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It’s only been a few days since Steve Jobs came out and announced the details for the much hyped Apple tablet — which we now know has been officially titled the iPad. Rumored for years to be a revolutionary multi-touch tablet PC with an equally revolutionary operating system. Let’s just say, the actual product was far less impressive than the rumors. The overwhelming response amongst fans and the media are disappointment and scepticism. The most common complaints are “This is just an oversized iPod Touch”, no flash support, no camera, no multitasking, no USB ports, some have even called it lazy engineering on part of Apple.
The naysayers are right in many ways — the iPad is running on a modified version of the iPhone OS on a much larger screen. But let’s be honest, how often do expectations meet reality? Not very often. People just want to be wowed. And I can’t blame them; it’s easier to criticize than to innovate. But let’s not forget, even the original iPod was criticized by some as overpriced and unimpressive when it was announced. The reality is this is still an impressive product with a very large customer appeal. I’ll tell you why — I personally know alot of people who are technologically inept. They hate computers and complicated technology BUT, almost ALL of them eventually purchased either an iPhone or an iPod Touch. Why? It’s user-friendly technology. From launching programs, to purchasing apps, games, music and videos — it’s all simple. People love simple, alot of technology is driven by the desire to simplify everyday actions.
So is the idea of a larger iPod touch really all that ridiculous? Games, movies and applications all look better on a larger screen. Internally the iPad has much more powerful hardware in comparison to the iPhone/iPod Touch — applications and games now have a greater potential on this new device. Apple has dismissed books and e-readers in the past. In 2008 Steve Jobs even went as far as to say “People don’t read anymore” . Amazon and its successful e-reader device The Kindle have forced Steve to eat his words. One of the impressive features of the iPad is the new iBook store and electronic book reading software. Apple has made deals with almost all the major publishers to bring their books to the iPad. Many major newspapers, magazines and even school textbooks are also rumored to be coming the way of the iPad. Like many iPhone users I have tried reading large articles and books the tiny screen.. It’s not easy. The screen is simply too small. Twitter, RSS and iPhone optimized websites make it bearable.. but long form text on such a small device was not meant to be. The ipad solves this problem.
Now let’s go back and touch on some of those other criticism. We’ll start with the lack of flash support — there are a few reasons it’s missing. The problem is flash is a bit of a resource hog and can be very unstable. Apple doesn’t want to use a technology that will potentially drain your battery and crash your internet browser on their device. Steve Jobs was recently quoted saying “Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.” iTunes is also in the business of videos and games (flash’s main uses) — so I’m sure Apple isn’t happy about giving you access to free flash content over selling it to you and turning a profit.
The lack of Multitasking hasn’t really hurt the iPhone and ipod touch sales. So what incentive does Apple have for implementing it? It is also too early to dismiss the possibility of multitasking in future OS updates. Their next OS update for the iPhone, iPod Touch and undoubtedly the iPad (as it runs virtually the same OS) is due out soon (probably March). This will line up pretty nicely with the launch date of the iPad. Perhaps there is a laundry list of new features for the iPad that were not demonstrated during its announcement because the same features are slated to be on the iPhone/iPod Touch update.
The iPad also capable of running the some 133,000 apps available in the iTunes App store. Sure some of the apps look silly on upscaled on such a large screen (alternatively, you can use them within a window) — but some look very good. This backwards compatibility and interface will be familiar and comforting to existing iPhone and iPod touch users, and those who aren’t familiar will be using an interface already adored by many.
I’m not an Apple fanboy, I don’t own stock in the company and the only Apple product I own is an iPhone 3GS — so I have no dog in this fight but I have a hard time seeing the iPad failing. Will it be as widely adopted and famous as the iPod or iPhone? Doubtful — atleast not as the iPad is now. The iPad still has alot of room to grow, I think as it stands now it will be a great device for media consumers who want a simple UI. I think Apple has some tricks up it’s sleeve. We’ll have to wait until the product launches to see.
