Thoughts on iPad
Whenever Apple comes out with a new product, the first thing people talked about is what the product can not do, what it’s missing. And because of all these things that other competing products can do and Apple’s cannot, a verdict is issued that Apple’s product will fail miserably even before the product itself is available in store. We saw that in iMac, where people decried “there’s no floppy drive! It only comes with USB port but not the other legacy ports!” We saw that with iPod, “oh no! there’s no file structure! there’s no removable battery! there’s not even an on/off button!!” We saw that with iPhone, “No 3G! No MMS! No voice dial! FAIL FAIL FAIL!” Yet everyone of these products become runaway success! So when the iPad was announced and people’s reaction are predictable the same negative tone, “No camera! No video chat! No multitasking!” My thought is that, look at the history of Apple, look at what they did before, the chances are they know what they are doing. They know that even without certain features, the product will still fly off the shelves, and when in a year’s time when they do a revision to the product, the missing features will show up the way that Apple think is appropriate. Another thing is, wait ’til you actually hold one in your hand first, play with it first before you put down a final verdict. Unlike many products out there that sit inside the package on a shelf in the store, Apple’s product always “hang out” in the Apple stores for you to do almost anything you want. Nowadays Apple stores are everywhere, so go play with it in 2 months and then if you still don’t like it, then you can say whatever you want.
For me, just from the product announcement, Apple hasn’t convince me yet that I need an iPad. That an iPad will fit into my lifestyle. I just don’t see it yet. But I do see the potential of it, not the potential being a product that sit well between a smartphone and a laptop, but a new way of computing. Ignore the press and the pictures and the specs, go straight to the video of the keynote and skip to the demonstration of Brushes and iWork apps. You will see what I am talking about. Granted, software like that will take time to develop, both by the third-party developers and Apple itself. But nothing stops them from transforming iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, GarageBand into this new type of apps for the iPad. Nothing stops the third-party developers to put in way more innovations in their apps and put them in iPad. I can just imagine the iPad version of Facebook app will be way much better than the website and Joe Hewitt the original developer of the Facebook app on iPhone agrees. Same thing with Flickr, Yelp and countless other websites will perform way better in comparison of the website version or the iPhone version. Then there’s original apps like Momento, my recent favorite, I can just see it transform into a real diary virtually. The true power of the iPhone platform will be unleash through the iPad.
As I said before I am not sure the iPad will fit into my lifestyle just yet. At home I have my giant pretty iMac, and for mobility, I have my iPhone 3GS. I rarely have the opportunity to use a laptop anymore because I am not allow to bring one into work and the iPhone took over most of the need of accessing the web and information on the go. But I can see that the iPad could serve as a movable device, not portable – I said movable, the distinction is that it’s movable around the house. I can definitely see that when I am in bed or sofa and too lazy to get to my iMac, and my iPhone is too limited in some functions that I need to perform. The iPad can fit into that role. But until we see the shipping model in store for us to play with, I should follow my own opinion, don’t judge until I hold one in my hands.
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