The obligatory iPad reaction post

[annathepiper]

And now, for my answer to the question much of the rest of the Internet has been asking: will I buy an iPad? (y/n)

Immediate near-term answer: no.

I am of course an Apple user. Maybe not a hugely ardent Apple devotee per se, but I do quite like my MacBook and my iPhone, which still have plenty of useful lifespan left in them and which satisfy my current computing needs quite nicely. For that reason alone I’m not seeing any reason I need to get a third device.

The more pertinent question for me might be, will I buy an iPad when my current laptop eventually needs replacing?

Current answer to that, although possibly subject to change depending on how future generations of the device develop: no.

One: the size and shape of it would make me reluctant to carry it on my daily commute. While the weight is good, just 1.5 pounds, the size and shape do not convince me that I could safely carry it in my backpack. Plus, I would absolutely not put it in my backpack without a protective shell of some sort, which would add extra weight. Also, just the sheer shape of it makes me wonder whether it would fit into the size and style of backpack I carry anyway.

Two: While the lack of keyboard doesn’t bother me at all–I’m quite used at this point to the virtual keyboard on the iPhone and using one on the iPad would not be a problem–the lack of ability to multitask does. If it can’t let me run my usual suite of programs at the same time, it’s just not an effective home computing device for me.

Three: Lack of storage space local to the device is not a huge dealbreaker for me, but it is a point of concern. I’m used to syncing my iPhone with my laptop when I get home in the evening. But if the iPad were to be my home computing device, I’d clearly need some ability to sync it up with one of our household servers. Syncing my personal documents out to a third-party site such as Google Docs or MobileMe or whatever is not really a path I want to go. Those options are fine as off-site backups, but when it comes to working copies of whatever writing I’m doing, I want them local and on my house LAN.

Four: While as an ebook author I am very much interested in the iPad serving as a new way to get ebooks to people, I’d be way more interested if the iBooks store opens up to other Mac devices and ideally other platforms as well. Selling books in epub format is good. Selling them without DRM so that you could read them in whatever app on whatever device you wish would be better. Right now though the fact that the iPad has an iBooks store isn’t enough to make it nudge that Nook I’m eying out of the running for “e-reader device I’m most likely to purchase.”

Last but not least, since Sarah at Smart Bitches called Apple on this and it bears repeating: speaking as a female computer geek, I gotta say, seriously, ‘iPad’ as a name? Um, no. ;) While the issues I’ve touched on above might improve as the device develops, I’m sorry, the part of me that’s still twelve years old will be giggling over that name for some time.

But hey, we’ll see what happens. In general I’m in favor of shiny computing devices, so if this one finds its niche, more power to it. And I’ll be interested to see what people say once they actually get them into their hands.

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Comments

[janne.livejournal.com]

They could at least have called it an iPadd for the trek reference... :-)

[zeborah]

I think that's what they were aiming at but knew that if they put the extra "d" there then non-Trekkers would just wonder why they were spelling it wrong.

Anyway so it doesn't bug me at all as I just think Trek. I wonder if there's an inverse correlation between people who were rabid fans of Trek growing up and people who get distracted by the 'feminine hygiene product' associations? </wild hypothesis>

[annathepiper]

I must not be enough of a Trekkie to have clued in on this. :) I don't remember it at all from TNG or from what portion of DS9 I actually watched!

[janne.livejournal.com]

They showed padds all the time, but probably didn't refer to them by name much. Here, have a picture :) http://www.roddenberry.com/sale/star-trek-tng-ds9-padd-prop-kit-small.html

[annathepiper]

Oh okay, I think I remember those. :)

[avram]

Do you fall over with the giggles every time you walk past the pads of paper in a stationery store? Do you wince at the thought of a heating pad? What do you think of a launch pad? Or a helipad? Do the pads on cats' and dogs' feet bring up thoughts too disgusting to mention?

[annathepiper]

No. But I reserve the right to be legion, and contain multitudes. :)

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

Thinking of uses for this thing, it seems like it's designed to be a mobile home media viewer. If you're outside the home you'll use the iPhone for stuff that doesn't require a keyboard and a laptop for stuff that does. At home you'll use either a desktop or laptop. It doesn't have a stylus either. So using it to do any creative or productive work seems pointless.

What's left? Reading books, and watching videos, and listening to music, and running random stuff from the app store, and as a consumption device for non-entertainment content produced on other devices (whether by the user or someone else.) I doubt that iWork, for example, is going to be used for much other than viewing spreadsheets and documents produced elsewhere.

And it's only going to be good for consumption of media within the Apple universe. It's not open enough to support Hulu, for example, which otherwise seems tailor made for the iPad.

I have a hard time seeing apps alone as the savior for this device. People use iPhone apps because they already have the phone for other reasons. Apps never would have gotten off the ground without other reasons to buy the phone. The Kindle is a better e-reader, so not many people are going to buy it for that reason. iPods are better for music. It's a lot of money to pay to only use to display photos. So it all comes down to whether people will buy this so they can watch videos on the go, mostly at home when a larger screen is unavailable or undesirable for some reason.

Or I just don't get it and somehow being sort of acceptable for lots of uses will add up to something that people want.

I could see a device this size working as the content repository and authentication center for using other devices and peripherals. So you would have the built-in video when no other video devices were available, but every time you walked into a room with a compatible display the option to connect would appear and content would play through the display device. Keyboards and other input devices for creative or productive use would be iPad-aware so that if you needed to type something you'd just grab the tool you need and get to work without any per-use configuration required. If you wanted to print, you'd just have to bring it into the room with the printer and select that option. You could even integrate with other devices so that if you bought e-books on the tablet you could transfer them to an e-ink reader with longer battery life and easier-to-read text.

User ID could be by bio-reader or one-time login that was reused via a credentials storage system on the device and all pre-configured companion devices and peripherals. So once it was set up, you would swipe your finger to identify yourself, or else log in once, and then everything else would take care of itself. A big part of the software environment would be mediating between multiple tablets all trying to gain access to other devices and peripherals in a shared environment.

So you'd still have all these other devices, but this would be the one you took everywhere. You could even put the same software in iPhone-like devices that could control the same peripherals and companion devices, but with smaller built-in video. The main constraint is that storage capacity for a phone-size device is still relatively low, but as solid state drives move up in capacity and down in price that will change. It would be like having a universal remote designed by Apple that could control every electronic device or peripheral in your life. And again, even in this vision, the need for a tablet-sized device is questionable.

[annathepiper]

If you've got a bag suitably sized to carry it, I could certainly see it being good for watching movies on planes. Me, I'm not the movie-watching sort; I prefer to either read or maybe listen to audiobooks. But I could totally see someone using it for video on a plane.

And I could see what you describe with the peripherals as well.

[akadriver.livejournal.com]

This has nothing do to with anything, really, other than I found it amusing.

Right after this post on my friends list was this (http://community.livejournal.com/cat_macros/5428607.html?) macro.

So. Um. Yeah. :)

More seriously, I don't really see a need for an iPad in my life right now so do agree with you there.

[annathepiper]

Har! Cute. :)

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

As a consumer, I might try out eBooks, if eBook readers did not universally cost a kidney to purchase. And sadly, my blackberry screen is seriously not ideal for reading. :)

[annathepiper]

PDA-sized devices are not really ideal for ebook reading, no. My iPhone screen is, I think, the bare minimum size I'm willing to deal with.

And yeah, it'd be nice if the ereading devices were better priced. The cost of one has been one of the factors keeping me from getting one before now.