So the much anticipated iPad got its unveiling yesterday and ... well, the jury's still out.
My first thought, it looks and acts like a gigantic iPhone. Which I'm not against. But there's no phone.
It works like a NetBook, but the user is stuck using Apple-approved applications. Unless, of course, you do everything on Google Docs.
And I realize a keyboard would be clunky, but I'm wondering how well the on-screen keyboard is going to work for anything other than typing emails.
LA Times writer Michael Hiltzik speculates that, "It's hard to see the iPad as anything other than a mortal threat to Amazon.com's market-leading Kindle reader." (His article is an excellent read, if you have a moment.)
PC World also reports, "There's no multitasking in the OS at all, and not even multiple active web pages in Safari. You can't listen to Pandora while you surf the Web, or switch back and forth between Facebook at Twitter, or write a document in Pages while talking on a VOIP call."
Which is fairly disappointing.
So now that I'm done knocking it, I'll let you know there's a lot that impressed me in the video on the Apple site. For one, the enthusiasm from the people on screen who developed it. You can say they drank the Kool-Aid, or think they really are that excited about their product. (BTW, it's weird to listen to the really poppy instrumental version of The Cure's In Between Days on the video. Just kind of wrong.) The calendar application, the clear definition of The New York Times site, the email app. anhttp://blogs.aquent.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=2273&blog_id=11d watching the Apple staff demo it, turn it upside down to show a picture to a friend, it makes the damn thing look pretty damn wantable.
It makes me hopeful, you know?
Not that I'm going to be in line at the Apple store to buy one the instant they come to market.
But hey, it's Apple. I'm sure there will be no shortage of people dying to be first in line to get whatever they're selling.
Now that, my friend, is brand loyalty.
(Photo by mattbuchanan)
Post Script: Yeah, apparently Shelly Palmer over at MediaBytes isn't that impressed either. (Video rated PG for menstrual humor)
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