iPad: A Lapse in Apple’s Foresight
January 27, 2010
Google auto-complete shows that most people feel the same way I do about Apple's new iPad.
BREAKING NEWS: Apple unveils a brand new iPod Touch, with a point upgrade to its iPhone OS, version 3.2, in what came as shocking news to those who were expecting them to release a brand new tablet computing device.
Oh wait. This is the tablet.
I am very surprised by what Apple introduced today. Revolutionary? Not in the slightest. Steve Jobs, Mr. Genius-Visionary did not see what the market wanted accurately. Apple made an assumption that because the iPhone OS is so loved, they’re selling them like hotcakes and the app store is so popular, that people would jump at the chance to buy a new device that looks incredible from Apple. Unfortunately, and I say this with great surprise and sadness, Apple messed up royally. People do not want a fancy upgrade to the iPod Touch in a 10 inch device. They want a fancy re-imagining of the Mac for a 10 inch multitouch device. Unfortunately, iPad is much more iPod than it is Mac, and this is its fatal flaw.
This screenshot from today's keynote essentially sums up my feelings about the new device.
Entertain for a second what could’ve been. A brand new multi-touch interface, with all the Mac Apps you use and love (iLife, iChat, iWork, etc.), all completely rewritten for a touch interface. The Mac, reinvented for a new decade. Mobile iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb. iPhoto for editing and sharing pictures you can take from the device, iMovie for editing movies anywhere with a brand new touch interface, Garageband for creating songs anywhere, and iWeb for managing your blog or website, anywhere on a gorgeous screen. Had Apple included a front facing camera, iChat could’ve taken video chat to new heights. Imagine being able to video chat from a tablet you can take anywhere. The possibilities are endless.
With iWork, Apple did it right. iWork is very well designed for a touch interface, and I could see this being very practical. The problem is, the stopped short, and made the device appear so much like an iPod Touch, particularly in the home screen, that everyone who sees it will immediately think they’re buying an iPod Touch. Which for 500-800 dollars, they won’t do.
I feel like Apple will sell a good number of these. However, I think they wanted this to be a major new device, which everyone everywhere is using, and I don’t think that will happen yet. Version 2.0 of the tablet, if sales don’t work so splendidly, may very well be spectacular. Hopefully so, because right now Apple took overwhelmingly positive buzz, and instead of introducing a breathtaking new device that defined the future like they did in 2007 with the iPhone introduction, they released a cool device. Cool because everyone will look at it, marvel at how cool it looks, ponder the price and ask themselves, “Do I need this?” I have a Mac and an iPhone (or iPod Touch). And due to the overwhelming similarities between iPad and iPhone in terms of OS design, people will save the 500 dollars and manage to survive with their MacBooks and their iPhones.
iPad: Beautiful looking, neat features, but unfortunately not enough of an improvement over the Mac and iPhone to justify spending 500 dollars on it. FOR ME. Not for everyone. But come launch day, I personally will not be buying one.
I do like the direction they are heading though. I especially like the new Apple developed A4 chip.
I disagree. I think all Apple was trying to do was satisfy the Netbook wanters with this device. (and shareholders wanting a netbook from Apple). They can Still release that revolutionary Mac which I believe will be a revloutionary Mac. This is for the “netbook” market who just want something to browse the internet with and check email. That’s what a netbook is used for. Can this be used to do word processing.. yeah, when enough people design apps for word processing on it, just like a netbook. It has no optical drive.. just like a netbook. That said.. i won’t be buying this device, but then I wouldn’t be buying a netbook either. I suggest if people are looking for a touch screen mac, they look at a modbook which is pretty niffty. Granted.. apple should release it’s own Modbook and whose to say they won’t?
I think I know what happened. I really believe that the iPad was going to be released with iPhone OS 4.0 which would contain multitasking. I don’t think 4.0 was going to make it on time, so they quickly threw together 3.2. Maybe that’s why it looks kinda thrown together. If so, this could all be fixed in a software update. There really aren’t issues with the hardware, and Apple knows that.
@blah
Fantastic point. I think you may very well be right.
“…everyone who sees it will immediately think they’re buying an iPod Touch. Which for 500-800 dollars, they won’t do.”
Plenty of people are forking over $400 for a 64GB iPod Touch so it remains to be seen whether the price of the iPad is out of line. It seems to me that this is what Apple frequently does with new products. The first generation is limited in capabilities and pricey. Subsequent iterations get tweaked with added features that were “missing” from the first go round. The first generation iPod was nothing to write home about. The first iPhone had no third-party apps. The Apple TV…well let’s just forget about the Apple TV for now.
