If I were a tech pundit, here’s what I would write about the iPad
I’ve decided to stop waiting for someone to ask me my thoughts on the iPad. You can say all the chirping crickets inspired me to do this unsolicited.
The iPad…
…is about consuming media, not producing it.
You know that old line about having two ears and one mouth means you should listen twice before speaking once? The iPad is the same, but in reverse – it is all mouth (or, in this case, 9.6″ OLED IPS screen) and not so big on the input capability. It’s got scads of real estate to deliver those books, movies, newspapers and videos which means it belongs in the the comfy chair that His Steveness sat in for the presentation. But will also work in the board room? Not likely.
The iPad doesn’t replace a laptop (or even a netbook) unless its owner also hauls around that extra keyboard because the onscreen virtual one seems sure to frustrate. It gobbles up half of that luscious real estate and gives no tactile response. Even worse, if you’re accustomed to resting your keys on the keyboard while typing, (i.e. you’re normal) you’re going to have to learn to do the iPad ten finger hover.
All this means that it’s going to live in the den, kitchen or living room. But the workplace? Not as likely except for digital finger painting studios.
…is kind of like the first iPhone.
Remember that first iPhone, with the shiny aluminum back? It was a wild and first-ever of its kind and many buyers leapt at the chance to own one. Discriminating buyers, in contrast, wondered why that first release used AT&T’s slow poke Edge network. Others wanted to know why there wasn’t a GPS. And the software developers wanted to know why there wouldn’t be onboard third party apps. Soon afterward Apple released the iPhone 3G which cleared all these things up. These were not technical bugs, they were strategic bugs.
The iPad’s missing parts are a camera that allows for video conferencing, an OS that allows for multitasking, and a built in keyboard that feels like a real keyboard. When those kinds of features show up, then it’ll really be dressed up and ready to party. Frankly, I’ll wait till then and in the meantime, thank the early adopters for showing Apple the way. (Important note: I’m not at all cynical on this “release” “fix” “repeat” approach to R&D – I think it’s great. But in this case, I’m not ready to be the guinea pig.)
…has won the (price) race to bottom.
Most Apple-watchers were stunned at the low price point. This hints that Apple was targeting the “oh-why-not-just-get-it” crowd who doesn’t care about all the extra gillygags Apple could have packed onboard. The “gotta-have-it-at-any-costers” who would have justified a $1,000 (or more) price tag will buy it too, and they’ll wonder why it doesn’t also do their dry cleaning, because they would have happily paid for the feature. Where does this leave Apple? To hurry and bulk up on those missing gillygags because I don’t see the price dropping any further.
…marketing team believes Any Press is Good Press:
“iPad?” Really? You mean formalizing the way that Chicago people already say iPod? How about less than six hours until there were multiple pages of iPad jokes.
Okay, that wraps up my attempt to be a tech pundit. Back to my regular job. Thanks for reading.