Is there a market for Apple’s iPad?

geek — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:36:49 +0000

Apple’s recent announcement of the long-awaited and soon to be released Apple tablet – which they have dubbed the iPad – brings with it more questions that answers. They’ve done a decent enough job of telling us what the iPad brings in the form of new technology (I see it as a great big iPhone… er, without a real phone), but it would seem, like the Newton before it, that this is more of a product in search of a market than a solution to a problem that we all share. Even as an evangelist for technology I question how useful this is compared to my traditional or ultra-light notebook computer.

So while all of these are opinions, my reasons for giving this a great big fail are as follows:

No keyboard: I’m not sure that I believe there is a better (currently available and feasible) input device than the traditional keyboard. That is absolutely personal opinion, but one that I’d be happy to reconsider the next time my flight encounters turbulence. And, yes, I know that an external keyboard will be possible, it just doesn’t seem practical to carry along.

No camera: it’s a digital world, Apple, and your products are supposed to be opening doors and windows – not closing them. This should be as powerful as something like the MacBook Air and that said users are going to expect to be able instant message with tools like iChat and Yahoo Messenger with cam. Not to mention photograph things. Just looking at this from a purely business perspective it sure would be nice to be able to take a picture of someone’s business card and have it dropped into contacts like I can do on the iPhone.

Weight. So depending on what you have to carry with you this could be good or bad, but generally speaking I don’t think that people are going to want to lug around a notebook sized tablet and power and the other crap that they need to make it through their day – they may as well be carrying a notebook computer.

Size and durability. So I get that it’s relatively small and thin and easy to hold and pretty on the eyes, but there are two immediately obvious flaws to me. First is the bezel – does it really have to be that thick? Okay, so assuming it does, isn’t this also something that looks like it will break on the first drop or the first time something like my keys are dropped on it?

CleanlinessMaybe I’m just a pudgy geek with sweaty palms, but keeping my iPhone as clean as I like it has been difficult enough. I can’t imagine how difficult this is going to be to keep clean. Looks to me like it could be more work than it’s worth.

So those are my rants – at least for now – and I am planning a follow-up to this with why I think that this is a game-changer, if only for what it might do for mobile computing and the iPhone platform. As always, your comments are welcome.

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Is there a market for Apple’s iPad?