…..what happen to fc pro 64 bit…………..f—k everything else.
Here is my opinion on the situation and this is going to be a bit winded…
First, let me say that I’m using my 3rd Apple laptop in 4 years. I started on a 12″ Powerbook G4 which was top of the line when I bought it. I decided I needed more power and resolution for high end apps like Photoshop. I upgraded to a Macbook with Intel Core 2 Duo. I kept it a year and decided I needed more dedicated graphics processing and more HD so I upgraded to a Macbook Pro 15″ with 512mb video memory. I also own an iPod 2nd gen, 5th gen (120gb with video), shuffle (512mb i think), and first gen iPhone which was replaced recently by a 3GS. I also bought a Dell Mini 9 with OSX 10.5 on it but decided it couldn’t do a lot of my daily tasks so it is a mini media machine.
I have converted my whole family and dozens of friends to Apple.
Now, a bit about me. I am a 26 year old with a career in marketing, web design, search engine marketing, photography, etc. I use my computer 12 hours a day 7 days a week. I travel quite a bit and lug my laptop and a slew of accessories with me. If I had an Apple that wasn’t so big but was still quite functional, I’d be in heaven and I wouldn’t have to drag my Macbook Pro with me everywhere (and I mean everywhere).
I was looking to the tablet to be a replacement for my laptop on the weekends. Not super powerful but sufficient. So I need to fire up Dreamweaver and edit some PHP or HTML or Photoshop to process a few images – a decent tablet could do that. Browsing the web, using iPhoto, uploading from a camera, printing, etc.
I would have no problem shelling out a grand or more for the ability to do this in a good package – that should have been the tablet.
The iPhone OS is fine but lets be honest, the app store is filled with total crap. Developers don’t put out good apps because they can’t make anything on them. I’d be happy to pay $5 or 10 on average for a good app but there are almost none. Instead, you have a crappy program that turns your iPhone into a flashlight. Most of the games suck and I don’t want to have to turn my damn phone to control a race car. It isn’t accurate or precise and just sucks.
The iTunes store is slow too. I don’t want to have to wait 10 – 20 seconds for the page to load. What the hell causes it to take so long? We have broadband! Seriously!
The iPad is going to be a huge seller because it is cheap. Apple sold me out and you too. I don’t care about cheap. I want functional. I’ll pay for functional. I won’t pay for something my iPhone can do – especially when my iPhone cost me more than the stupid iPad.
Not only that but I’m probably going to have to buy a bunch of apps again for the iPad. The only app I could see being good on it is Slingbox which I shelled out $30 for and can only use on WiFi. I’m about 99% sure Sling will charge another $30 for the iPad compatible version.
Now, on to my rant about the iPad itself.
This thing looks ok. Why the hell is it so cheap when I have to pay $700 for an iPhone 3GS? I feel like I got screwed on the iPhone. Why did Apple use AT&T and not multiple carriers? AT&T sucks. A lot! I pay over $100 a month now for 450 minutes and crappy data service. I have a Sprint card with unlimited bandwidth that I might use one hour per month. Why can’t the iPad connect to your iPhone and leech bandwidth? It has bluetooth. AT&T is just a bunch of greedy bastards.
So now you have to pay $30 more on top of your already outrageous cell phone bill for a device that doesn’t do much more than your iPhone. Well, less since it isn’t a phone. I saw you can upload images to it from your camera with an adapter. I’m sure it will handle the 20MB raw files from my Nikon D700 real well. So much for ditching the laptop on the weekend.
Not only that but I’ll now have to carry my laptop, the iPad, and my Kindle since I have a dozen or two books on it – and it has free internet for downloading books. Yah, I could sell my kindle but the battery lasts for like a year if I don’t turn it on.
On to the battery – 10 hours for an e-book reader? Seriously – I hate having to charge my iPhone twice in a day b/c the 3GS or wifi kills the battery. I don’t want to have to worry, “did I charge my iPad today so I can read 3 hours of a book”.
Storage – come on!!! 64 GB is insulting. My flash drive has more memory than that. WTF! How about something legit like a terabyte. No expandable memory slots? HELLO!!! SD? It is a little slot – oh yah, I forgot – gotta keep the price at $499 – can’t put good features in it or it will be too expensive.
