iPad stylus support

You proceed from the false assumption that you can dictate that Apple provide you with a choice.

They do not. Your choice is to buy/not buy as you see fit.

I am completely happy with the lack of stylus.

I got really disappointed with Steve's answer to one of the question "if you see a stylus, they blew it". I really think this is wrong.

OK. I happen to disagree. I don't need a stylus on the iPad and would not have purchased it if it required one.

I know it's been some time since Steve has gone to uni but making notes, annotations or writing equations without a pen isn't much fun!

I don't seem to have problems writing notes or annotations on my iPad without a stylus. The virtual keyboard works just fine. I admit I haven't tried writing any equations on it, but lots of people have done so on computers without styli with no problems.

Giving people a choice to buy or not to buy the stylus won't hurt Apple. I know that there are some alternatives not developed by Apple, but apparently they're not that good/accurate.

Apple designed their product to work without a stylus. If you need a stylus and handwriting support, then clearly the iPad isn't the product for you and you should buy something else. Try the product you're interested in out first before you buy, though; those tablet computers I've encountered that used a stylus were, in my opinion, far from adequate.

I understand completely.

It just means that you're not the target audience in effect.

Don't worry - pen & paper did very well in my day 🙂

without a stylus and proper stylus support to annotate PDFs, books and presentation slides I (and probably lots of other people in my situation) surely won't go for one.

What is everyone using now that has these annotation features that people in your situation need?

I assume you've already sent your wishes to Apple via the feedback channel?

If you want a stylus that will work with your iPad or iPhone or your Mac trackpad, get a Pogo Sketch Stylus.

Totally agree on the pogo sketch, and bought mine at the Apple store. They keep them in the back, but available on request for $15. I find it handily to use with PadNotes and a few other apps, especially for marking up documents.

I am in complete agreement about needing a stylus option. No one wants a stylus only Ipad but having the option and ability use one effectively would be a huge advantage. Not only am I already a target market candidate (and will probably buy pending more reviews of the Pogo stylus) apple would open themselves up to so many more of the artists that they market their computers so effectively to.
Personally I am a writer I like to write and always have a small yellow notepad and a sketch pad on me at all times as well as my iphone. I think a lot of other folks would find a stylus very practical and useful if it was an option.

I use Bamboo boards and touch screens a lot and find that a stylus is seldom useful for me. But I am more autistic than artistic. I use them just as I would use a muse cursor.

However, when I need a stylus then... well that's what I said. Need. My fingers are small - not pen-like and when I want to highlight areas and text on minuscule fonts then my fingies just wont work.

I vote for stylus option and that to omit the option of a pointing device on a point-based interface is a fault.

Forcing one is a greater fault and that's why I use Bamboo touch pads and not the ones that require a pen.

You do have the option to buy a stylus, so what is the the problem?
Apple is not stopping you from buying one.
Here are 2 examples:
http://tenonedesign.com/sketch.php

http://www.dixcount.com/productinfo.php?productsid=783&language=1


Buy one and enjoy it in good health.

The Pogo stylus works very well, and in particular when you wish to write rather than type, or sketch. I also recommend the Sundry Notes app (formerly School Notes Pro). It's an incredibly useful app for taking notes in class or in business meetings.It allows you to type, write, sketch, insert PDFs/photos, math and other symbols, etc.

I agree with you entirely. I would absolutely love to see good stylus support on the ipad. I think this has major potential in school settings.

I understand how a lot of people say they would never use pen like input for school notes, and would rely on typing with a keyboard, but i personally would die in class/would never be able to keep up if typing most of my lectures. that is not to say that i am a slow typer, it is just becuase of the type of notes my classes require.

I am a third year civil/environmental engineering student and i currently take almost all of y notes by hand on pen and paper. Trying to type out a calculus lecture would be ridiculous, and you would never be able to keep up with the professor by typing our functions, and constantly formatting your text, using symbols, etc. it just isnt realistic for mostly math based courses. Now im fully aware a lot of people will say: "then stick to pen and paper" ... but thats just it - this could literallly revolutionize school for engineering/science/math students who arent simply typing notes in lectures, but are drawing diagrams, charts, skecthes throughout lecture. I would no longer need to have several notebooks for all my different classes, and i could have all of my notes, lectures (and potentially even textbooks) on one device. No, this would not replace a laptop, but it cold almost replace paper! i could have all of my classes and lectures on this, and instead of lugging my laptop, textbooks and notebooks to school, i would just bring laptop and ipad (or even laptop, ipad and textbooks). if the ipad could replace all of my notebooks, i would go and buy an ipad tomorrow! the ipad woudl easily take up less space/weight in my backpack replacing just notebooks/paper alone.

As i understand it, the ipad can use stylus' such as the pogo, or dagi, but the only way that this would really be useful (while ive seen some pretty awesome drawing with them on sketchbook pro) is for it to allow me to write and take notes quickly/accurately/legibly in class. Im not sure that the ipad can deliver there, and i think it's a huge missed opportunity by apple/steve jobs. I was talking with a bunch of classmates and we all agreed that if it were as good a note taker as many tablet pc notebooks out there today, we'd all get it. and who doesn't want to save a few more trees? (did you know that Conservation International estimates that every 20 minutes more than 1200 acres of forest is burned/cleared for development... frightening!)

I think it will come down to me trying out an ipad/messing around with note taking, but i would LOVE for the ipad to be my digital paper, book reader, magazine reader, interactive textbook reader, and all other things apps..... maybe we will see a push towards this in ipad 2.0? here's to hoping 🙂

end of rant.

Still waiting for my 3G (come on Friday!) and while it is not a selling point for me, being ablt to type and handwrite notes in the same app would be a huge bonus for me. At prior job sites I was stuck with a very basic locked down computer, where all of my note taking was done in a webmail e-mail to myself. Not fun, but it worked.

The iPad I know will be much better than that, whethor using e-mail again, Pages, or some other app that can use some form of stylus and handwriting. I don't need OCR, but being able to save or send me a PDF of my own note taking will work, which seems to be what a lot of these combo little note taking apps can do. I added quite a few of these apps to my wish list, ready to go through and buy one, as well as looking at different styluses (stylii?).

I think if the iPad REQUIRED one, then yes, bad design. But for it to support it and have that as an optional input method, then yes great design.

You should check out this app... it sounds right up your alley... "Paper Desk"
You can keep multiple notebooks, draw sketches, etc. I'm currently checking out the lite version for free.

Excellent. That is one of the ones I flagged on my Wish List, and I already downloaded the Lite version. Feels weird shopping and buying software for something I don't own. But hey, it's all free so far.