Speed. Raw speed. For power users of remote access apps, WIndows Mobile doesn't cut it. Maemo devices don't cut it. Symbian, too many button clicks.
Click, swipe, tap, tap and I'm logging into my server/desktop/home Mac.
People keep posting about "why not get a netbook?"
I've got one. A Lenovo S10E w/2GB of RAM. Since we're an authorized IBM/Lenovo reseller, I got mine pretty cheap too. Even got a spare drive with Snow Leopard installed on it.
But to remote into something I have to pull it out of the bag, open it up, hit the power button, wait for Windows 7 Enterprise to "resume", then click the RDP/VNC/SSH icon I have pinned to the task tray, then wait for it to open, then type in the server name, then wait, then login to the remote server.
On the iPhone, it's click, swipe, tap, tap. Just that fast. There's little to no lag.
And to finally have that remote terminal in a 10" display?
Yes, please.
I love the DRM arguments...did you guys forget that Apple has dropped DRM on almost all of their audio downloads? Most of my MP3s I've been dragging around since 1999 and all of them are DRM-free. I've never bought much from the iTunes store, I usually get them DRM-free from Amazon. Or ripped from CDs.
As for video, I've NEVER bought a video from iTunes. I usually rip straight from DVD to iPod format using Handbrake or stream it with on-the-fly conversion from my 3-year-old Macbook Pro without a hiccough.
And yes, I've looked at other tablets. But having had a chance to play with the closest competitor - an Archos tablet running Android - it's still slower than an iPhone/iPad. Nokia's already burned me on the N800, not looking to pund nails though my head on that again.
Remember the Diablo VPN debacle? Yeah, I'm one of those who commented on the "bug" and now I don't care if it works at all since the iPhone - and future iPad - have pretty seamless VPN across varying firewall platforms, from Linksys to Cisco to Sonicwall to Foundry (tested across all 4 of those, it's just IPSEC VPN after all).
Couldn't get VPN working properly on my N800 even after 6 months of hacking around with it and pouring over forum after forum and varying forms of documentation.
As I've gotten older I've realized that I'm pretty tired of having to hack something to death just to get it to work properly. Most of you in here enjoy doing that, but not me. Not anymore.
I'm not planning on listening to music on my iPad, but it's nice it can do it. I'm planning on using it for printer/copier/router/firewall/server PDF use, e-book reading, remote terminal (#1 use), video streaming from my Mac, web browsing, light email duties (w/ Exchange & Gmail), and the occasional game, mostly RPGs.
Right now there are a few Korean/Chinese/Japanese RPG developers who are porting over their Java/Symbian development skills to the iPhone and they're getting better at it with each game release (Zenonia, Inotia 2, etc.).
Apple has their store shiite together,
Nokia's OVI looks and feels disjointed, sluggish, and not very stable.
I used to be a Nokia fan (N800, N95-1, even the damn tiny Nokia bluetooth headset!) but not anymore.
Where's the logmein client for Maemo? The Citrix Receiver for Maemo?
The few apps there are for Maemo devices feel really..well, not that polished. The browser itself on the N900 is damn good, but a single app does not a "multimedia computer" (Nokia's own words there) make.
The company who develops the managed services software we're using at work is creating an iPhone app, but even then I can still use the site with the built-in Safari browser. It's sluggish and not very usable on my N800 tablet running a clean install of the latest release of Diablo. But the Mozilla browser is somehow "better" than the iPhone Safari port?
Don't know about you guys over in EMEA, but here in the USA I can't find a single developer who knows what Maemo is, much less wants to develop for it.
Most developers like having money and they realize they can obtain more of that money in an easier way by taking the Apple iPhone app route than any other mobile device out at the moment.
Yes, it leads to a lot of crapps, but those usually wind up on the bottom of the lists pretty quickly.
I also don't know how much your time is worth, but mine is worth a lot.
I don't like waiting around for a page to load or an app to connect to a server or for Nokia developers to finally get something right only to be forced into upgrading to the latest N1-billion tablet hardware.
The iPhone - and soon to be bought iPad - does what I need it to do RIGHT NOW and REALLY REALLY FAST compared to other products.
Most of the folks complaining in here about how bad they think the iPhone were just like me a few years ago bashing Apple about it.
Then I said "screw it" and lived with one and have found it to indispensable for my needs.