It has to be said that, in my search for Gadget Nirvana, I’ve frequently flip-flopped over which vendor or sector was more likely to provide the ultimate, all in one solution to … well … everything!
Circa 5 years ago my money was on open source (hardware, software, flapjacks, whatever!) to combine my massive list of entertainment, communication and connectivity requirements into one, affordable, hackable, workable device.
With the purchase of my first MacBook Pro I shifted over to Apple as the possible saviour of we the fickle, techno devout members of the Nintendo generation.
With the release of Android, Google OS, the Nexus One and their awesome web-based tool kit, my allegiances shifted to Mountain View for a while – they promised the answer to all my needs (well, almost all) in a shiny fun a clearly “Not Evil” package.
And now?
I’m afraid I’m back in no man’s land with no concrete leaning in any particular direction. The cause of this disorientation is the announcement, by Apple, that they will be launching a device that had the potential to fulfil my wildest gadgetry dreams … but doesn’t.
I was accompanied by many, on the front lines of the tech obsessed, when the universal chorus of “Meh” resounded in response to the unveiling of the iPad. “No camera?” I scoffed, “No Flash?” I scorned, “Mo Multitasking?” I gaped, open-mouthed in wonder at how Apple could have gotten something so close to being absolutely right so very, very wrong.
In the weeks that passed I dwelt heavily on what I viewed as a personal betrayal by Apple. This was meant to be the company that made geek dreams come true – what the hell was this half assed POS meant to do for me.
Last week I suffered* an epiphany and I realised just why I had been so disappointed with the iPad and why it didn’t matter one jot.
The Apple I know and love dates from the launch of OSX and the iPod and they have always been, in my mind at least, a company who take an existing concept and perfect it. Throughout the 2nd Jobsian era, Apple have taken concepts such as the humble MP3 player and have honed them, marrying hardware with interface and adding software to create a cyber threesome of pure perfection.
The iPod, with its scroll wheel, iTunes providing heavyweight, cross-platform (mostly) software support and a range of models to address the growing portable music culture went from non-existent to defacto nomenclature for MP3 player in the space of 5 years. So successful was this foray into the field of personal music playback that it coined it’s own spaces in dictionaries (podcasting anyone?) and even managed to partner with that ultimate brand machine Nike to address niches within a market grown so massive that few remember a time when MP3s where niche themselves.
Then there’s the approach to computing, building hard-working, powerful laptops and desktops based on an incredibly ugly but secure and stable base topped with layer after layer of GUI goodness the likes of which were the envy of other OS developers until very recently. The Powerbook et al cherry picked hardware for compatibility, stability and power and Apple demonstrated that they weren’t above completely re-factoring the hardware if something more suitable came along.
The iPhone – only 3 years old and already approaching market dominance completely changed the game for handset providers. All of a sudden the market place was flooded with touch screen, internet enabled devices that also happened to make phone calls whilst every one and their dog suddenly launch App Stores out of nowhere.
And that’s what Apple did, take an established concept and release their own variation which would, inevitably approach panacea like status in the eyes of the world. Apple spent a great many years being the height of cool – paradigm changers, technical trend setters par excellance. Almost everything they touched turned to solid silica gold.
With the iPad, this commitment to perfection seems to have been dropped. Sure, hints of the old Apple magic are clearly visible: it looks shiny; the user interface is pretty slick and the touch screen technology will be as good as, if not better than, the iPhone. But it’s not a game changer.
The iPad is a deviation from Apples normal M.O. in that, rather than producing a product that will sit towards the pinnacle (if not at the top) of a conceptual product spire, they’ve produced something that exists in a space that had nothing in it prior to Apple’s creation. The iPad isn’t a technical enhancement of an existing technology, it’s a new concept in it’s own right, a void filler, a completely new rule book.
This may sound terribly impressive but it comes with certain drawbacks. Traditionally Apple have been very strong in their development and marketing of products that are simply “better” than the competition. In the iPad sphere there are no competitors against which to drive themselves. Yup, we have Netbooks but then we also have the MacBook and MacBook Air to work in that product space. We have the Kindle but even Amazon are struggling to make that viable and the platform is achieving fringe acceptance at best. We have tablet PCs but they tend to be under powered, over priced things running some obscure version of Windows which have achieved market presence almost exclusively in the medical field … and that’s it.
Why is this a draw back? Well it may turn out that I’m completely wrong but there are two big indicators of risk here for Apple.
Firstly without something to be “better” than, a product to beat, Apple have already started losing their way in terms of features and technology that should be included. Rather than having to include a camera on the iPhone because the competition has cameras the iPad can live without one. No memory card slot? No problem … nothing else in this field has a memory card slot … because there is nothing else in this field!
Secondly, and this will be my final thought on the subject until I can actually get my hands on an iPad and have a play, consider the last time Apple launched a product into a market place with no direct competition; the last time Cupertino led the way in a new product concept; consider one word and decide for yourself if the iPad is a game changer or doomed to fail …
Newton
EOL
*Yes, suffered is the right word as I then knew I’d have to try and blog about it
