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I want to like the iPad

 Sunday May 9, 2010

Neither Fish nor Fowl
Really, I do. I put in my order for a 3G iPad on day 1 and calmly waited my turn for the Blessed Object to arrive. It has that `I must have it' sensuality that Apple has become so good at. But a week later, I don't get it. It's magical, but the magic feels more Oz than Dumbledore. It feels more like a business model looking for a device to express it, rather than something that actually fills a need. I like a lot of Apple products, but this one is a clear victory of style over substance.

I've been trying to figure out what it's good for, where it shines. Lounging around on the couch browsing the web is pretty wonderful. But if I want to take it with me, it falls apart: it doesn't just follow me, the way my iPhone does, which is attached to me. I have to actually put it in my hand. It's exactly as easy and as hard to bring with me as a laptop - it takes up a hand or a slot in my backpack. It's a little lighter. But not by enough to make a difference. And yet it's a whole lot less useful than a laptop. It's difficult to do much typing with: the onscreen keyboard is clumsy, and when I try to use it for long, my fingers end up hurting because the hard glass doesn't smoothly cushion my fingers the way a good keyboard does. I bought a bluetooth keyboard to use with it, which works well, but then I'm lugging two objects instead of one, and without a mouse I'm constantly having to lift my hand off the keyboard to touch the screen, which then makes it fall over :-(

I know I'm deeply not the target market, so my disillusionment probably doesn't matter. But I've watched my twelve-year-old daughter play with it. She likes it for playing games, but oddly enough, she seems to prefer my iPhone because it's a more comfortable size, and it's easier to take along. She browses the web with it, but as soon as she starts typing complicated URLs or Google queries, she heads over to the laptop.

And then there's the control-freak's-fantasy-developer-model. Yikes.... Enough has been written by others about that nightmare.

My fantasy Apple product is simple: stop treating OS X like abandon-ware.

Comments[31] Share

Comments:

i cant agree any better James. But as a java big fan, i kind of ask my self, where is the java device to kick ipad's butt.

Posted by vehe on May 10, 2010 at 03:47 AM PDT #

The Java device is coming. It's (now) called WeTab and it runs on Android. But only time will tell if it can and will compete with the iPad's "coolness" factor. I think the "control freak" is shoveling his own grave - again. Openness always wins, but Steve Jobs is resistant to learning experiences. The Mac lost the desktop war to Windows and the iPhone OS platform will lose the mobile market to Android for the very same reasons that the Mac lost back in the 1980s: Windows didn't care for the hardware it ran on and everybody could build devices that ran on Windows. Android does the same thing for the mobile sector. It's not very hard to predict who will own the market in a year or two from now. But I'm afraid that OS X -is- abandonware; it will share the same fate as the Lisa when the Mac was released. Give it a couple of iterations, and you will be able to develop software for the iPad class of devices on the iPad itself. When the Mac became powerful enough to host its own development tools, that effectively killed the Lisa (which was required as the development platform for the first Mac models). I hope that I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

Posted by Winfried Maus on May 10, 2010 at 04:47 AM PDT #

The Java device is coming. It's (now) called WeTab and it runs on Android. But only time will tell if it can and will compete with the iPad. I wanted to write more, but the system wouldn't let me.

Posted by Winfried Maus on May 10, 2010 at 04:51 AM PDT #

Brave post James!

Posted by Hugo on May 10, 2010 at 05:46 AM PDT #

vehe, maybe you could recollect SavaJe's Jasper S20.

Posted by Mayuresh Kathe on May 10, 2010 at 07:01 AM PDT #

Strongly agree. I wrote my own screed on the device, largely in agreement with your own. Lost in the echos of 'magic' no doubt. stu

Posted by Stuart Weibel on May 10, 2010 at 08:07 AM PDT #

@vehe They say Android tablets are coming this year's Q4... maybe with jdk 1.7 :)

Posted by Nabeel Ali Memon on May 10, 2010 at 09:02 AM PDT #

"I know I'm deeply not the target market, so my disillusionment probably doesn't matter." This, I would guess, is the big problem: the target market appears to be people who spend a lot of time consuming or reading stuff (videos, Facebook, whatever) and not very much time producing it, since spending a lot of time writing with a "virtual" keyboard on a small screen doesn't sound real appealing. I'm not the first person to have observed this and probably won't be the last, and I can't imagined myself buying an iPad anytime soon. I do have a Kindle: jseliger.com/2010/04/13/kindle-land-with-requisite-ruminations-on-the-ipad , but, as discussed at the link, the Kindle's software still isn't very good and the device feels like the pre-iPod mobile mp3 players: not quite there yet.

