Derrick Shields Blog

iPad + Dock + Epicurious = The perfect kitchen companion

In order to understand what makes it so special, it makes sense to describe what the iPad is not…

Let me start by saying that most people complaining about the iPad just “get” it.  It’s not supposed to do exactly what your laptop does - that’s the point.

Saying that an iPad is worthless because it can’t do XYZ that a laptop can do is like saying a motorcycle is pointless because it doesn’t have 4 wheels.  

Sometimes you just want to hop on a bike and appreciate the ride.  It might not haul the family to the grocery store, but it’s not supposed to.  

People need stop comparing the iPad to laptops and netbooks.  If Apple wanted to create a netbook 10” macbook, they would have (and still might).  

If Apple wanted to take the OS X experience and put it on a touch screen tablet, they could have also done that, and my guess is that they probably will eventually.

Apple saw the opportunity to create something different ― something better, in so many ways.

Let’s examine a list of common iPad gripes…

• iPad doesn’t have a physical keyboard.  Good - It makes the device lighter and more usable for its intended purpose(s).  If you need a physical keyboard, connect one via bluetooth, or plug it into a keyboard dock.
• iPad doesn’t have a camera.  Because it would be so nice and convenient to walk around and take pictures with this thing, right? Joking aside, it’s all but been confirmed that future iterations of the iPad will have a front-facing camera, so just hold tight. 
• iPad doesn’t support Multi-tasking.  More accurately, OS 3.2 doesn’t support Multitasking… and 99% of the time, it doesn’t really need it as you only interact with one app at a time anyway.  Either way multi tasking is probably being announced in OS 4.0 in a couple of days.  
• iPad doesn’t fit in your pocket.  It’s not supposed to. Your smart phone, whcih you carry with you all the time, should fit in your pocket just fine.
• iPad doesn’t support flash. I was on the fence about this one, but after browsing the internet for a while there are a lot of websites that have built an amazing, flash-less experience.  

Of course, there’s also a lot of websites that are simply unable to render content on the iPad because it relies on flash.  Either way, if you want a flash-supported tablet, some kick ass Android-based tablets are right around the corner.  

Now let’s explore what makes the iPad so great…

Extremely Comfortable To Use

Apple hit the nail on the head with the size of the device.  The 9.7” screen is nearly perfect.  Anything larger would be cumbersome; anything smaller you might start wondering what advantages it had over an iPhone.  

A nicely designed tablet should be small and light enough to use primarily with one hand, with occasional gestures from the other hand, and iPad executes this as comfortably and naturally as you could imagine.

Web Browsing = Amazing, Flawless

In Apple’s promo, COO Tim Cook describes the web browsing experience as magical as you “hold the internet in your hands.” It’s hard to really fathom until you’ve tried it, but it’s truly amazing.  

The responsiveness of the touchscreen is so quick and intuitive, its almost as if its anticipating my gestures :) It’s a much more intimate engagement with content, and I find myself staying more focused for longer periods of time.

Amazing Third Party Apps

The iPad has only been available for a few days and there are already dozens of phenomenal apps available.  iPad Dock + Epicurious will be a new standard in my kitchen. Adobe Ideas is probably the best brainstorming / collaboration app I’ve ever used.  The best apps are yet to come.  

RANT: Not all iPad apps are great - in fact, newspaper apps are stupid

Engadget sums it up pretty well:

…while the apps we’ve seen so far are definitely intriguing, we haven’t seen any silver bullets yet — and to be perfectly honest, in several cases we wondered why an app was preferable to an iPad-optimized web site, or even (gasp) a paper subscription…

The iPad isn’t going to save traditional media if this is how its presented.  Seriously, these guys are really missing the point.  An iPad “app” to present newspaper content is a huge step backward.  For the most party they are clunky and unintuitive. They’d be much better off designing elegant sites that navigate and present well in Safari.  

I could be wrong, but my guess is that these apps will not go mainstream and some may view the iPad as a failure because of it.  I think it’s a failure of traditional media outlets to think outside of the box.  

Poorly thought-out newspaper and magazine apps aside, there is still a lot to love and admire about Apple’s latest invention.  I’m reserving my thoughts on the iBookStore until I get a better chance to use it.  I’ve spent some time playing with the Winnie The Poo book that comes with the iPad, and so far I’m underwhelmed, but I’m not a book-person either, so we’ll see.  

Either way, it’s a good time to be a consumer.  Some powerful Android tablets are coming out very soon, and Microsoft may even pull something out of its sleeve with Windows7 Mobile.  Competition is good for everyone - Yay for Capitalism.

In the meantime, I’m anxiously awaiting Apple’s iPhone OS 4.0 announcement Thursday…