A giant Ipod touch with a data plan or a giant Iphone with no phone. That's what Apple unveiled as their tablet, the Ipad. Ignoring the obvious, and already trying too hard jokes, about the name, Apple underwhelmed me and others today.
Gizmodo has a great post about the disappointments with the Ipad's capabilities. My buddy G had a great blog post about Apple potentially missing the boat (and they did) with the Ipad's functionality. It appears to me that Apple is happy producing an entertainment device. I won't go into detail as you can read Gizmodo's post or G's post for the details. But what gets me is Apple's apparent ignorance (hubris perhaps) to what it needs to fix with respect to its handheld system; multitasking.
You can say what you will about a physical vs touch keyboard or a typical OS file structure, I don't see either as an issue with respect to the Iphone or Ipad. You can get used to the touch keyboard and I actually prefer the lack of a visible folder structure (you don't see folders, you just access the files needed through an app's gui). But the lack of multitasking is beyond me, especially with the Ipad.
I assume that Apple's main competition here are net books; small, media focused laptops. You can multitask on net books, search the net while playing a game or writing an email. If you've paid attention you've heard the lack of multitasking gripe from Apple devotees and Apple haters alike. Yet Apple has seemingly ignored the issue. This is a functionality that should be commonplace on any computing device, even smart phones (as I type this on my Blackberry I switch with ease without saving or closing my memo application to check email, scores, twitter and other applications that are running concurrently).
It reminds me of an issue with Itunes. I've heard many Apple devotees state the reason the Ipod is king of the MP3 players is the ease of use and functionality of Itunes. I disagree. While Itunes is not difficult to use, it's not the simplest media management tool and lacks an important feature that other media management software have; the ability to monitor folders and automatically add new files to its library. The idea seems so simple and mandatory, yet it is nonexistent in Itunes.
Apple is a great manufacturer of entertainment devices, I love my Ipod and would rather have an Iphone than my Blackberry, but they could be better and if they didn't have the hip cachet they wouldn't be doing as well as they are. There are better MP3 players, better smartphones, better software, and better computing devices available for better prices. At some point they'll be forced to pay attention and give us what we need.
Also, check out G's new post at the Luddite Times. He properly spells Apple's iLine of products and is an Apple devotee who isn't sold.
5 comments:
Well said.
I posted a companion to this over here: http://www.theludditetimes.com/2010/01/lisa-simpson-syndrome.html. I try to look a little more at use cases and for the ones that seem to the focus of the gadget, I find it lacking.
Also...it's little i big P..iPod, iPhone etc...Yes, I know, it's annoying!
Right. iWhatever. It is annoying. Like when you order a large dark at Starbucks and they say Venti Bold.
I have turned a bit on the iPad's potential as an e-reader. Colour e-reading would be great for magazines, picture books, comics, etc. However, I still don't see it as a must have; I can do that on my desktop from home or smart phone while on the move (smaller screen, but easier to lug).
Re: e-reader:
Fingerprints.
Oh so many fingerprints.
To agree, I think Apple's direct competitors are the netbooks and those other gadgets which aim for the non-techie computer lifestyle - the article writers, the ordinary surfers, and the people in the hip community. Up to now, they still stick on being a non-multi-tasking gadget, or just want their users to focus on a certain program - whichever way is positively believable. Being a proud member of the hip culture (or pop-culture) here in central Canada, laptop dealswith every aspect of my everyday life. I blog, I write, I communicate. Call it laptop or a Macbook, I have a very deep love and connection to my Apple gadgets - simplicity, functionality and software security.
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