So, it’s finally here. The mythical Apple tablet is no longer a myth, it is a reality. The iPad. I think I may squealed with glee during the entire presentation.
My netbook is already sold. I had it on eBay mere moments after the presentation had ended. My wife’s already trying to convince me to sell my Kindle. Which I just might…
To be fair, I have not actually held the iPad with my own two hands, yet(anyone know when Apple stores are going to be getting demo units?). But based on everything I’ve read and seen it is indeed everything that I have always hoped for in a tablet.
My only two criticisms of the device(again, haven’t actually held it so I may end up with more or less) is the lack of USB ports and it’s square-ish design. Both of which are understandable design choices(magazines, books and comics aren’t made in widescreen and there are plenty of apps to transfer data wirelessly on and off the iPod/ Touch/iPhone/iPad OS).
You have to understand, I want a digital world. I want to be able to get my comics and books digitally. They take up less space and, usually, are a lot cheaper. And I want to have one device for that. My iPhone is not an e-reader or even a multimedia device. Yes, you can listen to music and podcasts on it comfortably(and, for sure, I dumped my iPod shortly after getting my iPhone), but I don’t want to watch a movie or read a book on that tiny screen. Conversely, the iPhone is a great productivity device and I love being able to have the internet at my fingertips whenever I need it. Which is why I won’t need my iPad to come with a 3G radio.
With an iPad I can keep my entire library on a single hard drive. I can comfortably and casually surf the web from my couch or bed. But then, I could have done that with my iPhone. No, for me, the iPad is all about the reading experience and maybe the viewing experience if my wife wants to watch some girly movie and I want to watch Bad Boys 2).
Yes, the pricing program for the iBook Store looks iffy($12.99 to $14.99) but let us not forget that every app that runs on the iPhone runs on the iPad. Which means your Kindle app will run on the iPad. And that means you still have access to Amazon’s competitively priced library of books.
If I was a college student, I’d be all over this. Assuming, of course, the digital textbooks are considerably cheaper than their physical counterparts. But can you imagine carrying around the iPad, which only weighs 1.5 pounds, vs. five or six college textbooks that weigh much, much more than that?
And, sure, maybe the iPad isn’t quite living up to it’s potential just yet. But this is how Apple works. This is how Apple makes money. They introduce the base model and then upgrade it over time. Don’t like the way the iPad is right now? Wait a year. By then the 16GB model will have gone the way of the 4GB iPhone. The iPad will be up to 128GB and might even have a camera. Wait another year and you’ll probably get multitasking and two models: 9.7 inch and another one, slightly bigger. That’s how Apple works. We all know this by now. We’ve been through this all before.
But I think we’re missing the most important thing here, people. Steve Jobs is a trekkie! Look at it: the iPhone is basically a combination of a communicator and a tricorder. And the iPad? Star Trek: TNG had the PADD 23 years ago!
iPad. PADD. Coincidence? I think not.
