Thoughts on the Apple iPad

I am really excited about the iPad. I was excited about it before Steve Jobs showed it to the world last week (see my blog post about it here) and I’m even more excited about it now. I’d buy one today if they were available.

I’ve been reading about it since last week in various blogs (I’m a fan of John Gruber at DaringFireball.net) and newspaper websites. I’ve also listened to more than a few podcasts that focused on it (some faves are This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte as well as Laporte’s MacBreak Weekly and the gdgt podcast with Ryan Block and Peter Rojas.) So if you don’t have the time or want to put the effort into taking in all of the above, I’ve got my version of a digest for you below. Doing all the hard work for you :-)

So having taken all of this in and thought a good deal about the iPad and what it means for computing, there are a few things that have made particular sense to me. Remember, these are not my ideas, just my personal affirmations of them. You can read/listen to the above sources and you’ll be exposed to the same material I’ve been.

One of the worst analogies I’ve heard about the iPad is that “it’s just like a big iPod Touch” or iPhone. Just because they share qualities, doesn’t make them the same at all. The iPad also looks a lot like the screen from my 13” MacBook. Do they share the same qualities or characteristics? A few, sure. They look similar (at a glance). They’re both made of aluminum and have a glass display surface, but that’s where the comparison ends. This is just a red herring.

People have also been pointing out numerous “faults” with the iPad. A few include “It doesn’t have a camera.”, “It can’t multitask.”, “I can’t run whatever software I want on it.” and there were many others.

I’m not going to address each of the above individually, but rather collectively by simply saying - so what? It’s Apple’s product, not yours. You don’t make it, you don’t get to decide what goes into it. Harsh? Sure, but so is life. Sometimes. Apple is trying to give customers (who want to buy the device) the best experience possible. One of the most impressive things I’ve heard from Leo Laporte, John Gruber and others is about the incredible speed. In addition to the speed is the stability. Speed and stability would probably rank in the top 5 of desired traits of a computing device, if not right at 1 and 2.

From what I’ve read/heard, Apple’s new A4 processor is likely responsible for the blazing speed and as for the stability? I’d say platform (iPhone OS) maturity and the fact that Apple controls all of the hardware used and can write the software to work with it perfectly. People harp on Apple and their control issues, but this is what it gets you. Incredible stability.

Media Consumption Device

I believe it was Andy Ihnatko who stated on TWiT that the iPad is a “Media Consumption Device” and I couldn’t agree more. The iPad is for browsing the web, reading books, periodicals and newspapers, watching video and listening to music and podcasts. It’s all about consuming content and being the best device for that on the market. It’s not about creating content. For that, use a laptop.

They Want the Thing in the Movies

One blog post I will link directly to, because it’s one of the most poignant I’ve read about the iPad is this one - The Failure of Empathy. Two quotes that really sum it up for me and speak volumes are “It’s the subtraction of 20lbs of textbooks in my son’s backpack, and the device I finally feel comfortable buying my parents.” and “They want the thing in the movies.”

Yep. I want to buy the iPad for my 70+ year old parents and yep, I want the thing in the movies too. Until I get my flying car and jet pack, it’ll suffice very nicely.