iPad-Apple Could Have Done Better

Yeah, the much awaited Apple tablet has finally arrived and it was Steve Jobs who delivered the keynote address at Apple's "Come See Our New Creation" event in San-Francisco. While the blogosphere has been strife with rumours and expectations on the latest toy from Cupertino, what Steve Jobs delivered proved to be a bummer.

After checking out the keynote address along with the extensive coverage by engadget, I was like: "iPad, really, is that the best you could do, Apple"? The name in itself is a big joke and is the fodder for some of the most of the hilarious YouTube content today. This one below is one of the most viewed in the last couple of days:

As hilarious as it is, it makes every point that I had against the iPad. It's such a pity that even Hitler has it all figured out, while the honchos at Apple are yet to get in terms with what the users actually want in a tablet device. iPad is disappointing but let me throw some light on some of the positives first (yeah it has some):

Apple's Homegrown A4 Processor

Be it sports or any competitive industry for that matter, you often see a player who comes and tears apart all the rules of the game and then goes on to tear down record after another in that sport/industry. Like Sehwag in Cricket, whose batting style is so unorthodox that purists (often Coaches) would reprimand a youngster mimicking his style for he lacks fluid footwork but he makes up for it with his ability to read the bowlers and his near-perfect timing. No wonder he is the lone Indian in the list of Triple centurions and the way he paces his innings be it a Test match, an ODI or a T20, very few batsmen can measure up to him. Before I lose track and start praising Sehwag (may be I should blog about him sometime), let me come back to my point: Apple's homegrown A4 processor is an industry revolution. Not merely for its impressive specs (1 GHz and low power-system-on-chip is all that is known at this stage), but for its development. I mean in the times where outsourcing is more a norm than exception, Apple has surprised everyone by resorting to it's very own R&D team to concoct a system-on-chip A4 processor for their iPad. Apple could have easily gone for say Qualcomm whose 1 GHz Snapdragon processor is the talk-of-town in top-end mobile phones but instead Apple opted for a processor of its own. An ingenious processor has two main advantages: Apple can really tweak their OS to get the most of their processor and design the processor to specifically get the most of the limiting battery life. While the mobile technology has seen an ocean of change in the last few years, battery technology hasn't catched up yet, with Li-ion based battery technology (first released by Sony in 1991) still being the mainstay of mobile devices. With battery technology going nowhere in the last 2 decades, chip manufacturers are increasingly shifting to low-voltage processors as evident from Intel's SUV series of processors for laptops/netbooks.

iBooks

Like iTunes revolutionalized the online music scenario over the last decade I believe Apple has very much the potential to do the same with their iBooks. With a customer and fan base as huge as that of Apple, it has the potential to single handedly change the fate of this genre, irrespective of the popularity of E-ink technology based Amazon's Kindle and Barn's and Nobles' Nook. E-ink is a better or rather a healthier technology since it's easier on the eyes for reading books compared to the glaring LED blacklit screen of the iPad. But am sure the glamour associated with iPad will overpower Kindle and Nook, unless they add some seasoning of their own to prevent Apple from gatecrashing what is definitely their party zone.

Now let me come to the negatives of iPad, which unfortunately are many. I will start with my biggest complaint: Why limit iPad with the limitations of iPhone OS, of which I have blogged about at length in my earlier post? Absence of Flash support is one thing and having to limit to one-app-at-a-time usage is totally another level of frustration for a US $499 16 GB Wi-Fi only device (and can go all the way upto US $829 for the top end 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G model). The competition offers much better options here and I am not referring to mere ebook readers here. I fail to understand in what genre Apple wants to push their iPad into: for an ebook reader, they went a little overboard both with the pricing and specs and to be honest a LED backlit e-reader will definitely hurt your vision, if you happen to read a book at stretch on it. Netbook: am not sure they hit the min requirement on that either with lack of Flash, multi-tasking and no Office application, a business user will definitely not bother even looking at this device for his netbook needs and so will oblige a mobile professional. That leaves us with a customer base comprising of die-hard Apple fans who would shell their money on almost anything that comes out of Cupertino and unfortunately for industry but fortunately for Apple, that's a rather large base. So Apple will not only sell their iPad in big numbers but it will also wipe a fat profit off it.

Is iPad doomed?

I don't think so. If you see the track record of Apple you will see that this is not the first time the manufacturer is at the receiving end of criticism, Take for example the iPhone, which was written off by many a critics as it lacked 3G and to this day lacks a front facing camera, FM radio among other things but Apple sure know how to sell their products. They not only added 3G in the second generation of the device but also launched the app store, which totally changed the way people use smartphones and catapulted iPhone in the top spot overnight. Going by that trend, a similar iteration with iPad can also be expected with the second generation iPad adding multi-tasking atleast if not the Flash support for the device.

Would I buy an iPad now?

Obviously not for it still has some severe limitations but if Apple give Mac OS X on it, I would definitely think about it. So my advice for iPad enthusiasts is to wait for the next generation of iPad and till then if you want a ebook reader, Kindle or Nook should do the trick and if a netbook is what you are looking for, go with Hitler and wait for the HP slate!