Only one day after the “unveiling” of Apple’s (AAPL) new iPad, the naysayers are already calling it an iFlop. Why the harsh reaction? Simply because in less than 24 hours it failed to meet their self-determined or delusional expectations of what they thought the device would or should be? Ergo, they have already concluded that it is not a revolutionary product and is nothing more than a big iPod Touch or a smaller, less functional laptop that nobody needs or will use. Sounds eerily reminiscent of those, including Microsoft (MSFT), who prognosticated that Apple’s entry into the smart phone market via the iPhone would be an unmitigated failure. Well, that certainly didn’t turn out as they expected and I think a similar result will obtain with the iPad.

Those that cannot think beyond the next day or week are probably missing the point as the market for the iPod and iPhone has grown well beyond the expectations for those products when initially released. What really has made those devices spectacular successes — game-changers in fact — is that the products continued to evolve as more and more adherents recognized their value.

The initial iteration of the iPod was revolutionary in many respects but not simply because of its architecture. The key to its phenomenal growth lay in its ability to easily access music and video content through iTunes. For the iPod without iTunes would have been a perfectly acceptable product with a sole purpose. But Apple realized that the iPod was more than a music player. While it didn’t create the digital music industry, it figured out how to access that market better than anyone had done previously or since. Now, of course, the iPod has been through numerous iterations and configuration and each model has found its own market from the iPod shuffle to the most robust version abounding with music, video and internet access.

A similar story applies to the iPhone. Even though Apple had transformed the digital world with the iPod, there was significant skepticism that Apple could compete in the phone market as that was the domain of the Nokia (NOK), Motorola (MOT), Samsung and a host of others. What ultimately catapulted Apple to the leading provider in the smart phone market was the incorporation of the iPod experience with a world-class and robust internet experience unequalled in competing smart phones as well as the inclusion of proprietary apps (aside from the fact that it was also a phone with cutting edge features). Eventually, Apple opened up the iPhone to developers for creation of their unique apps, thereby spurring additional demand for the iPhone and the entire Apple ecosystem.

It is no surprise that, concurrent with the growing market for the iPhone as well as continuing upgrades of the iPod models, that many former Windows users abandoned that platform in favor of the Macintosh line of computers — the most profitable segment in the Apple ecosystem. In other words, as more people became exposed to Apple products, the more they wanted or were willing to try other Apple products. This feat could not be replicated by other phone manufacturers or comupter makers because they didn’t not possess a competing ecosystem.

So that brings up to the newly-introducted “iPad”. Is it just a larger version of an iPod with no apparent target market? Again, it is way too early to make that determination or to bet against Apple given its past success of exploiting numerous market segments with the iPod and iPhone that nobody seem to know existed until Apple created them or, more accurately, expanded and tweaked its lineup to find them.

The iPad has only been around for a couple of days, but it already has consumers and tech enthusiasts buzzing.However, everyone that watches MADTv knows that they were actually the first ones to come up with the idea. Okay, it’s not the same concept, but the name sure is the same.

Battle for Queen and Country – Queen Mynera rules a lovely land threatened by despicable foes. You of course are her only hope.

Castle Warriors is a tensely fought, tightly paced RTS game set in a landscape that gently tweaks all those fantasy tropes from the games of yore. Lead armies of warriors, veterans, warlords, heroes and even giants, against goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls and demons.

You must take and defend castles, use superior strategy and tactical timing to gain advantage before claiming victory.

You must Creep on the Borderlands, defend Waterseep, and find the Temple of Elemental Good. And what possible trouble could a few missing magic items be?

Features include:-

• Simple touch controls
• 12 battlefields linked in a campaign
• Castles that upgrade during the battle, with new capabilities and defenses
• Difficulty modes to suit your style of play

With 3 levels of difficulty—easy, normal and hard—you’ll do battle through 12 maps in a single-player campaign. The maps themselves look amazing, and each has physical geographic features that can both hinder and help depending on how wise you are.

On each map, a series of castles exist with the base of operations for each side located on opposing sides. Castles in your control bear a blue flag while those of the enemy have a red one. Each flag shows the number of troops stationed there. Empty castles do not have flags and are usually ripe for the picking. A mini-map in the upper left corner shows the location of castles and is color-coded accordingly. Attacking an enemy tower is as simple as sending troops to that tower. Battles take place automatically with the outcome determined algorithmically.

This is a pretty good game, reminds me of a number of games back from the old Atari ST.

Castle Warriors is available on the iTunes App Store for £1.19 / $1.99.

Here are some more wallpapers for the iPhone. Just right click each image and SAVE AS.

How to download the above images and save them as your iPhone wallpaper.

1) Click each image to open up
2) Right click on image and click SAVE AS
3) Save the image to your pictures folder that you are syncing with the iPhone in iTunes
4) Next time you sync your iPhone the image should copy across to your iPhone
5) You should now see your custom wallpaper on the iPhone’s start-up screen as well as for incoming calls that do not have a contact assigned to them

Here are some more wallpapers for the iPhone. Just right click each image and SAVE AS.

