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Why I Want an iPad (and you will too)
Over the past week we’ve looked at why the iPad will be good for contractors and why you might not be the target audience for the device. After considerable thought, I’d like to share why I want an iPad.
I’m not an Apple fanboy – the only Apple device I currently own is a 4 year-old refurbished iPod Nano. I don’t carry an iPhone – I use a Samsung Ace Windows Mobile smartphone. I still like the device because it’s tiny and has great battery life for my trips. I was recently scolded for not using Keynote for my presentations. My main computer is a refurbished Dell XPS M1330 laptop which I’ve enjoyed over the past year although lately the fan has made so much noise that I can’t bring it to SXSW with me. I have been considering purchasing the new Asus ULvt30 laptop as it has a super battery and looks like it would meet my needs well.
So why do I want the Apple iPad? It’s been bashed from blog to blog and fanboys are torching their shrines to Steve Jobs. (side note, I wonder if the fanboys would have loved the device if Jobs gave one to everyone in the audience. You know, just like Google did with the Nexus One. Didn’t see much hate over that way, did ya?)
The Asus laptop weighs in at just under 4 pounds. It’s got great specs and will work perfectly for coding, working on my startup, and all the other heavy lifting that a computer is meant to handle. Everyday I am in NYC at an event, meeting an entrepreneur looking for advice or meeting with a customer of my startup. Many times it would be nice to have a device that I can whip out in a second and show off my startup, look at other startups, review a presentation, etc. Typically I use my mobile for checking my various email accounts and browsing the web using the Skyfire mobile browser. The iPad will be able to handle everything I’ve listed and more and I can travel around with a 1.5 pound machine. If I take the laptop with me, it’s lugging around a 3x heavier machine and then I also have to take a bigger (and heavier) laptop bag as well. The iPad will fit into my lightweight bag with no issues.
ReadWriteWeb had an interesting post about how the iPad will allow startups to create “instant demos”. I very much agree with this premise and could see startups purchasing one just for the demo ability.
I am also hoping that I can use the iPad as my new music playing device where I start a playlist, “hold” the device and stick it into my bag and the music keeps playing.
Update: Amazon is now accepting emails for notification once the iPad arrives in stock. Add your name to the list here.
Based on what I have read, it does appear that I will have some gripes with the device. First, it has no camera – a camera would have been excellent for networking and I am guessing it will be on version 2 – isn’t that how Jobs creates his devices? Jobs says the battery will last 10 hours which probably means 3-4 in real life. I certainly hope the power cord is super light and easy to carry. The iPad also apparently can’t handle multi-tasking which seems stupid because many times you will want to browse the web and listen to a song in your iTunes collection. Apparently there is some issue where Flash doesn’t work on the iPad — not exactly sure how this will affect my Web usage but it is something to consider.
Update: The comments seem to indicate you can play a song in iTunes and work in the browser.
From what I can tell so far, the iPad might also improve my productivity while I am out and about because I can load up on apps that I can use to keep better track of everything going on in my life from scheduling to note taking to contact management.
It looks like there will be adapters that will connect into the iPad to allow for some external functions. I am hoping that a foldable keyboard is one of those options. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like you can carry a second battery. It would also be great if you can plug the iPad into a projector for large group demos and presentations.
I’m not sure whether I will purchase the model with the 3G. My Ace phone handles Bluetooth tethering very well so I could just use that when needed. I’m guessing you can’t add on the 3G later so my guess is that I will take the 3G version. I’m quite certain I will go for the least expensive version. The 3G service plans seem expensive to me – especially since if you only use it a drop, you still pay for the entire month. I am actually willing to bet that one of the sweet spots for the iPad will be for people who are happy with their cell phone but want a smarter device without buying an iPhone or Droid.
So to summarize why I want an iPad:
- lightweight
- ability to check and respond to emails and handle customer inquiries for my startup
- web browser
- productivity apps
- meeting functionality (review presentations, review apps, discussions)
- long battery life
- new music player to replace my old Nano
I’d also like to note that I am sure there are other tablet machines on the market that are worth looking into. I have not started this research yet but plan to before looking at the iPad for purchase.
