Disappointment is the best way to describe how I feel about the iPad. Such a promising and innovative device that has developmental problems before it is even born.
No I am not going to criticize Jobs for these choices. I can see the business logic behind every one of them so that is not fair. He is after all running a business. I will however include what I think those reasons are in this little rant (and why they are bogus). So here goes … the top 3 roadblocks to purchasing an iPad
- Lack of Flash support:
It really boggles the mind to think that a device designed specifically to be used as a device to browse online would intentionally leave this out. For me this is the single biggest problem with the device. If this were fixed I would probably buy one even with the other issues below. Now I may be biased as I do Flash/Flex development work however it is not for my own work that I lament, but for the numerous services that would be simply inaccessible with this device. As with non-inclusion of Flash on the iPhone in the first place this is just a bone-headed move on the part of Apple. I appreciate that they want to support and encourage HTML5 and I think that is fantastic! However, it denies the reality-on-the-ground that as of right now and the foreseeable future, Flash is an integral part of the web experience. (I am NOT saying that is good or bad, just a fact.) This problem is likely to be the biggest day to day disappointment for those using the iPad.
Business Reason: Apple wants to be at war with everyone! It is no longer enough to take on Microsoft. Apple wants to rumble with everyone Google, Nintendo, Amazon, Sony and now one of its oldest allies Adobe. I get it, Steve wants to rule the world. Closed systems mean you have to buy from Apple. Closed systems mean developers have to develop versions specifically for Apple products. If you want to develop for Apple products you have to develop ON Apple products, which means you must BUY the Apple products. It also means you have less time to develop for other environments and products. The more exclusive applications available on Apple products the more users will have to buy Apple products to use those applications. Apple is betting that at some moment a “killer app” will come along that makes owning an iXxx absolutely necessary. Failing that it is betting that ubiquity will be the killer app.
- Still no Multitasking:
I understood this on the iPhone, the official justification for a single processor thread was basically ~ensure that the devices primary purpose ( being a phone ) is not compromised by applications that hog cpu usage and memory~ So for the iPhone this strategy made a little sense. However now I don’t see the argument for leaving this out of a device such as the iPad. There is no phone. That is not its purpose. so…..??? What is the problem?
Business Reason: Cost and speed… get it to market faster and capture market share. This required less change in the way applications and the OS worked so it *might* (doubtful) be corrected in a future patch or release. - Still no camera
I’ll be honest I really don’t care about this one personally. However when Nintendo can cram 2 decent cameras into the DSi. WTF? How much is a CCD camera to include $1 – $2 ? Really on a $500 device? Ok ok, I get that keeping features to a minimum is a design philosophy at Apple but in this day and age when it is difficult to even find a cell phone without a camera it just doesn’t make much sense. Couple that with the fact that support for a camera is already built into the iPhone OS again WTF? So I’ll end on you can add a camera to the little iPod but you can’t put one on the iPod touch or the iPad ?? Wow Apple’s engineers must be really incompetent or unfocused.
Business Reason: Planned obsolescence, 2nd gen upgrade. We’ve seen this before from Apple (and other companies) It is very likely that the camera(s) will be the great addition to a version 2 of the iPad causing legions of those who have perfectly functioning iPads to upgrade to new units even when their old ones are perfectly serviceable. My prediction is that this upgrade will come to both the iPad and iPod touch at or about the same time, probably next year.