How to download the above images and save them as your iPhone wallpaper.

1) Click each image to open up
2) Right click on image and click SAVE AS
3) Save the image to your pictures folder that you are syncing with the iPhone in iTunes
4) Next time you sync your iPhone the image should copy across to your iPhone
5) You should now see your custom wallpaper on the iPhone’s start-up screen as well as for incoming calls that do not have a contact assigned to them

Last 27-January Apple launched its newest product, the iPad (remember the MadTV iPad parody?). In a nutshell, this thing is basically an oversized iPod Touch or iPhone. The specs are impressive that is true, initial reviews say that the processing power for this baby is great, the screen looks great and they say the touch response is something that “Lord Jobs” can be very proud of. But looking at the product, there’s really not much new to this gadget that the iPod touch and iPhone already had. Although I think, internet browsing, watching movies and reading e-books will be great on this device. (I think this device can very well compete with the e-book readers in the market [ie. Kindle, Nook]. )

The question is should you buy this? If it comes here in the Philippines, I’m sure madami sa Pinoy tech lovers (most especially yung mga *ahem* local Fanboys) would rush to get it. Pero my opinion, if you already have an iPod touch or an iPhone, really don’t bother. Kung wala naman kayo, I’d still would not recommend buying the iPad it unless you really have tons of cash to burn. Better buy a decent netbook, IMHO, madami pa kayo magagawa.

And one thing pala, Safari on the iPad doesn’t support Flash so hindi kayo makakapag-laro ng Farmville at Cafe World. Hehehe

Wednesday – January 27, 2010. It was the day a lot of us waited for.

It was supposed to be a day where our faith would be restored – our loyalty rewarded. The Wall street Journal even compared the event’s anticipation to that of a biblical event. For all we know, Moses could have presented Apple’s Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs with the tablet idea a few years ago. And now as I sit here writing, I know that day has come and gone.

But wait! Was today worth the anticipation? What did Apple leave us?

Yesterday, my friends, we witnessed the birth of the iPad.

The iPad, which will be considered the third part of Apple’s mobile devices family, comes to us with a 9.7” interactive screen and is only .5” thin. It showers us with brand new options for surfing the web, checking our email, and sharing photos. It builds and then opens a few groundbreaking doors by introducing the iBookstore and integrating iWork.

I know what you’re thinking. Despite the speeches and demos from Jobs, Forstall, and Schiller, you still aren’t impressed. I bet you think that Apple could have done better. You’d easily consider the iPhone in your hand a mini iPad. Even though it debuts at a reasonable price and removes the hassle with contract 3G coverage, you still won’t buy it.

To all the naysayers out there, I’m not here to change your opinion.

In fact, I might even agree with you on some points. However, rather than passing on it’s off color nickname and labeling it a bust, I’m going to tell you that the iPad accomplishes what it set out to do – being a stepping stone between a phone and a laptop.

According to Jobs, this device enhances your experience for a wide variety of tasks. It is Apple’s “most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”. This doesn’t mean that the iPad will brew a fresh pot of coffee for you or will help you complete your calculus homework. It won’t even help you operate all the flying cars we’re supposed to have by now. What it has done is simply remarkable. In a single day, Apple has completely eliminated the market demand for Amazon’s Kindle. The Kindle has gone from being the king of the hill to performing as the king’s jester.

Amongst all of Apple’s billions of dollars in revenue, their goals still remain the same. They continue to develop state-of-the-art products that focus on user interaction. The ever present “i” that appears in front of most product names is actually a representation for the user (you). YOU are the focus. YOU are the receiver. YOU provide the feedback.

Yes, this product will need time to grow. In the coming years, this will be molded into something that will make everyone happy. Application designers have already started developing and will impress everyone with their ideas. You can sit there and continually belittle the iPad. But I encourage you to stop and watch for a while. And although I am not impressed with the iPad as I was with the iPod or the iPhone, I want to thank Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple. I want to thank them, not for the iPad 1.0, but rather for an amazing and bright future.  I cannot wait to see the product up close. I truly believe that the iPad has a world of potential.

-J.P.

Apple. Hey. What’s up. Uhhh… I don’t know if you know this or not, but uhhh… the “You’re Doing it Wrong Award” is NOT an award that you want hanging on your fridge at home. Just to be clear. Because… uhhh… you were the last to get it with your pointless next-generation iPod Shuffle and you seemed to have done it again with the… (this has to be a joke)… iPad.

Unfortunately the market has been hit with yet another pointless product. The iPad. Now, this failure is on a completely different level then that of the previous iPod Shuffle. The iPod Shuffle was a refresh to a product and market that already existed, and while the refresh didn’t make any sense, it still played within its own bounds in the already limited market it was in. However, Steve Jobs at his keynote yesterday stated that the iPad is a whole new category, a whole new market. A whole new market of fail.

However, that’s not the only thing. The iPad itself fails as a device, carrying over preexisting pitfalls from the iPhone and iPod Touch that are just increased in magnitude along with the increase of the screen as well as new pitfalls that are inherent to the device all together. In our exploration of the fail that is Apple’s new product, we will go through the failures of the iPad as well as the market Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple have tried to create. As a disclaimer, in general I don’t like Apple at all, but I will try to be as objective as possible. My claims will be warranted.

