The iPad Meets My Requirements
Back in March 2009, amid rumors of an Apple tablet, I laid out my requirements for purchasing such a device; at the time, I called it an Apple netbook, though I was mostly thinking about a tablet form. I didn’t consider them too outrageous at the time, but after the updates to the iPod touch failed to produce some of my key desires, I grew less hopeful that Apple would actually design a tablet to meet what I wanted. But upon the release of the iPad yesterday, it’s almost as if Apple read my mind. Here’s how the iPad stacks up against my requirements.
1. “Small! I want a 7 to 9 inch screen and no bigger.” The iPad has a 9.7″ screen. That’s a little bigger than I specified, but pretty close. During the presentation, Steve Jobs made a point of demonstrating the use of the device while sitting in a comfortable chair. So maybe the iPad isn’t quite the perfectly portable device I was imagining, but it comes close. It’s small enough that I can use it on the bus without feeling awkward. It won’t fit in my pockets, but it will fit easily into most any bag.
2. “No physical keyboard.” Apple got this one totally right. There is definitely no physical keyboard. Instead, you input text using a large onscreen keyboard that supports multitouch. It looks like the software also features the same auto-correct that gets rave reviews on the iPhone. That means typing is decently fast and accurate.
3. “Better syncing technology!” Still not clear on this one. I stated that I wanted to be able to sync a variety of folders so that my mobile computing experience wasn’t hindered by two different versions of the same document. We know that it will sync music, pictures, contacts, bookmarks, and calendars. And because Apple has released iPad version of their iWork applications, it seems likely that there will also be some sort of document sync available. That comes reasonably close to what I want, though it’s not quite perfect.
4. “A careful balance between operating systems.” Apple hasn’t yet come through on this one. Though the iPad is much more powerful than the iPhone, it runs the same iPhone OS, instead of the balance between their full-fledged and mobile operating systems that I was hoping for. Of course, we don’t yet know what the iPhone OS 4 will look like. It may activate new features for the iPad including more multi-tasking options. That would be more what I am looking for, even if there doesn’t end up being any sort of file management system ala Apple’s Finder.
5. “More options for output.” Apple got this one totally right. With an adaptor (which, of course, costs extra) you can use the tablet with a regular projector. Now, instead of having to bring my laptop to display presentations in class, I can use my iPad. This seems to be exactly what I was hoping for.
6. “Bluetooth keyboard option.” Once again, perfect on this one. You can use a bluetooth keyboard or a physically attached keyboard (using Apple’s keyboard dock or an adaptor). This means that the iPad is a lot more than the iPod touch for actual daily use. It would be very slow to type a blog post using an iPod touch, but with the iPad and attached keyboard, it’s just as simple as using my laptop.
7. “The right price. This is obvious, but the device has to have an appealing price. It can be more expensive than the iPod Touch, but shouldn’t get over $700. I think something right around $600 would be quite perfect.” I pasted in more of the quote because I feel quite omniscient on this one. The 32 GB model that I’m eying is priced right at $600. The highest Wi-Fi enabled model is right at $700. Yes, the 3G versions cost more, but the one I want to buy is priced at exactly what I hoped for.
My final hope was for Apple to “make me want to spend some money!” On this note, they have fully and completely succeeded. It’s good that I have to wait, because I’ll make a more conservative estimate of the actual value of the product. If it was out today, then it’s likely I would be writing this blog post on the iPad, not on my laptop. Well done, Apple.
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