Tell me what you think the iPad will do or evolve into.
I can’t tell if you’re trying to trick me or something, but if that’s the case, you miss the point.
The point is not what I think it will become. The point is that it will become something else that’s not obvious right now, just like it wasn’t obvious what the iPod would become. The point is technology evolves and the best technology enhances imagination and optimism.
I think (without having used it, relying on my imagination) it’s a solid glimpse at what computing looks like from here on out. That I’ll buy one in three months because it will add meaning to my life, and give me a clearer view of the future than those who haven’t lived with it. And I’ll buy it knowing full well that Version One is always just a hint at Versions Two and Three and all they can accomplish, and those are just a hint at Version One of the next thing. How that’s not the most fun thing ever to some people, I don’t necessarily get. But I’ll allow them their skepticism, as ideally they would allow me my enthusiasm. (Get back to work.)
I can see that happening. But I feel pretty okay saying I think it probably won’t. While some critics are kneejerking, my (and many people’s) motivations for doubt are as valid as yours for hope! I think comparing them to objections to the iPod and iPhone is cheating. I think different people are objecting to the iPad: people who really like Apple’s other products. Like me!
Basically, we wanted a touchscreen MacBook, not a big iPhone. And the iPad is, for now, quite literally a big iPhone without a camera or phone. Its only distinctive feature is its size and an add-on keyboard.
Now for $500, that’s pretty good. But it’s nothing special. And Apple has proved over and over that they are capable of something special.
So yes, the iPad could evolve. But it should have done more of that evolution before it was released in the first place. That’s a valid point to make, and it’s one born out of trust in Apple’s innovative abilities, not out of cynicism.
I don’t know a single thing about the tech behind this. I’m not a developer or designer like Adam or John Gruber, two commentators with some concrete expertise. And maybe the problem is that I just don’t get it. But if that’s my problem, I think it’s a problem normal people will have too!
Okay, so it doesn’t play Flash and that means no free porn. Those of us who want to type a lot on our mobile computer have to buy a keyboard, and that’s probably not so bad.
But the thing doesn’t run normal apps. It runs App Store apps. And it runs them one at a time. Even if Apple majorly fixes the approval process in their app store, this still hobbles the device so severely that I think even the average user will notice.
“Normal people” are geekier than they used to be. They at least run a chat app while they browse the net. Some of them run Skype. Some leave notes open. When you use a device with a full-size screen, you want to multitask. But Pee-Wee Herman’s freaking globe can do more at once than this device. (Okay, music is the one thing an iPad can run in the background. But that’s all.) The very way that the iPhone OS works makes sense on something you hold in your hand, not something big enough to show two windows.
I’m not even sure people will go long without expecting multitasking on their phones too. The iPhone’s major competitors are adding it. That enables all kinds of functions for next-gen apps, like location tracking, apps that take too long to open and close, and plain old multitasking. I don’t know how they’re doing it, or whether apps keep crashing on a Droid because people overload the memory, but the whole approach seems smart.
So if Apple fixes all of that, then okay, it’ll finally be something useful. It’ll be as feature-rich as the tablet I can buy today from all the PC makers. And it’ll be completely different from what they’re releasing this spring. I guess you could say “look, it evolved!” but that won’t mean that Version One should have ever hit stores.
The people who criticized the iPod and the iPhone didn’t get that those were obviously new things. This is not. As far as I can tell, the iPad is just iPhone XL. It’s Version 4. And I wanted Version One of the next thing.
I hope I’m wrong and I’m missing an obvious use for this thing (not for me; I know I’m not the target market; just for anyone). And I suspect you, Adam, have a more concrete basis for your hope that you haven’t yet detailed. You know that Apple’s surprised us before, but you also know that they’ve made bad products too.
So clearly I cannot drink the wine in front of you.