Ports – no USB? WTF. Now when I travel I have to bring multiple charger bricks for my iPhone and iPad (not that I’m buying one but you get the idea). Or I’ll have to buy an overpriced 2 USB charger from Belkin. I should be able to charge my iPhone off of the iPad or sync between the two. I should also be able to plug my Sprint USB card into the iPad and use that instead of paying for crappy AT&T service.
Printing – it can’t print. How do you expect anyone to replace any computer or even use this in leu of a computer when it can’t print. STUPID! At least build in functionality for wireless printing. Maybe some old fart wants to get an iPad b/c they are too scared of a computer. They can’t print Johnny’s photo or instructions to Denture Mart (it is real – google it in Licking, MO). They can’t because the POS can’t print. Don’t say there’s an app for that either because the old people won’t be able to figure out how to use it.
Multi processes – this has been beaten down already but come on – what good is it when you have this big thing can can only do one task at a time. DUH!
Now, in summary…. I feel like I have been sold out. I feel like you have been sold out. Not just on the iPad but on a lot of things. I and others like me have helped build Apple and make it what it is today – those of us who have been buying lots of products and hyping up the products to all our family and friends. Professionals who buy it and pay a grand more than a Dell because it is stable and fast and the hardware is high quality. We were the ones who were defending Apple about software compatibility and spyware and viruses.
Now when I want to get my iPhone serviced because it has a legitimate problem 10 days out of the box I have to schedule an appointment because a bunch of idiots are clogging up the in store support. Or when my Superdrive goes bad under warranty and I have to drive 60 miles to the store at noon to meet my appointment which I had to book 3 days in advance and then leave it there for 4 more days for the part to be replaced after I spent hours on hours self diagnosing it for them. Then having a bad drive put in and having to go through the hassle all over again.
I feel like I shot myself in the foot by hyping this company. The service has gone downhill a lot. I have to wait to buy something because all the idiot consumers are wasting the store rep’s time with absolutely stupid questions when they are too stupid to comprehend the answer. Or when they are haggling with the Genius Bar guys about their broken iPhone screen and why they shouldn’t have to pay for it since it only fell off the table 4 times. Or how their iPod won’t turn on and they think it is Apple’s fault that it doesn’t work when it is a 3rd gen model that is like 5 years old.
That is all I have to say – I’m pissed off and growing very frustrated with Apple after having spent close to $13,000 with them in the last 4 years. They lost sight of their true customer base.
Better strip my URL out of that last one in case somebody decides to be an a-hole and try to complain at me.
hey John … get your own faggot blog if you want to write 500 pages of fanboy. call it macsoda2.
Hey Mike,
the ipad is everything you thought it wouldnt be. wah! its a big iphone … sorry – but last time i checked the iphone was the hottest selling piece of hardware on the planet. BAR NONE. anyone that thought some tablet was going to be a replacement for a computer is a facking moron. 99.99% of users are facking idiots, and dont actually need a computer to accomplish the 100% of the crap they are doing on the net (reading email, browsing the web, watching videos, listening to music) .. this product line has legs. albeit, intentionally crippled legs ..
u r right blah……
hey mike, you said you were going to tell us something about final cut studio 4…coming out in 2010……WHAT HAPPEN?
this is a dead site! RIP
It seems to me that all of those who are disappointed are not creative enough to see how huge a potential the iPad has.
It is a blank canvas. And on that blank canvas, those who are creative will make millions.
It is a completely new paradigm for a large screen device. It can do things that no iPod or iPhone can do.
Who needs the Kindle when you can simply use the Kindle app, by the way, to read the Kindle books one has.
Flash storage is expensive.
256 gigabytes of Flash storage will cost at least $600 – and usually more. So those who want more storage should wait until prices come down – if they ever do since the worldwide shortage of flash chips means that prices will NOT come down anytime soon.
For the vast majority of people, 16 gigabytes is much more than enough.
After all, the iPad will NOT be used to store one’s music collection. One’s iPhone or iPod can do that better. One will also NOT store tons of video on it nor will one store tons of photos on it. Only a selected collection will be stored. And books take up very little space. 16 gigabytes will store up to 600,000 books. This is more than anyone can read in a lifetime. Apps also take up very little space. I already have over 140 apps on my iPhone which takes up a fraction of the 16 gigs of space it has.
Apple is the magician who removes features to leave only the most useful ones to define the product.
Found it very useful….