Had the device been available for purchase before SXSW, my bet is that you would see 1,000 or more of the devices in the convention center.
The iPad could also replace my wish of moving into a new mobile device this year. If I have an iPad that tethers to my phone and my phone to handle calls (which Sprint does perfectly), then I am all set.
Overall I think the iPad will be a huge winner for Apple. Ithink the price will drop a bit by mid-year which will get more mainstream users excited about the device. Now I need to work on getting more pageviews so I can pay for the new iPad device.
I hope the new iPad Apps will not cost too much. Some of the Race Games are expensive but have a nice graphic. The iPad is nice thing to relax. I like it.
A lot of gimmicky accessories for the iPod are everywhere, but I think the iPad will probably get some industrial-type ones. I think that an add-on camera is begging to be made by the right 3rd party. And it would be better than a static one actually. unless that built-in camera was a ball pivot that could go nearly 360.
I think it’s a bad idea to assume you’ll want this day one, given all the possible tablets happening right now. The iPad is cool, and might be the fastest response, and best weight, battery compromise, however HP’s got one coming which is gonna kill and there are a few more that I can’t mention here.
Regarding flash, let’s get this straight, because people seemed confused. FLASH is not on the iPad because it competes with the app store. That’s it, end of story. The instability comments make fun headlines (oooh, steve jobs rips into Adobe oh no). Whatever. It’s a classic misdirection. Jobs can say that because he’s got strong fans, but Macs without Adobe software would be kinda lame for the industries that count on them, and that have popularized them.
You know how easy it is for Adobe to create a Flash player on a locked-in form factor? A cinch. They’ve already done a Flash lite for general mobile devices. A flash player could support the most important stuff and be ready to flag the memory hogging flash files on the Internet. And then you’d see the flash sites getting more slim because developers would want to keep their site’s optimized for mobile. It would be killer actually a win for all. But that’s not the goal.
Playing within boundaries of memory would be way more simple for Adobe than the way they have to do it now for PCs and browsers across the board. Apple refused, ignored Adobe’s offers to basically come in and make it perfect for the iPods because they want to ignore them, because they know they can squeeze hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions more if they lock people to iTunes pmt for apps.
I can’t wait to get my hands on some of these tablets. The iPad, the eDGe, the HP, these are cool. And would all make demos fun. 3G is pretty important in that respect, but not necessarily a Mac platform. Android is blowing up right now and the openness may be what you want if it comes down to a specific add-on, whether hardware or software that just isn’t there for Mac. Too early to say, but my money is always on flexibility.
I don’t think anyone’s confused. Why would Apple think that people watching Hulu or playing lame Flash games is in any way competitive with the app store? The offerings on the app store are 10x better than the best Flash game out there.
If Adobe could make a Flash player that didn’t suck for the iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad … WHY DON’T THEY JUST DO IT? Write one, distribute it as a demo if Apple refuses to host it on the app store, and PROVE that there’s no other reason for Flash not to be on the apple mobile devices.
They haven’t done this, why? If someone was calling out our company technically because of some inherent flaw, and it was important to our bottom line, I’d USE the media to prove that our tech was sound.
Adobe hasn’t done it. I say put up or shut up. Anything else is just hogwash.
If you program on the go, you won’t be using a tablet anyways.
OSX would suck on a touchscreen device, and the applications built for OSX would, too. iPhone OS is great for touchscreen, and iphone apps were made with touch/swipe/etc in mind. Not to mention they run on less memory, etc… good for a portable device.
This device isn’t as much for traveling as it is for around-the-house and around-the-office usage. Not to mention how fun games will be on a larger touchscreen.
Also, the app store keeps prices low… hate on the control all you want, but find me ONE decent OSX app for sale for a dollar.
I have more reasons, too, if anyone wishes to hear them. ;)
[...] only ride with a screen that’s 3x bigger. I’ve previously shared my thoughts about why I want an iPad. I think the iPad device will be a hit for families once it drops to $349 for the WiFi version. I [...]
