Seems safe to say that "disappointment" was one of the resounding sentiments to come out of Apple's iPad announcement several weeks ago. I find this odd, and I think much of that disappointment is misplaced. The iPad is not so much as a disappointment in itself as it is different than what many pundits and consumers alike thought it would be. It's no wonder you were disappointed if you were hoping for a small, yet fully functional computer, if you were hoping for Apple to take something already in existence and simply make it small -- that's not Apple's modus operandi at all. And if that is what you want, you should go to Best Buy, because Microsoft Windows was powering such devices (with little success) years ago.Compute like its 1998, or kiss your paper and wires goodbye?
While items like a camera and an SD Card reader might have been nice extras for the iPad, I don't feel particularly worked up over their omission. I find the lack of a USB port is a bit more disappointing, as it will make it tough to print, but then I consider history.
Remember when Apple released the first iMac? We're talking the big, translucent plastic, multi-colored units of 1998 fame. Remember how agitated we were when we learned there would be no built in floppy disk drive? The very audacity -- I mean, how dare they? Steve Jobs and Apple intuitively knew, as they so often do, that the floppy drive would soon be a thing of the past. It was tough to imagine back then, but it would not be long after that large files, file attachments, thumb drives, and (a bit later) online storage made the floppy drive obsolete. While I am not suggesting that printers are going anywhere any time soon, I think that it's safe to say that in the iPad, Apple is imagining a considerably more paper-free world. The device already seeks to eliminate the need for paper notepads and printed books, so why not take a leap and assume that printers become less useful in an age when there is laptop in every briefcase and a smartphone in every pocket? And in similar fashion to what the Internet did to the floppy drive, so to is wireless technology doing to peripheral device -- who needs to plug in a camera when you can spring for the WiFi enabled SD Card instead?
What about your own, personal history? The iPad is not designed to be a primary computer, and I don't think it will replace laptops and desktops any time soon. It's designed for mobility, convenience, for an intimate and seamless computing experience away from the desk. Whether traveling or surfing from the couch, how often do we really print anyway? I cannot think of any time when I have been on the road in a hotel with a document I needed to print, and been able to plug directly into the hotel printer. If I am not at my desk and need to print, I always have to push that document to another computer via attachment or upload. The built in 3G makes this easier, not harder. Of course, perhaps Apple might have tried to solve this problem in the revolutionary new device, but then again, the ability to print doesn't exactly seem like a poster child for innovation. We ought to look ahead, not backwards.
But I digress with all this nonsense about printing and peripherals. I sit now, looking at my laptop with only a power cord and a Verizon 3G card plugged into it and think "yes, between built in wireless and a 10-hour battery life, the iPad needs neither of these things." Fantastic.
Give me something great!
I'd say that iPad fits the bill, and where it doesn't, services and apps like Evernote certainly can. In fact, the iPad has got to have the folks at Evernote salivating. Think about it: Apple launches a fully wireless tablet computer that begs you to stick your documents and notes in the cloud. Enter Evernote, and feel free to sync your stuff 'til your heart's content. If you're not using this service on your iPhone and Mac/PC already, you should be -- it's premium version is one of the only things on the Internet that I gladly and freely pay (gasp!) actual money for. Yes, iPad + Evernote = Digital Zen.
In case you missed it, though, the iPad isn't supposed to be all business. This thing is supposed to be fun, to change the way you live your digital life. Suddenly I have one device that I can not only carry to every office meeting I go to (virtually eliminating the need for paper), but that I can browse the web, watch movies, read books, and play games on as well. The queue at the DMV, doctor's office waiting room, or the empty conference room waiting for your late colleagues to arrive has never been this entertaining! Yes, the iPhone does all of this as well, but push comes to shove and the iPhone is still a phone -- it's great, but it's small, and it certainly is not my idea of a computer replacement for too many tasks. Bring on the iPad!
Great, but not perfect.
I really think the iPad is a great product. Perhaps it won't revolutionize the digital world to quite the degree Apple predicts, but I am sure there will be some great (and accurate?) predictions from Steve Ballmer on that topic before too long. In all seriousness, though, do I wish the thing were better at multi-tasking? Yeah, sure, I guess. Do I wish there was a built in camera to facilitate video conferencing? Sure, I guess that would be convenient when trying to interact with the hordes of folks who actually enjoy one friend I have who knows who to use her video conferencing. Do I wish there was more hard drive capacity? Not really; I don't want the primary version of my documents to be local on this thing anyway, and I don't have nearly enough time to chew through more than 16 GB of media content in one sitting. Ironically, the feature that I most wish had been included is the venerable stylus -- how great would it be to jot a note into Evernote and in 60 seconds have it synced back to my iPhone and my laptop? I suppose, though, that if that were the primary thing drawing me to a tablet computer, I could have shelled out $2,000 for one of those Microsoft thingamajigs years ago.
The iPad is coming. Get excited.
