Gosuto Consulting

I don’t like to judge things before I’ve used them.  I also realize that a commentary on the iPad two weeks after the announcement is a bit late – but I’ve been busy, so sue me.  One more caveat – I’m not an Apple hater.  I started out on an Apple II and Macs after that, and appreciate the contributions Apple has made to computing.

Anyway, Steve Jobs is the master of the product announcement – but this was one just felt disingenuous.

First off, Steve Jobs et al used the adjective “breakthrough” (along with groundbreaking and various other superlatives)  several times when referring to the iPad.  Let’s check out the definition of “breakthrough”:

“Any major progress; such as a great innovation or discovery that overcomes a significant obstacle.”

I ask you, what is groundbreaking about this device?

You could argue that the iPhone was a breakthrough device – at the time there was nothing like it.  I’m not a huge iPhone fan (I’m still a physical keyboard guy), but it definitely changed the way we look at phones, and it advanced the industry.

The iPad is really nothing more technically than an overgrown iPod touch – and really doesn’t try to hide that fact.  It’s screen isn’t breakthrough, it’s input method isn’t breakthrough, it’s storage isn’t breakthrough, it’s software isn’t breakthrough, it’s processor isn’t breakthrough . . . I could continue.  Now, I suppose you could say that the culmination of all of these things in this form factor is unique, but not breakthrough.  Especially for the price.  I’ll get back to that later.

What would you use this for?

It doesn’t make a very good e-book reader because of the lack of e-ink display.  Sure, it has pretty colors and stuff, but that doesn’t prevent eye strain or let you read it outdoors.  I’ve read several reviews calling this as Kindle killer, and those people obviously don’t get what is unique about e-book readers.

It is way too big for a portable music device.

It could make for a cool productivity device (the iWorks demo was the only thing that really impressed me) – but they’ve clearly targeted this at the home market, and with no USB you won’t exactly be able to print with it.  I’m curious how rugged it is going to be for a road warrior, that is one big glass screen to break.  Here’s my biggest problem with it from a business perspective – it is too large to justify taking it on a business trip along with your laptop – but it isn’t functional enough to completely replace a laptop.  No company is going to pay $500-$900 for a toy that a business user might use occasionally, when they can get a netbook (that is arguably much more capable than an iPad and could replace a laptop on business trips) for $299.  Also, without “jailbreaking” it, the only software you can put on it has to be attained through the AppStore.  This might be acceptable for a consumer device like the iPhone, but IT departments won’t go for it.

Thus, I see the #1 demographic for this being people who are recreational computer users and want a portable Internet and video device, and who don’t already have an iPod (or people who already have iPods and will just buy this out of Apple loyalty, and have a lot of money to burn).

I found a really funny comment on-line by an anonymous user.  This kind of sums it up for me:

“Just yesterday I was looking at my iPhone thinking ‘Hmmm, I wish this thing didn’t fit in my pocket and couldn’t make phone calls.’  Then I looked over to my netbook and couldn’t help but feel it would benefit from losing the keyboard and being made of 50% glass.”

As long as we are on the topic of what the iPad won’t have . . .

No user-replaceable battery
No USB ports
No camera (not a big deal to me)
No microphone
No removable flash memory (i.e., always have to plug it into your computer to load anything on to it, and you can’t upgrade the storage)

Having said that, they did demo a really cool looking keyboard dock.  That would be really cool to use with a USB mouse – oh wait, no USB ports, my bad.

So now we are back to the price.  This is the part that really bothered me.

Jobs starts out with the most disingenuous statement I’ve heard by a CEO in a while – I’m not quoting verbatim, but it pretty much went like this:

“All the pundits have been saying this will cost $999 – well shocker, it will only be $499, how cheap is that??”

It was right out of an infomercial.  First of all Steve-O, the “pundits” got their information from Apple “leaks” which you guys put out intentionally to increase the hype factor.  Saying it is half off an imaginary price (that you spread the rumor of) and acting like that is some kind of great deal is a joke and quite frankly insulting.

The fact of the matter it that it should be substantially cheaper than an iPhone.  Aside from the larger screen and a faster processor, it is technically less capable than an iPhone (the iPhone can do everything the iPad can do, and the iPhone can make phone calls too), and it is in a larger, less expensive to engineer and produce form factor.  With no expansion options, nobody will want the base model (16GB and no 3G).  The only model that I would consider adequate is the 32GB model with 3G, and that is $729.  Not exactly cheap, especially since it can’t replace my computer or my phone; oh, and by the way, that’s twice as expensive as a similarly configured netbook — which Steve Jobs made fun off more than once during his announcement as “underpowered” – really?

There was one aspect of the pricing that was pretty impressive – $29.99 for unlimited 3G data with no contract.  So basically they are giving you the “phone” rate for 3G data, with the bonus of no contract.  Bravo!  However, they couldn’t resist being misleading even with this part of the announcement – they said 3G data started at $14.99 with a 250MB per month cap, with Jobs insinuating that 250MB would be more than enough for many people.  That is BS.  250MB is a joke, especially for a device that can play HD video.  On my laptop using CLEAR wireless I used 28GB of data last month, and I’m not a heavy video user.  That is roughly 11,000% more than 250MB.  I don’t see the 250MB plan lasting very long.

Anyway, only time will tell how the iPad will do.  I’m sure there is a group of people who will buy this no matter what – and who knows, maybe once I get my hands on one I’ll fall in love with it and come back here and retract my “pre-review”.  As a previous user of several tablet computers (all of which I hated), I had high hopes for the iPad, so I’m crossing my fingers that I’m way off base here.  However, from where I sit, I think we are looking at Apple’s first big flop in a long time.

Oh, and one more thing – iPad?  Seriously?  Marketing department fail.  I guess all the good names were taken.  What happened to iSlate!!??  Sorry, rant over