I am sure you have heard about the launch of Apple's newest product, the iPad. If not, then I guess you should read on and learn what the heck it is. There are a few things I want to cover in this post, it is two posts combined into one isn't it? My guess is that some of you don't understand why, all of a sudden, the iPad is everywhere. The truth is, this product has probably been the most anticipated product of the 21st century. For the past decade, there have been rumors floating around describing a tablet type device was in the works over at Apple. People had no idea what to expect to see last Wednesday. The biggest part of the anticipation. Apple has in the past redefined both the MP3 player industry and the cell phone industry; so who knows, maybe Apple would release a product that would re-invent tablet computers. We don't know if that will indeed happen quite yet, but we do know that it has the potential to change the eBook reader market. It is much more powerful than the current eBook readers, like the Kindle.
With a 10", 720p HD, full color display working in concert with a powerful custom processor from Apple the iPad blows all of the other eBook readers of the shelf. The interface feels like a book, flipping pages with a swipe of your finger. If one was to categorize the device it would fall in the category of tablet PCs. The iPad has a multi-touch screen and an interface that is so simple and easy to learn, even a child can figure it out within minutes. Running a modified version of the iPhone's operating system, makes it so that anyone that knows how to work an iPhone also knows how to work the iPad. It's only a half an inch thick and weighs only 1.5 pounds. It's environmentally friendly and very power efficient. With a 10 hour battery life and over a month of standby time; so, you don't have to worry about re-charging it to often either. With multi-touch, its on-screen keyboard is just as good as your laptop's and almost the same size, too.
What really makes this product so innovative is the new applicants of multi-touch to the eBook reader and the iWork suit. The eBook app opens up to a bookshelf with all of your eBooks on the shelves. Tap one and it fills the screen and turns the cover. The text looks excellent on the HD display. You can pick a font you want the book to be in from a drop-down menu which you can access by tapping the screen with two fingers. swiping the screen like you were flipping the page does just that: turn the page, and done so very realistically. The iWork suit looks great and you can watch the iPad keynote which includes a demo of the apps on Apple's website. Because the product won't be available for another month, I can't tell you much about the user interface of the iPad yet. When it is available, I plan on going and playing around on it so I can come back here and tell you about it.
Now, one of the biggest problem with the Apple iPad is the shoes that it has to fill. People for the past decade (literally) have been guessing at what the tablet would do; and frankly, most of these peoples' hopes/wished have been let down. Many people were hoping for the tablet to run a modified version of Mac OS X, this would give the tablet a lot of powerful features. The iPad, instead, runs a modified version of the iPhone OS wish wasn't a huge surprise. It makes sense though, the iPhone OS is much simpler to use, and it's limited functions keep the tablet from becoming less reliable. Another rumor was that Apple's tablet would have a camera, allowing people to video chat. I can see why they wouldn't put one on because they want to add it later and sell more, but they also advertise the device as a mix between a macbook and an iPhone which both have cameras, so why not the tablet? Apple is a very intuitive company that has a past of taking a market in a different direction; for example, the iPod changed MP3 players forever the same way the iPhone changed cell phones forever. So, it would make sense that the iPad would include a feature that nobody expected, but it let people down. Lastly, Apple was rumored to be working with Verizon meaning if the tablet was to have 3G, which it does, buyers would have the option to choose either Verizon or AT&T. It made sense that they would, Verizon has a huge customer base that would pay good money to own an iPhone or iPad that used the Verizon network (it does have 5X more 3G coverage than AT&T doesn't it?). I personally feel a little let down and so does Hitler, I think that he does a good job with expressing my feelings: (IMPORTANT!!! There's explicit language! but it's worth it)
Maybe the iPad will become a device for the generation before me. The iPad is very simple to use just like the iPhone, plus it also has a bigger screen so it is easier to read text. It does the basic tasks most people want from a computer: email, internet, photos, videos, and music. The iPad has the potential to be a cloud computing device as well. Cloud computing, for those of you who don't know, is when the files on your computer are saved in a remote location accessible to you through the internet. This is quite likely for three reasons; first, Apple just bought Lala an online music library that uses software to know which songs you own and allow you to play them anywhere you have internet access on most computer; second, "Apple is building a massive data center in North Carolina, at a cost of $1 billion" (Boston Sunday Globe); and third, because it would be just plain cool. So who really knows what's next? With a company that keeps secrets as well as Apple does, it will be a surprise.
