Posted on 04/07/2010 3:12:46 AM PDT by Swordmaker
I don’t get it. It costs $500 for the basic model, when you could get a laptop with a lot more functionality for about the same price. The iPad hype machine has been in full effect this week, and I still think it’s just that—hype.
As I wrote previously, nobody has ever made a commercially successful tablet computer. The iPod was not the first portable MP3 player, but it was the first that got widespread appeal for its simplicity and superior storage capacity for the cost. The iPhone was not the first smartphone, and it still faces fierce competition from rivals at Research In Motion (RIMM) (the maker of the BlackBerry), Nokia (NOK), and HTC.
While mainstream media has been ecstatic about the iPad (it made the cover of both TIME and Newsweek), it’s been blasted by tech critics. Gizmodo, one of the most popular tech websites, wrote their analysis with a succinct headline: “8 Things That Suck About the iPad.”
What is this thing?
So, why then is there so much hype? It’s not just a rhetorical question. For one, even if you are not a Mac user, everyone loves Steve Jobs. He has been a visionary in the computing industry and made computers accessible to the masses with the old Apple II. Steve Jobs also turned Apple around completely from the 1990s, a time when an old computer science professor of mine said that “Apple tried really hard to go out of business.”
That said, Steve Jobs has been wrong before. One of his earlier projects before he was ousted as the Apple CEO (and obviously before he was re-hired later) was the Apple Lisa. It was a computer built in 1983 with a graphical user interface and features now associated with a modern computer—significantly ahead of its time in 1983. Unfortunately, it was horribly expensive and ended up as a commercial flop.
The iPad could be even worse. At least the Lisa was ahead of its time. The iPad isn’t ahead of anything, but it’s certainly expensive. Tablet computers didn’t flop when HP (HPQ) was making them because HP lacked vision or creativity; they flopped because tablets were a bad idea. They’re not as useful as a laptop, and they’re not mobile enough or cheap enough to replace a smartphone—and of course, they can’t make phone calls.
In short, tablets try to fill a niche that doesn’t exist.
What I find most amusing about this is the talk that the iPad will “save the media industry.” No, it won’t. It is just another means to distribute media. If customers are not interested in watching something on a computer, they also won’t be interested in watching it on a tablet. As far as the iPad being a “Kindle Killer”, that may be so, but both Kindle and the iPad are competing against another format for books, called paper. I don’t buy the iPad hype. Analyst expectations for iPad revenue are way overblown. If I turn out to be wrong, I’ll gladly eat my words, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not wrong.
Update: Here's David Letterman's take on the iPad. Watch the whole thing; he nailed it:
Alex Cook is a graduate of the UNC and studied economics. In college, he founded Tar Heel Business, a print and internet publication focused on business and economics. Alex now writes for frontieroutlook.com. Check out that site for macroeconomic trends and investment ideas.
I just want all my toys to go "bing". Don't much care who makes 'em...
I got the same email...it’s legit.
They want the login process to be easier, so you don’t have three or four different logins for all their domains, but just one: your email.
Ed
That has to be the most inane post I've gotten in about three years.
“I actually heard that statement in a computer store a few years back, after a little demo on the Mac. I can do that on my PC The next sentence was very telling though. ‘Of course it would take me a couple hours.....’”
Yes. And the demo was probably software related. Apple made some very simply apps in the iLife series. I could demo iMovie and impress anyone when it first came out. But I still hear that Macs are for graphics pros. No, Adobe is for graphics pros. I’ve used the suite on Macs and PC’s and actually prefer the way they worked on the PC’s.
They did a commercial of some little girl making a video or something on the family PC. If they have caught up to Mac in movie editing then good on them! (I still can’t figure out anything beyond iMovie HD so Apple lost me on that one.)
“The interface though, this is where apple generally shines, and there is no doubting that the user experience create by apple with the iPhone/iPod touch has completely changed how humans interact and expect to interact with electronics.”
Yes. Very true. Apple, for my money, is the worlds best operating system producer. Is it because they can control the hardware it runs on? Possibly. I’ve never been into the “cool” factor. I have to get to work and I don’t want my computer fighting me. That’s why I run Macs and have for years. But they do some things, even in the OS, that drive me crazy. Less crazy than PC’s I’m sure. :-)
I work in print, and the Mac is much better for pre-press than the PC.
It handles fonts better, workflow better and CMYK color space better.
Ed
“I’ll boil it down to — a simple ‘Yeah, I’m getting it because it’s going to do things that I want to do.’”
Sorry I brought on such a conundrum. :-D I wanted, as did many Mac users, a full Mac OS tablet with iPhone apps. I’m not sure I’ll ever need an iPad and think the Kindle, though overpriced right now, is a better choice for book reading.
I have neither but I’m still keeping an open mind. When you get your iPad, take it to Starbucks and get a Latte on me. Then let me know if you can read the screen sitting by the window. And also how heavy it is to sit and read a long book. :-)
I’ve been in pre-press and graphic design for years also and had no problems using Adobe products for CMYK as well as spot color output on a PC (Win XP, Adobe CS Suite). I was expecting a horrible experience as I got into Macs when they WERE the only way to do high-end graphic work. I was surprised and relieved. I also controlled the systems in the shop so I didn’t allow a lot of third-party stuff. That may have helped.
