Mark Cuban: iPad will change how kids grow up

[SmugFrog]

"You can book it right now that it will be the product that kids of this generation grow up with and look back on with affection just like we did with the first video games. Video games changed how we grew up. The iPad will change how kids today grow up."

"The iPad will take this to the next level. I recognize that it?s very expensive for most families right now. Hopefully that will change over time. If it does, you can bet every home with kids will have an iPad."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35161216/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Yeah, right...

I was neutral about the iPad until I read a feature on GamesRadar covering the negatives. Of the 10 listed, the big ones to me are:

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/10-reasons-the-ipad-could-fail-catastrophically/a-2010012810435608085

- Smartphones and laptops already enable web browsing and email on the go, and any number of less cumbersome portable devices can play games.

- It?s too expensive

- No multitasking

- Its storage space kind of sucks

- No Flash - The lack of Flash functionality (YouTube excepted) is one of the worst things about web browsing on the iPhone/iPod Touch, and leaving it out of the iPad severely limits its appeal as a web-browsing device.

So now Mr. Cuban thinks every kid is going to want this oversized iPod Touch? I think not.

 

[Plurralbles]

... That's the most bullshit thing I've ever heard. Unless he thinks this entire generation of kids are fucking retarded.

It's not in the toys or cereal aisles, kids will not ***** and cry and whine for their parents to get one like say, the gameboy.

 

[Willwillwritehiswill]

Someone on my twitter feed actually said the iPad's apps would revolutionise flash on the internet. I had to laugh. Apple's iPod Touch XL Won't change anything apart from how Stephen Fry reads his e-books... Sorry, iBooks.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

See, another dissapointment. I'm starting to wonder if Apple will ever make anything that I like.

 

[Ironic]

I think it'll start the trend of ever advancing "pad" computers, possibly giving them the consumer head start it needs until we start getting more functional versions, but it's hardly a massive leap forward.

 

[SmugFrog]

Ipad sucks, if we dont buy it then apple will make it better.

No, you've got it wrong - they wait until after you break down and buy it, then they drop the price on it and release a "better" one for the same price you just paid.

 

[Horticulture]

What?s also big is the exclusion of Flash. The reason is obvious. No flash, far less streaming over 3G. Less streaming over 3G means less bandwidth consumed. Less bandwidth consumed means AT&T can offer a great price on the 3G data service. I personally have never had problems with the AT&T network. The limits on 3G streaming probably mean I won't going forward either. That?s a good thing.

I agree, Mark. Feature-crippled multimedia devices are great. Why should we pressure carriers like AT&T (which spends the least on network improvements per customer of the four mobile telecoms) to improve their networks when we can just settle for smartphones and tablets missing basic browser features?

 

[theSovietConnection]

Someone on my twitter feed actually said the iPad's apps would revolutionise flash on the internet. I had to laugh. Apple's iPod Touch XL Won't change anything apart from how Stephen Fry reads his e-books... Sorry, iBooks.

...wait, you mean like the Flash the iPad doesn't support?

 

[Cabisco]

I thought why people liked the iphone so much was the fact it was a tiny phone that could do alot. Not something you would need a briefcase to take around with you. The only place this pad would really help me is if i created a really futuristic company, then all employees would be tasked with taking these things around the office "looking busy and futuristic". Otherwise it's just a laptop, just a bit worse.

 

[Ham_authority95]

How much did apple pay this guy to say this?

Seriously though, the ipad isn't going to change shit, except maybe the amount of money in steve jobs wallet.

 

[Zombie_King]

Mark Cuban: "I am a total fucking moron."

My head hurts so hard from reading his article, I might have to find something beautiful to damage just to vent this massive rage.

You can bet every home with kids will have an iPad. And the first person to create the ?kid proof? covering will make money as well.

How the fuck do you make it kid proof? Cover it in seran wrap? An iPad poses as much a threat to a child as a book. Maybe he means blocking adult sites from the browser, but I'm pretty sure little Timmy can't figure out how to download porn onto his iPad without the site immediately crashing from lack of flash.

What?s also big is the exclusion of Flash. The reason is obvious. No flash, far less streaming over 3G. Less streaming over 3G means less bandwidth consumed. Less bandwidth consumed means AT&T can offer a great price on the 3G data service.

You know how else AT&T could do to offer a better price? Use child labor to manufacture Ipods. Nearly every single website (including the Escapist) runs flash, not having it will be like covering half of the homepage with sandpaper.

I personally have never had problems with the AT&T network

Then that thing on your roof is a satellite antenna, sir.

What Mark Cuban doesn't realize is that my POS laptop maybe a POS laptop, but it's vastly superior to the POS iPad. It can run Flash. It has enough space for anything I might want to install. It has a USB port. Most importantly, I don't have to use iTunes. It was a hand-me-down, but it's functional, and that's far more than I can say for the iPad.

 

[Burst6]

So basically its a large ipod touch with less functionality.


It's not very revolutionary, it's just shiny. If you can get me a ipad that has all the properties of a state of the art gaming computer for the same $500 price, that would be revolutionary. Until that happens apple will always be a music player/smart phone maker who likes to sell expensive shiny trinkets to overtrusting fans.

 

[Jaythulhu]

Children are already being sexualised and conditioned to crave adult activities (like owning credit cards, mobile phones etc) before they're been weaned off bottles, so how exactly is this stupid tablet going to "change the way they grow up"?

Fetus fashion ranges?

Or is it going to do something revolutionary and instill self-control, self-respect and discipline into kids (something that's been missing for almost 20 years)?

 

[Nmil-ek]

So its the mutant child of a phone and a laptop with all the decent utility replaced by shitty apple apps, whoopdie fuckin do.

Enjoy your $500 paperweight.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Mark Cuban?

The owner of the Dallas Maverics?

 

[Griphphin]

No, you've got it wrong - they wait until after you break down and buy it, then they drop the price on it and release a "better" one for the same price you just paid.

This is why I never buy anything "new or revolutionary" for at least the first few months, if I plan on buying it (never bothered with the iPhone, I've got a cell already). It just feels like all you get from the company for being the first to support their new product is a rebate and a "you should have waited on it."

 

[SmugFrog]

My head hurts so hard from reading his article, I might have to find something beautiful to damage just to vent this massive rage.

It was bothering me a lot how MSNBC had it in large bold letters like this was some kind of headline breakthrough that had occured. It was bothering me so much I had to come share it with someone. Oh and uh... you've been watching too much Fight Club. Oh crap I wasn't supposed to mention Fight Club...

The owner of the Dallas Maverics?

Yep. If had been any random Joe Blow I don't think they would have considered it "news".

 

[Contextualizer]

The iPad is a great idea until you realize how frustrating it is to do any sort of typing on it, even with an additional expensive hardware keyboard accessory.

 

[FranzTyphid]

By any chance does he like cigars?
[sub]sorry..[/sub]