Above all, keep this in mind: Apple has had its share of flops.
Now that I have your attention, let me discus the new iPad, Apple’s attempt to find a spot between the standard computer and the cell phone.
The device is sexy, of course. How could Apple not make something sexy? But the burning question is: Do you need one? Can you absolutely not live without one?
I remember when the iPhone came out. I wanted one. I knew I did because 10 years earlier, I discover the Palm Pilot. I wanted my Palm Pilot to be not only a personal organizer, but a camera, MP3 player, and a phone. When the iPhone came out, I got what I wanted — and lightened the load I had to carry from four gizmos down to one.
The iPad doesn’t really grant anyone’s wishes right now.
Apple is positioning the iPad between the iPhone and the MacBook line of laptops, right exactly where there is no need for any such intermediary device. The iPad is too much of a laptop to carry in your pocket and it’s not more enough of an iPhone to make you really need it.
Actually, on the iPhone side, the iPad isn’t a communications device at all. There is no camera! Is there even a microphone? (Let me check the iPad web site…) Okay, yes there is a Microphone. But do you need a phone the size of a textbook? I would need one, but it would have to feature a camera!
On the laptop side, the device is bereft of expansion options. I don’t even know if there is a file system you can manage. That’s poor.
The price is okay, and the data plan options are swell, but the gizmo is not appealing to me. I don’t need it. I don’t crave it. I can’t see how it would make my life better nor can I see using it for anything I do now that I’d rather do another way.
I do, however, see great appeal in the iBookstore. I’ve felt for a long time that the future of books is in electronic delivery. The iPad may have something going for it there, but I just think the gizmo is too rough and too misplaced right now.
It will be interesting to watch how the iPad fares, and I’ll especially be keeping a keen eye on the iBookstore. Will it succeed and prove me wrong? Or will the iPad join the Lisa, the Apple III, the Newton, and the G4 Cube as great ideas Apple would rather you forget.
Again, oversized iPod Touch. Only thing good I can see out of it will be the bookstore.
I’ll try and ask my mom today about the Dan Gookin campain sign; I forgot about it.
I also wish i didn’t go playing with beta versions of Windows because now my main computer is a boat anchor and I’m having to use this old iMac G3/400.
Comment by linuxlove — January 29, 2010 @ 7:00 am
Also spelling error:
“The iPad i’s too much of a laptop”
……….^^^………………….
Comment by linuxlove — January 29, 2010 @ 7:01 am
Thanks for the good eye on the spelling error.
Most of the reviews out there agree with mine. I saw one review that said how we all miss the boat: Apple is competing with the Kindle and the Nook and other eBook readers. The iPad will own that market, and that’s the intended audience. But I must confess that upon watching The Steve do his iPad demo I was taken by how amazed he seemed to be with the simplest, most common tasks the thing did — like he’s never browsed the web before. It was curious.
Time will tell whether Apple’s strategy will work, and what that strategy is. Wall Street seems unimpressed.
Send me your land address in a private email for the yard sign.
Comment by admin — January 29, 2010 @ 8:10 am
I won’t be buying the iPad. I mean, come one, it doesn’t exactly bring anything great or new to the table. I love apple but I think I’ll keep my laptop and iPhone separate.
Comment by matthewdk — January 29, 2010 @ 2:39 pm