I’ve had more font issues on the Mac than I did on the PC as most of the clients of the company I worked for were on a PC. When I needed to take files home...well, you know the rest.
After 26 years in the business, I would think people would have a little more reserve in pronouncing a product a failure because it doesn't have a USB port. No one I have talked to who has purchased an iPad is complaining about the lack of a USB port. What I hear is "I love this thing." And I am surprised at the number of software programmers I have seen with an iPad already. Several of those I talked to already have a Kindle and they consider the iPad an upgrade.
They are innovative and place an emphasis on design and user interface.
That's why Apple has a loyal user base. But users have to pay for that design. Apples products are expensive, but then so is a BMW. If someone doens't want to pay the price, then there is always a Ford or a Chevy.
Same thing. Just watch. Not wishing ill on them or anyone else; they have track record.
In the past 26 years, how many computer and software companies have gone out of business? I am always glad when I see a company prosper. Apple is prospering.
Let’s see how happy these folks are in six months when iPad II hits the stores for a couple hundred less and with far more capability. If that doesn’t happen, I will eat my hat.
Of course that's going to happen. I asked a programmer about that. He's says at that point he will buy the latest model and give the present one to his mother. That's what I would call a thoughtful son.
Wow, and it was exactly your logic. I can't imagine how you don't recognize your position in the parody.
I got it. It's just that your comparison is off the charts absurd.
My MP3 player does everything the Ipod does it just didn't cost me $150. Your cute little parody makes no sense.
I expect that retort from Liberals, not freepers, it makes perfect sense.
Interesting! Our experience was the opposite. What apps do you use? We use InDesign, PShop and Illustrator and work with CMYK, dutones and tritones.
I’m getting frustrated with the loooong delay for Apple Pro computers but still don’t think we’d ever go PC, unless Apple pulls out of the pro market entirely, as seems possible.
Ed
Oooh! Name calling.
No, it doesn't make sense. Unless your point is to be as obtuse as Obama.
BTW, analysts are projection up to 50 million tablets in use by the end of 2014.
The are made by Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Nokia and lots of others. Do they all fail? Or only Apple?
Yep, that was really, really dumb of them. Absolutely ruined the iPhone. That's the reason iPhone was a colossal flop.
I use the same 3. What point in the process was there a problem?
I’m a Mac guy from way back, with experience in both the marketing and production environments for printed materials. I recently had to produce a complex catalog with an eight color cover, including spot metallic with CMYK overprints, a tinted dull varnish and spot aquaeous. Then, I did matching hangtags for product. Both were dry trapped, run in one pass on a sheetfed press.
I did it on a PC running XP pro. Didn’t especially like it, and some things were very awkward compared to a Mac. I had to force things in channels that should not have been possible if it were not for my knowledge of “old” film based color separations.
It would have worked much better on my Macs, at home. But, practical reality is that the economy sucks, I closed my company down due to the economy, and went to work for a former customer that only runs PC.
You deal with the hand you’re dealt. The company is happy with the end result, sales are up over last year and even 07 which is really doing something in this economy, and the printer is hoping for a PICA award for their printing on the project.
So, all in all, not a bad thing. It could have been easier, but it got done.
Now, the photography was another matter, lol. Don’t get me started on trying to get commercial photography quality out of a Nikon Coolpix. Drove me batty. I’m accustomed to a Leaf brick on a Hasselblad, if that gives you any indication. Made that work too.
Printing has gotten very cheap, by the way. How they’re making a go of it at that price is beyond me. I was astounded.
Gates "thieveries" as far as I know, were entirely related to inter-business competition. AFAIK, he has never fathered an illegitimate child, screwed over his business partners, etc. All of which Jobs has done. Jobs is an amoral and immoral turd. Gates is a stiff business competitor. There IS a difference.
I could not disagree with you more vehemently.
I don't see that statement as being any more valid than the proposition that guns kill people. Our economic problems stem from increasing government instrusion, regulation and taxation, not managers who push their people too hard and accumulate huge sums of money.
Last I heard, Apple Computer had $40 billion in cash reserves. Yes, that is huge. But if you consider what a tough economy, changes in techonology, unexpected market forces and skyrocketing energy costs can do to a company, it is a smart move to have that cash, especially given what we see happening in the next three years to the economy. It is going to get worse, much worse.
Apple Computer (and Steve Jobs by extension) show what can be great about this country by designing and marketing products that create jobs and opportunities across the spectrum, from employees at the Apple Store to entrepreneurs who write little applications for the iPhone and sell them for a buck apiece.
While I would like to see their products manufactured in the USA, our government, through a variety of mechanisms, does not make it a viable proposition to do that. And that must change.
You may not like Apple products or Steve Jobs himself, and you aren't alone. That's your business. But many people don't feel the way you do, and that is their business.
Steve Jobs may indeed be an asshole, as you say. I don't know, never met him. It would be great if our Captains of Industry were virtuous, but I would rather have an asshole who provides jobs and products that people are willing to buy, than someone who is a saint but runs the business into the ground or produces products that don't sell.
I want capitalists running business who can produce products, provide jobs, and contribute to our national wealth.
When I went to get my knee operated on, I knew the physician who did it, and he was a jerk who treated the techs like crap, and was occasionally rude to his patients.
But he also had the best outcomes. I didn't care if he declined to hold my hand after the operation. But I am walking around on the same knee today with no problems.
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