iPad First Impressions – It’s Not a Laptop Replacement Yet
I received my iPad yesterday right on schedule from UPS.
Everything you’ve read about it online is true – the screen is great, it’s really nice to have a 9.7″ display which makes reading things much easier.
While the iPad can use all of the iPhone applications in the market (well over 100k) – in reality most apps have to be re-written to take advantage of the bigger screen.
Apple has a stated battery life of 10 hours — and remarkably that seems very accurate.
The device is fast — probably quicker than the iPhone in terms of swapping applications and loading web pages.
But you can read all about that online — here’s some things that sites aren’t pointing out that I think are important:
- The lack of multi-tasking is annoying. If you’re in an application and you receive an email you must completely shut down that application in order to even glance at the subject line of the incoming mail. This is probably not a huge issue for those who don’t use email much. For corporate/business use I think the lack of effective multi-tasking is a dealbreaker.
Apple will undoubtedly fix this as multi-tasking is rumored to be one of the next features added to the OS. However for now it’s annoying to have to swap from one screen to another (effectively closing applications) just to read an incoming email.
- The bigger question will be whether the iPad becomes a pseudo-laptop replacement. My first instinct is no — at least not this version and not so long as application loading (and approval) is tethered to iTunes.
For home use I think this type of app loading and approval is great but for business use I think most companies will balk at standardizing on what’s essentially a closed hardware platform that could limit the applications they deploy.
Granted this could change. However the Safari browser on the iPad can’t run a lot of sites — including any that have Flash technology (a way to view video in a web browser) embedded in them. It also crashes when trying to access Google Wave – though Salesforce.com runs beautifully.
The iPad also lacks a camera of any type which seems like such an obvious omission that it’s virtually certain that we’re all being setup for the “ipad 2″ to be rolled out within a year.
- There are several very good applications that allow for reading books and newspapers (WSJ, USA Today, NY Times). Most of the newspapers are struggling to sell a paid version in order to make money however their announced pricing of $15 to $20 per month seems way out of alignment with reality. Some like the USA Today ,which is offering a free trial through 7/4/2010, are probably testing the waters to get feedback and they could modify their subscription pricing eventually.
Should you buy one?
For home use – yes!
It’s not a laptop replacement for most businesses though.
At least not until the web browser can run all the same applications as a desktop computer – which in my testing it presently does not do with notable crashes in Google Wave and a total lack of Flash Player support.
The iPad will be a good niche product for many businesses – things like note taking and social media work great on the device (as they do on your regular laptop). The real question is will the majority of business users see this as yet another expensive device to carry or will the iPad open up new functionality?
As it stands now – for business – the iPad is another device to carry until it can at least totally duplicate the functionality of the laptop browser.
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