Apple iPad and related items

[Kanda]

CBA

 

[elbows]

Well I can be an extreme geek now because my iPad order is starting its journey from China, I can track it on the TNT site. Will I be a happy man this time next week or frustrated and padless? Stay tuned for this less than gripping tale of one man and his quest to finally have a tablet that does not completely suck, a mere 6,7 or 8 years (cant quite remember) since I first wanted one.

 

[Kanda]

I should have mine on Monday if my mate can be arsed to bring me one back from Vegas 64GB + 3G.

 

[pinkmonkey]

Well I finally got my order of 100, only a month later than promised by Apple. We've been having a bit of a 'mare with them - quite different to the phone for developers, particularly sorting out portrait/landscape orientation.

Funny you should say that, my brother is an app developer, his company has had a nightmare with their order of Mac Book Pros and ipads too, six weeks late and counting and he's on a deadline.

 

[elbows]

Oh dear oh dear, I should not have started tracking my order, its bringing out the worst in me. It got stuck not going anywhere in China for 3 days, and I had researched when the plane was leaving HK, and time was running out. But my iPad finally turned up in Hong Kong, fingers crossed there are no further delays, I may even get it a day early (Thursday).

Depending on the model & accessories, some iPads are being shipped from within the UK and Europe so some people may get theirs several days early assuming Apple arent blocking early delivery.

 

[grit]

Funny you should say that, my brother is an app developer, his company has had a nightmare with their order of Mac Book Pros and ipads too, six weeks late and counting and he's on a deadline.

Why wouldnt you just grab some petty cash and buy it off the shelf if you are under that sort of pressure?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Depending on the model & accessories, some iPads are being shipped from within the UK and Europe so some people may get theirs several days early assuming Apple arent blocking early delivery.

I got a "shipped" email today, but there's no estimated delivery date or tracking facility.

 

[Winot]

Odd. Mine shipped on 22 May and had a track my order button - when I clicked it yesterday it had an estimated delivery of 28 May but that has now been replaced by a product code.

 

[elbows]

I got a "shipped" email today, but there's no estimated delivery date or tracking facility.

If you login to the US Apple store you may be able to see more info such as courier and tracking number.

Still from what Ive read from people so far, many of the tracking numbers arent working properly yet. Likely if your iPad is starting its journey in europe or the UK its too early for the tracking number to be valid, but ones that are coming straight from China like mine had to start their journey much earlier so the tracking already works.

Having said that I still havent received any kind of email confirmation, I found out mine had shipped by logging onto the store and order tracking that way.

 

[pinkmonkey]

Why wouldnt you just grab some petty cash and buy it off the shelf if you are under that sort of pressure?

You couldn't just buy an ipad off the shelf, not yet anyway...it was a huge order, they couldn't just swan in to pc world.. Apparently it was something to do with a revised OS but Apple wouldn't tell him anything, he found out what the problem was from a blog!

 

[elbows]

Well the ipads that came straight from China have made it to the netherlands and beyond, and orders that are starting their final journey from the UK have started to show up for people on the TNT & UPS tracking sites. There is a fair amount of evidence that some people are going to get theirs tomorrow, although mine is lagging behind somewhat so Im thinking Friday is more likely for me.

 

[ooo]

Ours was from Hong Kong.
It took ages to arrive 'cos of the volcanic ashes.
Does your version come with Winnie the Pooh iBook??

 

[elbows]

Yeah their factory is in China but very close to HK. Mine got delayed a bit when it first left the factory due to Lord Buddhas Birthday holiday in HK, so I dont know if I will get it tomorrow or Friday.

Im not sure about the Winnie the Pooh ibook, it probably will unless there are some different copyright/licensing issues in the UK for that title.

 

[elbows]

Also can I just say how relieved I am that the iPad appears to be a hit. I was bemused and a tad concerned when the iPad was first announced because of all the people that were not impressed and were underwhelmed by the announcement. But it seems that its doing rather well which is great news for me as its been many years that Ive been hoping and wondering if the tablet format would ever catch on.

Im going to feel quite ashamed to wave mine around in front of people because I really dont like posing, but at the same time I am fascinated to discover what people will think of it when they get to see and try one briefly for themselves.

 

[editor]

Im going to feel quite ashamed to wave mine around in front of people because I really dont like posing, but at the same time I am fascinated to discover what people will think of it when they get to see and try one briefly for themselves.

What else do you go around waving?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Well the ipads that came straight from China have made it to the netherlands and beyond, and orders that are starting their final journey from the UK have started to show up for people on the TNT & UPS tracking sites. There is a fair amount of evidence that some people are going to get theirs tomorrow, although mine is lagging behind somewhat so Im thinking Friday is more likely for me.