I have a very similar view as to why the iPad might not be a home run but it’s still a win.
http://jtdelivers.blogspot.com/2010/02/if-ipad-is-such-big-fail-then-why-do-i.html
I disagree. Here are my 3 simple reasons why ipad will fail.
http://www.mewithoutdebt.com/2010/02/3-simple-reasons-why-ipad-will-fail.html
Here is the link to the post on 23 Devices my iPhone replaced as requested.
http://blog.devost.net/2009/06/18/23-devices-my-iphone-has-replaced/
Thx
Matt
[...] Harry says: Allen Stern is not only not predicting that the iPad will be a bomb, he’s saying it’ll be a hit, and that he wants one. [...]
Andrew Lombardi wrote:
#1 apple wants to control
#2, I think Apple cares more
Sorry, I just don’t see it as #2 but more of Apple wanting to control. It’s a very limited piece of hardware that has not much interoperability. 1024 x 768/4×3 aspect ratio screen? It’s 2010 for pete’s sake. No usb, no flash, no webcam, no true multi-tasking. No on #2… Apple doesn’t care, they just rushed to get something out. Talk about coming full circle…you can purchase attachments?!? Kind of like the Mac-v-PC commercials with them taping the webcam to the guys head. Oh the irony.
I’m looking closely at the HP TouchSmart-Tm2 and it’s 12.1″ 1280×800 WXGA HD touch Widescreen. The screen even swivels and flolds closed and looks a lot like….an iPad.
Apple wants to sell hardware. From what I’ve heard from folks that work there, this device has been in the works for quite some time, and might even pre-date the iPhone. The webcam is really the only thing that seems to be a valid disappointment, I’d definitely like to see one if not in this version, in a future revision. The thing is incredibly thin, built to do at least one thing at a time extremely well, and has multitouch which we’ve all enjoyed quite a lot in our iPhone’s.
The HP TouchSmart-Tm2 is at minimum twice the price $949.99, More than 3x the weight. Double the width, for all this you don’t get any better battery life (9.75 hours).
Yes, the HP is a full-blown version of Windows 7 OS, which also means you need to worry about running virus scans, spyware scans, and all manner of crap to ensure your experience doesn’t get hijacked.
As a software developer, the iPad wouldn’t be my primary machine, but for all manner of other uses, it seems spot on. Browsing the web, reading a book, writing a presentation and watching enough movies to last a good portion of the flight to Europe.
The iPad gives you a simple device, with a world of possibilities that can be built into it by App developers.
i know this might sound silly, but as a large guy, many times i can’t get the snack tray open on a plane to get my laptop open – this device will allow me to still be at least partially productive on a flight as i can do email, apps, whatever.
Thanks for all those information. However, your summary of why you want an iPad might not be enough for others. I’ve come across a couple of blogs and most of them are quite disappointed on the iPad’s features like no camera, not portable, and inability to multi-task.
@ aion database I’m sorry. How is the iPad NOT portable? It’s not pocketable, but it is most definitely portable.
I think the fact that they built it from the iphone is a minus. And why doesn’t it have USB? major mistake!
I am pretty sure you wont be able to tether your phone via bluetooth to it. If you phone has wifi and you can get an app to share the phones connection over wifi then you wouldnt need 3g.
I would pay the extra 130 bucks because you will just regret it in the end if you dont. Also the contract you can get in the states is monthly pay as you go so you dont have to pay for it all the time if you didnt need it. also the contract comes with access to a ton of wifi points which is handy.
See http://apple.com/ipad for lots of details and the full spec & Apple’s officially announced accessories (which also include camera attachments to plug in a camera via the doc or to connect an SD card to the iPad. It also includes the keyboard dock I mentioned.
The iPad OS is the same as the iPhones. Your built in iTunes Will definately play music while you are using other apps. The multitasking issue revolves around having multiple apps running at the same time. You can’t do it, meaning if I open up say my facebook app and then I want to send an email out, I have to close facebook and them open my email. Still not really sure what to make of the iPad. Can’t wait to see one in real life. Anyway nice article.
