Weighing in on the iPad
At an inauspicious event, little known start-up "Apple" announced a totally unexpected new device to add to their largely unknown set of devices. Few were there to witness. The Internets did not throb with information, and the world’s media did not report this event. The product appeared on the market several weeks later to critical acclaim, but flopped.
In the real world, however, the truth of the matter is much more interesting. Apple – being Apple – has created buzz of extreme proportions and the reactions of the good people of the Internet were… well, pretty much as expected, really.
The Internet breeds cynicism – for some reason, it’s much more fun to find fault with something than to look at any possible merit. Or perhaps it’s related to the fact that most people just don’t like to support something in the fear of being labelled a dreaded ‘fanboy’. Following the announcement yesterday, the Internet, TV critics, and society alike has responded with a fairly resounding "meh" – interspersed with the odd proclamation of love from the fanboys, of course 
. But is all this dislike deserved?
I don’t really think so. If you take a step back, and remove yourself from everything that’s being said, you might agree that it’s a fairly useful product. There’s no real problem with the name (who didn’t snigger when Nintendo announced the "Wii"? And come on, it’s an obvious play on iPod – they couldn’t overlook that), the hardware’s fine (before you jump on me, let me explain my position here – post coming soon!), and the price is… OK. In reality, there is one main problem with the iPad – it’s made by Apple.
This one problem is compound – on one hand, you have the Apple fanboys, who will love and defend the product simply because it is an Apple product. Then you’ll find strong opposition from the anti-fanboys, those that will dismiss the product without giving it the simplest perusal – and again, simply because it’s made by Apple. In between, there is a mish-mash of opinion, all somewhat affected by the ramblings of the fanboy and the anti-fanboy, and mostly happy to feign opposition – for now, at least – based on the success of Apples previous products, and the perception that this is an unnecessary new machine – and the overly simple suggestion that “it’s just a bigger iPod touch”.
However, while the above is fine – and let’s be honest, fairly natural as a response – and will develop with time (I myself expressed a little "meh"-ness following the announcement, but have revised my feelings following some deep-seated pondering – feelings likely to be revised further in coming weeks/months 
), I DO see a great deal of potential with the iPad. In fact, I can comfortably say – without the shadow of a doubt – that if I was still single and with a largely disposable income, I would buy the crap out of an iPad on its Australian release date.
And why? Because there is a market for it, and I feel I have a purpose for it. There is a lot of talk out there around the fact that people should just get themselves a netbook, or an iPhone, and there is no need for such tablets, but think back just a couple of years and people were saying exactly the same things – about netbooks and iPhones. There was a market for small, portable notebooks and smartphones then, and there is a market for thin, light extremely portable media players now – ones with larger screens, that is. Ones that function LIKE a notebook, but without all the unnecessary functionality.
And I think that’s the point – it’s slightly misunderstood at this point. Sure, it’s just a big iPod touch but that’s all it needs to be. Part of the problem with iPods and iPhones is that they are too small to use for the Internet, and too small to read books, and too small to really enjoy watching a movie. The iPad – while I haven’t laid eyes upon the finished product in person – is not.
Personally, I think it is quite a good product, and is likely to perform better than other such tablets (like HP’s Slate) mainly based on the fact that it is NOT trying to be a notebook. Running Windows in order to have access to all programs is overkill and unnecessary. Perhaps a lot of people find that hard to swallow, and so be it. Hopefully, someone else out there will release something similar running Linux, or another proprietary OS – just for some healthy competition. It’s a bit disheartening that Apple is monopolising the mobile market, but at this stage, it’s virtually impossible to compete! But that discussion is fit for another post, I reckon…
Anyway, as a final point – I must acknowledge that the fact that Apple has complete control over the OS and the Apps (like the iPhone) is again a bit of a problem. But hey – I am a fan of my imperfect iPhone, and I think I will like the imperfect iPad, as well.
What did people really expect from the iPad anyway? The ability to resurrect loved ones?
Themocracy
I think the meh/ooh, shiny! divide is based on what you were expecting after the 6 months of tech media buildup to the launch.
The ‘meh’ camp (of which I’m part) seems to be comprised of those of us who were expecting an /actual/ tablet PC. By this, I mean a machine running a PC oriented OS that enables the owner to use the machine as they see fit. I can only speak for myself, but I think that it would have fit this bill if the iPad was running a more OSX like OS. What we got was another device with Apple’s (incredibly successful) iPhone OS, which locks the device down as a means of tightyly controlling the user experience. If Apple don’t greenlight an App, then it’s just too bad.
If you were anticipating a larger iPod/iPhone, then the iPad is probably pretty close to what you were hoping for. Add in a few features in v2 and it’ll be a damn good product in this segment (if it isn’t already)
I suppose it comes down to how much importance you put on open computing, as this looks to me like a taste of the tightly controlled Apple flavoured future, where Apple effectively owns your machine, you just use it.
* For the record – I’m not a fanboy of any type, I’ll happily purchase a macbook, but at home we run Ubuntu and Win7.
I totally agree, and I guess that’s what it all comes down to really. I guess because I was expecting this kind of tablet, I overlooked the fact that a lot of people were looking for a whole lot more.
As a tablet owner (or perhaps we should start calling them convertible notebooks or touch notebooks), I understand why Apple has done what they’ve done, and I’m working on a new post to cover this.
The other thing you’re right about (dammit) is… It all depends on how you feel about open computing. Personally, I’m all for it with regards to PCs and such, but phones, and devices like the iPad? I don’t see a need for it. I’m an iPhone owner, and I’ve jailbroken my phone, but I really don’t get it. It seems to me to just be hacking the system just for the sake of hacking it.
I have much to ponder now, Mr. Name, if that is your real… name.