So the iPad continues to be the internet' Rorschach test - everyone is seeing what they want to in it. And because the continuing drama is making my fingers itch, here I am committing blog for the very first time. The iPad is the next step in what Apple has been doing since it rolled out the aluminum iMac, the iPhone, the Touch, the MacBook Air, and then the unibody MacBook Pros. Elements from all these products are in the iPad, or pointed toward its overall UX. Aluminum unibody, glass multi-touch screen, LED-lit LCD display,WiFi/3G, and iTunes/app store to supply content. I'm seeing some disappointment from people who were expecting something much more whiz-bang. You don't get whiz-bang starting at a $499 price point. What you get is a functional appliance, a tool meant to become a part of everyday life. No, it's not a multi-tool. It has limitations - it's what developers and users make of it within those limitations that's going to be interesting. I think most of the people who are unhappy with the iPad had some preconceived notion of what category it would slot into. That's the thing, it's specifically not designed to fall into any one slot. No, it won't have every bell & whistle that a dedicated ereader, or gaming device, or media player might have. It will, however, do all those tasks well enough that most people will opt for one iPad rather than three specialized devices. That said, I really wish they'd included GPS, and I really hope that someone builds an app to pull in images from the Eye-Fi cards. I can understand leaving out the GPS and SD slot in the interest of saving battery life, weight, and cost, but I still want them. I think a GPS-enable iPad almost be a must-have item for emergency response vehicles, long-range truckers, and researchers out in the field. But then, there's always iPad 2G. I'm hoping that the iPad 1G is successful enough that we get to see the 2G and the 3G and whatever comes after. I know I'm putting my money down the instant the first generation goes on sale. I do believe I have a purpose for this blog now - come back in three months if you want to see what I'm up to. (I don't think it was chance that Adobe posted to pages full of EPUB/ebook info the night before the intro. I can't wait to see the specs & the development requirements for iBooks.) Wednesday, January 27, 2010
This is not a jetpack
So the iPad continues to be the internet' Rorschach test - everyone is seeing what they want to in it. And because the continuing drama is making my fingers itch, here I am committing blog for the very first time. The iPad is the next step in what Apple has been doing since it rolled out the aluminum iMac, the iPhone, the Touch, the MacBook Air, and then the unibody MacBook Pros. Elements from all these products are in the iPad, or pointed toward its overall UX. Aluminum unibody, glass multi-touch screen, LED-lit LCD display,WiFi/3G, and iTunes/app store to supply content. I'm seeing some disappointment from people who were expecting something much more whiz-bang. You don't get whiz-bang starting at a $499 price point. What you get is a functional appliance, a tool meant to become a part of everyday life. No, it's not a multi-tool. It has limitations - it's what developers and users make of it within those limitations that's going to be interesting. I think most of the people who are unhappy with the iPad had some preconceived notion of what category it would slot into. That's the thing, it's specifically not designed to fall into any one slot. No, it won't have every bell & whistle that a dedicated ereader, or gaming device, or media player might have. It will, however, do all those tasks well enough that most people will opt for one iPad rather than three specialized devices. That said, I really wish they'd included GPS, and I really hope that someone builds an app to pull in images from the Eye-Fi cards. I can understand leaving out the GPS and SD slot in the interest of saving battery life, weight, and cost, but I still want them. I think a GPS-enable iPad almost be a must-have item for emergency response vehicles, long-range truckers, and researchers out in the field. But then, there's always iPad 2G. I'm hoping that the iPad 1G is successful enough that we get to see the 2G and the 3G and whatever comes after. I know I'm putting my money down the instant the first generation goes on sale. I do believe I have a purpose for this blog now - come back in three months if you want to see what I'm up to. (I don't think it was chance that Adobe posted to pages full of EPUB/ebook info the night before the intro. I can't wait to see the specs & the development requirements for iBooks.) 
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