Unfinished Thoughts On The iPad

So, today is, in San Francisco and the US at least, Wednesday January 27. The day of the big Apple announcement that everyone has been waiting for for two years. The Tablet. Now, I am in Australia, so I didn’t get to follow the coverage of the keynote, as I was tucked warmly up in bed while it was all happening, but I have since read quite a bit of the coverage of it, and have begun to form some thoughts on the product. These thoughts are unfinished, but I have a fairly solid idea that they will form the basis of a more solid position on the iPad once I have more information, and maybe the chance to try one out in 6-12 months time.

I won’t reproduce information that others have put out there, a simple Google search will return all the results you could ever need, plus the iPad is on the front page of the US Apple site. Have a read of some of that, then if you care to read my thoughts, come back and see what I have to say.

Size

Its too big for me to consider it a truly mobile device. Sure its portable, but mobile is distinct from portable in that mobile, to me at least, means being able to use it on the move, not having to stop and sit down to use it effectively. At 9.7 inches in screen size, plus the added area around the screen, I simply cannot imagine using it whilst walking down the street as I can with my iPhone.

Software

Considering the fact that Apple had a real opportunity to reimagine the mobile computing paradigm, and introduce a third operating system built specifically for this device that did not rely on the App Store and iTunes, I feel that this is nothing short of a cop out. Sure, it looks pretty, and the home screen doesn’t look as cluttered and cramped as my iPhone does, but it is quite simply iPhone OS with added UI candy to add the “wow” factor for those easily attracted by those things

Apps

Apple has introduced only one new application with this device “iBooks”1 which looks like nothing more than “Classics” from the iPhone with built in iTunes shopping, and slightly less appealing visuals. Sure, the rest of the apps have been redesigned and/or rebuilt from the ground up, but honestly, there is nothing new here.

App Store

Ahh yes, the App Store. The App Store is a situation that I honestly despise. I want to be able to choose what I install on any device that I own. Sure, I’m happy enough to use an iPhone, and to be constrained by the App Store while choosing what I want on that device, but a Tablet is something that I would want to use for more serious things other than checking Twitter and reading (and only reading) email. So to control what I can install with the approval process (a process that is fundamentally broken) and a single purchasing point is a deal breaker for me.

The Name

Oh, what a travesty of a name for a supposedly desirable product. iPad instantly makes me think of feminine hygiene products. The last thing I want to think of when I use a products name is feminine hygiene products. Never mind the fact that it is so similar to “iPod”, or the fact that maybe, just maybe, its time to drop the whole “i” prefix

Conclusion

The iPad, or, as @elliotjaystocks nicknamed it, the mehPad, has too many shortcomings, and not enough steps forward to be a compelling device to me. It quite literally seems to me to be a overgrown iPod Touch with some added UI candy and to see it as anything else is mystifying to me. When John Gruber stated that “The Tablet is nothing short of Apple’s reconception of personal computing”, I was excited. I though that maybe this could be the leap forward in computing that I have been eagerly awaiting, but in all honesty, if Apple sees incredibly closed devices, and a single purchase point for applications as the future of computing, when that day comes, I will simply disconnect my Internet connection, give away my laptop, and walk away from the world of computing.

Footnotes

  1. Uhh, Apple, haven’t you already used that name? ↩