My thoughts on the iPad

I know I’m more than a little behind on this topic, but I haven’t really blogged much lately anyway. I’m trying to break that streak so here we go.

Back on January 27, Apple debuted its newest product, the iPad. It’s a tablet with a 10″ screen and it runs on a modified, expanded version of the iPhone OS. It doesn’t have a physical keyboard, or any real connectivity that a full fledged computer would have. It syncs to your computer much like an iPod would, and runs all the apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

A lot of people were really taken aback by the iPad, describing it as a jumbo iPod Touch and decrying that it would be useless. Initially I was unimpressed as well. Though I have to say, none of us should have been surprised.

The iPhone was the device that was the true breakthrough for Apple, and a big part of that breakthrough was the App Store. Why would the iPad not capitalize on the App Store?

Most people out there are at least somewhat familiar with the iPhone or iPod Touch. They have one or know someone who has one or at least knows the basics of how they work. The iPad runs the iPhone OS because it makes it extremely easy for these people to adopt it. The iPhone is the device that started to break the barrier down between PC’s and phones and put a smartphone in the average user’s hands. And the iPad is an extension of that.

Now, I am an unabashed Apple fan. The iPad makes me drool because it’s an Apple product, and it’s an extension of the iPhone. I’m torn over it though. On one hand I think it’s something I could use, something I could do the majority of my browsing and computering on without having to have my Macbook out all the time.

On the other hand, it doesn’t have any real file system. It doesn’t have USB capability. I was expecting something a little closer to the feature set that a tablet PC would offer, but not full-fledged OSX. So I’d say the iPad as it sits fills about 70% of what I’d want in an Apple tablet.

So will I get one? Probably. When I think about the few shortcomings the iPad has, I think about the shortcomings the iPhone had when it first came out. We didn’t have the App Store then, or MMS, or even a sideways keyboard for texting. The hardware on the iPad is certainly capable of doing more in the future, so a lot of new features may come in the way of software upgrades.

Multitasking is probably the main feature I hope we see in future updates to the iPhone OS. That was one of the biggest complaints people had about the iPad and it is still a legitimate complaint about the iPhone, although most of the time I don’t find it as much more than a minor annoyance.

I can’t wait to see an iPad up close and personal. I think I won’t be buying one sight unseen, but the proof may be in the hands-on.