This is a first here, really. I’m not really an Apple guy (I used to have an iPhone, and I use an iMac at work that runs Windows most of the time), and I rarely comment on products that I don’t own, but really, this is just dying for picking apart.
Steve Jobs has reportedly been quoted to say, “This [the iPad] will be the most important thing I’ve ever done” – I really hope that this is just a misquote, or wrongfully attributed. Why? Well, let’s start with what we now know.
–How it looks. If you haven’t seen it, it looks basically like a huge iPod Touch with a massive bezel.
–What it runs. Apparently Apple has licensed the rights to make another ARM processor, dubbing it the “Apple A4“. Do we really need another ARM processor varient? What’s wrong with the Snapdragon?
–What it doesn’t do. Flash. Yes, really. I don’t particularly like Flash, but if they’re touting it to be ‘better than a laptop’, why are they blocking access to a large chunk of the content that’s out there?
–What it doesn’t change. It apparently going to run the iPhone OS (speculated at version 4), so you’re still locked in to the App Store and Apple’s draconian approval process. I wonder how long it will take before it’s jailbroken?
–What it lacks. Supposedly, it won’t come with 3G. Reports say that you’ll be able to tether it with a mobile device (although I wouldn’t be surprised if they only let you tether it with an iPhone), but really, if they’re saying people should use this instead of an e-book reader, why leave that out? And on the subject of e-books, who really wants to ready a 1000+ page book on an LCD screen, when you can get a Kindle 2 with an easy-on-the-eyes e-ink screen instead?
–What they screwed up on. Really, why name it the iPad? I see where they might want to leverage the branding from the iPod, but all that makes me think of is another type of product.
All and all, I think that a lot of people who bought in to the hype of this are probably pretty disappointed. The iPad? What a joke.
Update: Unconfirmed tweets are saying that it will be priced at $499, or $629 with 3G.
Update #2: Apparently you’ll be able to use connect a standard keyboard to the iPad as well. So why bother making it a tablet at all? Why not just give it a slide-out keyboard and be done with it?
Comments (0)