It seems to me a lot of people are whining about the iPad simply because they were hoping for the power of a full blown laptop in something the size of a paperback but I think the key thing is simply that Apple haven’t really designed the iPad for geeks like us with a higher than average technical knowledge, and hence demand from our devices. They’ve firmly pitched it at the casual sofa surfer who probably hasn’t even considered the potential for more advanced applications. They just want a bigger version of the iPod touch. Indeed, ever since the touch came out I’ve been saying I just wanted one with a screen the size of a DVD case and that’s pretty much what we’ve got coming with the iPad so they are delivering exactly what I asked for.
Sure, we can all think of super-geeky advanced applications that it could do *if* it had X/Y/Z additional features but just look back at what’s happened with the iPhone and iPod Touch. I don’t think anyone was really aware just how big a deal it would turn out to be a couple of year back. It’s easy to be critical at this stage when nobody has even touched one but I’m betting in a couple of months time when we do we’ll all be thinking very differently and this time next year when it’s begun to show it’s true potential then I’m sure we’ll all be chuckling as we buy the version 2 hardware and think “yeah ok Steve, you did it, again”.
There are however a couple of immediate things that did spring to mind..
No multi-tasking, well yeah, that sucks. No twitter at the same time as surfing? No chance to check email or open a browser whilst working on a doc in Pages? Yeah, that sucks but I’m betting the rumours of some form of multi-tasking in OS4 are true and they’ll be doing something with an update soon.. I wouldn’t mind betting they’re just holding off on mentioning it with the iPhone 4G announcement around the time it hits the streets with a “Hey, look, we’ve made it even betterer, aren’t we ace!”
Home screen – looks sparse with just the icons. Again, I’m *hoping* for something more here at a future date, but it’s already doing enough for me to want it.
GPS? Having realised that of course Apples A-GPS shares silicon with the 3G hardware that does mean that only the 3G model will have a GPS. Slightly leaning in that direction as a result now but that’s going to be entirely dependant on the data plan pricing. I’m definitely not going down the contract route but if there is a sensible PAYG or rolling plan I might go for it.
File synching – The SDK does mention the fact that apps now have access to a shared folder which mounts on your desktop when docked so no more fiddling around with different sync methods for each app. That’s going to make stuff like the new iWork and other productivity apps a whole lot better immediately.
Read one interesting take on the state of play earlier from Jo hewitt, developer of the iPhone Facebook App. Check out his blog here: http://joehewitt.com/post/ipad/