Thoughts On the iPad

02-16-2010

So the iPad has finally been released and the opinions tallied. After having read many blogs across the web, it seems most people feel that the iPad comes up short. The most common gripes I hear are of it's lacking Flash support as well as the absence of usb ports and multi-tasking capabilities. But when I think about these shortcomings in depth, I can't really see what difference having those features would make.

iPad Shortcomings Contemplated

First let's address the lack of Flash support. Here you have a technology that with all it's bells and whistles usually just equates to a bunch of designers trying to show off their skills and bogging down your system in the process. Flash has quite a few shortcomings itself, namely, it's noticable lack of improvement over the years. Adobe has done very little to make it lighter on cpu, better with browser integration, and more usable as a technology on the whole. That is why you see less and less of it on sites across the globe. It's a dying technology folks, and the sooner we become less dependant on it, the better we'll all be both users and developers alike.

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Next you have people screaming it doesn't multi-task. So I start thinking of what kind of multi-tasking do these people want? I'm sitting on my living room sofa, surfing the net. What else do they want to do? Well, myself personally, I can think of maybe wanting to listen to music while I write a letter to mom, or perhaps be writing a letter to mom and wanting to check a link to some site really fast while I'm doing it or maybe checking my terrible spelling! While the iPad may not be able to do these to true multi-tasking form, my guess is they do it as well as the iPhone and I think that's pretty good. You can certainly listen to music while surfing the net as well as switch between applications without losing your spot. Isn't that sufficient for a lightweight, thin little couch browser?
Lastly, the lack of usb ports and whatnot. Ok, I like any other proper nerd, want tons of inputs and outputs. But hey, the iPad has a universal port at the bottom that surely can be adapted to any input 3rd party makers want to make. Not to mention there are new technologies out there that bypass even needing usb ports. One example is this new memory card that has Wifi built right in! Why plugin, when you can simply transit the data via bluetooth or Wifi!?

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To me that's the future I want to see. Less cables and more wireless! I'm not here to say this is the perfect device, after all I haven't even used it yet. I'm simply here to say you might want to give this thing a chance, see what it can do, then if you're still not impressed, get a cheap Windows web book!

iPad Synopsis

I guess my overall feeling when considering the shortcomings I've read to date, I feel like people don't really get what it is the iPad is supposed to be. It's not really trying to compete with laptops, workstations, and other multi-tasking, power-hungry, input-output happy devices. What it is supposed to be is a new way to view and interact with the internet and it's success will largely be based upon how well developers are able to take advantage of such a smooth looking and feeling interface as well as Apple's ability to deliver those programs to us. All iPhone users are already pretty familiar with how easy it is to manage our software on our iPhone, now think of that same process with something a little bigger, more powerful, and easier to view and share with others.