Pro-iPad?
I gotta say… I’ve been following the hate-on that’s emerged for Apple since the iPad announcement on Wednesday. I suppose there is good reason for disappointment from all those folks who were expecting the blokes at Apple to ‘think different’ and design a product that is (a) exactly what a handful of computer geeks wanted and (b) does exactly the same thing as every other computer in a different package.
I’ve read all sorts of commentary on the device, and lots of remarks (some legit) about what it cannot do.
But I was actually quite intrigued and excited by some of the stuff it could do. Of note from my personal perspective is the possibility of using the device as a sketch pad. I’ve long pined for something like the Wacom Cintiq that has a single purpose: it’s a big ol’ draw-on monitor for artists. And it currently sells for about five times the list price for the iPad. Sure, more features to be sure, but a cheap digital sketch pad: that right there is worth five hundred bucks to me, and likely anyone who has ever had need to scribble a note, sketch, diagram, map, or whatever on the back of a napkin.
Just saying.
I mean, if I want a computer I’ll bring my laptop along.
The problem is, unless the touch screen can be used with a stylus, it won’t be nearly accurate enough to use for real sketching purposes. Anyone who’s tried to do high-accuracy stuff with the digitizer on, say, a Palm will know what I mean: the digitizer used in a decent tablet is a very different beast from that on, say, a touch screen that just has to function with fat fingers like my own. :)
Meanwhile, the total lack of multitasking and the walled-garden approach to applications really reduces the utility of this thing, IMHO. After all, this thing is really, I think, intended to be an Internet appliance. ie, the idea is you sit down with this thing for twenty or thirty minutes to browse the web, check email, and so forth. But the inability to, say, have your choice of media player running in the background while you’re doing that is, at minimum, really irritating.
But, who knows… only time will tell if Jobs has another winner on his hands.
Fair enough, the DRM sucks and there is room for improvement on software and input, but my gut feeling is still that people are still thinking to constricted about what this thing was supposed to be. Either way, I’m not an early adopter so I’m really just quietly excited about version 3 or 4 at this point.
If the Apple iPad doesn’t turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread (the iPad), it may be because:
1. No apps that have not been approved by Apple.
2. Microphone, but apparently… no voice calls. Will Apple approve SIP or Skype?
3. eBook reader only through iBookstore. No word about loading your own books/PDFs.
4. No multitasking.
5. DRM.
But perhaps some new devices will be more functional. Like just run Ubuntu and have good handwriting input. Some competing devices have been announced, and they look to cost less and do more:
Wired Übergizmo
I will grant that (a) the lack of video camera is lame and (b) the OS needs work and (c) the ebook thing will never fly, but I do think you’re missing my point. There have already been a ton of tablets recently and in the past ten years that have emerged and flopped. Why? Because they’ve all tried to be a mediocre computer crammed into a device that is not a computer. All your arguments — with some minor semantic tweaks — would hold perfectly true for, say, the Wii. (No games that have not been approved by Nintendo, a microphone attachment but no skype, games only through the Nintendo store, no multitasking, and DRM — all true, right?) Yet, the Wii isn’t trying to be a computer and no one expects it to be. But it is a very cool and popular game system. And arguably, with more semantic tweaking the same list could apply to the PS3 — which also epic fails when it tries to be computer (though lots of folks have tried, and when the system is opened even the US military uses it as a supercomputer) but wins as a game platform and consumer media player. MY point is, everyone is raging on how this thing sucks as a computer, but so few people have stopped to think… oh, wait a minute, maybe Apple has figured out that people won’t buy a lame computer jammed into the form of a tablet, but they might buy something that does other things. Did they step up and do a good job of selling it at the launch. Hell, no. They did terrible, mostly highlighting the computer-like aspects of it and ignoring that their biggest fan base for such a device is not going to be people who’d rather have an over-sized PDA running Ubuntu. Rather than redesigning iWork, they should have put some effort into a hypercard-like database tool for novice users to design custom forms for quick data capture. Rather than showing some mediocre FPS game, they should have rallied their geek audience with a tool to build, draw and publish web comics through the inherent art-friendly aspects of the device. Their market is people who need ways of doing the things they normally do with a pad of paper but in a digital context. I thought immediately of art because, yes, I would rather doodle with my finger on a (presumably accurate) touch screen than with a mouse on a computer in photoshop. But the people who are going to find real utility in this thing are not going to want traditional computer-like utility. In other words they shouldn’t be marketing to jo-blo who says he wants a portable video player (but really just wants to watch HD porn in bed); they should be marketing it to anyone who needs a platform for inputting large amounts of analog (read: doodles, scribbles, or diagrams) or small amounts of digital (read: text and data) into an interface that would normally be performed using a notepad, clipboard, etc and a pencil. Need to write an essay, get a computer. Want to watch movie, buy a tv. Like I said in my post, if I want a computer I’ll bring my laptop along. And personally, I don’t care if Apple or someone else gets it right. I just wish someone would, and right now from what I’ve seen Apple seems to be closest.