Apple iPad

iPod. iPhone. iMac. iPad...

So after much speculation, titter-tatter and natter online, Steve Jobs took to the stage yesterday in Cupertino to launch Apples latest revolution in computing – the iPad.

Set up to be a computing device for a “mobile” generation (Jobs was quick to point out that Apple is as much a mobile tech company as it is anything else, with most sales being driven by iPod, iPhone & Macbook) that sits between your iPhone and Macbook, the iPad solves a few issues for people.

For me, it solves a very simple conundrum: surfing while relaxing. I like to surf the web, check my mail and tweet while sitting back in the sofa with some TV on in the background. Hell, even when I’m gaming I have some sort of device nearby to do some quick online-checking when a loading screen pops up. No need for my Macbook Pro to give my crotch third-degree burns when running off the battery, and no need to completely obliterate my eyes with such a large format screen right in front of me at all times. Also, I can disregard the weight and size of the extra bit – the keyboard when relaxing. In fairness, the keyboard is barely even used when browsing. Most of the sites I go to are bookmarked, and most blogs I read are fed through an RSS reader anyway. Basically, my Macbook Pro can go back to being what it is – a mobile desktop experience.

The iPhone does solve this issue to an extent, but it’s not as nice and big and can cause as much strain by being so small as the Macbook Pro for being so big. Sounds ludicrous, but the “medium” is a great benefit for general surfing.

On top of this, the iPhone is the only device I can confidently hand over to my mother and not worry about the stupid question’s afterwards. It’s just so intuitive that it opens up whole new avenues for tech-phobic people. This would help my mother and her ilk to shop online rather then drag heavy bags through the rain, leaving more time to make tea and watch mediocre afternoon television.

Old people aside, the other huge market here is education. Imagine using the device to connect to some ubiquitous college/school server to pull down the next classes notes, with which you can edit, draw diagrams and take notes on, save and then re-upload to the service. Then when study time comes at home, you can login and download your own notes. Instead of relying on an endless supply of scrap-heap copy books and notepads, you’ll have defined, numbered and sorted files to study with. It’ll be like the whole world is asian in its militaristic approach to being incredibly smart, and efficient without the drawbacks of suicidal kids because we’ll all have cool Apple devices.

Front, back & side

I personally think my final year project will benefit hugely. The “wow” factor would notch up to eleven if I could demonstrate the project (which is web-based social media stuff) on an iTab to the lecturers and committee of judgmental doctorate-holders. One lecturer of mine isn’t the best lecturer in the world. In fact, I often wonder how he even has a job as an educator. He seems too old, fragile and afraid of technology to be teaching such complex classes. He smells a bit like death, always looks confused and rather then teach us relevant information, is stuck in the past. However, he uses a small HP device to deliver his notes by plugging it into the wall-socket attached to the overhead projector. It’s brilliant. Works flawlessly and has a little clicker for presentations just like an Apple remote. Using an iPad would increase the productivity on the device (especially with iWork coming on it for a mere $30 for everything) as well as being much easier to use and tinker with then a fully fledged laptop.

For a while now I’ve been looking at & researching the possibility of investing in an eBook. The Kindle looks like a winner because it works properly in Europe, and has nice hardware. The only one that beats it is the Barnes&Noble Nook, but not only is it not sold in the EU, it also will not be able to purchase books from anywhere but the B&N store in America. Licensing has been a big issue in the eReader market, but with iBooks, that is solved. Apple’s dominance means they can wade into publishers and offer everything to everyone at a reasonable price. It seems we’ll be charged around €9.99 for new titles, which is a nice price considering that’s about €5 on average cheaper then retail prices. The display is sleek, but I would be concerned with eye strain given it’s basically just a backlit LCD rather then using e-ink.

However it’s not all fantastic, wonderful and nice. I do have reservations. The biggest, of course, is the fact that this device uses a slightly modified version of iPhone OS, version 3.2. Not ideal for a device this large. Yes, it’s nice that I can get all my iPhone apps on this device and bump them up to HD resolutions, but I don’t care about that. I don’t want to use the Facebook app. I want to use Google Chrome or Firefox. I want flash. I want to run 2 apps together. Basically, I want a modified version of the full OS 10. Not necessarily a straight install of Snow Leopard, but something modified that can do proper computational tasks as if it were an advanced netbook rather then a giant iPhone. I want to listen to music in iTunes or WunderRadio while tweeting and browsing, all while running mail clients in the background with Google Earth left open because I forgot to close it. You get the idea.

Contextual keyboard and menu's will be fairly familiar to iPhoneusers

I think this device will really hit critical mass when developers get at it properly. The SDK is released, and that’s what’ll really sell it. Just like the iPhone. When developers figure out how to make this thing better and more usable, we’ll have ourselves a real device. The other thing I can see happening is people working on putting OS10 on it. Properly. The device’s smallest capacity is 16GB, more then capable to carry OS10. The new processor and memory may struggle in parts – but some crafty developers could very quickly and easily modify Snow Leopard or previous iterations of OSX to run more effectively on this.

Another issue is the name. iSlate was pretty crap and made it seem like it would be an item just for businesses to use for menus or even mobile checkouts. iTablet was fine, in my opinion. Not sexy, but neither was iPhone when we first heard it. It says it all. iPad is not a cool name. It’s too close to iPod (I’ve mis-typed iPad nearly every time I typed it in this post alone) and sounds too much like it’s trying to sound hip and groovy, which accompanies the odd selection of Bob Dylan to play out the start of the conference for the press in Cupertino. Yesterday, 6 out of the 10 trending topics on twitter were Apple related. Astonishing display of brand power and loyalty, but one of the topics was “iTampon” with a slew of related jokes and snide remarks. We’ll get over the it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not got a terrible name.

My final gripe with this thing is the looks. The back side is beautiful. Brushed aluminum with the Apple logo centered as per usual. The front has a smooth, clean sheet of glass with which to swipe and gesture on top of. But the black surrounding it and slightly-too-wide form factor makes it look a bit like a cheap Currys own-brand digital photo-frame. The UI and everything else is proven and wonderful, but the black is annoying. Especially since Johnny Ives (Apples design supremo) said of the 27″ iMac that part of its glory is that it loses the black framing and brings the screen right to the edge. Why not take this approach here?

I know others have raised concern over the fact that it has no camera. I personally don’t have much use for skype, nor do I have much use for dragging an iPad around the streets to take pics with. That’s what my iPhone is for… or, my camera. Other concerns were raised about the cost of the 3G plans. I don’t need a 3G plan. Wifi only for me. The 3G is not worth the extra money and I’m honestly not going to be using this on a bus. Again, my iPhone suits me here. The iTab is for sitting around the house for me to quickly check the internet, read a book or stream Bayern Munich games when I can’t see them on TV.

Will I buy one? Yes, probably. It genuinely solves a few issues for me, and the $499 price (which translates to €360 odd, plus some Apple-tax will bring it to around €399 for the base model I imagine) seals the deal. It’s not expensive. The failings of the iPhone OS choice over OS X can be dealt with, especially considering a likely revision will come next year solving all of our gripes. The loss of this amount of money doesn’t feel significant. I will absolutely get my moneys worth, even if a new one comes out 12 months from now. I’m also due an iPhone upgrade (I still use the 3G rather then the 3Gs), so in June they’re likely to draw even more money from my pocket. Hopefully their new idea of having low prices works, and makes them think of having the iPhone 4G available online, sans-contract at a nice price.