I was disappointed that there were no tricks yesterday but .....
Like all Apple fanatics and many techies I have been following every little rumor, prediction over the last couple of months. I have been waiting for the day when 'The God' would show us his vision of a Tablet. Expectations were very high, possibilities endless and then on the 27th reality set in, iPad was launched and its nothing more than a bigger iPod Touch. Along with million others I was disappointed. Disappointed that Steve did not have any miracles and his tablet concept was predictable. I have been reading many articles, comments on peoples reactions. I have been trying to figure out myself how to react, why Apple has chosen this path, I started to slowly understand what happened.
The fact is Steve Jobs already told us his vision for a tablet in 2007 when he introduced iPhone but we did not see that implied 'big picture'. In 2007 Apple created a revolution with its innovative touch iPhone OS and touch hardware. However since then its in an evolutionary/execution phase, just like iPod and iTunes were first introduced in 2001 and since then evolutionary changes were the future for them for a long time. Bigger capacity, color display, smaller iPods etc, all of those advances were taking the same iPod concept and making evolutionary changes to address different markets. iPad is the same an evolutionary and natural next step for iPhone/iPod touch.
From what I can see with all the demos and reviews of the iPad, I am already loving and prepared to purchase it on the day one. In fact I am pretty sure I will buy more than one, not all in version 1.0. I browse a lot, I read a lot of blogs, I do want to read lot of books. Thats what I will use it at home. I might buy one for my toddler who loves playing games on the iPhone, he has a much harder time learning mouse and keyboard but he is natural with the touch. He would get a kick out of using the iPad for reading him books.
At work, I monitor a lot, as a dev manager managing 15+ people I monitor bugs, releases, statuses, messages, schedules, projects you name it. With the right app (could be web app), this is an awesome device to do the monitoring, checking quick emails and even present in meetings.
So what about all the negatives, all the missing things in the iPad. Lets see:
- Camera: Right I will be taking a photo with a big block. I can see a use for the frontal camera for video calls but not a show stopper
- Closed system: As a consumer I have never had a problem with Apple's closed system. I get all the apps I need. If that poses a problem give me a web app solution (Google Voice). Read up Chris Dixon's take on this. I agree with that. In fact if closed is what it takes to give me an iPhone type experience, I much rather have closed system.
- No flash: Yes No flash, so what.
- Limited space: I use 3 GB of my 8GB iPhone space. This is the cloud age, local space is irrelevant
- No multi-tasking: Hoping it would be enabled as a software update
iPad is not for everyone, it might be for masses. Yes, I can think about buying this for my parents who never used/touched a computer. The biggest gripe I have with iPad from that aspect is 'Syncing'. If iPad is really for the masses, for the folks who never owned a computer, who just need a simple device to browse, view pictures, videos etc it should not require to be connected to another computer for setup, for loading up songs or anything. It should work with the cloud, the LaLa acquisition points towards that future but the future needs to happen now.
I was disappointed that there were no tricks yesterday and not with the iPad. After all who wants to go to a magic show where there are no tricks.
For all those who are let down by the reviews I suggest hold your judgement until you actually see it, touch it and experience it.
