Portrait of the Sleep Deprived aka. locus blog

The iPad, the future of the PC and the demise of open platforms part 2 (Nikos)

Right after Dimitris, i would also like to publish my thoughts on the iPad:

One week has passed since Steve Jobs presented the iPad to the World and during these 7 days a war takes place across discussion forums throughout the Web. The majority of users criticize Apple saying that iPad is not what they expected/dreamed. Some go even further stating that it's just an oversized ipod touch that offers no extra functionality (other than being the most expensive serving tray for coffee ). What do i believe?

Vision of a different Personal Computer

I believe that iPad it's one step closer to what Steve (and apple in general) had envisioned 25 years ago regarding the future of computing. And that in one year time, most of the guys who now mock it will own one and wonder how the hell did they perform 90% of their daily tasks before iPad's time.

Of course, in one year iPad 2 will be introduced and i will be writing a similar article defending the new device . But that's life (or Apple).

I might be exaggerating a bit. But to explain myself i have to lay some baseline thoughts. What is the problem with today's computing? Most people (and i mean the 85-90% of them) spend more time troubleshooting with software and hardware rather than using their PC to be productive. It's one thing to log in your pc and create a new document or spreadsheet while listening to your favorite tunes (that is being productive) and another to install spyware/antivirus software, let it update, restart, download new drivers, security patches, modify the registry, format every 6 months because the system is way to slow etc etc etc.

You should all agree that most users don't need this. What they need is terminals that make their daily tasks easier to do and why not, fun to use. Terminals that due to their closed architecture require minimal maintenance. This is where the iPad comes in.

It provides the best Internet Experience, the best Media Playback functionality, the fastest and most enjoyable User Interface, astonishing Battery Life, decent e-book reader capabilities and last but not least, the App Store and thousands developers throughout the world ready to start building the next killer app.

is something really mising? Should we care?

I don't agree that the missing flash player or the inability to produce 1080p video affect the target group that the ipad aims. My mother doesn't really know what a flash player is. She just wants to have easy access to her email, write a document and maybe (after hard training) book tickets for a movie. With her current notebook all of the above are just painful, boring procedures. In two months time she will just have to touch the screen. And not only that. I strongly believe that the ipad will inspire her to learn more. To explore internet, start using google to search the web and slowly become a computer literate.

I consider myself a power pc user. I have been a user for over 20 years, i have studied computer Engineering and am now in the IT Consulting business. Even I don't need more functionality from ipad simply because it will be just an extra device in my home. Programming, image/video processing and other serious tasks (like gaming ) will be still carried out on my macbook pro or my desktop PC (which is a dual boot windows 7/osx 10.6.2 hackintosh by the way). But when i want to relax and do basic things i will surely grab my ipad.

Users that will truly love iPad do not need the complexity current computers offer. Those who desire more can buy an aluminium MacbookPro. With 1000$ you get a really good looking, powerful, 13.3 inch, mac osx powered laptop. Spend 400$ more and get a blazingly fast 15.4 macbook pro. Or a 27inch iMac.

Are you kidding us? Is this Steve Jobs himself writting this article??

With the fear of being called a fanboy , i have to admit that in my eyes the ipad has 2 major drawbacks. No built in camera and no multitasking. The second i believe will be solved when phone os 4.0 is introduced. At least in some basic blend. Ipad's target audience does not need heavy multitasking. Just running Safari with Pandora and IM+ in parallel would do just fine.

But no camera?? Came on guys...why not? I could imagine my grandparents buying one just to learn how to make video calls with their grandchildren. To take it further on, with an iSight camera onboard, the ipad would substitute my macbook when i would be at home.

Instead of conclusion

This text came out to be more ipad supportive than i thought it would. Maybe this is just a reaction to all those who accuse Apple of not building a tablet that outperforms a Mac Pro.

iPad is the first Personal Computer for the masses and it will undoubtedly open a new market. And the fact that a similar tablet from Google running Android OS is expected in the coming months just makes things way more interesting.

Maybe after all there will be a salvation for the frustrated masses that have been using Microsoft PC's the last 15 years. Apple has shown the way, many will definitely follow.