> This week Peter Kafka with *MediaMemo* revealed that both NPR and the *Journal* will convert at least [some portions](http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100315/for-npr-the-ipad-means-a-new-app-and-a-new-web-site/) of their Web site to load properly on the iPad. The custom-built sites will feature the same content and run concurrently with the traditional and iPhone/mobile-friendly versions of each Web site. > > “Visitors to the newspaper’s front page will see an iPad-specific, Flash-free page,” Kafka said of the *Journal’s* iPad Web site. “But those who click deeper into the site will eventually find pages that haven’t been converted.” How long before NPR and the Wall Street Journal get tired of paying site designers to offer content both ways, and eventually just lose the Flash parts altogether?

Apple’s strategy to kill Flash is working out beautifully. And the rest of us will benefit greatly from it.

> Starting today, an additional version of the Nexus One is available from the Google web store that is compatible with AT&T’s 3G network. This new model can be purchased as an unlocked device without a service plan. In addition to AT&T’s 3G network, this device will also run on Rogers Wireless in Canada. And like the first version of the Nexus One, it can be used with most GSM operators globally. Again, Google is trumpeting the fact that the Nexus One can be purchased “unlocked.” But if I need to buy a different version of the phone to use it with any carrier in the US other than AT&T, what good is purchasing it unlocked?

You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.

I’ve said it a thousand times before, and I’ll say it again: There is no such thing as an unlocked phone in the US. All phones can only work on one specific carrier here.

The only advantage of buying the unlocked version is that you get to cancel your service in less than two years without a penalty. But you pay so much more for the unlocked version that you end up paying about the same if you cancel early, anyway.

> As Google and Apple continue to battle for the mobile marketplace, Google Nexus One may go down as a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helped Google learn something that will prove important in years to come,” the firm wrote. Nexus One is clearly flopping. Any phone that comes out in 2010 needs to have a better opening weekend than the original iPhone, which came out in 2007. People barely knew what a smartphone was in 2007. The pool of potential buyers is far larger today.

So by releasing the Nexus One when they did, Google not only botched their only shot at at a huge “Google Phone” debut, but also effectively took all the air out of the Droid, which had been doing fairly well at launch, thanks to a multi-million dollar ad blitz and a holiday season release.

What are the chances that Verizon and Motorola are going to be enthusiastic about the next big Android phone that comes along?

I’ve noticed in AT&T’s new ads for the Backflip (their first Android phone), they don’t even mention Google, nor do they mention that it runs Android. Odd choice. Almost as odd as making Yahoo the default search engine on the Backflip.

Android clearly is in the middle of an identity crisis.

> Users on the [AAPL Sanity Board](http://www.investorvillage.com/groups.asp?mb=13977&pt=m&category=A) at Investor Village have taken their order numbers and used them to figure out how many total preorders Apple has taken for the iPad. On Friday, the first day of availability, they determined that an estimated [51,000 units](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/12/ipad_50000_sales_in_2_hours_apple_tv_bumped_mysterious_app_icon.html) were sold in the first two hours. By the end of the day, they found that 120,000 were secured in the first 24 hours. > > But according to Philip Elmer-DeWitt with *Fortune Brainstorm Tech*, by Saturday and Sunday those order estimates had slowed to about [1,000 per hour](http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/15/apple-ipad-orders-drop-sharply/), suggesting demand for the device died off considerably after the first day. > > Daniel Tello, who has been tracking the numbers closely, predicted that Apple will sell about 30,000 iPad preorders on weekdays, and half of that on weekends. He forecasts no more than a half-million preorders and reservations will be taken before the [April 3 launch](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/05/apple_ipad_to_arrive_in_u_s_on_april_3_preorders_begin_march_12.html). He told Elmer-DeWitt he believes Apple will sell 1 million iPads by the second week after the device ships. > > Most among the preorders tracked at Investor Village opted for the Wi-Fi-only model, coming on top by a two-to-one margin. The Wi-Fi iPad will be available April 3, while the 3G-enabled versions, which carry a [$130 premium](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/27/apple_reveals_long_awaited_multi_touch_ipad_tablet_device.html), will arrive later that month. Preorders saw a relatively even split among capacities, with the largest model, 64GB, accounting for 35 percent of orders. > > Users who wish to add to the iPad sales tracking project can help by sending their order number with the last three digits X-ed out, the number of iPads ordered, order time, time zone, memory capacity and whether they purchased a 3G or Wi-Fi model to [ipadsales10@gmail.com](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/15/preorders_for_apple_ipad_slow_after_120k_first_day_rush.html/mailto:ipadsales10@gmail.com). One HUGE problem with this website’s estimates: They’re only tracking “preorders.” Their numbers aren’t taking into account all the people, like myself, who reserved an iPad to be picked up at the Apple store.

There was no order number associated with my reservation. I only received an email confirmation that my iPad would be available for pickup on the 3rd.

I have to figure that maybe half or even a lot more than half of 1st day buyers are going for the in-store pickup option. So these estimates are likely very much on the low side.

> ## 2. USB ports > > Notebooks and netbooks offer tremendous flexibility via the USB ports. There are USB thumb drives, external USB hard drives, USB webcams, USB headsets, etc. A USB port—along with the right software and drivers—would greatly extend the functionality of the iPad, and enable business professionals to use it for a variety of purposes that it can’t support without them. Apple isn’t going to put a USB port on the iPad. Ever. Stop suggesting it. And stop suggesting that the iPad needs “true multitasking” and an SD card slot, and a removable battery.

That’s what cheap Chinese knockoffs and netbooks are for.