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[#1]

So we’ve had all hype and the pundit’s views on the iPad this week but the giffgaff team have just had a fish and chip lunch and announced their non pundit  verdicts…..and they’re not good.

So here are some of the downsides that were circulating round the table….

Poor memory capacity, no Flash player (what? You can’t claim the best browsing experience without that surely?), a SIM card format no one has heard of, not as good for reading books as a “proper” e-reader, locked to the Apple book store, locked to Apple’s chosen network partner,  no camera, no USB port and an inability to upgrade hardware and replace the battery.

There are of course the unsaid upsides of “being cool” and the neat UI eye candy. The price would be an upside too if the dollar price translated into pounds using a real world exchange rate – but the likelihood of that is about as high as Apple ever  conducting market research.

The concept is spot on – an easy to use, portable, big screen computer – but it only comes just the way that Apple want it to, serviced by a book store and network provider they choose.

It’s much the same with many other smartphones - Blackberries, Palms etc but what is smart about it? Hasn’t the web itself – the thing all these devices purport to access in the best possible way – taught the world that open standards and customer engagement are the best ways to breed the best services – would Wikipedia, Tripadvisor and the like be here now if the people that built the web tried to control what went on it?

Many of these companies would argue that bundling the applications with the device gives them extra revenue streams that ultimately allows them to sell the device at a cheaper price – they may well be right but that doesn’t erase the fact that what they are doing, in a small way, is limiting personal freedom. Why shouldn’t we all have the right to be able to use a device which we have paid for in the way we want to?

An alternative economic argument is that bundling services and devices in a restricted way reduces competition and that in turn helps to keep prices higher than they would otherwise be.  That’s clearly the argument that has won the day in some countries such as France where only selling locked devices is illegal.

So why don’t you tell us what you think and vote on whether device manufacturers should be allowed to restrict how we use their wares – just click here.

[#2]

Regarding the book store.  No books in the UK whatsoever, according to the register.

Confirmed: no iPad Books for Blighty

[#3]

They said that the 3G version would be carrier unlocked so don't think you will be tied to Apple's selected partner (though as in the US they may choose to partner with a particular carrier to offer a special data package that you can use if you want to).

Not sure if you meant that Flash equated to the best browsing experience (I hope not!).  I see what you mean though - nevertheless a lack of flash support hasn't really stopped me browsing most of the sites I want on the iPhone, plus I think the fact that youtube are now trialling using HTML5 instead of Flash is a sign of things to come (and both the iPhone and the iPad support HTML5 already).  The sooner web authors move to HTML5 and away from the horribly clunky and resource intensive Flash the better!

Personally I'm reserving judgement until I get to see one in the flesh.  I know it was the easy-to-use UI and slick software that won me over with the iPhone, and if they have managed to scale that up to include more grown up apps like iWork and beefier email / browsing then I think I could certainly be tempted (though may just get the wifi version).

[#4]

I had also read that this may not actually be locked to a network .  One of the reasons I am an apple fan is because their hardware seems to work better.  Maybe this is partly because they are careful who they partner and seem to manage their software better (really thinking of my macbook).  Contrast this with microsoft for a user experience and maybe you can catch my drift.

The Ipad at first look doesn't seem  much more than a huge iphone a la Dom Jolie.  But will wait and see, there could be a killer application in there...

[#5]

I voted 'Yes' in the poll because I strongly believe that manufacturers should be 'allowed' to build whatever products and service they choose.  Answering No is equivalent to saying 'I believe there should be regulation in the devices/apps domain' which I don't think would be a good thing in the longer term.

However, if the question had been 'Would you buy a device that was tethered to a single network' I would definitely have voted No (my phone isn't tied to my provider, neither is my satellite recorder nor is my mp3 player).

I suspect that millions will still go out and buy the ipad because the tethering is not a priority (or understood) by most customers.  What I hope though is that the free market will mean that other manufactures will be motivated to produce similar but untethered devices.

[#6]

Not sure about the "poor memory capacity" - yeah, the base model is 16GB but 64GB is a lot. That's all my photos, most of my music and a decent amount of podcast/videos. And probably as many eBooks and documents that I create as I want.

On eBooks, yes the built-in application only connects to iTunes bookstore, but you can download several eBook readers already from the App Store. There is already a Kindle app available and I'm sure that all the major book sellers/publishers will release their own. As to whether it's better than a Kindle for reading.... have to wait and see.

The Flash thing is interesting - on one hand yes it's a bit odd not to support something which is common on the internet, but then it is a proprietary technology!