reality BYTES
By Adrian Weckler
Will the iPad rock our collective world? Or will it be consigned to the nice-but useless gadget dump? Here are five things you need to know.
1. It is not perfect
Apple rarely makes a device without upsetting someone. In this case, it has annoyed people who like a) cameras b) USB slots c) Flash and d) multi-tasking.
Each of these omissions (or choices) by Apple is a negative thing. Want to listen to a song online while tapping out an e-mail? Sorry. Want to talk to someone on iChat over the web? Nope. And, thanks to the dearth of a USB port, you can’t print from it and you’re stuck with the memory capacity you have. Make no mistake, this is not as exciting as the launch of the iPod or the iPhone.
2. It is likely to appeal to women at least as much as men
Reading through some of the reaction to the launch last week, one post from an Irish blogger, Damien Mulley, stuck with me.
‘‘Our mums are about to join the web,” he wrote.
“[The iPad] is going to make using the web easy for people who, up to now, have found using a mouse, keyboard and a browser a tad intimidating. The majority of people don’t give a shit that you can’t modify the device or that [Steve] Jobs owns their functionality.”
In other words, it is not about being able to network, tether, fiddle and modify the ‘hardware’. It is simply about picking up a piece of glass and accessing the web, photos or videos on it. This view makes sense. If it does a few things very well and very easily, it will be a hit with ‘Mommy tech’ users, one of the biggest niche sections in the giant Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month.
3. It will not be a hit as an e-book reader
The iPad’s iBook software and e-books look great. But no amount of slick software can get over the fact that the screen is an LCD screen, like a laptop or a TV. Would you read a book on a laptop or a TV?
Neither would I. It’s for this reason that Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader use a dull, grey backdrop with simple black writing on it. There’s no glare. There’s no flicker. So you can actually read a book on one.
4. It will be the big Christmas hit
Regardless of the criticism it is receiving, regardless of the tampon-esque name, the iPad is unquestionably a gorgeous, ‘wow factor’ gadget.
At its current pricing level – €350 for the basic 16GB version – it will prove to be an irresistible choice for Christmas next year. This is justified.
For all of Apple’s control freakery, lack of open standards and marketing hype, it makes very high quality products that are superblyde signed and enhance people’s lives. This thing will be a hit, regardless of its failings.
5.Oh, and I want one
