ClamCase turns iPad into laptop

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Marvel Entertainment"

Umm.... what? Marvel? As in... the comic book company? Did someone link the wrong video, because if not, how the heck is Marvel related to a video (that I can only assume) contains footage about an iPad accessory?

In recent weeks, we have seem many attempts to "convert" the iPad into a portable laptop. Not only do we see these efforts as folly and doomed to fail, we believe they are a hindrance to the development of a better computing interface.

Once more folks let go of the screen/keyboard mindset, we will see the more and more of the power of the touch UI unleashed.

More on this line of thought here...
http://www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2010/Home/May/Week1/RDMHomeMay0710.htm#NavigatingATouchscreenUI

OMG! That case is AMAZING!

I am going to step in here and throw out a use case: I am a college student and having grown up with computers I type relatively fast, I have a MacBook air I won at the end of my senior year and synced via SugarSync to my 27" iMac I have a wonderful set up. Alas, the air suffered liquid damage and I fear it is on it's last legs. I have a choice: repair or buy a new computer. I would love an ipad if I could take it to the library and to class and type notes on it, but just imagine lugging a Bluetooth keyboard and using a stand - it's not practice. I personally can not see a use for the ipad for me unless i can use it for note taking and paper writing - this solves my problem! I was WAY excited to read this, I don't need a whole MacBook, nor do I want another air. This case = perfect solution. Give me one more ipad generation and this case in production at a fair price and I will be replacing my air real quick. Wonderful idea - I hope it's well implemented!

(Oh, I see now. It doesn't like a particular character combo. Perceives it as an HTML tag. Okay. Here's the full post without the offending glitch. Third time's the charm!)

People who say buy a laptop instead of this miss three crucial points: 1) a laptop can never, ever, ever, ever separate from the screen. Ever. Eh-ver, 2) a netbook (as opposed to a laptop) is still not running iPhone OS which is a superior operating system to all current netbook OSs, 3) No touch screen.

And how dense do people have to be at this late stage in the game to not realize that the most important innovation of the iPad is the overall user experience and not the hardware? People are still focusing on what it looks like. Sure, an iPad looks in some way like a keyboard-less laptop or netbook, but in reality it is absolutely nothing like these devices which are part of a fading paradigm.

This ClamCase is an excellent idea because it gives you the OPTION (key concept) of having a laptop or just the iPad. Options are highly important. There are entire market segments, billions of dollars made on the simple concept of giving people a choice.

Why buy coffee from a coffee shop instead of at home? Option. Why watch a film in the movie theater instead of at home? Option.

Using iPad in the car as a GPS-enabled smart map? Leave the keyboard at home. Option.

Also, the title of this blog post should be "ClamCase MAY turn iPad into laptop" since the product doesn't exist and is officially vaporware until they ship the thing.

(I guess TUAW is imposing a character limit on comments now. It would be nice if you'd tell us. Rest of the post...)

OPTION (

People who say buy a laptop instead of this miss three crucial points: 1) a laptop can never, ever, ever, ever separate from the screen. Ever. Eh-ver, 2) a netbook (as opposed to a laptop) is still not running iPhone OS which is a superior operating system to all current netbook OSs, 3) No touch screen.

And how dense do people have to be at this late stage in the game to not realize that the most important innovation of the iPad is the overall user experience and not the hardware? People are still focusing on what it looks like. Sure, an iPad looks in some way like a keyboard-less laptop or netbook, but in reality it is absolutely nothing like these devices which are part of a fading paradigm.

This ClamCase is an excellent idea because it gives you the OPTION (

Regardless of what the nay-sayers think, I think it is cool. As for the netbook comments, well, a netbook is not an Apple product. As for the comments of why not get a macbook instead, because of the major cost savings. duh!

Pretty. Pass.

But if it were delivered through a keynote within the Reality Distortion Field...1.5 million sold in a month. :-)

Totally stupid ad. Can't see product, and it isn't as badass as the soundtrack would like it to be.