iPa… Apple Tablet

I’ve responded to the “What do you think about the iPad?” question so many times I figured it would be worthwhile to collect all my thoughts and rants here.

Pros:

• the new form-factor (9.7” screen) is awesome
• giving a net-book-sized device iPhone functionality (Accelerometer, Multi-Touch, etc.) is awesome
• 10 hour battery is awesome
• it’s an Apple, so you can probably assume the touch pad will be as good or better than the iPhone’s keyboard, which is… you guessed it, awesome
• more iPad features here

Cons:

• the name, “iPad” – fail
• lack of ability to run third party apps in the background
• the fact that I don’t have one yet

Not only will the iPa… Apple tablet work, but it “has” to work. Apple has set the bar too high with the iPhone to come out with a “so-so” tablet product that does not “need” to exist… yet.

5-10 years ago, we all had desktops. Today, laptops are everywhere and are extremely powerful; many of our developers use MacBook Pros. Thus, just as the laptop has replaced the desktop, the tablet will be our day-to-day, emailing / video-watching / e-reading go-to in 2-5 years.

No mouse? No desk space? No problem! The form-factor is great, and, it’s fairly low maintenance compared to a device like my 15” MacBook Pro. With the iPad, you could wake up in the morning to your favorite music, read your preferred news source, Facebook-away as you ride the bus (if you do) to your place of work, easily share work space (making our office space’s footprint smaller in terms of total square feet) thanks to the docking system, and so much more – all from one device.

In addition, some things seem like they will be easier on a tablet; I’m looking forward to utilizing the iPad’s Multi-Touch UI when building my slide decks in Keynote.

Just as it was with the iPhone, once users get through the “learning curve” of accomplishing certain tasks / functions via gestures (shake, rotate, etc.) instead of using conventional methods (e.g. mouse, scroll wheel, etc.), the old, “standard” devices will seem so much less enjoyable.

Great user experiences (UX) are driven by great user interfaces (UI). When great UI is backed by quality product, you have the recipe for success; Apple and its iPhone have been the benefactors of this principle and I foresee them doing it again with the iPad. It’s worth noting that great UI cannot sustain bad product, and only a few products have ever been truly great (or necessary) enough to make it past their near-unforgivable UI.

Last but not least, with regard to apps running in the background, I would LOVE if I could simultaneously run iChat as I check my emails. However, I often wonder if my use of a large monitor in addition to my MacBook Pro’s screen and Spaces – effectively giving me eight screens to work off of – really makes me more efficient, or simply more distracted.

Oh look, a bird!

– RP