A school district of that size can save that much in a single year on their electric bill with an intelligent HVAC system.

I don't sell HVAC systems but I've seen this happen firsthand in a school district. Proper energy management programs are critical.

85% or so of a school district budget goes directly to personnel. That piece of the budget is considering operating expense. Other operating expenses? Transportation, energy, internet, phone, etc. The other piece of the budget is capital--used for buildings, equipment over a certain threshold or life expectancy. In most states there are very strict rules and amounts of money provided for both operating budgets and capital budgets. You can't co-mingle money between the two buckets--you can't pay teachers out of capital funds for instance.

So a $2M capital purchase that saves $2M in operating expenses directly impacts a district's ability to put teachers in the classroom. Then the HVAC system is a fixed asset, depreciated over the life expectancy of the building or buildings it serves and the financial impact on the budget is lessened.

As a taxpayer you may not care about this mundane detail and only want to scream about the expense. A more proper response is to scream to your state legislature about this arcane set of rules that forces school districts to make decisions like this.

Huh?

Because Taco doesn't think Granny can use it doesn't mean she can't. So why isn't she a target audience? Because she uses Skype? Does everyone else's grandmother need a webcam? My mother (who is a grandmother) would love this in the kitchen or on the couch. She'd love to have one of these guys to read a book while Grandpa drives. Seems like the answer to Granny's needs isn't as clear-cut as it's been made up to this point.

Second, "fancy graphic designers" don't always use Flash. There's a growing movement among graphic and web designers to use something other than Flash anyway. And there are Adobe apps for this device (see Adobe Ideas).

It's not good for business because it weighs 1.5 pounds and doesn't have run multiple IM clients at the same time? Wow...that's a shot in the dark. The lack of Office may be a problem, but the first two points in your argument are insane. In my line of business this would make a perfect impromptu presentation device for a few people as well as a wonderful traveling reference library. It sure sounds like you're completely unaware that someone other than graphic designers can use an Apple product--like maybe writers, teachers, hospital employees, etc. So this is a bunk argument too.

And to claim it's bad for homes because of a lack of multiple user accounts is ludicrous. Not everyone uses multiple user accounts at home. Heck, not every home has multiple people to need multiple accounts in the first place.

Do you have a reasonable argument yet? I just don't see one. I'm not trying to be glib or demeaning, but your arguments are hollow.

Who is the target audience? Apple fans of all ilk are a primary audience but let's be even more genera: Apple wants EVERYBODY to buy one. Apple views this as a content consumption device--buy books, movies and music and watch it on this device. They don't care if you're an 90 year old bus driver or a 15 year old student. They want you to read your next book on the iPad. Play your next game on the iPad. Listen to the next great album on the iPad. This is about media consumption.

Find a better, more well-written opinion in this thread and I'll be impressed.

iPhone users have a choice as do all smartphone users. Many iPhone users selected the iPhone knowing that they'd be locked into the App Store and the rules that apply.

Those who preach the "open is better" mantra at all costs obviously don't speak for the public. For the most part, Apple's customers seem quite happy with the iPod, the iPhone and other "closed system" devices. Sadly, Tim Bray seems to have joined this crowd and has done so without critical evaluation of Android.

As you pointed out, Google needs to make advances in phone technology to win--not copy nor denigrate the choices other manufacturers have made. If they feel they have a superior alternative to RIM, Apple or WinMO then let customers speak. So far, RIM and Apple lead the pack.