First, the iPad is only a bigger version of the iPod Touch. It has a 9.7” screen, some speakers, headphone input, dock connector, wireless 802.11n connectivity, and for some extra money and signing over your soul to AT&T you can get a theoretical 3G connection (Everyone knows that AT&T’s 3G doesn’t actually exist, no one is able to observe it due to its poor infrastructure). Now, being a bigger version of the iPod Touch also means problems with the iPod Touch are only bigger as well. The operating system is the same thing. There are minor tweaks, using the extra space in some Apple applications, allowing for a background picture in the home screen, but as stated these are all minor. When trying to “wake” the device, one can see how unimaginative the device is. The elements are the same size as they were on the iPod Touch… making the device look hauntingly and dissatisfying empty. So much empty space.

The bad taste that the lock screen leaves in my mouth is found all around the iPad. The search area uses the same size search box as it does on the iPod Touch. The keyboard isn’t any different; it’s just an uber-upscaled version of the keyboard on the iPod Touch that looks mighty awkward to type on. The feeling that is left by the iPad is a feeling of laziness. It is as if Apple needed to make a new device but couldn’t bring them selves to do any of the work. A giant iPod Touch is just going to try and ride the success of the iPhone and iPod Touch. It won’t have any thunder of its own. It has the potential to be… but it seems like Apple never got around to doing so.

The hardware under the hood is only slightly different. However, the difference is quite interesting. Apple has created an in-house chip that is supposed to be quite fast a low power. The only thing is, that the chip goes to waste. There is no multitasking since it’s the same operating system. (If anyone even dares to talk about listening to music while in another application, I will punch you in the face and punch the face of your first born. Stop being dumb.) Sure, there is a minor boost when surfing the web, but… that’s all it does. Make web surfing a bit faster. I’m sure glitches involving the iPod Touch will reoccur on the iPad, including not being able to get the Quicktime overlay to either appear or go away when watching a video. For $500 I can get the same exact product that actually fits in my pocket and not miss a single thing. In fact, I can get a higher capacity. If I want the 3G connectivity, I could just got get an iPhone for less and pay for data that way. The iPad’s existence doesn’t make any sense.

However, the iPad doesn’t just leech off of the problems of the iPod and iPhone, it also brings its own problems to the table. The first being that it is angled as an ebook reader. Before you say anything, it’s not an e-ink display. It’s LCD. That would destroy my eyeballs. Absolutely destroy them. Not only that, Apple thinks it’s being revolutionary and helpful by adding small little graphical “enhancements” to the ebooks. I wouldn’t care so much if the enhancements were actually enhancements. Unfortunately, all it is is that it creates a graphical representation of turning a page, the side of the page following your finger if it presses the screen. That doesn’t improve my reading experience. That only annoys the crap out of me. I don’t want to do that, I don’t want the graphical representation; I don’t want an LCD ebook reader. That’s why I have a Kindle. Now, looking at the comment sections of different websites, many try to respond to the criticism of the iPad by saying that the reviewer is just not the intended market for the device. Bull Shit. Who is the market then? Magical elves of Middle Earth?

This leads us to the next level of fail that the iPad occupies. In the keynote, Jobs states that the iPad will be its own new category which will compete with netbooks. Separate from a smartphone, yet separate from a laptop computer. The iPad is a supplementary device. That’s ok, so is the iPod Touch, however that means it needs to have a new feature that isn’t available on the other platforms. That’s ok as well, even Jobs admitted to that. The problem is that Apple doesn’t deliver. It is a complete replica of the iPod without the portability. The only thing is has going for it is the web browsing. I’m not going to pay $500 for a web browser. Screw that. In fact, in some ways its web browsing experience isn’t as good as the iPod because of the portability. Apple is trying to create this new market that doesn’t actually exist and never will exist. There is no reason to get the device. At all.

The next problem stems from a problem tablets have in general. They can’t be supplement devices. They have to be replacements to conventional computers. If it becomes just a scaled up version of a smaller device, all the appeal goes away. The iPod Touch had once appealed to me because it was portable, I could have a browser in my pocket. With the iPad doing the same thing with less portability, it loses all appeal. I may as well and take out my laptop that can browse the web better than both of them. While Apple tried to remedy the problem of having conventional full blown OS’s on tablets which make an awkward experience by placing the iPhone OS on the device, it creates more problems than it solves. It’s an iPod without the appeal of the iPod, and without the power of a full blown computer. This is why tablets will always fail until these problems are fixed.

In conclusion, the iPad is a device that shouldn’t exist and tries to create a market that never will exist or expand. Not only that, but it shows the same laziness that was brought about by the newest iPod Shuffle. The device will never have a place. And that is why I must give Apple the “You’re Doing it Wrong Award.” Please. Please. Please. Don’t make me give you another one. I hate you enough as it is. But then again, Apple never listens to me.