Apple unveiled its much anticipated touch screen tablet device today at an exclusive invite only event in San Francisco today. Called the "iPad", it features a 9.7" colour touch screen and is touted as device in between a smart phone and a laptop. Apple engineers designed a custom processor to power the iPad, called the "A4", it's a custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip. The new chip gives the iPad an impressive 10 hours of battery life.
While I admire Apple's ability to create visually stunning and user friendly devices, I can't see this product taking off and revolutionising the market in the same fashion that the iPod and iPhone did. At the core the iPad is simply an oversized iPod touch. Really, don't kid yourself that is essentially what it is. At a price point starting at US$499 for the Wi-Fi only 16GB model, for all the things it is lacking it isn't a revolutionary product in my mind.
When the iPad hits Australian shores it'll more than likely be over priced just like all of Apple's products, starting somewhere around $600+. The initial market will be the Apple "fanboi's" who will buy anything with an Apple logo. I can't see average consumers jumping on board with this device when you can buy a similar sized laptop or netbook that does more, running a real operating system and with more power at the same or a cheaper price.
Once again Apple's arrogance shines with the iPad severely lacking features that many laptops and netbooks do quite well. The lack of Adobe Flash video integration stands out as the biggest failure. With nearly all internet video running on Flash video, to exclude such a vital plugin in my opinion is nothing short of astounding in this day and age. While internet video standards may change in the future, to deny a plugin that is currently the market leader in internet video is extremely short sighted.
The other key feature missing is multi-tasking. Like the iPhone, the iPad does not run more than one application at a time. You'd think that with Apple designing a custom chip for this device they'd allow background applications so you're able to do more than one thing at a time. This is something any similar priced laptop or netbook will do, Apple missed a vital selling point by not allowing this feature.
It has no USB ports or SD card slots meaning you also have to carry around a dock in order to connect it to a PC or add extra functionality like a real keyboard. It also has no built in webcam so forget Skype or video chatting with friends on the move.
However on a positive note I can see only a couple of useful functions for the iPad. The first would be as a replacement for text books for students in school and university. If Apple manages to successfully set up content agreements with major education book publishers this may help it become a useful educational tool. The other area where this device has the potential to excel is with gaming. If game developers jump on board and come up with some revolutionary games we'll see a whole new gaming platform on the rise.
The media hype surrounding Apple has managed to create a big "who-ha" about nothing. Apple had a real opportunity here to release something that would revolutionise the market but I think they've missed the mark this time. If Apple had released a 10" netbook running OS X, I'd be more forthcoming and positive.
I may be wrong but my gut feeling is telling me this won't be a big success for Apple. What are your thoughts? I'd like to know, leave a comment.
UPDATE
I'm not alone in my criticism of the iPad with many in the blogger-sphere unhappy with Apple's latest invention. The Apple fans and apologists however keep using the same comeback as some sort of defence for the things lacking in the iPad and that is: "It's a first revision of the device, give it time to mature."
Why is it that Apple releases devices like these missing so many core functions and features that first revisions of many laptops/netbooks already have on the market? Apple consumers should not have to put up with this kind of marketing from Apple.
For example. The first iPhone released was a 2G GSM model. 2 freakin' G! I actually made a blog post about this (before my old site crashed a couple of years back) saying that if that iPhone model had been released in Australia you could bet your bottom dollar that it would fail. Why the hell would any manufacturer release a 2G phone in this day and age when clearly everyone is moving to 3G and now 4G technology?
The lack of basic functions in the original iPhone 3G before OS 3.0 came out also shows Apple's arrogance to the market. Things like Cut and Paste are trivial to implement and should have been there from the start. This however does not discount the fact that I actually stated that the iPhone was a revoluntionary device that would shake up the mobile phone market, unlike the iPad which I believe isn't. I also have an iPhone, so that tells you something.
So back to the iPad then. Apple is releasing a device that's touted to go head to head with the netbook space and compete for your hard earned money. Why is it missing such a vital function like running multiple applications? This I cannot understand. The Apple apologists say, give it time, it'll be updated in the next release. Why should Apple fans have to wait for something to be implemented for the sake of Apple's marketing machine to come back in 12 months and say, "Hey look at all the cool new features in iPad 2.0!" That's just ridiculous!
I'm sorry but that argument just does not cut it in my books. So I remain sceptical in my review and if I'm ultimately proven wrong then so be it, I'm man enough to admit I got it wrong. Time will tell.
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