kaching said:
smh
No, not strange. Just what a well-rounded OS has to do to account for all the ways a user may try to use it.
By your logic, this "middle" device shouldn't even include wifi or 3G support, because when the device isn't in range of either form of signal, has a really weak connection or perhaps runs into a wifi router it's not compatible with it would have to report a confusing issue to the user. Best to probably just leave the browser out as well - wouldn't want to confuse the user with pages that load fast sometimes, slow others and not at all in other cases...
This is true. I did know about it, and just another casualty of Apple locking stuff down a little (it was related to removing firewire spec for charging, and getting devices to be 'licensed' with 'works with ipod' label').
I don't get your argument about 'may as well remove all connectivity'. It's just an arbitrary line in the sand. Apple chose it to be on that side of a USB port, no necessary rhyme nor reason, really, I was just pondering the decision. Afterall, if I followed your extreme, one could say they should've had a firewire 400 port. And 800. And USB 3. And light Peak. etc etc.
Point is, I don't necessarily think a USB port is confusing. Nor not useful. Perhaps 'unnecessary' is perhaps the better word. Even that isn't quite right. Maybe just 'unfitting' in Apple's vision of the device. Not even that really, because the main reason is lockdown. They just don't want access to and from the device without their say so. A USB flash would be perfect for documents in iWork, but there's probably no way they'd allow the use of a flash drive for other apps unless the file type were restricted. They barely allow apps to read/write outside of its own sandbox, let alone external storage. They also want people to use their dock port - that's their vision for hardware expansion/connection on the iPad. It may be as simple as that.
Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. I guess they could have put a USB port in and solved all the potential issues that they would have not liked in it, but they simply chose to be on this side of it (the side with no USB port). Maybe there'll be one in the future.
I agree it's a feature that is somewhat limiting, but for me it'll just be a feature that's like "oh wouldn't it be cool if...". Obviously if that moment happens to often for some people, it becomes a device of less utility enough not to consider. I get that. That didn't happen to me. Again, I choose not to see what it can't do, but what it can. The iPhone didn't have a USB port (yes, I know it's ridiculous), but it's absence didn't hinder me much there. I still did the things I wanted to on it. I understand as a productivity device, it would be useful to have on the iPad, but I've never thought that iWork is all that serious a viability - I never bring it up as a serious work tool, because it's mostly a convenience thing. I don't actually intend on writing documents or doing my spreadsheets on it. Anyway, my point is that saving iWork files is about the only function I would use a USB port for that doesn't have a solution in some other manner. I'll concede that lack of usb file transfer kind of kills iWork a little. Maybe a lot. But frankly it's killing a feature I don't think I was seriously going to use anyway.
Most of the functions that I would need come from a sync cable. So for me, it'd just be a proprietary port for file transfer, a feature that is perhaps needed for some apps, but not really needed for a device without a user accessible file system.
Sure there are a whole slew of things you can imagine you can do with it, me too, but none of that stuff is all that critical to me. Maybe I'm just being too accepting of a major oversight. I don't know, maybe you're right. I guess you're miffed at what this device could have been which is so much more.
and then add a larger version months later. But your are correct, the launch year of the iPhone did see adjustments. 
).
