iPad In Canada – Reaction

Today, Apple officially announced it’s new device – the iPad. The hands-on reviews have yet to come in, but will undoubtedly be on any number of sites soon.

What does the iPad mean to Canadian consumers, what is it good for, and what are the communication implications? This article will be divided into two parts: First, a commentary on the iPad itself – my own personal reaction. Second, I will analyze its position in the Canadian wireless industry. (Updated: Wireless commentary here)

The iPad:

The specs on the iPad are available one Apple’s iPad site. This was a much-anticipated launch and many rumours about features and specifications were flying all over the net for the past several months. Steve Jobs posted a tweet to the effect that the iPad is going to be the device people remember Apple for, not the iPhone or the iMac. Will it live up to the hype?

The iPad: The Good

Formfactor

The weight (1.5 lbs) and size (9.7″ screen) are nice. I have not gotten my hands on one, so I can’t say much about typing on it. The LED backlit IPS screen is apparently quite gorgeous as well. In order to be ultraportable it should have something on a netbook in terms of size, which it does. Having the screen size it does means you don’t have to hold it up to your face in order to read it.

The Battery

Anyone who has the pleasure of using one of the new MacBook Pros knows just how good the batteries in them are. It seems Apple has carried this battery technology over to the iPad. 10 hours of video/internet/actual use is quite amazing. 1 month of standby time is obviously overkill but comes with the territory of having a fantastic battery.

Pretty

The Processor

The in-house designed processor is probably the best part of this device from where I sit. It shows Apple’s commitment to tailor their hardware specifically to the function of the device, rather than seeing what parts are out there and building what they can from them. The Apple silicon, system-on-a-chip technology is what will give them the advantage over other entrants into this market.

3G – Unlocked

I also like the fact that the 3G version is unlocked. I can understand why Apple initially had to have exclusivity agreements with the iPhone, but now that they have some critical mass behind their devices, and consumer investment in the app store, they can employ a strategy of wider adoption and capitalize on the app store revenues.

The inclusion of data-only 3G as an option was practically a given as the device doesn’t lend itself well to being a phone. It’s nice to see no-contract service agreements that you can sign up for from the iPad itself. I can only hope that this kind of thing comes to the iPod touch but won’t hold my breath. An important question that needs to be answered is: Is there some way to piggy back the iPad 3G account onto an existing 3G account? That is, do I have to pay $30/mo for iPhone 3G and an additional $30/mo for iPad 3G, or can I combine the two devices under my single account?

iBook

The iBooks reader looks really slick, and the dropdown menus for the apps are great UI changes. Hopefully these will percolate through to the iPhone. I could easily see myself reading books on something like this.

The iPad: The Not So Good

It’s basically just a big iPod touch. That can do 3G. So it’s like an iPhone. But it can’t make calls.

Screen: Should be HD

The 1024×768 screen should have been 1280×960 or 1280×800 in my opinion. This would allow for 720p content to be played and would have paralleled the screen resolution on the MacBooks. Maybe it’s just me, but 1024×768 seems like such a 1999 resolution. The iPad is apparently capable of playing 720p video (according to the iPad site), so why not display it all?

I realize that 99% of all websites are designed to run on a screen width of 1024 pixels, so this resolution makes for an ideal web browsing experience, but I doubt that the performance cost of going to a slightly larger screen would have been that significant.

Pages? Really?

iWork? Really?

iWork for the iPad looks neat however I wouldn’t ever use it. I doubt that typing on it would ever feel natural enough to justify getting Pages, and if I need to use Pages, I’m working on a laptop. I’d have to play with Numbers in order to really understand how I would use it on the iPad. It seems like a key pad and mouse is the best way to go for that application and the transition to a touch device seems awkward. Keynote on the other hand, I can see. I wouldn’t ever want to use the iPad as my main Keynote authoring platform, but adjustments to presentations would work well. I guess it’s not bad to include iWork apps, but my MacBook Pro can do all of these things and do them better, so I am not compelled to switch.

Flash

Really? No flash support? Really?

Mobility

I already have an iPod touch and don’t quite feel compelled to get an iPad. The 3G is nice, but for most of the places I go, I have wifi, and the only thing I find I’d like to have 3G connectivity for is for making a phone call. Since the iPad doesn’t do phone calls natively, it seems like the 3G add on is lost on me.

If I’m truly trying to “be mobile” I find that the iPod touch/iPhone platform is fantastic for browsing. Is it just me or are the mobile versions of websites better than the full versions anyways?

The iPad: The Missing

No Tablet

We all thought this was going to be a tablet. So where’s the pen? Where’s the handwriting/notetaking software? This device could have been HUGE with students as a true tablet combined with a textbook subscription service.

Imagine: iChat on top, doc editing below

No iSight

A front-facing iSight camera would have launched the mobile video conferencing trend that seems to be coming. People have wanted this feature on the iPhone, so why not try it out on the iPad? Imagine this: You’re sitting in a chair with your iPad, and the top 1/3 of the screen has 2 video feeds showing on it – a client and a co-worker. The lower 2/3 of the screen is a document you are all working on. You pull out your pen and make changes, circling, highlighting, editing, scrolling by touch, and your client and co-worker see the updates. Okay that’s a lot to ask, but I’d still like to talk to my mom on it.

No Multitasking

Better hardware and more battery life and it still can’t run more than one thing?

The iPad: Where Does It Fit?

If you want to do work, you have a laptop and the iPad isn’t for you. If you want to listen to music and browse the web casually, then you probably have a smartphone or iPod touch and the iPad doesn’t really offer any improvements to your experience.

For people who have both a laptop and a smartphone-type device, the iPad is a very tough sell. It doesn’t seem to do anything better than either a laptop or an iPhone except for being an eReader.

But what if you don’t have a laptop (or need a new one), and don’t have a smart device (or need a new one)? Could you get an iPad and replace some old devices? Maybe. I couldn’t really see typing on it very much, even with the keyboard dock, but it could be useful for a person who travels a lot and for some reason can’t carry something as big as a laptop around during the day.

The suitability of the iPad as a mobile communication device will be the subject of a follow-up article.