Allen,
A few comments:
- you can indeed play the iTunes app on the iPhone/iTouch while you run another app. However Pandora etc do not run in the browser (they do run in their own very good free apps – but those you can’t run in the backgroun) (they don’t play at the moment at least – as HTML5 etc get adoption this may change – but at the moment I think Pandora uses a flash player on their website)
- re camera, I actually predict that the iPad will not get a camera in the future BUT that via Bluetooth people will be able to connect one or more cameras and that people will make a range of Bluetooth enabled cameras for all kinds of functionality (the problem with a camera built-in to the ipad is viewing angles – as someone noted it probably would often see the underside of your nose much of the time)
- Apple themselves are selling a dock for the iPad w/keyboard as well as noting that the Apple wireless keyboard (which the latest version of which is insanely lightweight and highly portable) will work with the device – again via Bluetooth
- Given the MacBook Air and MacBook’s battery life and the reports of the capabilities of Apple’s new chip (the A4 which they made in-house) I suspect that the real world battery life will be much close to 10hrs than to 4hrs – I’d guess 9-11hrs depending on usage actually
- they make a VGA out adapter so I’m fairly sure you will be able to drive presentations from the ipad.
Shannon
Thanks Shannon – looks like it might be even better than I thought if your notes are correct.
where did you see this iPad dock?
First google search for ipad accessories brought this, and it was talked about during the keynote:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/187995/apple_details_first_ipad_accessories.html
I’d be really surprised if you can’t browse the web and listen to your iTunes music at the same time.
On the iPhone, the one application that is allowed to run in the background is the iPod application which is the Apple music software on the device. You won’t be able to multitask by listening to Pandora and surfing the web, but you should be able to listen to your music and do anything else. That capability has been present since the first Gen iPhone.
I’ll be buying one too and wrote about why I was looking forward to it on my blog. I also wrote a post entitled “23 Devices my iPhone Replaced”, which gives some insight into the utility of the platform.
Oh nice on the iTunes and the app. I guess you could also open a tab with say pandora or last.fm and then another tab with your typical browsing session?
reply with y our link to your 23 devices post!
Actually, you wouldn’t be able to.
Both those sites run basically all on flash, so no music for you!
Interesting write up. I’m not sure how much better the iPad would be for your music playing experience versus your nano. Personally I wouldn’t want to carry around a big device just for music playing and a quick web browse. The iPhone seems to fit both of those molds pretty well, even though the battery life has been subpar once you actually want to use it for, a phone.
Flash won’t be on the device, and you’ll hear two theories on this: 1. apple wants to control all media to the device and Flash and it’s “games” threaten the app store and movie downloads. and 2. flash is so horribly bad on the Mac that Apple wouldn’t risk putting it on a device it cares about battery life and the user experience. I’m a fanboi so I put my money on #2, I think Apple cares more about selling hardware than hurting Adobe’s feelings.
I’m most interested in on-the-go presentations with the device, sitting with a client and showing them a presentation, website designs, functionality, etc would absolutely be killer on this thing. If it gets anything north of 6 or 7 hours of battery life, it will be a big win on transatlantic flights, not having to carry 3 batteries to Europe would be a big plus just for watching movies.
I wouldn’t expect any price drops on the device, it’s already pretty cheap for what’s inside. I would love to see the camera get thrown into it, that would make video conferencing a really interesting and mobile opportunity.
Good point regarding the nano – course it weighs nothing and has about a 20hr battery life.
Thanks for the Flash explanation – better than I’ve read so far.
somehow i bet we will see an add-on camera…
And why dont you already have a netbook? For me I need my desktop apps not cute iPhone apps. I recently spend two weeks traveling NZ and was able to get work done (im a computer programmer) using a netbook with w7, it has 8.5 hours battery. the screen is small, but i need to do a lot of typing and the full keyboard is key.
I think apple should of had put a desktop OS on it and had a USB port and a kickstand so people could type on it.
Yea, good question. I’ve never really looked into getting a netbook. Not sure why but my laptop is only 4 pounds so it just seemed ok to take the laptop when needed.
It seems the USB port is a big deal on the blog reviews I’ve read – the kickstand will be an extra – one of my friends thinks we will see the iPad in every kitchen so the kickstand will be needed.
The accessory cover available doubles as a kick stand, you also have the freestanding dock for placing it upright, and the dock with keyboard for typing while on the go.
I don’t think the device has ever been meant for replacing what a laptop gives you in power and speed.
I will be buying one day one. It is like a big iPod Touch.