My Thoughts on the iPad

January 31, 2010

I can never have a computer fast enough, capable enough or innovative enough.  There will always be features I want that are not there.  I’ll have to wait for something.  Editing HD video just does not produce immediate results.  The iPad would roll over and die if I tried to use it for some of the things I do.  The iPad is not for me.

What about the rest of you? Many of the people I know use their computers for very simple uses.  Email, Internet, viewing media, editing photos and maybe the occasional document.  They own a computer capable of so much more than they really need.  The iPad takes the needs of the majority of users and meets those with a very usable OS and a very portable device.  The average person can use it without needing to use a ‘computer’.  Sure it is limited in what it can do vs a computer.  But so too is the average user’s understanding of computers and what they could do with them. 

I would guess many people could sell their existing computer, cancel their internet, buy an iPad with 3G and have a BETTER experience.  They pay $30 a month for ~7mb internet (3G) that is virtually everywhere ATT is (granted, their 3G is flakey…namely my house in Pasadena!).  Many people pay that much for 1mb internet.  The form factor of the iPad allows them to do those basic functions from the comfort of the couch, desk, kitchen, back yard, while sitting in traffic (ok, don’t do that).

Will I own one?  Unlikely.  I just need (want) to have more in a computer.  (What I want is a laptop with a display that removes and functions like an iPad).  Non computer types won’t spend $1000 for a big box that sits on their desk when they can get a small screen that goes anywhere and works better for them.  The iTunes like approach for publications will allow a new way to get news, books, and other information.  Apple really didn’t do anything new, what they have done is create a new ‘ecosystem’ for media consumption that is rooted in the iPad.  It likely won’t have the same impact as iTunes did for music or the App store did for mobile software, but it will (and already has) send ripples that effect the computer landscape in the years to come.