is working and for pictures and files just use Dropbox and have the dropbox on the windows PC sync your pictures folder where you might keep the pictures you drop in. Then just open the dropbox app on the iPad to view. The other way would be, I guess loading iTunes on the PC and having the folders you want to sync.

    • Frblckstr

      12/30/2010 at 11:14 am

  2. savagemike

    12/31/2010 at 2:12 pm

    It is interesting that you point out that ‘families’ have them or are thinking about getting them.

    This is a killer feature that I hope somebody finally realizes is needed in this space – multiple accounts.

    It is not realistic that you are going to buy mom, dad, suzy and billy all their own ipad (or competitive tablet).
    At least not at first.

  3. jackson

    01/25/2011 at 8:50 am

    more and more tablet pc, some are very expensive such as ipad or samsung p1000 or motorola xoom. and there are also some great and very cheaper ones, for your reference: https://www.gowetrade.com/Wholesale-Cheapest-mid-umpc-ebook-android-os_c959.html, hope you can enjoy it

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