Apple have obviously finished the Hardware Design of the iPad and are manufacturing it but their 4.0 software is unfinished. The 3.1.2 software has been updated to run on the iPad as 3.2 so that they can get the thing to market.

Seems justifiable to me and people will buy it as it is.

Why rush 4.0? End up putting a device to market with a lot of bugs (I know iPhone had some when it first entered the market so why make the same mistake twice - the 3.1.2 code base is pretty stable now).

They can now take their time polishing and adapting the 4.0 code to run 3.2 iPad and 3.1.2 iPhone software and all the extra goodies that come with it (Hoping decent multitasking, notification system etc).

With some luck they will demo 4.0 in the near future have it available mid year as usual and both iPad and iPhone users will get a fantastic rush again!

Despite all the debate there will always be haters and lovers of the device and converts both ways depending on the uses the developer community dream up for it. A second round of purchasers later in the year when 4.0 hits wont hurt Apple either.

This takes away what would have been a killer app on the iPad, video chatting over WiFi. That would put no strain on the network since it's WiFi, it's just the cost to them of putting a little camera in there. EVEN THE CHEAP NETBOOKS HAVE ONE.

I wanted to buy one of these for my retired parents, and a lot of friends I know were thinking that too. Perfect gift for parents, it's like a laptop that's always on and ready to display pictures, video, internet, play games and email your relatives. But without the killer video app? That would have cost Apple what, $20 to put in? There is just no excuse. I will have to wait for iPad 2, this is just too glaring an omission and frankly insulting.

So, iPad is shown off with and likely ships with 3.2, but just as it ships we see 4.0, which will be a free upgrade in June/July, and enticed those who weren't early adopters.

Apple makes colossal PR blunders at times, but they usually do okay with consumer electronics.

No offense intended, but you are missing the point as to motivation. Apple is secretive, no doubt about that. However, the iPad launch was Apple's signature moment of 2010. It was, to paraphrase Jobs, "the most important device he has ever worked on." ANYTHING that makes that unveiling look bad hurts Apple in the tech press, and Jobs personally. Secretive or no, value of keeping alleged iPhone update features secret has to surpass the injury caused by a substandard IPad launch.

The only way those alleged secrets have value is if revealing the secret would depress current sales, and the only way that can happen is if those secret features will not be available to currently selling models (the 3G and 3GS.) Otherwise, Apple is either acting irrationally by holding valueless secrets in higher regard than their signature launch, or they are incompetent in meeting their self-publicized time goals.

You appear to think the latter -- that the iPad was simply good enough to go and impossible to keep secret any longer -- but 1) Apple held the bigger secret of the iPhone even longer, and 2) Apple specifically broke away from Macworld this year in order to have precise control over the timing of their major announcements. It is unreasonable to think Apple's ability to keep secrets has slipped so much that they would find it appealing to present a half-baked launch of their "most important product" ever in order to preserve other, essentially valueless secrets. To believe that, you have to think Apple is either irrational or incompetent.

I do dislike the name, actually.

Anyway, I don't really think of the iPad as being crippled as such, but I do agree that Apple, by introducing a new device into its iPhone OS ecosystem, has to update all of the individual OS's at the same time. Its primary goal with the iPad has to be complete compatibility with iPhone apps, especially at launch when 99.999% of the apps available for the iPad were written for the iPhone. Think of it from the standpoint of keeping things seamless for app developers, and it makes sense to proceed the way Apple is handling it.

If (and likely when) Apple announces the iPhone OS update in May or so, it will have all the features they want on the next iPhone. There's no way to extend the exact same OS features on devices as disparate as the iPad and the iPhone 3G, IMO.

I disagree with both of your major points.

For the first point, witness the version one iphone. Then witness the arrival of iphone 3g, with.... Horrors, Web apps.

Apple does this routinely, and it helps prolong the hype, and make customers swoon because they got new functionality on stuff they already bought.

For your second point, hiding features, Apple does this all the time too. (Hell, they hid copy/paste for two years, then stole it lock stock and barrel from QuickOffice.)

I don't thing Apple needs a "motivation to hide" something. Its far more likely 4.0 just wasn't ready yet, but the iPad was good enough to go and impossible to keep secret any longer.

Here's what I think, before the iPad officially launches, we will get our first look at iPhone 3.2, which will come preloaded on the iPad. This update will feature homescreen backgrounds, a landscape homescreen (these two were showcased on the iPad earlier today), and maybe some features that you've predicted for 4.0. The rest of these features that we might see on the iPhone in the near future, such as multitasking (with 10 hours of battery life, this iPad could definitely handle multitasking), will debut in iPhone 4.0 sometime before or at the announcement of the next gen iPhone, in June or July.

can someone please help me switch the iphoneblog site to the mobile theme the option is not there anymore!!!!!!!

• At an event with unprecedented media scrutiny, show less than their best, or, at least Intentionally hide features and give a misleadingly poor impression of their new product, just so they have something to announce at the far, FAR lower key WWDC.

• Have a motivation to hide upcoming features of their hottest selling products, the iPhone/iPod touches. The only way this would make sense is if announcing the features would hurt current sales, and the only way that makes sense is if these new features were not going to be available on the 3G/3GS.

Otherwise, no -- it makes no sense for Apple to cripple their grand unveiling of their "magical" product. Maybe iPhone 4.0, whenever it comes out, will have other features, but it is silly to think they would sabotage their iPad unveiling just to keep those features silent.

http://www.diverse-group.com/menu/blog.html