Is the iPad the saviour of computing? Not a hope in hell!

Cloud computing and social media is not just about the software and services that are available they are about how you access those services and software. You may have noticed that some company run by a chap called Jobs has brought out a new touch screen computer called the iPad which according to the adoring hordes of Apple fan teams is the future not only of computing but of human life, too. Well, almost.

One of the more interesting developments this week has been the news that Microsoft and HP are withdrawing their forthcoming tablet offerings. Maybe this makes sense for HP which has just bought out Palm so a re-jig of their tablet device with the Palm WebOS operating system may be in the offing, but the retraction of the MS Courier device is more puzzling. Maybe the teething problems with the iPad has brought about a change of heart and certainly the iPad doesn’t appear to have been the great computing saviour some people have been shouting about.

Steve Jobs at the launch of the iPad boasted “What this device does is extraordinary. It is the best browsing experience you ever had.”

Well, until you hit a brick wall in accessing a site with Flash. I’ll let Adobe and Apple scrap over the pros and cons of Flash, but as it stands there are a hell of a lot of sites that use Flash which iPad users cannot utilise fully. Jobs may be right in that HTML5 will render Flash old hat but until that day arrives there’s going to be a fair few Apple users hacked off with their new gadgets which are effectively glorified e-Readers.

PC Pro lists the top tasks that people use a computer for and these are:

Email
Word processing
Browsing
Photo editing
Accounts
Music – listening
Games
Social networking
Database work
Desktop publishing
Internet telephony
Video editing
Web design
Programming
Music editing

Now take a look at each of those in depth and how many would you want to undertake on a tablet with no proper keyboard. Even Jobs at the launch had to demonstrate email with the iPad sitting on his knees. Word processing forget it. I can see gaming and social media and, to some extent, browsing as being great for slates, but it is going to take some persuading to get me using one of these gadgets for any of the other tasks.

Do you have an iPad and what’s your take on this?

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http://lifestyledesignforyou.com Gordie

Hi Kevin,
I won't get an iPad until it has a keyboard, deals with the flash issues and can heat up my meat pie.
http://web2andmore.net Kevin Tea

Hi Gordie, how are things in China. I guess you'd use the iPad to rest your wok on after cooking
http://www.integralwebsolutions.co.za/Blog.aspx Robert Bravery

Great Post. Have to agree. I think the iPad was promoted very well. One thing Apple does well is get the audience into a frenzy about their products.
But as I stand now. You guys know, there is no way that the iPad can do anything for me.
If it was like R5000 cheaper I might buy it as a cool gadget, but I could not do anything on it that I can on my PC.
http://web2andmore.net Kevin Tea

I have to admit Apple has some brilliant marketing types and I really like my Nano 16gb but the rest of the range leaves me cold.
http://www.mikeslife.org Mike CJ

The iPad is for people who want to tweet while watching TV and whose fingers are too big for their iPhones.
http://web2andmore.net Kevin Tea

So I was wrong and it is an essential part for the survival of our civilisation
http://jimijones.com/ Jimi Jones

That flash issue is a problem they'd better solve quickly.No iPad for me, for a variety of reasons. I would get a Macbook Pro first. I have yet to fall in love with touch screens, give me my keys.
http://ericasays.com EricaMueller

I just don't see the point. I'd rather have a netbook I can actually type on, view flash sites, and have full functionality on.
http://web2andmore.net Kevin Tea

Yup, I'm rather hoping the price of a Samsung netbook I have my eye on will drop …
http://web2andmore.net Kevin Tea

I like the touch screen on my phone but it's costing me a fortune inn Windowlene
http://www.yourblogtools.com/ John Lufadeju

I agree with you here, i need something to press.
Macbook Pro is on my wishlist too.
willt

I actually own an iPad, and here's what I've discovered.

Consuming all types of media — books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, social media sites, youtube video, movies, television — is a far, far better experience than it is on a conventional computer. Why? Because your relationship with the device is fundamentally different. It becomes an extension of your thinking process. You stay focused. Your retention improves.

As for content creation… I now do most of my email on the iPad as well as write my blog articles and stay on top of my twitter feeds. When I interview clients, I use the iPad to record what they're saying and take notes that are automatically sync'd to the recording (using an app called SoundPaper). I've created slide shows for the classes I teach as well as spreadsheets for keeping track of our kitchen remodeling project. And the drawings from the kitchen designer can be accessed from anywhere using an app called DropBox.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this: The iPad is a paradigm shift, a game changer. It is dramatically improving how I play, how I work, and how I communicate with my associates, family, and friends.
http://web2andmore.net Kevin Tea

Hi, thanks for taking the time to drop by and write down your experiences with the iPad, fascinating insight into real life use. Were you a Mac or iPhone person before the iPad or is this your first venture into Apple territory?
willt

My wife and I both have iPhones, but we didn't get them until six months after the 3GS arrived. But knowing what we know now, we will certainly be early purchasers of iPhone 4.

Some backstory:
I started developing software for small computers in 1979. First kits, then the original Apple, followed by a variety of Macs and PCs. For about 10 years (maybe 1994 to 2004) I was developing on PCs only. By late 2004, however, the allure of Mac OS X was simply too strong to ignore, so I returned to the Apple camp but continued to maintain — and still do — a PC running the latest version of XP (but it's not used much anymore).

As a developer and technology consultant, I've been both witness and participant to quite a few paradigm shifts: the spreadsheet; the graphical user interface; both the emergence and swan song of the floppy disk; ARPANET to INTERNET; the digitalization of the music industry; the digitalization of photography; and the expectation of constant connectivity. These shifts caused significant disruption — the kind that forces all market players to rethink and to create new applications and services.

I believe that the iPad is the next such disruption. It has already caused more rethinking and more creation in two months than anything else I can think of. It is, in my view, the technological extension of the “high tech, high touch” that John Naisbitt wrote about in his 1982 bestseller Megatrends: It is high tech that fosters personal interaction because it is a device made for sharing and showing… like a magazine, a newspaper, or a photograph. True competitors will emerge, of course, and so will the wannabes. But in the end, the consumer benefits.

As I look back on the number of incredible transformations that have crossed my life's path, I'm truly amazed. For a guy who began when green screens and a blinking cursor were state of the art, it's been an unbelievable ride.
http://web2andmore.net Kevin Tea

Thanks again for taking the time to comment here. Green screens and Wordstar – it really is amazing how far we have come. I beta test software for a Symbian developer and have caused a ruckus by saying on the private forum that I think Symbian is now dead and it will be between Apple, Android and Blackberry. Portability is going to be the major push over the next few years but I think voice recognition will have to develop before I can write my memoirs on my Nokia!

Is The iPad The Saviour Of Computing? Not A Hope In Hell

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