After a long day of work yesterday and then the State of the Union last night, I finally got to read all the coverage of the iPad and watch the keynote and iPad video before going to bed.
Here are my morning-after thoughts:
- Really impressed with the way their native iPhone apps have been rewritten for iPad. Calendar looks awesome. Mail functionality looks great. Contacts… meh.
- Likewise, smart move to make iPhone apps port to iPad.
- I see the potential for big changes to print media industries, which I suspected all along. Surprised more time was not dedicated to that. (i.e. Magazines or comic books)
- Did you notice that Apple “built” a mapping app? All but confirms what we’ve heard about Apple splitting as much from Google as they can. (Have to keep YouTube, though.)
- Jobs pitched it as fitting between the iPhone and the MacBook, and it shows in several of the apps, such as Safari, Calendar, Photos, Video and iTunes. All have more Mac-like functionality than iPhone versions.
- Notes is still ugly, despite the ability to have a list of all the notes beside it with the current note circled.
- iBook looks a bit like Classics. The book formats are ePub, which rocks! And the iBook Store is integrated, which is great.
- iWork for iPad. On one hand, I’m not sure that I’d do a lot of presentations or spreadsheets on the iPad. On the other hand, it’s great to be able to do so. Furthermore, it’s a hint toward the future of what apps can be ported to the iPad.
- App icon spacing on the Home Screen seems a bit wide. Too much dead space.
- 10 hours of battery life? Sold!
- Love the keyboard dock and the case. Love more that it has Bluetooth and can connect to wireless Apple keyboards.
- Pricing blew me away. Even the 3G service prices, with no contracts mind you, were impressive.
- That Apple is sticking with AT&T for the 3G service special pricing is a good indicator that their relationship will continue. That iPad is open could indicate either a) next version of iPhone is open, or b) a second version of iPhone for Verizon. (I’m betting the former rather than the latter, if either.)
Like with any new Apple product, I’ve enjoyed reading the speculation and seeing the hype. I’m an Apple fanboy, no mistake. That said, I’ve not been overly excited about the iPad. I haven’t seen exactly where it fits in for consumers. My best assumption — and, as a former journalist, my greatest hope — was that it would revolutionize printed media like the iPod did music.
While it is way too early to pass judgement on such an idea (especially seeing as how the iPad is not even yet for sale), it does look astoundingly possible. The New York Times app displayed, which is essentially the Times Skimmer, seems to be the first step toward what actual newspaper and magazine apps will be. The major difference, of course, being the inclusion of ads.
If the print industry is smart, the ads will not be the gaudy, annoying ads of their websites but the more elegantly designed ads of their print product, full of color and eye-grabbing design, perhaps with a bit of animation.
In the end, what I see in the iPad is the first generation of the next generation of computing. I see elegant apps that are more powerful than their iPhone counterparts but not as “feature” rich as their Mac versions. These are streamlined apps, superb at one or two things and joyously absent of bloat. In other words, Mac-like.
As was observed many times yesterday, the iPad is Apple’s netbook. It’s what “stripped down, mobile computing” should be. And, in my opinion, it’s one incarnation away from what mobile computing — faster paced, more productive and more entertaining — will one day be.
