The country's worst kept secret (outside of the name) during the last six months turned out to be an extreme disappointment after the iPad appears to be nothing more than a larger iPhone. While extremely cool looking and weighing in at approximately 1.5 lbs, what makes this the next must have gadget when the iPhone and even the iTouch appears to do much of what the iPad will do.
On top of the limited features of the product, Apple partnered with a number of publishers to raise the price of eBooks. While I understand publishers' concerns around Amazon setting the price of new titles at $9.99, the fact remains that an eBook and owning a hard cover title that one can transfer ownership to others is much different. So apparently the days of affordable eBooks is now over. Thanks Apple.
Even worse, Apple committed the cardinal sin and didn't listen to the biggest complaint about the iPhone: AT&T. Once again, Apple has provided AT&T with the contract for their hottest new gadget providing customers with the worst network in the U.S. Immediately after the annoncement, the blogosphere erupted in disappointment that Apple didn't pursue or announce a partnership with Verizon. I remain hopeful that Verizon may still get in on the iPhone this summer; providing AT&T with the exclusive on the iPad definitely doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about this potential development.
Overall: the technogeeks will open their wallets to pick up the iPad upon release. The question remains whether anyone else will, as will. Even with pricing much below what was expected, unfortunately, while I consider myself to be a technogeek, I simply can't see the need for the iPad. The iTouch seems to do much of what the iPad does at a fraction of the cost. The iPhone seems to do that as well and adds cell phone service. A MacBook provides all of the basic features of the iPad (and more) minus cell phone service. So where does the iPad fall? Too big to be a cell phone and too small to be a fully functional laptop, what is the real need? Do I and the rest of the country really need another gadget to shlep with us on vacation or on the go? With many other features that people wanted to see on the iPad, will America stand in line days before its release like the day the iPhone was released? And like my colleague joked: how are you going to strap it on your belt?
Like my wife's, this is another Maxipad (Mac's iPad, get it?) that I don't care to get near.
Great write up Eaton, it got me thinking about other new ideas throughout history:
ReplyDelete-when the Ipod was launched in 2001 it was bashed by everyone...It was "just another mp3 player" for way too much money. Wish I came up with that "just another mp3 player" idea.
-The English Academy of Science laughed at Benjamin Franklin when he reported his discovery of the lightning rod, and the Academy refused to publish his report. Hmmm.
-Major newspapers ignored the historic 1903 flight of the Wright brothers airplane because Scientific American suggested the flight was a hoax, and for five years officials in Washington, D.C. did not believe that the heavier-than-air machine had flown.
-A gathering of German engineers in 1902 ridiculed Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin for claiming to invent a steerable balloon. (Later, Zeppelin airships flew commercially across the Atlantic.)
I'm just saying, maybe we're not quite ready for the Ipad yet...xo.