Posted by Jake on May 10, 2010 at 09:44 AM PDT #

I guess it is useful as 'my grandpa's first laptop'. Users above average feel unconfortable with the iPad.

Posted by Eduardo Mauricio da Costa on May 10, 2010 at 09:49 AM PDT #

I guess it is useful as 'my grandpa's first laptop'. Users above average feel unconfortable with it.

Posted by Eduardo Mauricio da Costa on May 10, 2010 at 09:49 AM PDT #

I guess it is useful as 'my grandpa's first laptop'.

Posted by Eduardo Mauricio da Costa on May 10, 2010 at 09:50 AM PDT #

I guess it's only useful as an 'entry-level' computer ('for dummies')

Posted by Eduardo Mauricio da Costa on May 10, 2010 at 09:52 AM PDT #

With respect to portability, it is not exactly as cumbersome as a laptop. It is lighter. Also, with the exception of a few net book models, it does not require you to fight over a seat near an electrical outlet. I just saw a hack for a Bluetooth mouse today. If I really need a keyboard and mouse/mouse-pad, I'll take my laptop or net book. If you want to lighten your load, be like a mountain-climber, decide what you can do without. For 90% of my leisure tasks, the iPad is the best choice. The other 10% are handled by my notebook or iPhone.

Posted by Shock Me on May 10, 2010 at 09:52 AM PDT #

I guess it's only useful as an 'entry-level' computer

Posted by Eduardo Mauricio da Costa on May 10, 2010 at 09:52 AM PDT #

@vehe Is Android enough of a Java device for you? You program it using Java, it runs on a Java VM although it is called DalvikVM. Still this is if you ask me Java although not an implementation coming from Sun.

Posted by Andreas Schmidt on May 10, 2010 at 12:02 PM PDT #

Java devices are everywhere: RIM's phones are all-Java, as are the Android phones. For sheer cool, it's hard to beat any Japanese phone (all Java). Whether a tablet is Java or not is an independent question from whether or not tablets make sense at all. An open developer model would make a huge difference. The iPad doesn't work for my 'leisure tasks', but I'm kinda weird: for leisure I have an 8-core 8-gig fire-breather for running a high-end 3D modeler (Lightwave, from newtek.com)

Posted by James Gosling on May 10, 2010 at 09:42 PM PDT #

I think it shines for reading. I have a lot of papers to read. You can manage them with the Papers application on the Mac and read them on the iPad and just write short notes that I can synchronize again with my Mac. This saves the environment a lot of paper because otherwise I would have to print them out for reading and again use the laptop to write my notes. A notebook is not good for reading because the keyboard gets in your way all the time. The same goes for reading long texts on the internet.

Posted by aehrenr on May 10, 2010 at 10:31 PM PDT #

I completely agree, the iPad currently poses very little value. That being said I think this is only the beginning for the iPad. One of the missing key ingredients for comprehensive home automation is a ready to go control panel. True, you could do this with a laptop but the consumers I've spoken with disapprove of this approach. They just don't want to be on the computer more hours out of each day. The iPad however has the right feel, form factor, battery life and quick access necessary to make it convenient for managing a home automation system. Not to mention tricking people into thinking they're not on a computer. My underlying point is I think the iPad is just the beginning of truly bringing technology home, doing for the home what computers have done for businesses.

Posted by Michael J. Bergin on May 11, 2010 at 05:23 AM PDT #

James, You already found where it shines: > Lounging around on the couch browsing the web is pretty wonderful That's *IT*. It is a human sized, couch-compatible way of doing things you love, without sitting at that desk out of the way, without sitting on that chair you bought for your computer. You can read, watch movies, surf the web, from your couch. Now, typing and mouse input are two things that differ in this format. Typing requires a softer touch, and there is no mouse input (except, there is... if you break it... but anyway). I for one want a high bandwidth input device that I can carry around always. A fullsize keyboard (which the iPad effectively has) is the main criterion, ergo this device is a carry everywhere and do the things you need to do device, or the slouch-able computing revolution. I've been able to share this device with my gf far more effectively than a computer, you can pass it back and forth, huddle over it. For that alone I wish it had a front facing camera so we could pull some faces and snap them too... but anyway. 9 + 27... without any coffee? GODDAMN WHAT AM I? SOME KIND OF MACHINE? Let me try this...

