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Today Apple introduced the iPad. I’m not exactly certain how to feel about it. It is a pretty slick unit, but basically it’s an oversized iPod Touch. That’s not a bad thing, but think about it for a minute. The thing I like about my iPod Touch is that it fits in my pocket. I can listen to my music while I’m driving, mowing the lawn, going to the store, etc. I don’t have to hold it to use it, I can simply start my music then forget about it.

As a nascent iPhone developer, I’m glad to see that Apple is expanding my potential customer base, but then there’s always the possibility that they may be cannibalizing it. We’ve already seen that classic iPod sales dropped 8% this year, will people buying an iPad do it at the expense of an iPod Touch? Apple probably hopes so, since that would be a pretty good increase in money, though I don’t know what the profit margin on iPads vs. iPod touches will be. Since it doesn’t have phone features, the iPhone isn’t in danger.

This brings up another issue. How many contraptions do you want to lug around? Chances are, you aren’t going to use it to listen to music on the go, so at the very least, you’ll have to have either an iPhone for your music, or like those of us who don’t have an iPhone, you’ll need an iPod or another music player. My guess is many iPad users without iPhones will opt for an iPod Shuffle for music. If you’re in that situation, now you have a phone, an iPod & a tablet you’re carrying around. One of the big appeals to me about the iPhone is the fact that it’s an all-purpose device.

The new apps for the iPad are very slick. The iWork suite, Calendar and Photos are very nicely It will be good as an eBook reader, so that’s one thing it has over the iPhone & iPod touch. It will also be much nicer for web browsing than the iPhone & iPod touch, plus inexpensive 3G will make it easier to connect in more places than you could with an iPod touch, so it has those advantages over its smaller sibiling.

You could always use it as a second computer at home, but that is a whole other issue. The keyboard cradle is a nice feature, but I’m not overly crazy about the idea of having to reach out & touch the screen to make selections. It just doesn’t seem very ergonomic. One odd decision in the design is the lack of a video camera. I could see people using this for doing video conferencing. It would be perfect for grandma to chat with the grand-kids over the internet. The iPhone OS on a larger device would be very user-friendly for computer neophytes.

As a Mac user of almost 20 years now, I’m usually very supportive of Apple’s efforts, but I’m just not feeling it with the iPad. Its neat, but it has limited appeal to me.

Pros

• Light Weight
• Bigger screen than iPhone/iPod Touch
• Can run all iPhone apps
• Pre-paid 3G available, no subscription
• Has keyboard dock accessory available

Cons

• Bigger screen than iPhone/iPod Touch
• $130 more for 3G version & 3G service available only through AT & T in US
• No camera
• No Flash support

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This entry was posted by Mike on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.