Category Archives: iPad

Remember Microsoft Courier (video link here)? The idea was a leap up from what we can do now on tablets, but sadly it didn’t reach reality. Well, a duo of developers is looking to bring the dream to the iPad and has already raised their target amount of $10,000 to get development underway.

You can see more details of Taposé here or, even better, check out the demo video below-

Take a look at the video below from Knight-Ridder. It was produced all the way back in 1994 and features an idea of the future of newspapers. It is remarkable how close to the iPad their premonition was, apart from the stylus of course. via TUAW.

“Well, do you see that group of people outside? They’re already here waiting for tomorrow’s shipment of iPads.”

That is a quote from NYT in a story detailing the ongoing problem of Chinese re-sellers buying up all of the iPads before traditional buyers can get hold of one. It is a continuing problem and one that many feel Apple should fix.

There are plus and minuses for Apple-

Apple makes a profit on each iPad it sells

This activity generates demand and thus publicity

The overall number of iPads sold is higher

But…

The users of these iPads are much less likely to buy apps and media

Some are no doubt being exploited by this trade and it may well be funding all sorts of other unsavoury activities

I would suggest reading the entire story and some of the comments because it really is fascinating how this has unraveled. Part of me feels that this is all legitimate in a capitalist society, but then I read the comment below from an NYT reader-

“My wife and I live down the block from the Upper West Side Apple Store, and every day and night, there are groups of Chinese people lined up to buy out the stores daily supply of iPad 2′s as soon as the store opens. They sleep on cardboard and huddle in tents on the sidewalk. I stood in line the first day, and got my iPad 2, and every day that I have walked by the store since, there has been a sign by the front entrance stating that “due to the overwhelming popularity of the iPad 2 we are currently out of stock, please check back again later.” What must be so exasperating for the Apple store employees is that everyday they must turn away legitimate customers because their inventory has been depleted by these grey market profiteers. What is so sketchy about this is how the buyers are so tightly organized. I’ve noticed is that there tends to be one man there who operates as the “boss” and gives cash to the other people in line. They go into the store buy the two iPad 2′s that they are allowed, come back out, give the iPad 2s to the “boss” who gives them more cash to get back into line. They repeat the process, until the “boss” has collected the stores entire stock. This is not a group of independent people individually re-selling their iPad 2′s on the black market, but an organized effort to make a profit for the “boss”. I am assuming that the “boss”‘s workers are being compensated in some fashion, but the impression that I get is that many of the “workers” have just arrived in the country, and don’t speak much english, and are being put to work in this grey market iPad 2 trade. It’s hard to watch this process and not think that these “workers” are being taken advantage of by the “boss” in some manner. It’s shocking to me that Apple has yet to address the profiteering happening every morning directly outside their store. This same sort of behavior happened after the release of the iPad 1 last year. At one point last year, the iPad buyers were getting increasingly bold and actually started harrasing my wife as she came home from work late at night. The next day I went to the Upper West Side Apple Store and spoke to the store’s manager. He gave me some corporate double speak, and said they were looking into the problem, but nothing ever really changed.The only thing that eventually put a stop to it, was the release of the iPad 2 in China. Until that happens, unfortunately I am assuming this unfortunate behavior will continue, and legitimate non-profit seeking Apple customers will be denied an opportunity to purchase this great device.I love having an Apple Store in the neighborhood, but when this sort of grey market behavior starts to define the character of that corporation, I would rather they take the store elsewhere.”

Blogsy for iPad is attempting to make blogging much easier on the iPad. It still isn’t there yet, but with development could make the iPad a more suitable tool for this task. Thanks to Trevor.

“Blogsy is a tool designed specifically to take full advantage of the iPad’s unique touch functionality. Adding your photos and videos is as easy as dragging them from the media sidebar and dropping them into your blog post. This makes writing blog posts as easy as it should be, saving you from the hassle of manually copy/pasting embed codes or links.”