The general buzz today is that the iPad is underwhelming and a general disappointment. I too am one who read the many rumors and expectations, mentioning North Carolina data centers, Lala acquisitions and the like where Apple may choose to deliver a cloud experience unlike any other and buy and sell the 3G wireless plans along with the device rather than picking a carrier or two. I am a bit curious to see if tethering will ever come out of AT&T and if so will existing iPhone owners be able to tether their iPad through their phone. Or would they choose to give us an iPhone Plus iPad data plan for $40 instead of $30 a month. Unlimited of course. In truth, how many people are going to consume 3G bandwidth with both devices at the same time.
But back to the the beginning. The major arguments against the iPad stem from 2 basic camps, which are ultimately intertwined. First, that the iPad doesn't serve any particular purpose, simply put that it does not accomplish the feat of doing any key tasks better than the already existing iPhone or MacBook. This argument goes to the I think I would take one for free sentiment but you aren't going to get me to pay for one. The second overwhelming disdain out there is that it simply does not do enough and did not reinvent any wheels, as in the user interface, with some radical game changing experience. At the end of the day it is just a big iPhone.
We forget one major thing. The iPhone is the single greatest breakthrough device of recent history, maybe more than the original iPod. It has spawned the smartphone wars and imitators in a way that the Palms and Blackberries before had not, bringing touchscreen into our lives in a way we never even knew we needed it. Yet just like the iPod before the iTunes store (do you remember the original 5GB firewire brick?), the original iPhone (as much of an incredible breakthrough as it was that now three years later everyone seems to have one) was lacking. No App Store. Slow EDGE. No 3G. The iPhone has come a long way since it debuted.
People are expecting, and maybe wrongly so that the iPad would be the iPhone but way better and in some ways it is. But it is still a Revision A product. A good product. But it needs to be used, to find its way into people's hands and have them use it, before the people who make it can revise and shape it to do what we need it to. And I use the word need. As the MacRumors and Engadget and Gizmodo geeks that fill the forums, etc. with opinion on the product will offer up their many theories as to what it is missing: no camera for video or videoconferencing, no flash, no user replaceable battery (are you really surprised - because if you are I will sell you my Rev. A aluminum MacBook with a replaceable battery and no firewire and go get myself a 13" MacBook Pro with a longer battery life and firewire 800) ~ it has been said time and time again, SJ and Co. don't make devices for us, they make them for the consumers.
Case and Point. You want an iPhone that doesn't conform to Apple's closed system, you Jailbreak it. You want an Apple TV that plays any format of video and you are too lazy to convert said video, you use ATV Flash or another means of doing so. The great thing about Apple products is that the general consumer can get the most out of them. And the geeks can still use some hack, software or other technique of making the products better for them. I understand this doesn't accomplish 5MP cameras with flash or other hardware related items. But as I watched the keynote tonight, one key sentence at the end struck me. Sure Apple is a $50 Billion a year company. But SJ said, here is the iPad, I hope you like it as much as we do. He, they, Apple don't care if you don't. Or you don't. Or you don't. It will still sell, and like the ATV or the Air, it doesn't have to be successful in huge numbers to justify it. Or for them to say we should have built this this and that into it to make you want to buy it, but still found a way to keep it cheaper. Maybe as prices of things come down, in a year or two as they always do, features will increase and prices will stay the same or drop ever so slightly. Just like the MacBooks and the iPhones and the iPods. Hell, the first iPod was 5GB for $400! That should have failed. Get off your instant gratification and get a clue!
I feel like some old man lecturing the kids of today on what it is to work for something and not expect everything handed to you and for free. But I'll get off that soapbox.
The missing point.
It was touched on when the iPhone first came, and now the iPad positions itself almost better in a way. Some sort of hybrid. It's about the computer evolution. Notebooks are great. I have a 13" MacBook and it's great. I have a really light case for it that is almost a sleeve but still has room for a few things, making it about as light a mobile computer as I could go short of MacBook Air or netbook. I also have my iPhone which I do a lot on, but lets face it, while it is fun for gaming and marginally acceptable for surfing the web when necessary or emailing, it is too small to really use consistently for those things. It's my really cool phone, with all sorts of handy Apps, but it's my phone. Access to maps, data, mail when I'm out, the web if I need it, all my contacts, calendar, all that sort of stuff in a way I never had 5 years ago. But it's a phone. Yet when it came out, it was suggested by a writer that in 5 to 10, maybe 15 years, our phone would become our computer, and we would go from place to place and simply dock it with displays, and keyboards and such, removing the need for desktops and notebooks in the evolution of everything. Well, maybe maybe not. Not in 5 years from 2007, doubtfully even in 10. Technology just doesn't accelerate that fast. However, with the iPad, we are seeing a bit of that evolution. Me personally, I like having a powerful desktop (in my case just an iMac) at home because of HDD space, having it tied to my network etc. But my MacBook while great isn't always that much fun to lug around. And it's just a 13, not even a heavier 15 or 17 beast. But I'm also not a professional using it for work, needing it everywhere I go. I am the ultimate, slightly more informed that average consumer. And so while the iPad may not appeal to me that much today, I can't say I really need it, and I did feel slightly disappointed by the lack of gamechanging UI features and the simplistic feel of the iPhone/Touch spaced out App icons, I see real promise in an extremely lightweight device that is way better for email, web surfing, and certainly watching movies on a flight or playing games than my iPhone is. And more than that I can see that the evolution of our digital computing needs may be headed more in this direction than with a notebook.
