iPad musings

[breakinglight11]

Okay, the sleeping-badly situation is getting out of hand. All the waking up again and again during the night has got to stop. Jared suggested I try taking melatonin, which can reset circadian rhythms, and at this point it can't hurt to give it a shot. And that is the last thing I'm going to say on my sleep issues for a good long while, as I'm sure you're sick of hearing about them.

Not that anybody asked me, nor should they given my complete dearth of expertise, but I'm going to tell you what I think of the iPad. I got to handle one at an Apple store recently, and well, I liked it as a thing on its own, but in the larger sense, I wasn't especially impressed.

Is there anything to it besides the fact that it's... a giant iPhone? That's cool, I guess-- God knows the annoyances I have regarding the limitations of the iPhone, and one with expanded capabilities would be much appreciated. As I mentioned, I use my iPhone as a makeshift laptop all the time. I only have a desktop right now, so if I ever want to bring a computer with me, the phone is as close as I'm going to be able to get. Something similar to the iPhone that is intended to function more like a laptop would suit my purposes nicely, wouldn't you think? But besides the larger screen, some of the more basic personal computer functions like word processing, and (I would hope) faster processor, I don't really see a huge leap forward. There's no camera, it doesn't support multi-tasking, there's no input besides the one for the typical Apple charger cable. It's basically a giant iPhone you can't make calls on. If I need a laptop, and I'm willing to spend money to acquire one, what reason do I have to not put the $499 price the iPad retails for right now toward an actual laptop that does more?

It's a cool thing. A very cool thing, in fact. If someone gave one to me, I'm sure I'd use it all the time. But is there enough utility in that coolness to make it necessary for people to pay all that money to own? I'm not sure. My question simply boils down to, unless you're buying simply for the coolness factor, which some techies certainly do, why would one prefer to spend that money on an iPad rather than a regular computer which would have more functionality?

The thing that annoys me about it is that the people whose purposes I would think they'd truly suit, the people that compute only on the most casual level, are probably never going to get them. The people who are going to buy iPads are techies, the hard-core Apple fans. They're going to think it's cool and living-in-the-future-feeling enough to shell out the money, despite the fact that they've probably already got machines at home that can do more and need way more computing power for their doings than an iPad can provide.

The iPad would be the ideal machine for someone like my mom, who uses computers to read, send e-mail, and surf the internet. A lightweight, easy-to-use device that allowed her to do all those things would be perfect. But she would never be inclined to spend so much on some gadget. She is, however, not totally unlikely to get ahold of one if bought for her by my much more technologically-inclined dad.

Am I missing something? I am not very technologically savvy. These are just my impressions from my very ignorant point of view. It's basically just a highly portable, not-very-powerful computer, right? Is anyone going to buy it instead of a computer? Is its utility really great enough for it to be bought as anything more than a cool novelty or convenience in addition to your more useful machines?

I now sit here and prepare to get schooled by people who understand the subject far better than me.

Comments

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

I think that if I traveled more, the iPad would be perfect for me. I realize how spoiled I am compared to previous generations with my "wah, my laptop with 10,000 songs and three years worth of writing projects makes my backpack slightly heavy", but it *is* annoying to tote iBrian around, and right now the thought of being able to walk four hours all over, say, San Francisco, then park myself on a bench overlooking the pelicans, pull the iPad out of my backpack and get some writing done while I sip my sangria and watch the Segway tours down below on the wharf.......ohmyfrellinggod I need a vacation.

[zrealm.livejournal.com]

I now sit here and prepare to get schooled by people who understand the subject far better than me.

Actually, that seems like a fairly spot-on analysis :)

[natbudin.livejournal.com]

Do you have any particular reason for thinking that the only people who will buy it are techies? I have yet to hear a single techie friend of mine say they'll buy one. I know that I won't be, because as big an Apple fan as I am, the iPad isn't a good replacement for my general-computing needs and I am still better served by a laptop.

On the other hand, elderly relatives of mine are planning on buying iPads...

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

I guess just because the only people I've seen show enthusiasm for it were techies-- which admittedly were not many. Also, I was kind of using the logic of, "Well, netbooks were designed to be computers for people who only really surf the internet, right? And the only people I know who actually bought netbooks were techies. So I figure the iPad will be the same way."

But you've got a good point. Plenty of techies could come to the same conclusion I did. And "cool-factor" certainly affects people who aren't very technologically savvy as well.

The iPad is selling, I know that, though I don't know how well. But I'm very curious as to the demographics of these people buying-- are they "regular people" or are they more technologically inclined?

[natbudin.livejournal.com]

On the first day of iPad availability, they sold around 300,000. As of a couple weeks ago, they had sold 450,000.

Apple hasn't released demographic information on iPad buyers. The only article I was able to find speculating on this was this one by Gene Munster, but Munster was completely off in his guesses about sales figures, so I wouldn't really trust his numbers. Anyway, if Munster is to be believed, almost everyone buying iPads is already an Apple customer (either a Mac, iPhone, or iPod owner). But that doesn't really say anything about their tech savvy.

My offhand guess would be that the first-day sales figures come from the usual early-adopter crowd, mostly. Those are the people who'd pre-order one or stand in line outside an Apple store. Non-techies don't buy on the first day, or even in the first month of a product being available.

[mirrored-echo.livejournal.com]

Am I missing something? I am not very technologically savvy. These are just my impressions from my very ignorant point of view. It's basically just a highly portable, not-very-powerful computer, right? Is anyone going to buy it instead of a computer? Is its utility really great enough for it to be bought as anything more than a cool novelty or convenience in addition to your more useful machines?

Agreed. I got a chance to play with one in class, and was not very impressed. Some of the features (the multitouch screen, for instance) are getting touted as useful for collaboration, if the right apps are ever developed for it. But...it's really way to small for serious collaboration. Kids could draw together on it (the drawing tools and graphics are kind of neat). Maybe. But that's about it.

Then, I have a (Linux) netbook, which has many of the same drawbacks of the iPad -- and I like my netbook. It cost maybe half as much as the iPad, and works great for writing or checking email while traveling (a standard laptop is too heavy for me to carry comfortably in my backpack.) But it was roughly half the price, and purchased when I just had a desktop (no smartphone or laptop.)

[laurion]

I may end up toting one around. But only if I can convince my boss to buy one for the department. I'd not be spending my own money on one. Then again, I already have a laptop.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

If I had some access to one in a way that didn't involve spending my own money, I'd probably attach it to my hip. But probably only because I don't have a laptop and my iPhone can be a pain to use like one.

But if you didn't have a laptop, would an iPad be what someone like you would be buying to serve as one? I am inclined to think you'd need more in a laptop than what it could offer.

[laurion]

Depends. My laptop is unlikely to ever have a cellular connection, be it 3g, or 4g or whatever. So the iPad would have a small advantage there. And I would likely set things up so that I could remotely access my desktop from the iPad, so I could offload heavier tasks (video encoding, file downloading, etc.) to that. But now that the iPad and iPhone are getting multitasking with the 4.0 OS update, I could actually do most of my daily stuff from the iPad. Most of my energies are spent in email, the web, and various social communication tools, with the occasional game.

[witticaster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't get it either. I can understand that some people might find it useful for their needs, but I don't understand why it's "revolutionary" or even "new" in any capacity. As you said, it's a giant iPhone that can't call people.

One day the world will be filled with touch screen devices and being even mildly obsessive will become a serious disadvantage. I fear that day.