Looking for life beyond the edge.

Well, here it is folks – The Apple iPad. Did it meet some of the things I asked for? Yep. Did it miss the mark on a few things… Yep. Let’s break it down:

What’s wrong with the iPad:

• Most Obviously – No Camera?
  • This was a shocker for me. Apple seemed to becoming obsessed with cameras. There is a camera on every laptop, every iMac, the new Apple 24″ LED LCD Display, iPhone, and now the iPod Nano… yet we can’t have one on the iPad. Now, I know many people were arguing the use for a camera on the iPad based on what the designed intention of the iPad is but personally I think it would be handy for snapping quick pics of yourself to upload while you blog or on Twitter – maybe even the possibility of video conferencing in the future. If a $149.00 iPod Nano can have a camera I don’t see why a $499.00 iPad can’t.
• Device Connectivity
  • Well, I would have hoped for something besides a dock connector. USB would have been nice but seeing that is runs on the iPhone OS I can understand the lack of the port. Maybe in the future there will be some accessories for the dock connector that can help with these issues. (Yes, I already know about the Camera Kit which accepts USB from your camera). I could honestly care less though about HDMI like many people are whining about. I don’t see myself plugging this device into my television any more than I would see myself plugging my iPhone into my TV to watch movies. Also, if any display connectivity was going to show up on the device… it would be Mini-Display Port as this is clearly the direction Apple is going.
• Flash Storage
  • If I am going to be able to use iWork on my Tablet can I also use it as a flash drive to store files on the go? I know there are iPhone apps that do this but I’d really like it to just plug into my machine and have disk use available. I assume part of the problem here is the file format that the partition would be in since the Apple UNIX File System isn’t really “Windows Friendly”.
• iPhone OS
  • I assumed that this was going to be the case but it leaves me feeling a little lacking. Though iPhone application development is huge and on-going I’d still have some reservations about leaving my laptop behind and using this as a primary device in some situations. If anything the laptop would stay in the bag in the trunk in case of an emergency. I was hoping for a more modified OSX but I understand the direction and why the iPhone OS was chosen.
• No Flash…
  • I can’t see this completely replacing my laptop because THERE IS NO ADOBE FLASH SUPPORT. Now, most web developers have gotten over the fad of programming their entire sites in Flash but there are a few still out there. Hopefully HTML5 will help this out but I still think this is going to cripple this device unless Adobe and Apple can come to terms and get this resolved.

Now Lets Talk About What It Does Do

• Kindle – It Was Nice Knowing You
  • I think the iBook Store as well as the fact that this device only costs $10.00 more than the similar sized Kindle will be the death of the Kindle. I’m very excited that this is going to be an awesome e-reader and will sync with my iPhone for reading when my iPad isn’t handy.
• New ‘Default’ Apps
  • The new apps that are made for the iPad are awesome. Coming from someone who lives in a schedule and e-mail this looks like it will be a great device for me. As I’m going from client to client and meeting to meeting it will be nice to have a device that can be instant on/off and last over 10 hours on one charge.
• NO CONTRACT 3G
  • It was like not only did Apple hear me about the “Not Required” 3G but also they went a step further and made it NO CONTRACT. For me this is awesome. When I know I’m going to have months where I’m going to be working in an office that has wireless then I won’t need 3G but when I know I’m traveling I can just pay for one month of service and go along my way. I just wonder with the 250MB plan what happens after 250MB… shut off or auto-billed for overage.
• iWork for iPad
  • This will help me leave the laptop behind. Being able to create and view documents on the go will be nice and not have to have a huge laptop to lug around. For someone who invests heavily in paperless environments I can see this being huge for my company and I’m sure others will adapt as well.
• Business Potential
  • I’m sure I’m not the only person that is thinking how we can fit this into business models. The best part is the price point – $499 for entry level. In a lot of scenarios that I can think of this base device would fulfill a great number of possibilities.
• Sexy Factor
  • From what I can tell on the internet it seems to be a love/hate relationship with the design. Personally I am a huge fan and think that it looks very nice. I think it lives up to the typical Apple design that they’re capable of producing.

The question: Will I Buy One? Answer: Most likely, yeah.

I think that I can make a big justification in business for this device and as more applications and accessories are being developed I’m sure the usability will be expanded. As I’m sure you can tell by my post, I will be getting the 64GB WiFi+3G.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Later,
- J