Vito Cassisi – Tech Blog Delving into technology

Did Apple miss the boat with the iPad?

A neat little device, but has Apple lost their opportunity?

So, the long hyped Apple tablet has finally been announced. As expected, it very much resembles a larger iPod Touch. A single hardware button, minimal ports, and a screen which consumes most of the device's top surface. It's touted as a new platform, somewhere between the smartphone and the netbook, which is interesting. Of course, it's not exactly a new platform; Apple is essentially entering an existing one with their own offering. Android based tablets have been around for a while, and haven't really taken off. Regardless, there's been much excitement over this particular device for a couple of reasons. It was a long rumoured product, and it's from Apple. But will the hype pay off? Is the device compelling enough to warrant purchase? Let's find out.

Hype is a double edged sword. It can cause massive excitement for a product, but it can also cause over-expectation. The iPad copped both sides. People expected this thing to be the pinnacle of tablet innovation, with dual cameras, an OLED screen, stereo speakers/microphones, MacOSX, resistive and capacitive touch, the list goes on and on. When long time followers (read: enthusiasts) saw a mere extended iPod Touch, they weren't happy. On the other hand, this same hype generated enough momentum to get it aired on news services internationally. Good news, you ask? Yes and no. News reporters tend to be technically illiterate, and advertised the device as a 'large iPhone'. Who wants a large iPhone? It still impressed many people though, which is all that matters to Apple. The hype may have paid off after all.

The funny thing about hype, however, is that it's short lived. The iPad won't be released for a couple of months, probably more in Australia. Will the average consumer remember it by then? The iPhone made its success by a) being an innovation of an existing established market, and b) being portable enough that you could take it out, and people would say "hey, that's awesome, what is that?" The iPad doesn't really fit into any of these. It's too large to take with you, unless you're carrying some sort of bag as well, so you'd leave it at home in most cases. That can't be good for word of mouth, especially when the device is yet to prove itself. Should Apple have waited until the release date to announce it? I believe they should have.

Regardless of popularity, there's also a concern about the type of functionality this device offers. Now, let's think about what the average consume would want to use this device for:

e-book reader
The iPad has a nice large screen and a snazzy UI, which is a plus. However, the backlit panel is not suitable for reading large amounts of text. As much as people like to believe that this claim is a load of crud, reading off such a panel will give you eye strain, especially in low light. This is why devices such as the Kindle use e-Ink. Not because they like black and white images, but because it doesn't rely on additional lighting. I know I personally have to print off large documents to read them - LCD just doesn't cut it. Perhaps the self-illuminated OLED technology would have been a safer bet.

Web browser
Decent resolution screen, good UI and browser. But no Flash. That really kills it for me. Sure, you can blame Adobe for that until the cows come home, but in the end, no matter who's fault it is, it's still missing. And that sucks. There's also this Micro SIM business, which is annoying if you want to use an existing 3G SIM.

Music
The inbuilt speaker is mono. Sure that's adequate for an inbuilt sound solution, but it would have been nice to have stereo. That being said, with decent headphones, the audio aspect should be great.

Note taking
We know that this device uses a capacitate touch screen, I think that's quite obvious. But does it also have a resistive layer? I don't believe it has, which is a real downer for people who'd want to use this for uni. You can type notes, but you can't type equations and diagrams - you'd want to use a stylus. I realise there's styluses out there for capacitive screens, but the nature of the technology means the input wouldn't be as accurate, and by extension reliable, as a traditional resistive touch screen set-up.
For typing purposes, I can't see people using this for more than IM and quick blog posts. Virtual keys are very good for finger strain. Also, the iPad doesn't offer haptic feedback.

Picture viewer/frame
I think it's safe to say most people have a point and shoot camera of some kind. It'd also be reasonable to expect that said cameras use an SD card. Wouldn't it have been a good idea to include an SD card reader so that we could see our photos on a larger screen, without the hassle of hooking this thing up to iTunes on a PC/Mac? In fact, not just for photos. An SD card would be a great way to get any media on there quickly and easily.

Conferencing
The iPad would have made an awesome little Skype companion for the home. Unfortunately, the lack of a camera makes video conferencing a non-reality. Many people, including myself, thought that this would be an obvious inclusion. I guess not.

Watching movies
Apple touted the iPad's ability to watch HD movies. That's awesome and all, but the screen isn't designed to play widescreen video. I'm sure if you watched the announcement, you'd have noticed that the letterbox format rendered over 40% of the screen real-estate useless. It was literally a thin strip of your movie in the centre of the screen. Not impressive. However, I do understand that having a wide screen aspect ratio would have caused problems for the form factor. But, in the end, it's still an issue.

Multitasking
I think this one is self explanatory. People like doing many things at once. If the Nexus One smartphone can handle several applications simultaneously, I don't see why this, or the iPhone for that matter, can't do the same.

This all being said, I do see a future for this device. Maybe not this generation, or perhaps even the next, but it's definitely got a chance to do well. I just have this sneaking suspicion that Steve Jobs is omitting features on purpose, to keep costs down, and to leave an upgrade path for later revisions. People want this thing to work how they want it to now, not after buying five of them.

So, what does this thing do right for you? What will you use it for? Is it really worth the money for such a device? Leave your comments below. :)