Happy birthday to me! Also, Apple announced their iPad today. One thing I meant to mention in my previous predictions: I thought it would have at least a front facing camera for video conferencing with iChat and/or Skype. I’m very surprised it doesn’t have that. I predict this will be in the first hardware revision of the device.

Personal Thoughts

The iPad is basically a really big iPhone, but the iPhone is great. I was already prepared to buy a Nook for $259. The question is now do I pay $140 more to get an iPad that only has WiFi and no 3G data. The iPad is so much more than the Nook, but isn’t e-ink.

I haven’t decided yet. I was underwhelmed by what they’re offering, but impressed by the price at which it starts: $499. I would likely sling WiFi from my jailbroken iPhone to the device, rather than pay another $30 a month for unlimited 3G data and another $130 for the device with 3G built in.

Make recommendations to me in the comments!

Predictions Followup

All photos are courtesy of GDGT’s live coverage.

These were my predictions related to the tablet and the result.

1. Apple will announce a tablet device of some kind.

   Result: They did.

   

2. It’s name will begin with a lower case I. I have to get at least one correct, right? I’ll guess iTablet. I don’t think they’ll do iSlate.

   Result: iPad. Not a good name in my opinion. It opens itself to many jokes.

   

3. The device will not have an e-ink screen.

   Result: Correct.

4. The device will not have an AMOLED screen.

   Result: Correct.

5. It will be a conventional LCD screen with LED backlighting.

   Result: Correct (not sure about backlighting, but with 10 hours battery life, I would be surprised if it is not LED).

6. It will not run full OS X. Only a subset will be allowed, such as Safari, etc. Only apps from an app store will be allowed.

   Result: Correct.

   

7. There will be a tablet app store.

   Result: Correct.

8. There will be backwards compatibility for iPhone apps running in some kind of emulation mode.

   Result: Correct. They can run in a pixel-perfect mode letterboxed or zoomed to full screen. All iPhone apps are compatible.

   

9. There will be a innovative text input method. I can’t speculate as to what it will be, but knowing Apple, it will be good.

   Result: Wrong. Straight up QWERTY, just like the iPhone.

   

10. Its battery life will be expressed in hours, not days or weeks, unlike the Kindle or Nook.

    Result: Correct. 10 hours.

    

11. Verizon will be announced as a 3G data partner for the tablet device.

    Result: Wrong. AT&T only. International carriers to be announced later. All devices are unlocked, and will work with any carrier compatible with micro SIMs (not Verizon or Sprint because they are CDMA [no SIM cards]).

    

12. The tablet will sell like hotcakes at first because Apple made it, but I think this will be a fad device and perhaps regarded as Apple’s second flop (see Newton). I am putting this down “on paper” because I think it will be funny if I’m completely wrong and I can read my own words in a year or so.

    Result: Remains to be seen. I am underwhelmed, but my personal thoughts are at the top.

Here are the results of my other predictions for the event:

1. No new iPhone will be announced.

   Result: Correct.

2. No AT&T exclusivity related announcements will be made (this will be saved until WWDC in June).
   Result: Correct.
3. Incremental changes will be made for the iPhone OS, perhaps allowing some sort of rudimentary multitasking, perhaps in a 3.5 or 4.0 revision of the OS.

   Result: Wrong. No iPhone related announcements.