My Take on The Apple Ipad

What a day Wednesday, January 27, turned out to be! All the conjectured swirling around the Internet was finally laid to rest with the unveiling of the Apple iPad. While the iPad name is certainly in line with iPhone and iPod, there may have been a better choice in name out there — although iSlate was definitely not it. Now, that the iPad has been revealed to the world, the pundits are screaming praises and crying foul. Truthfully, I was a little disappointed with what Apple released, but I know in a generation or two the iPad will evolve into a wonderful device.

Why was I disappointed? I was thinking with the webcams in many laptops, netbooks and even desktop PCs that often  go unused, a device like the iPad would be perfect for having video chats. In hind sight, perhaps holding a device with a camera while you are conversing is not such a good idea. Apple probably had great reasons for leaving the camera out; time will tell if they decide to include a webcam in future generations of the iPad. I had also hoped that the device would be closer to a laptop than the iPhone, but Apple was once again far brighter than I am on the subject. With 75,000,000 iPhone and iPod Touches shipped worldwide, that is 75,000,000 users that can already use an iPad — brilliant!

Among the pundits, are those who find the iPad a very nice device, and still others who can only complain about the device. I would like to focus on a few of the criticisms I have frequently read that make no sense to me. Ultimately, the iPad will not be for everyone — some will want to use it and others will want more from the device . I think that the two camps can peacefully coexist, but the proselytization of one camp over the other is not necessary. It’s not a holy war; it’s consumption versus production.

One of the frequent complaints I read is that the iPad does not support Adobe’s Flash software. For years, I have found Adobe Flash a hindrance to surfing the web. I have my choice of browsers, which for the most part can view all web sites equally — that’s why we have standards — but to view certain web sites, I have to use a Flash plug-in. Flash makes for another avenue of attack when viewing web pages. Granted, there are many avenues of attack without Flash, but why add another?

HTML5 is the next generation of web standards that will make things like Adobe’s Flash plug-in obsolete. Today, there are numerous browsers that can already view certain aspects of HTML5 and make web sites much more interactive without the need for plug-ins. I have begun using the new mobile Google Voice web site, which is built on HTML5 programming, on my iPhone and can tell you that it can do some amazing things. Using simple coding without the need for additional plug-ins, performance is increased, surface area of attack is maintained at a basic level, and web standards are maintained. After all, we are going to use an iPad to “hold the Internet in your hands as you surf it” (per Scott Forstall, Apple’s Senior Vice President of iPhone Software).

To me, that’s the biggest benefit of the iPad — holding it in my hands. I like to read in bed. Unfortunately for me, I like to read Internet news in bed, thereby necessitating some form of computer to surf the Internet to read news. I have been using tablet PCs for many years to accomplish this, and while functional, using a 4 pound laptop to read in bed is not very comfortable. Along came netbooks, which promised to give me a similar experience to a laptop, but in a lighter and less expensive package. Yet, you can’t fold most netbooks in a slate fashion, like I can with tablet PCs, and their weight, while about half most tablet PCs still left something to be desired.

The argument for netbooks against an iPad is that you can use the netbook to produce content, whereas, an iPad is for consuming content. So now, it’s more important to be a producer of content rather than a consumer of content? That’s the “geek” argument? There will always be more consumers than producers — that’s how a market system works. Apple was looking for a way to get into the hands of the masses, hence the iPad, a device for consuming media, and the low starting price, under $500. Steve Jobs took a jab at netbooks in his keynote address, and maybe he overtly targeted them for a reason, but the reality is, netbooks and the iPad are not similar devices.

Image via CrunchBase

As regular notebook computers continue to decline in price, the netbook market will continue to be squeezed into an ever smaller niche, whereas the iPad has created a new niche for itself with lots of room to grow. The iPad is an innovative device that may turn the computing industry on its ear, given time. For now, the iPad is a new gadget that will surely invite many computer aficionados, amateurs, novices and experts alike, to join the Apple world and surf the web from the other side.