OK, I know everyone will be talking about the iPad. But most people I know are amazingly underwhelmed. This was like the lower baseline all rumors had in common. It’s basically just the iPhone: larger.
First, I was very disappointed that the iPhone wasn’t mentioned at all. Although that may just mean iPhone 4.0 isn’t nearly as ready as rumored. I suspect though that the lack of mention of multitasking for the iPad may mean no multitasking in 4.0.
Next there was an amazing shortage of features.
1. No camera. I understand the lack of back facing but front facing is very useful for video conferencing.
2. No new UI features. Extremely surprised on this one.
3. No multitasking (mentioned anyway – that may wait until the 4.0 announcement)
Basically it is nothing but a large iPhone with the 1 GHz CPU (which almost certainly will be in the new gen iPhone to compete with the Google Nexus Phone)
The iWork apps are interesting and certainly a good idea. As is the optional keyboard. (Hopefully that means keyboards are coming to the iPhone too)
So how did I do with my predictions.
1. Extended Gestures. Nope. Ugh.
2. VOIP. Nope. I’m really surprised on this one. I thought something competing with Skype and Google Voice was a shoo-in.
3. TV Subscriptions. I guess they had trouble getting the studios on board. Disappointing and disappointing for all us AppleTV lovers.
4. Productivity apps. Got this one right, although no mention of web sharing or the OSX versions that I saw.
5. eReader. I got this one right.
6. Size and compatibility. I got this right – although it was so widely rumored that I think it was a shoo-in. I wasn’t as confident about iPhone compatibility. But it makes sense. It seems to me they are really going to push games on this. However the lack of even an optional control pad will hurt it here.
The big questions.
1. Printing. If I have iWork I may want to print.
2. Syncing. I assume this is the typical iTunes business. But I think if this is aiming at the netbook market they have to address getting data off more. (i.e. iWork) Here’s hoping this entails a new syncing API for iPhone 4.0.
3. Multitasking.
Anyway, it’s a big “meh” for me. It competes against the netbooks but really doesn’t push things in any way. It’s just an iPhone with a bigger screen. Here’s hoping for a future iPhone event.
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#1 by Alex on 2010/01/27 - 6:49 pm
Why would there be any new UI features? The multi-touch interface on the iPhone works wonderfully for everything I need to do. In fact there are times that I’ve cursed my MacBook for not also having a multitouch screen :\
VoIP? We already have a dozen VoIP applications on the iTMS, why would Apple need to cannibalise that market? I can imagine they’ll release something through MobileME later (ie: to compete with Skype/Gizmo/Google Voice), but that’s MobileME, and the software would be available for iPhone and iPad.
Who actually prints stuff anymore? If you have an iPad, you don’t need paper – it’s an eBook reader, a PDF reader, a whatever-the-hell-digital-format-you-want reader. It’s a Star Trek LCARS data pad, right here, right now. But for those who absolutely *must* be able to print, I expect you’ll be able to send PDFs to the printer using iPrint, Print & Share, or any number of similar apps on the iTMS.
It’s not just an iPhone with a bigger screen, it’s also a smaller MacBook without the keyboard. How often have I wanted to just tear the screen off my MacBook so I could read the book/manual/web site while relaxing on the couch?
Note that the iPad has a half-inch or so border all around the screen so you have somewhere you can actually hold it, without triggering the multitouch.
The lack of “control pad” implies that you want to just run all the old games on the iPad – why not play new games that are designed for the interface? Accelerometers, infinitely configurable controls on the multitouch screen, it’s all there and will be much more engaging than the control pad ever could be – authors won’t have to hack the game controls to suit the control pad.
Getting your iWork documents from iPad to Mac will most likely be done using iDisk (directly from iWork apps), with the iWork.com system.
I, too, am hoping for a future iPhone update. I don’t care much for an event, what I want is an application for non-jailbroken phones that will let me control all the radios (GSM, G3, WiFi, Bluetooth). That’s all. I wouldn’t mind the ability for a GPS application to keep the GPS on (and recording a track) while I’m busy doing something else.
Thanks again for sharing your point of view!
#2 by David H. Sundwall on 2010/01/28 - 12:04 pm
As it’s basically a big iPod Touch, I would agree that the announcement was somewhat underwhelming compared to the hype, but I’m still pretty excited for the iPad’s potential.
I was surprised there wasn’t more talk about what it’s supposed to do for print. iBooks sounds nice but little talk of newspapers and magazines besides the NY Times demo. I guess magazines and news dailies will just become apps with subscriptions?
My main beefs (no improved app organization and launching, no background apps, no file management) are with the iPhone OS (or is now Touch OS?). Hopefully these will be remedied in 4.0 and soon. And hopefully the development of the iPad will be instrumental in pushing the OS is this direction. With the iPad I don’t think Apple can hold out much longer.
It may not be revolutionary, but enabling what many of us already were trying to do with our iPhones/iPods but couldn’t pull it off so well because of the size. I look forward to having my books, magazines, scriptures, dayplanner, movies, music, photos, and whatever else on one easily portable device. Pretty cool and not for a bad price compared to the Kindle or other single devices that just do a couple of these functions. I look forward to Rev. B.
#3 by Clark on 2010/01/28 - 12:25 pm
I think the problem with VOIP is how integrated it is. Most 3rd party apps really aren’t. Look at what Google does with Google Voice on the Nexus and you get an idea of what is possible.
As for printing lots of people print. But people who have used the SDK say the syncing of iWork is really quite cool. But that’s all they’ll say given the NDA. How do those printing apps work on the iPhone? I bet they can only print emails or photos but not, say a spreadsheet on my iPhone.
As for the control pad, I think FPS just demand it. Yes there are some for the iPhone (and from the demo for the iPad) but the lack of tactile feedback really affects those games. Yes there are games that don’t need them – that’s what I have on my phone. But Apple’s really limiting their market here.
I agree that iWork.com will be big. I was really surprised they didn’t discuss it much.