Apple’s latest creation, the iPad, made its debut on the 26th ending the months (years?) or speculation that preceded it. For the Apple faithful this device represented a long harboured desire to see the Newton resurrected after its summary execution at the hands of Steve Jobs in 1997. Rumours of a hand-held computing device from Apple were partially stilled by the release of iPhone a decade after the Newton’s demise, but began to re-emerge over the subsequent months and years. Pundits began to accuse Apple of squandering an opportunity by not entering the netbook market and claimed the company was dicing with death by failing to address this non-existant threat to their bottom line. Rumours then began to trickle through from South-East Asia that Apple was sourcing suppliers for 10″ touch screens.
Rumours about the new Apple tablet – iTablet? iSlate? iPad? – began to snowball and an iPad shaped device began to appear. Features for the rumoured device included a 10″ touch screen, a new OS (or perhaps desktop OS X or iPhone OS X), wireless HDMI, multitasking, complex gesture input and a myriad of others. Following an invitation to the tech media to attend an Apple event to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco the rumours reached the pitch of wailing banshees. Only the unveiling of the as yet unconfirmed device by Steve Jobs could silence them.
And silence them he did. At least for a while.
The iPad is intended to create a new category of mobile device between the iPhone and a laptop. With a 9.7″ capacitive touch screen in a 4:3 aspect ration, a newly developed Apple A4 processor (using an ARM architecture) and featuring 802.11n and 3G wireless networking the iPad has a great set of hardware features. The operating system is, essentially, a modified version of the existing iPhone software allowing the device to immediately use applications from the 126,00 available on the app store. The built-in applications are quite different from those on the iPhone. The bigger screen and different intent of the device mean that using contacts, viewing calendar events, browsing the Internet, sending and receiving email and accessing media are implemented in a new. The addition of Pages, Numbers and Keynote demonstrated that the iPad is intended for light content creation and not just consumption. Input is via an on screen keyboard, an optional keyboard dock or a Bluetooth keyboard.
Unfortunately Apple has become a victim of its own success. So great has the impact of the iPod and iPhone been that people were expecting to see a truly revolutionary device. The digital intelligentsia had eaten up the rumours and wanted all the features it was supposed to have there in front of them. Make no mistake, this is a revolutionary device, but a lot of people can’t see it.
Apple has scored some points with its extremely tough, critical audience. Firstly, nobody expected the low US$499 price tag. Rumours had it up around US$1000. Secondly, most people seem to agree that it looks great.
The main criticism seems to be along the lines that it is “a big iPod touch”. That was my initial reaction too, but what Apple actually seem to be doing is simplifying computing using a touch interface. Most of the features that seem to be lacking now, such as multitasking, file sharing and connectivity will be added in. What we have here, perhaps for the first time, is a device that truly is computer-as-appliance. The operating system and the complex interactions that surround it get out of the way and allow a user to interact directly with what they want to do in the most natural manner possible by touch.
The iPad isn’t for everybody and it doesn’t intend to replace laptops or desktops, what it does intend to do it does well. When developers start making applications that take advantage of the large screen with multitouch more people will “get” what Apple is about.
