'What is iPad?' spot deviates little from the days of Newton (video)
By Darren Murph 
posted May 13th 2010 1:51AM
posted May 13th 2010 1:51AM
[Thanks, Jordan]
posted May 13th 2010 1:51AM
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iPad: bigger, better
...kind of the same though
still cool
@ComeShot Really?
@yulebellow
This is obviously intentional, a nice homage.
@tristansq
yes, really.
@yulebellow Was the Newton a massive success?
No? Hmm...
@yulebellow Same voice in two ads toi! Wow...
@thanhpluv Oh man... it wasso late so I thought apple uses the same voice haha
@The Madman
Steve Jobs declared all the Newton (read: PDA) features were being adopted into cell phones, so he killed it when he took the reins in the late 90s.... a few years later, they began development on a device called the iPhone, you may have heard of it?
@thanhpluv
Nope, that's Peter Coyote in the new one.
@yulebellow
Does this mean Steve Jobs is going to sue himself or send a swat team to apple hq and take that ad?
@yulebellow Apples goal has always been for the bigger device and with a 2 year interval. So if that's the case, here's the iboard and imat.(lol). http://bit.ly/iboard-is-apples-next-device
@yulebellow
No right or wrong way, huh? Tell that to flash and app developers!
@ComeShot Haha!
did anyone notice the speed dial type system on the browser (20 seconds)
@yulebellow
iPad, half the functionality of a netbook at twice the price.
Oh my god, I want that Newton. Sexy monochrome display, with mail! soon..
@futurerheza
Seriously. For some reason, I cant really draw with my fingers, but with an apparatus that you can hold like a pencil... its almost natural. You don't need to learn anything. It just comes.
@smartmouth I have 3 (120, 130, 2100), still fascinating, great project (androind use the same slide to show installed apps used in NewtonOS): there is an active group that continue develop on NewtOS, bringing functionalities to old devices (buetooth, wifi, new software...) and an emulator for n700/n800 nokia tablet
P.S. I prefer old newton ads, there is a nice sense of humor
@smartmouth You do realize this is from 1993. How old were you back then...2...maybe 0? Remember when TV's where square? Steve Jobs killed the Newton despite many people's complaints for doing so. But the Newton wasn't Job's creation, it was John Scully's baby and Scully was the one that got Jobs thrown out of his own company.
@commonman
Man I must be young, I don't remember any TV that was square. only 4:3
I gotta say—I love my iPad. Surprised me, too.
@byran My Ma' got one & she's disabled. She love the fact she ain't gotta get to her iMac, she can now just sit on the couch & easily do most things u can do on a real computer
@Leroysboy
Except for Flash.®
@rhackin I'm kinda glad his grandma can't flash us. I don't see how this fits into computing though.
@rhackin
as if she needs it
All this hating people doing on the ipad, let me ask u this why are people copying it already. I wanna see some good competition with other devices. Not just " hey we got flash & it don't" that's gonna cut it. I'm excited to see how far the ipad will go as far as it can do & will do.
@Leroysboy
"Copying it" implies there were not mobile devices like it before (and I'm not talking about the convertible tablets and some slate devices that run on Windows, I mean the exact same idea as the iPad: slates that run on mobile OSes). MIDs and Internet Tablets have been around for a while. To name a few: Archos 7, Sony Mylo, Nokia N770. The operate on the same premise of a device that offers much of the functionality of a computer but can comfortably be used on the couch. So it's not like the industry haven't been working on this formula for quite some time. It's just none of the companies that make those devices were able to get the kind of popular reaction and free publicity that Apple got.
Personally I have no interest in this type of device (not convinced it has staying power or if it is just like the hype the Macbook Air got and eventually will end up as a niche product), and I'm not convinced that many people who are rooting for the HP/Palm or the Android tablet will even really will buy one. I think most people just want to see some kind of competition to Apple, no matter what product they make.
@jakey I heard about android tablet, my questions is how android gonna do it because there already having trouble with the os fragmentation because there so many devices. Android us nice but they need to showcase there apps on tv or something. And hp/palm slate, I have to see it to believe it because didn't no one really buy webOs pre for it to matter
@jakey If you can't see that this is the future of personal computing and not just a fad then you blew it.
@jakey
There's a thousand dollar difference between the MacBook Air and the iPad. Big difference. People will continue to buy-up the iPad because of it's price.
@dave95 Doesn't that just say the MacBook is overpriced?
apple needs more commercials like this on ALL their products! im tired of the stupid white background with catchy music
@WillSmith It's interesting you say that because after I watched this the second time I was surprised out how much it actually reminded me of the Droid ads. I certainly didn't see that coming. Much more machismo than Apple's ad agency usually goes with. I guess Apple feels the need to appeal, at least every now and then, to the niche market of tech blog readers. Certainly hope they don't start leaning towards the "OMG MOAR" style though, but that still seems unlikely.
@WillSmith
When's the last time you saw one of those... like 2007?
LMAO
@franktinsley When I think of tech blog readers the first thing that comes to mind is machismo.
@franktinsley
The funny thing is after watching the original Newton Ad again done two decades ago, one could say that Verizon took the idea from the original Newton ads. Same machismo sounding voice "What is Newton" - "What is Droid"
Base on the ads, I would go for a newton. Who is with me?
@emag
I like the stylus input, makes it much more useful in real world situations. My index finger is fine with my iPhone 3G, but I would love to be able to write/draw on the iPad's gorgeous screen....
Too bad I thought it was sluggish as hell when I tried a couple in downtown Chicago.
@Sunweb Whoa whoa whoa. The Newton was sluggish or the iPad? Because the iPad sure isn't sluggish...
@Sunweb my iPad is far from sluggish,except when connecting over the Edge network, which is not the iPads fault but AT&T's... and I too would like a capacitive stylus so that I could draw with more control than my fat fingers allow, not to mention that I have not finger painted since I was in kindergarten somewhere around thirty years ago.
@emag After everything he said in the ad about what iPad is, I was thinking to every line: "Yep, that's my netbook as well".
What Apple have completely failed in answering for the past couple of months is - What is it *FOR*??! Apart from the touch screen, what can it do that my netbook/phone can't do?
@r3loaded Why can't it be for people that don't want a netbook? :) (and like the form factor/interface/lighter weight of the iPad better than they like the "longer list of things it can do" of a netbook).
@emag
The newton was a FAR more innovative device. IPad lacks any innovation whatsoever, unless you count marketing.
@emag
I already have one and I even still use it from time to time. The best feature is a built in loan amortization calculator. But back in the day the phone dialer was pretty awesome. All you had to do is pick a contact, hold your newton dext to your phone receiver, and press dial. It would send the audible DTMF tones. Worked perfectly.
omg a commercial about a product! write an article about it!!!1
wheres the article on the commercial for the hd2?
That wouldn't happen, the editors aren't on HTC's payroll...
@Evan Conspiracy!
>.>
@account5
Welcome to Engadget...?
@Evan Htc cannot afford to pay anyone anything because they owe a ton of money to their lawyers
I really like the new commercial! I don't mind that they revamped the old Newton spot - I'm sure it's a tongue-in-cheek joke that everyone is talking about in-house. There's no way it is just some coincidence. Even the voice is similar! I like it and it feels fresh (as opposed to the Mac commercials...ugh).