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Comment by YooLi | Hacker News Reader

If you visit from an iOS device, you get redirected to this page: http://thetoshibatablet.com/mobile/apple.html

Wouldn't it make more sense to advertise the device and list its features to a potential convert (I am visiting the site to check it out after all), than show me a "haha you can't see flash page". As soon as I saw the page I just hit back and moved onto something else, as most probably will. A red page without even an image of the device so I might later recognize it as the tablet that does flash isn't helping them much.

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Sounds like they don't think they have much chance of getting switchers from iOS.

You say this based on what, exactly? It sounds to me like they just need to finish working on their web site, and one can't really take more from it than that without inserting one's own personal biases.

The page I saw insulted me. It didn't say "Hang on while we finish up here." I reserve the right to draw conclusions based on their tone, not just on their decision to skip building a cheap and simple web site.

I suspect you are fulfilling exactly what they want out of the page - insulted iOS users foaming at the mouth, expressing their anger and propelling their new site into the headlines with accompanying controversy lasting several days. This will lead to yet more discussion about Flash and the iPad not supporting it which will trickle down to even non-tech users who will slowly absorb the controversy as a simple equation of "the iPad can't do something the Toshiba tablet can".

I think it's a brilliant move.

It hasn't even launched yet. I'm sure the publicity will die down before they ship a single unit.

Toshiba is a major company, and this is a major product launch. I don't think unveiling a single video on their web site is their full advertising plan.

I was referring to the "controversy buzz". Unless they keep reiterating it, I don't see it helping enough to be a huge sales strategy.

evilduck has a good point. Apple announces and launches within an intimate timelime. When will we really see the Xoom? How many people know about the Xoom now? How many will remember it when they launch in April. After the iPad 2 has likely been announced, possibly even shipped?

I'm excited about the potential for Android here in tablet form... I suspect the race will be nearly identical to Apple's on the mobile front... Apple has been a full cycle ahead. They're pushing the technology, they're advancing innovations in Tablet UI (though I think Honeycomb represents a better tablet-progressive than iOS does)... they were ahead on phones, they're ahead on tablets. That impression alone sells people.

Now that I've actually seen the ad -- no, it didn't insult you any more than the Mac vs. PC ads "insult" the PC user. If you take knocks on Apple products as some sort of personal insult, you might want to step back and take a couple deep breaths.

From another perspective, I run NoScript and couldn't see the site either. Between the petty Apple redirect crap I saw here and it being Flash only, I'm never going to see their advertisement. Had they chosen a regular web page, some of their fancy effects may have broke at first, but they could have at least had the chance to show something catchy that would have persuaded me to whitelist them.

As it stands, I'm not even curious what they're trying to do differently than Apple. I'll wait for the next news item telling me how it only sold <10,000 units and how quickly it was scrapped.

So you know what's funny? For some reason the image failed to load when I first visited the page, and I was left wondering what the fuss is all about. Hence the parent comment.

But now that I actually see it, I think it's a good ad. Normal iPad users like my sister are painfully aware of their device's limitations, and this speaks to them, if a little cheekily.

I could kind of understand if Toshiba doesn't want to put much effort into selling to current iPad owners, but there are a lot of other iOS devices whose owners might be in the market. Toshiba just lost an opportunity to tell me anything about their tablet except that it runs flash, and that they think I'm dumb for owning an iPod touch. Will I be booting up my laptop to check out their site? Um, no.

So basically because I use the iPad I can't see their ad. Such a shame.

If Flash isn't a big enough issue for you to switch, the chances of you switching at all are tiny. That iOS page is actually a good ad for the fraction of iOS users who might want their product.

I'm typing this on a Toshiba Satellite running Ubuntu, so I would normally root for them.

But the site is a pretty strong argument for getting an iPhone so you don't have to see things like this...

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