Mine's now on the TNT tracker - it claims to be in Nuneaton right now so it sounds like it'll be here tomorrow.

In case anyone was wondering.

 

[elbows]

What else do you go around waving?

Not a lot Ive always struggled with Apples brand and what it can be associated with, I really didnt enjoy that aspect of getting an iphone. And I still find it annoying when my Dad & brother get their iphones out in the pub.

I want to use my ipad at work but I will feel like a bit of a plonker walking round with it.

 

[elbows]

Mine's now on the TNT tracker - it claims to be in Nuneaton right now so it sounds like it'll be here tomorrow.

In case anyone was wondering.

Im in Nuneaton, surrounded by ipads at local TNT & UPS depots, but mine isnt one of them

 

[Gromit]

Am I right that in theory I'll be able to WiFi tether an iPad to a broadcasting HTC Desire? Thereby eliminating the need for me to buy the 3G version and a data plan?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Am I right that in theory I'll be able to WiFi tether an iPad to a broadcasting HTC Desire? Thereby eliminating the need for me to buy the 3G version and a data plan?

Should be possible yes.

 

[elbows]

Mine's now on the TNT tracker - it claims to be in Nuneaton right now so it sounds like it'll be here tomorrow.

Many people have been calling TNT and have been told they will get it tomorrow, sometimes they are also told that if nobody is in then they will try again on Friday. But some people have also been told that they wont get them till Friday, or worse, so there is a fair amount of confusion about this from some quarters including people within TNT.

Personally for anyone that is unsure, I wouldnt even bother calling them tonight due to the different answers people are getting, call them early tomorrow if your tracker still doesnt say anything useful & conclusive about delivery time.

Not sure there are enough people here with ipads pre-ordered for me to have bothered posting the above but hey I cant stop talking about this, Im making up for the fact that the international delay was announced 2 days before my birthday so I spent a month forgetting all about the ipad so I wouldnt get too impatient.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

It does say estimated delivery tomorrow on the tracker, as well as it being in Nuneaton. I work from home anyway so it's not really a big deal for picking it up, but I hate hate hate waiting for stuff, I waste the whole day looking out of the window.

 

[Winot]

Mine is now saying estimated delivery tomorrow (by UPS).

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Am I right that in theory I'll be able to WiFi tether an iPad to a broadcasting HTC Desire? Thereby eliminating the need for me to buy the 3G version and a data plan?

Only when the Desire gets the Android 2.2 update, it won't do it atm afaik

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Am I right that in theory I'll be able to WiFi tether an iPad to a broadcasting HTC Desire? Thereby eliminating the need for me to buy the 3G version and a data plan?

Are there no third party apps that will do it? You've been able to do this on WinMo for yonks.

 

[Kanda]

I wonder if this IS true.. http://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/26/microsofts-steve-ballmer-to-present-during-wwdc-2010-keynote/

Microsoft will reportedly be talking about their development tool Visual Studio 2010. The new version of Visual Studio will reportedly allow developers to write native applications for the iPhone, iPad and Mac OS.

That's huge if so...

 

[Crispy]

That would be huge, but not sure how they'd pull it off - you'd need OSX installed somewhere, to run your test builds, and that's only supposed to be installed on apple hardware...

 

[magneze]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/27/ballmer_wwdc/

It's not a rumour. It's a very clever move.

Right now, if you want to develop iPhone OS apps you need Apple's tools and Apple's computers. Good though they are - this reporter is happy to do his programming in Xcode - this is an area Apple can be more accommodating. Before the advent of Mac OS X, there were a handful of high-level language compilers for the Mac. RealBasic is still around but it remains a minority interest and is of no use to iPhone coders.

What better for Apple to stress its 'openness' by not only allowing third-parties to create iPhone OS development tools but for the first of them to be the old enemy - a company that now has a smaller market capitalisation than its arch-rival?

Especially since both firms are well aware that the real enemy is one they both face: Google.

At a stroke, Apple gives a concession to existing developers and enables many more to get working on its key new platform, the iPad; looks to regulators to be less of a threat to free markets; and shows it's now more important than Microsoft. Now, why wouldn't Jobs go for that?

 

[elbows]

That would be huge, but not sure how they'd pull it off - you'd need OSX installed somewhere, to run your test builds, and that's only supposed to be installed on apple hardware...

Well if this stuff turns out to be true then I doubt it will be impossible for them to make the ipad emulator work on windows.

Meanwhile my ipad just arrived about 10 minutes ago, the majority of people are indeed receiving them today rather than tomorrow.

Havent used it yet but initial impression from holding it is that its even nicer than my expectations, and my expectations were pretty high. The bezel does not appear quite so stupidly oversized as it looked in the early pictures.

 

[Crispy]

If I walk into an apple store tomorrow, I won't be able to get one will I?