Industrial Control DesignLine Blog
10 reasons why I like the iPad
nic mokhoff
1/29/2010 12:01 PM EST
Apple's strategy of holding announcements close to the vest is partly to blame, as the self-proclaimed experts are bound to express their disappointment once the guessing games are over. Indeed, once seen and felt, the iPad elicited its share of "so what" responses. But is it really all that disappointing?
Perhaps it is, if you were expecting an all-in-one computer in a tablet format. But I came away with 10 reasons why the iPad is an achievement of value.
1. It's another Apple game-changer with attitude. Apple did not design the iPad to be an all-in-one tablet computer. But it did aim high with its first entry to address this computing paradigm. Comparing the iPad to e-book readers like the Kindle is pointless. Yes, it has some of Kindle's features, but it goes beyond the e-reader platforms, and will go even further in future versions. No less important, it bears the label of a company with two rich-media-content successes. Don't underestimate the power of the brand that brought us the iPod and iPhone.
2. It extends the touch-input ease of use of the iPhone with faster, 1-GHz processing speed to the Web, videos and images. Back in 2007, when the iPod broke sales records for music players, Apple's vice president of worldwide iPod marketing explained the product's success this way: "People have an emotional connection with music, and the iPod is so easy, the emotional connection is preserved." The iPad expands the bounds of that emotional affinity.
3. It has been born into a universe of apps. The iPhone—a handheld computer that happens to allow phone calls—supported users' many "emotional connections" by letting them switch seamlessly from application to application using touch technology. Now there are more than 140,000 apps for the iPhone, and most of them are available as downloads to the iPad. A software development kit will enable developers to create other applications for the platform.
4. It expands Apple's portable computing platform. The iPad is a multifunction device that compares favorably with large-screen but far more limited e-book readers like the Kindle DX. It features an in-plane switching LCD with 1,024 x 768 resolution and a pixel density of 132 ppi. One can hold it almost any way and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast, according to Apple.
Comments
Fretboard
1/29/2010 12:52 PM EST
Yeah I know, no Flash and no camera...I still think it's a great product that will only get better. Price will come down, memory will go up within a year or two.
But what about the fight over the name with Fujitsu? It's going to be real interesting to see where this story goes. Will Apple actually have to give up the name iPad at this stage in the game? Wow, that would be a site to see.
Check it out:
http://www.ipadlot.com
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stefnagel
1/29/2010 1:29 PM EST
PostiPod, Steve Jobs looks to huge content areas to run through Appleâs hardware. With the iPad, there is a confluence of content that Apple has already secured: music, apps. But Steve knows that new hardware must be matched and mated to new content sectors. The last slide in his presentation says it all: Steve is going after education as a market. The whole enchilada.
* The hardware is spot on: Simple, safe, small, cheapâor soon will beâexactly right for students, from grade school to grad school.
* The software provides the creativity/research tools students need. The iWork apps are astonishing, lovely, and fun software. Maybe add a camera; maybe not.
* It will not mean all printed books be damned but it will mean printed textbooks be damned.
* Textbooks will move onto the iPad but I'm guessing it's the creativity tools that Steve really cares about.
* Ten years out, every student will have an iPad or something just like it. Except Apple will be there first and foremost. That's a done deal as of Wednesday.
Everything about the iPad says that Steve wants to be remembered as the guy who revolutionized schooling if not learning. Take a look at the mission at the OLPC site. That's Steve's kind of language and visionâexcept he not only thinks bigger than most of us, he thinks better.
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truerf
2/2/2010 2:46 PM EST
pl. dont be disingenous.
If these "textbook" ideas are yours, then say so. If they are Steve's, let him voice them.
Also, its a late entrant to textbooks, defin.
not the first. So, dont trumpet it as such.
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terion
2/17/2010 3:44 AM EST
"Apple could control the user experience and the applications market. Take that, Microsoft."
I understand that this is good for Apple. But why such strict contorl over device I bought is good for me?
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