OK here is my iPad rant whine. When it comes to Apple and All Things Mac, I am a little like Agent Fox Mulder from the X-Files "“ I want to believe! But the Apple iPad product announcement left me seriously underwhelmed. I was watching Steve present his Magnum Opus and hearing the vacuous sucking sound "“ we waited so long and this is it?! The positive stuff was there too "“ its slick and cool looking -yay. It reminds me of other things I love like my iPhone 3GS "“ yay! It has serious potential "“ yay! That said I just felt like a kid who was looking forward to Christmas all year long only to get a really bitchin pair of socks, So without delay read on for my WTF moments from the iPad presentation.
- No Camera!!! Really Steve? REALLY?!?!
- No Multitasking "“ *checks the calendar* WTF?
- No Flash Support "“ I understand Apple's hard on for Adobe, but the iPad was supposed to offer almost sexual level of gratification for browsing the Web. Not!
- No 720p Resolution – *taps foot* seriously, what's with the 1024×768 rez?
I mean this wasn't exactly a total "mene, mene, tekel upharsin" moment but I found the whole thing lacking. Here's hoping for the version 2.0.
As an IT professional who is called upon by family members to solve home computer problems on an almost weekly basis, I have long argued that PCs (and I include Apple Macs in there) are hugely more complex than 905 of their owners need. I firmly believe that we need a home computer that works like a television, where no technical knowledge is needed to operate it,when you turn it on it just works and it doesn’t keep crashing. On a side note it is interesting to note that the reverse is in fact happening, televisions and the like are becoming more like badly behaved PCs, I regularly have to reboot my freeview box when it crashes. But that is another story. As I was saying we need a simple PC for the masses, one that surfs the web, sends emails, handles media, and does some of the othere things we use PCs for. When I got hold of an iPod touch, my immediate reaction was, this is it. This is all the computer most people need. It works. It is intuitive to operate and it doesn’t (seem to) crash. If only they made it a bit bigger, maybe had a optional keyboard and mouse. I should really mention these thoughts to Apple, I am sure it would take off. I am going to spend my remaining days telling anyone who wants to buy a PC and doesn’t work in IT to get an iPad instead. Maybe Steve Jobs will give me one in lieu of commission.