Is the Apple iPad for You?
Yesterday’s announcement by Steve Jobs was exciting to say the least. For anyone looking for a portable browser, reader, and multimedia device, the iPad is a game-changer. It also promises to be extremely handy for managing personal data like contacts, calendaring, and email. However, if what you need is a portable ‘primary’ business device, this will likely not be it.
The iPad’s stand-out features are its multi-touch screen, extremely light weight (a little over a pound), all-day battery, and low price ($499 to start). It does everything you can currently do on an iPod Touch but on a 9.7 inch screen. For games, reading an e-book, or surfing the Web and emailing from your favorite coffee shop the iPad is almost untouchable (pardon the pun) except for not supporting Flash or Silverlight which knocks out a lot of Web content. For students, scientists, artists, and business professionals, the iPad lacks the tools for serious data entry. The on-screen keyboard is not a full QWERTY and is too small and uncomfortable to use for more than just a few minutes. The iPad also does not come with a stylus and does not support handwriting recognition. This kills any extended note-taking for meetings and classes. While Steve Jobs touted the iWorks business applications one wonders how you can seriously work on a spreadsheet with just your fingers. To address the problem of losing significant screen real estate when the keyboard is launched Apple announced a plug-in external keyboard. However the iPad does not support the use of an external monitor and amazingly the iPad does not have any USB ports. Expandability is limited to a dock for the keyboard and a SIM card tray – that’s it. Also incredible is the lack of a built-in video camera so video conferencing is out of the question.
The iPad comes with a 1 GHz processor, 64 GB flash memory, and the iPhone’s operating system. As you can see this is not really a Tablet PC or a Slate PC but a large handheld device that is extremely powerful for its niche. Having no stylus, no ports to speak of, no expandable memory, no Adobe Flash support, and no way to work on more than one application at a time, means this device is impractical for real-world business applications. So don’t trash your laptop, Netbook, or Tablet PC just yet. However if Apple includes the aforementioned features in future versions of the iPad watch out!
6 Responses to “Is the Apple iPad for You?”
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I already have an iPhone, Touch and MacBook Pro. Don’t see that the iPad has new or improved features that I can’t already find on what I have. I’ll pass on this one.
The truth is i would love to have an iPad… as a novelty. It makes for a great portable device and book reader, especially for someone like me who uses a lot of movies on-the-go. But based on the feature set, it wouldn’t be enough to replace my primary laptop. I can draw a lot of comparisons to the first generation iPhone, both are game-changers but consumers will have to wait 2 or 3 generations to see the power features they were expecting. Once the iPad reaches that stage, I’m all in
The biggest difference between the first generation iPhone and first generation iPad is price and focus on battery life. Apple has uncharacteristically started at the rock bottom price of $449, a big shocker since the kind of technology found in the iPad could easily sell for much more. Also the ability to add and drop 3G service from AT&T whenever you feel like it is HUGE.
Ultimately, what make Apple such a success is that Steve Jobs never releases a product too early. He waits until it works exactly the way he wants it instead of throwing out junk like most other companies. And with a 2 year head start in the mobile device market, nobody else can get in Apple’s way.
Does this mean you won’t be getting one? Seems like it.
I’ve written up my own response once I saw that it was going to be long. Take a look.
http://tinyurl.com/yeuz7xr
To Alex: On the last paragraph I must counter with this: Apple TV
Enough said.
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