Posted by Chris on May 11, 2010 at 08:52 AM PDT #

James, You already found where it shines: > Lounging around on the couch browsing the web is pretty wonderful That's *IT*. It is a human sized, couch-compatible way of doing things you love, without sitting at that desk out of the way, without sitting on that chair you bought for your computer. You can read, watch movies, surf the web, from your couch. Now, typing and mouse input are two things that differ in this format. Typing requires a softer touch, and there is no mouse input (except, there is... if you break it... but anyway). I for one want a high bandwidth input device that I can carry around always. A fullsize keyboard (which the iPad effectively has) is the main criterion, ergo this device is a carry everywhere and do the things you need to do device, or the slouch-able computing revolution. I've been able to share this device with my gf far more effectively than a computer, you can pass it back and forth, huddle over it.

Posted by Chris on May 11, 2010 at 08:53 AM PDT #

Some ideas - have a tail -f running on a console on your iPad, when you leave your machine, pull the iPad with you and walk down the hallway with all the logging whizzing on the screen. A far more effective way of looking busy than the old "I'm gonna photocopy these documents" approach. Photos, maps, video, music, web. What else is there in life? Of course, I want to emacs on it! That'll be fun, and you can just screen your way to happiness as long as the console works well enough. There is a huge amount of power in a high bandwidth user input device, you just have to open your mind and unlock it.

Posted by Chris on May 11, 2010 at 08:55 AM PDT #

A friend of mine bought one of these, and I played with it over the weekend. It is the quickest way to look something up on the web. The instant on feature is its best feature in my book. However, once I got on the web, I wanted to watch something on Hulu. Or maybe a NetFlix movie. The whole Steve Jobs ego expansion field made me go "Meh".

Posted by David on May 11, 2010 at 11:30 AM PDT #

I think that if I ever end up on the Star Trek Enterprise as a medical officer, I will need an IPad.

Posted by Barry Kreiser on May 11, 2010 at 02:17 PM PDT #

For them, Mac OS X _is_ abandon-ware, afterall, Apple is primarily a hardware company, the software is just incidental...

Posted by Mayuresh Kathe on May 11, 2010 at 07:22 PM PDT #

I agree with Mayuresh, too. Apple(Jobs) expressed oneself as a hardware company by 'Thought on Flash'. Though the once removed 'Computer' from the company name. The historic achievement of the Java is to have freed software from hardware. Apple(Jobs) is going against the tide of history. But I like Apple products. However, I do not like merely hardware, the reason is because I sympathized with 'thought' to carry through the whole product including the hardware and software. And it is not on Windows. Must the ghost(software) live in the shell(hardware)?

Posted by Ryo Ikeda on May 11, 2010 at 11:06 PM PDT #

Winfred Maus, thanks a great deal. Just got to learn of Wetab, and eeepad in the process. What a device indeed. my doubts cleared. The Dalvik jvm continues to spread its tentacles. Shouldnt there be some harmonization with j2me along the way?

Posted by vehe on May 12, 2010 at 01:07 AM PDT #

What do you have to say about ADAM from Notion Inc.

Posted by Prashant Venugopal on May 12, 2010 at 06:21 AM PDT #

Well said, I think AAPL has forgotten what earned them all of the love and admiration they have been enjoying. Instead, they have become obsessed with milking every dime out of everything they own...perhaps Steve should stop hanging with Larry so much ; ) RE: Your OSX dream - Totally agree, it seems every update makes my system a bit crappier : ( WTF is going on with Safari these days?

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Posted by ew21netew21net on May 12, 2010 at 07:39 PM PDT #

You write good articles, I will always be concerned about

Posted by rosetta stone on May 13, 2010 at 06:59 PM PDT #

Why would someone use a device if it is uncomfortable???

Posted by Radin on May 13, 2010 at 10:47 PM PDT #

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