Apple’s Attempt at a Tablet Computer
Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments written on it.
— The Wall Street Journal
Today, Apple’s CEO and co-founder, Steve Jobs, took stage to announce a new their latest product, something to ‘fill the gap’ between the smartphone and laptop market, a niche market filler. Apple named this “mobile Internet tablet device” the iPad… they should have named the “iFail”.
The Apple-based tablet is quite an interesting device by itself, but the name is just – wrong. “iTablet”, “Apple Tablet”, or “MacBook Touch”, or whatever, would’ve been a better choice for the device. The iPad name, however, really doesn’t strike or appeal to me. There’s no “wow” factor with the name that makes it a cool, or an attractive name.
Steve started off today’s keynote pointing and laughing at the idea of a netbook as filler between smart-phones and laptops. Well, if that’s not a sign of what’s coming for next year, then I don’t know what is. I keep remembering in mention a few years ago (before the iPhone hit), someone asked Steve if he’d consider building an Apple branded cell phone or PDA, Steve said no, that his focus on other projects. So, I’m already expecting 2011 to kick off with an announcement of Apple’s own netbook, the MacBook Mini maybe? And let’s not kid ourselves, a MacBook Mini will be a 9.5- to 10-inch MacBook Air – that’s all, maybe a 3G model, but let’s not jump the gun.
Apple's iPad Tablet Computer
What would really be nice is if Wacom would introduce an application and digital pen so creative designers could use the application and hardware as a digital drawing tablet for Photoshop or Illustrator would be a well rounded package of a deal for some people.
I know Apple did their research and marketing tests, but I really don’t see this thing flying off the shelves, nor do I really see the 3G models being hot items.
It’s nice to see Apple taking this risk, and who knows, maybe after I get one in my hands, I might change my mind and find the 800 bucks for the 64GB model.
Regardless of your opinion, or point of view, we all have to remember a few things:
It’s Revision A of the hardware, there’s going to be problems.
It’s the first generation of the modified iPad OS, there’s going to be some bugs
Fanboys and critics are going to complain about lacking features
People in general are going to complain about the specs
While I’m not excited about the name, or really convinced that it’s going be widely accepted, but I am looking forward to exploring the device, especially the ease of use of the built in QWERTY keyboard. I think that’s going to be the determining factor for me. The more I think about it, the more I can see that it would be a great hour-to-hour mobile writing device for people who don’t want to carry around a laptop.
The truth is, until the thing hits shelves sometime in March, everything on the iPad is just a pile of numbers with some glitter words tossed in for extra measure.
