That said, I'm still unsure how the iPad gets around the core problem: it doesn't replace anything. Buying an iPhone let me take my phone, my camera, and my iPod out of the briefcase. Buying a Kindle let me remove a newspaper, several books, and some documents I have on PDF.She goes down the list, item by item, and the iPad comes up short.
What does the iPad let me take out?
The sales model of the iPhone goes something like this: You know that you're going to upgrade your phone in the next year or two. You also know that you're going to at least think about upgrading your iPod sometime as well. For the low, low price of $X you can reduce your clutter and get an insanely great mobile Internet experience that will change how you work. C'mon - you know that you want to ...
All you have for this iPad is C'mon - you know that you want to ...
I dunno - Apple sure knows how to market. However, the iPad has some major hurdles to overcome - much bigger hurdles than lack of cut and paste or Flash. Why do I need one hurdles. A week after launch, I'm less impressed than I though I'd be.
12 comments:
I had a wish list for an Apple Tablet. The iPad didn't match anything on my list.
Could get guys like me into the mix. I don't do Mac, don't have any iThings, but I am between 40 and 50, and losing my ability to, and interest in, futz around with current tech. Something small andportable that I can use in the car, my briefcase, and/or my living room/kitchen as part of a home network. I'm kinda interested, anyway.
Alan, bingo.
Atom Smasher, I really like my iPhone, despite the lack of Flash. I don't think that I really need something bigger very often, and if I do, the eeePC does pretty nicely - and unlike the iPad, has a keyboard.
The iPad isn't actually a new member of the iPod/iPhone line. It's just Apple's version of a netbook.
Atom Smasher, what you want is a real netbook, like the eeePC or Acer's Aspire. Sometime soon someone is going to market one of those with a 'flip-around' screen like a few laptops have had, so that it transforms from computer-with-keyboard to tablet and back. On that day, Jobs will be performing a one-man butt-kicking show as he beats himself up over his lost opportunity.
Buying an iPhone let me take my phone, my camera, and my iPod out of the briefcase. Buying a Kindle let me remove a newspaper, several books, and some documents I have on PDF.
What does the iPad let me take out?
Your Kindle?
Except that the iPad completely misses the point of the Kindle. The displays of the Kindle and other e-ink readers without backlights are easy on the eyes. If I wanted to get a headache from an LCD screen I'd use my significantly more functional laptop or netbook.
The lack of color on the Kindle makes it much less than ideal for quite a few publishing-industry niches that really, _really_ want to take advantage of electronic distribution. Textbooks often rely heavily on clear illustrations. Graphic novels (which increase their market share every year) look like garbage on e-ink readers. Magazine publishers would love to ditch the failing high-cost distribution model they're currently locked into, but e-ink readers can't come near the graphical power they want. Even traditional book publishers want to play with the multimedia potential of electronic formats, but e-ink just doesn't cut it. It's great for reading text-only material, but seems to do nothing well beyond that. The iPad fits the bill, and gives those publishers a platform to develop for.
And that's before you get outside the realm of book analogues--an iPad can also play video and browse the net in a much friendlier size than on a cellphone. As "portable display platforms" go, the iPad is far, far more versatile than the Kindle.
Reading from computer screens doesn't bother my eyes. I may be in a minority there, but given how intensively people are coming to rely on their smart phones, I suspect there are lots of folks out there with similar priorities. As comfort for the pixel-averse is essentially the only advantage to Kindle-type readers, the versatility of the iPad is basically all-upside for me. If I'm going to carry both a phone and a larger device, an iPad-type general purpose computer makes much more sense for the latter slot than a Kindle-type monotasker.
For me, the limiting factors are size and money. The iPad carries the Apple premium, and it'll probably be a while before a more affordable imitator comes along. And since I rarely carry a bag outside work hours, the iPad being above that critical jacket-pocket size makes it pretty useless (it's a non-inherent advantage, but right now the small e-readers fit that bill).
Oh, and I'll definitely take one of those swivel-screened clamshell tablets, thanks. ;)
Can I carry this thing as a replacement for a pad of paper that I write on during a meeting?
Oh, it doesn't have handwriting recognition. Ok.
Uh, how about electronic ink? You know: the ability to write notations on a document with a stylus or something, and save the "ink" so I can display it later.
No, not that either.
How about maybe I can use it to take photos of my family while I'm sitting in my living room?
Oh. No camera. You say that I should use my iPhone for that?
So.... what is this thing for, again?
Ah, sorry, and I missed half your point:
...I'd use my significantly more functional laptop or netbook.
The need to open up a "folding computer" and put it down on something is a much bigger deal than it rightfully seems like it should be. Even if a laptop could display 100% headache-free text, most folks would keep their e-readers.
Oh I'm sure there are other options out there for me, and I plan to explore them all, after I get the new couch, which means new chairs, which means it's probably time to repaint the living room, etc.....
Lets see an open-source tablet device, with:
-interchangeable modules on the top or whatever for a camera/card reader/GPS receiver/whatever
-bluetooth so you can use it and a bipolar-plug as a phone, and
-open software to operate it.
Then I'll think about it.
Jim
...an open-source tablet device...
Oh, yeah. My comments are about this _style_ of device, but I won't be buying an iPad any more than I would an iPod. I don't appreciate being locked in somebody's walled garden, no matter how pretty it is.
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