Squared Apple

First, tell me the picture above doesn’t look like they shrunk Steve Jobs down and he is holding a giant iPhone?

The iPad is out.  No matter what you think of the name, you’ll be hearing a lot more about it in the upcoming months.  You’ll also be hearing the millions of opinions that people are willing to share (including mine!) so you should be ready for that.  So the question that I posed a few weeks ago, and some of you who aren’t tech geeks are asking: “So who cares?” I watched the live blogging, and when the event was over, I was really disappointed. I expected a device that would just be 1000% over anything we’ve ever seen.  When the event was over, I was already writing the thing off.  That is until I had time to think about it a little more.  For those that weren’t paying attention, a blurb from MacRumors will help explain the device:

Apple announced the iPad tablet device, featuring a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 display and 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB capacities. Carrying a custom 1 GHz “Apple A4″ chip, the iPad weighs in at 1.5 pounds and is .5-inch thin. The iPad will be priced at $499, $599, and $699 for the varying capacity models without 3G, and $629, $729, and $829 with 3G. Wi-Fi only models are scheduled to ship in 60 days, with 3G-capable model shipping in 90 days. A video preview is also available.

In terms of standard connectivity, the iPad offers Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, with 3G models also offering cellular data connectivity. All iPad models have an accelerometer, compass, speakers, a microphone, and a 30-pin dock connector. The iPad also offers a claimed 10 hours of battery life for viewing video, with 1 month of standby battery life.

Models with 3G will be unlocked and will be able to use GSM micro SIMs. In the U.S., AT&T will offer two data plan options – $14.99 for up to 250 MB per month and $29.99 per month for unlimited data. No contract is required for either option, and free access to AT&T’s Wi-Fi hot spots is included. Data packages for iPad users outside of the U.S. will by in place by June.

The iPad will have standard apps for personal information management, including an address book and calendar, along with e-mail, Safari, Google Maps, and Notes. A special version of iTunes is also on board to provide an optimized browsing experience on the device’s 9.7-inch screen.

So starting at 499, you can have a giant iPod Touch.  Again, “so who cares?”  What made me alter my perception from disappointment to interested was the way I perceive the device.  If you are looking for a device to replace your laptop you are going to be disappointed.  The device runs the iPhone O/S so you are limited to iPhone apps running on the device. I think the biggest failing of the device, which makes me unable to compare this to a laptop, is the lack of ability to multi-task (I’ll get into this later).  If you compare the device to an e-reader with a bunch of extra features, then the argument changes.  If compared to Amazon’s Kindle, you get a full color screen, multi-touch, wi-fi, comparable battery life, the ability to play and download music, movies, web access, and the whole iPhone app environment to go along with it.  You do have to pay extra for the 3G data connection, plus a monthly fee which is included with the Kindle, but you also aren’t nickel and dimed for adding docs and whatnot to the reader like you are with the Kindle. Now when the making the comparison it doesn’t look as bad.  Compare that to the fact that the Kindle DX (the larger version) is only 10 bucks cheaper than the iPad, and only has 2GB of memory compared to the iPad’s 16GB, then the Kindle looks way over priced.  Yes the most expensive iPad is 800 plus bucks, but that is the top of the line.  By having the cost of entry below 500 bucks, this device makes a lot more sense.

Now the biggest issue I have with the device, is that though it has a great list of features, there was no big WOW feature.  To me the WOW feature that would have put this device over the top would have been the ability to multi-task.  If I could run multiple applications this thing would be much closer to a laptop than an e-reader which would make this device above and beyond anything out there. I know this can be fixed with future O/S updates, and I hope we see that this summer, but with only allowing the device to run one app at a time, it really limits the use of the device.  Imagine that you are working on a presentation.  You want to listen to Internet radio, like Pandora at the same time?  No can do.  What about streaming video using the MLB app.  You either can watch the video, or work on something else, but not both at the same time.  Writing an email, but need to get some info off the web? You’ll have to cancel out of your email, and go look it up…no putting your email in the background.  Imagine browsing the web, or working on a presentation, and having the ability to have a small window with your favorite baseball game playing?  Now that would be over the top.  I really hope that an O/S update is going to provide this capability especially since Apple’s rivals, like Palm, and Android already do it, and do it well.

Only time will tell, but I think Apple has the beginnings of something good.  They will need to make some modifications to the O/S and maybe version two will have somethings that should have been included in the basic device, but was probably taken out to keep the cost down, such as a camera or GPS (GPS is included in the models with 3G). I don’t think this will have any kind of bang like the iPhone did, but it certainly may completely change the direction of the e-book reader market from what it is, into something new.  Again, only time will tell.