But back to the the beginning. The major arguments against the iPad stem from 2 basic camps, which are ultimately intertwined. First, that the iPad doesn't serve any particular purpose, simply put that it does not accomplish the feat of doing any key tasks better than the already existing iPhone or MacBook. This argument goes to the I think I would take one for free sentiment but you aren't going to get me to pay for one. The second overwhelming disdain out there is that it simply does not do enough and did not reinvent any wheels, as in the user interface, with some radical game changing experience. At the end of the day it is just a big iPhone.
We forget one major thing. The iPhone is the single greatest breakthrough device of recent history, maybe more than the original iPod. It has spawned the smartphone wars and imitators in a way that the Palms and Blackberries before had not, bringing touchscreen into our lives in a way we never even knew we needed it. Yet just like the iPod before the iTunes store (do you remember the original 5GB firewire brick?), the original iPhone (as much of an incredible breakthrough as it was that now three years later everyone seems to have one) was lacking. No App Store. Slow EDGE. No 3G. The iPhone has come a long way since it debuted.
People are expecting, and maybe wrongly so that the iPad would be the iPhone but way better and in some ways it is. But it is still a Revision A product. A good product. But it needs to be used, to find its way into people's hands and have them use it, before the people who make it can revise and shape it to do what we need it to. And I use the word need. As the MacRumors and Engadget and Gizmodo geeks that fill the forums, etc. with opinion on the product will offer up their many theories as to what it is missing: no camera for video or videoconferencing, no flash, no user replaceable battery (are you really surprised - because if you are I will sell you my Rev. A aluminum MacBook with a replaceable battery and no firewire and go get myself a 13" MacBook Pro with a longer battery life and firewire 800) ~ it has been said time and time again, SJ and Co. don't make devices for us, they make them for the consumers.
Case and Point. You want an iPhone that doesn't conform to Apple's closed system, you Jailbreak it. You want an Apple TV that plays any format of video and you are too lazy to convert said video, you use ATV Flash or another means of doing so. The great thing about Apple products is that the general consumer can get the most out of them. And the geeks can still use some hack, software or other technique of making the products better for them. I understand this doesn't accomplish 5MP cameras with flash or other hardware related items. But as I watched the keynote tonight, one key sentence at the end struck me. Sure Apple is a $50 Billion a year company. But SJ said, here is the iPad, I hope you like it as much as we do. He, they, Apple don't care if you don't. Or you don't. Or you don't. It will still sell, and like the ATV or the Air, it doesn't have to be successful in huge numbers to justify it. Or for them to say we should have built this this and that into it to make you want to buy it, but still found a way to keep it cheaper. Maybe as prices of things come down, in a year or two as they always do, features will increase and prices will stay the same or drop ever so slightly. Just like the MacBooks and the iPhones and the iPods. Hell, the first iPod was 5GB for $400! That should have failed. Get off your instant gratification and get a clue!
I feel like some old man lecturing the kids of today on what it is to work for something and not expect everything handed to you and for free. But I'll get off that soapbox.
The missing point.
It was touched on when the iPhone first came, and now the iPad positions itself almost better in a way. Some sort of hybrid. It's about the computer evolution. Notebooks are great. I have a 13" MacBook and it's great. I have a really light case for it that is almost a sleeve but still has room for a few things, making it about as light a mobile computer as I could go short of MacBook Air or netbook. I also have my iPhone which I do a lot on, but lets face it, while it is fun for gaming and marginally acceptable for surfing the web when necessary or emailing, it is too small to really use consistently for those things. It's my really cool phone, with all sorts of handy Apps, but it's my phone. Access to maps, data, mail when I'm out, the web if I need it, all my contacts, calendar, all that sort of stuff in a way I never had 5 years ago. But it's a phone. Yet when it came out, it was suggested by a writer that in 5 to 10, maybe 15 years, our phone would become our computer, and we would go from place to place and simply dock it with displays, and keyboards and such, removing the need for desktops and notebooks in the evolution of everything. Well, maybe maybe not. Not in 5 years from 2007, doubtfully even in 10. Technology just doesn't accelerate that fast. However, with the iPad, we are seeing a bit of that evolution. Me personally, I like having a powerful desktop (in my case just an iMac) at home because of HDD space, having it tied to my network etc. But my MacBook while great isn't always that much fun to lug around. And it's just a 13, not even a heavier 15 or 17 beast. But I'm also not a professional using it for work, needing it everywhere I go. I am the ultimate, slightly more informed that average consumer. And so while the iPad may not appeal to me that much today, I can't say I really need it, and I did feel slightly disappointed by the lack of gamechanging UI features and the simplistic feel of the iPhone/Touch spaced out App icons, I see real promise in an extremely lightweight device that is way better for email, web surfing, and certainly watching movies on a flight or playing games than my iPhone is. And more than that I can see that the evolution of our digital computing needs may be headed more in this direction than with a notebook.