my iPad reactions
As an Apple fanboy I was really looking forward to yesterdays announcement of the iPad!
After the dust have settled a bit I have some thoughts about this whole thing.
First off is whether or not it lived up to the anticipation. The short answer would be no! But then that’s no surprise. After all the iPhone was poorly received to start off with as well, and that hadn’t had anywhere near as long a rumored existence as the mythical Apple tablet! I’m of course not the only one who had this thought, and I feel like everyone should have known from the get-go that no matter how magical the iPad is it would in no way be able to live up to about 17 years of expectations, hopes and dreams. However I don’t believe that the iPad was fully introduced at the event.
So what do I mean is that supposed to mean, when I say I don’t believe that it was fully introduced at the event. Well it’s a two part answer. One is the way that Steve Jobs introduced the device and the other is the fact that it runs iPhone OS 3.2.
In essence Steve Jobs didn’t seem like he believed what he was saying about the tablet. If you watch the introduction it seems like he thinks it’s a great looking device, but that it just isn’t really doing it for him. His presentation wasn’t as smooth as it usually is either. The transitions seemed a bit abrupt and his enthusiasm didn’t seem very profound, unlike other introductions, where he honestly looks like he believes that he is holding the worlds greatest device in his hands, even if it is just a small spec bump!
So why is that? Well that’s the second thing. The device is being launched with iPhone OS 3.2, even though iPhone OS 4.0 ought to right around the corner. I bet that this means that a lot of the functionality that the device will gain – and possibly the functionality that will make it seem magical – won’t be available before the next major update to the OS.
And so why would Jobs, who is known to be a perfectionist, introduce a half-baked device. It is likely it was introduced early, so developers will start creating content that are more targeted towards the iPad. This way it will already have great apps available when it goes on sale. Secondly it assures that it won’t accidentally be uncovered in an FCC filling. But most importantly it won’t spoil the surprise of what the next iPhone will have as its new feature set.
With 60 days before the device goes on sale, Apple will be a lot closer to unveiling the next iteration of the iPhone OS. My prediction is that it will not only make the iPhone even more compelling than it already is, but it will also introduce features and capabilities that make the iPad seem much more lust-worthy.
This brings me to my last thoughts of the iPad so far – the apps! For a long time the internet and especially tech sites have been pondering what could possibly be the killer functionality that would make it stand out from the otherwise relatively unsuccessful taplet PCs. Obviously it will be a compelling ebook reader, but not enough to warrant it as a third device type. And sure it will be great for watching movies on the plane or on the couch, where the web and email capabilities will also be of great use… but just not enough that it warrants a separate device. It’s not like anyone is gonna ditch their notebook or smartphone just for this. And who will want to use this while commuting. It’s just not full fledged enough to replace a laptop and not compact enough that you’re gonna bring it everywhere like an iPhone or iPod touch. So what else could it possibly be! Right now I don’t know, but I bet Apple has a good idea, which we will see before long. And if they don’t I’m convinced at least a few app developers will come up with usage scenarios that would make it more compelling.
