Day two of March Break Marathon, here, we delve deeper into the world of technology going through some deeper understanding of this market as well as what the his trends are.
Late February this year, Steve Jobs took the stage being the host of an event that most hoped would storm the crowd and drive competitors nuts. Everyone live on site and people tuning in at home to Engadget's live webfeed or leaked video feeds expected something remarkable. Fueled by continuous rumours on very fabulous speculations such as a mysterious sales point, UI, hardware specs, as well as software operating systems, the audience's expectation was high.
The moment Steve pulled out his iPad on stage, everybody made the oohs and aah for a short while, then immediately responding with a big WTF. As it turns out, the overall consumer and mac fan base had not accepted the iPad very well. Mixed opinions were pointed out about it's operating system, usefulness as an iPhone, Mac replacement, or an Ebook reader, as well as it's actual usability for an avid Mac and iPhone user.
The mixed opinions confused me alot. Not only did it add to the confusion of trying to understand what the iPad is, many were discouraged into looking further into the iPad because most claimed the iPad to be "useless in every advertised task" and "not the best Apple could do". Thus, I am here with this definitive article defining what the iPad was made to do and reasons why computer fanatics are opposing this device and how Apple could change it.
I chose to write this article later on after the announcement (as of the time of writing, the iPad is just weeks from official launch (US April 3rd) and the pre-orders just got speculated to have had over 100, 000 pre orders) because I wanted to let people accept what the iPad is and learn about it before I give my opinions on it. So far, seeing the incredible pre-order results, it seems as though there is a pretty big fan base for the device; though most of the pre-orders could be from YouTube or Media reviewers getting their hands on one before anyone else.
My article will be summarized into (number) sections for clarity and easier navigation purposes dealing with design, software, market, Apple's Internal plans, and use.
(1) Marketing Position: Many expected the iPad as a sort of "computer with a touch screen" similar to what a PC Tablet might offer. A full Mac OS X operating system with a high quality touch screen and hardware similar to those of the MacBook Air was what most people expected. However, the market of what a Tablet is has changed. Although traditional Tablets, better referred to convertible laptops, where it is similar to a laptop with a touch screen and turnable displays running full PC Operating Systems still exist today, many find those to be out of date, and clunky. The need of social networking-at-all-times and "internet in your hands at the tip of your fingers" nowadays is on the fullest of demand ever in history. Fueled by the success of the iPod Touch and iPhone, people expect to use their devices to connect to the web and do social networking communication almost at will anywhere on the go. The whole notion of having a Pocket Computer Tablet (convertible laptops) have been reduced. As the price and size of laptops become cheaper and cheaper, people can afford to have cheap, small laptops that they carry around (Not Netbooks). Thus, having a small computer tablet isn't ideal. The iPhone and iPod Touch also taught us something very important; PCs or even the Mac OS isn't designed for touch use. It uses small buttons and menus, uses single point of clicks or keyboard input (not multitouch), and is overall very difficult to use. The iPhone introduced to us a brand new interface which allowed for very fast navigation of the system through touch and it's optimized operating system to do very complicated tasks which other phones soon followed. Android, Windows Mobile, and the Zune OS is catching onto this trend and they all seem to have grasped the notion of this new touch interface. (Whether which of them is better at it is a whole different story). Therefore, with these new introductions, people are looking away from having PCs in their pockets requiring buttons for input and doing dull office-style tasks; people are embarking on small, fast, touch, and networked machines where they can have quick bedside access to the whole web experience on a device no larger than your pocket.
In terms of the vast PC - non Mac market, these categories have been very well distinguished. Laptops are larger portable computers with flip screens that you carry around. Smartphones are phones with keyboards or touch screen that lets users stay connected to their media at all times. And a very special category of Netbooks started to take place; miniature, low powered, yet full laptop operating devices took the stage for consumers who wanted a bit more than a netbook. The convertible was diminishing from the market and was referred to as the "Tablet" far less often. Tablets, however, were beginning to be replaced with lower powered, large, coloured touch-only screens which did things far differently than what a convertible would have done. Since social media and social interaction is ever so important these days, most of these tablets run software dedicated to touch interfaces but also has very good internet capabilities. Connecting to the Internet through Wifi or occasionally 3G with an OS similar to Android (open sourced and touch friendly) was what gave the tablets success. People never thought of them as giant versions of a Windows Mobile phone or a larger Nexus one like iPad as larger iPhone primarily because of 2 reasons: Vast market spectrum, and Apple.
PCs and the whole marketplace minus Apple have been known to be extremely vast. Products range all over the place with numerous companies competing for similar products. A new product, even if it was a fail product with little respect, was disregarded very quickly because competitors with better products took the stage faster to cover up those mistakes. People knew that there were these tablets around but didnt bother much to buy them or make any use of them. Some did, but most just ignored it.
In terms of the Apple ecosystem however, every product that Apple launch is centered between Apple and Apple alone. Because Apple doesn't like sharing it's product designs and creations among different companies, therefore making Apple's products the one and only main view for Apple user and enthusiasts. They just so happen to be the ones speculating high on Apple's iPad. Apple has had a long history of Notebook Computers and mobile devices. As mentioned above, their iPhone shook the world into cutting edge mobile experiences and interfaces. Apple also developed it's own high end notebooks including their' netbook competitor; the MacBook Air. Apple also has a history of claiming that netbooks are underpowered, cheap, and that they aren't interested in that category. Thus, Apple fanatics speculating on Apple's version of the Tablet immediately pointed to what a convertible laptop might be. Apple has pioneered a great smartphone that was perhaps good enough to be used as one of those newer "next-gen" tablets. Their lack of interest in netbooks proves that they won't be making one. And due to their graphic design background, many suspected that a touch screen "Mac" would make it a great reason for being. They speculated a MacBook Air similar hardware with a very advanced professional touch-screen to aid graphic designers to be able to design on the go without carrying their Wacom Pad everywhere they go.
Unfortunately, Apple came out with a product that didn't suit their trends. This possibly boundary breaking product turned out to be less than what people predicted. The rumors of new user interfaces, radically new hardware, and a surprise new operating system didn't come through. The iPad runs a variant of the iPhone OS optimized for the larger screen and the faster A4 chip. At a glance, and even after some further analysis, it seems to do pretty much the same tasks and function as the iPhone or iPod Touch (minus the phone feature). This pissed off many advocates and people anticipating a better device. Apple took the safer route putting out a product that the majority of non-Apple companies are making hopefully to take their market share rather than risking it again to make another revolutionary product; especially when there are so many competitors. The iPhone will only shine once, then it will be time for another product; but having a similar product in an existing market (such as Ebooks) to gain market share also helps make that product shine too.