State of the iPad

Jared Sinclair wrote Giving Up On The iPad which isn't an accurate title for the essay.

"A typical customer’s iPhone is put to work in all its capacity, while her iPad is relegated to only one or two niche uses. An iPhone is a phone, a flashlight, a GPS navigator, a camera, etc. An iPad can be most of those things, but in practice it gets stuck being just one or two of them."

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad he said that this new category must be far better at some tasks than a phone or a computer to have a reason to exist. Sinclair makes the point that a mac (or PC) is best for work and power computing while an iPhone is best for taking pictures, social media, and GPS and that it's not clear what an iPad is best at. He says customers use it for reading, videos, gaming, education, and some niche professional tools. I'm not sure why those uses aren't enough. Jobs said it's best for surfing but he also said "it's a dream to type on".

With the latest quarterly report showing little if any iPad growth, Jean-Louis Gassée wrote The iPad Is a Tease. "I see the lull in iPad sales as a coming down to reality after unrealistic expectations, a realization that iPads aren’t as ready to replace PCs as many initially hoped."

Ben Thompson says Don't Give Up on the iPad. "But I’m much less sure about other “features” that geeks are clamoring for, like multiple windows and access to the file system. It’s the absence of these features that makes the iPad so accessible to so many who have never felt comfortable with traditional computers; there is always a cost to complexity. Moreover, for those geeks clamoring for Mac features, why not just use a Mac? It was built explicitly with multi-windows, access to the file system, and a WIMP interface in mind, and the Mac hardware line right now is absolutely fantastic (and will be even better if WWDC features a Retina MacBook Air). Let the iPad be the computer for those for whom computers are too much, even if this population by definition isn’t likely to upgrade frequently."

My iPad has never replaced my computer but it let me change from a laptop to a desktop. The iPad meets my portable needs (which aren't that extensive). It also meets my couch and airplane needs. I would much rather read on my iPad than on my mac or my iPhone. If you don't already use a computer, it's clearly a reasonable gateway device.

The reason geeks want the file system exposed is because they want it to be easier for apps to share data. That's one way the problem is addressed on computers, but it also makes them more complicated and less secure. The limitations in how apps can communicate with each other is one of the major reasons why there isn't malware on iOS. Maybe Apple can solve the sharing problem in some more secure way, we'll have to wait and see.

The productivity issue really comes down to ease of input. The iPad is already the portable TV screen from 2001: A Space Odyssey, if it could replace a legal pad it would be a big win. We're used to typing on computers and typing on an iPad isn't great. I think it's better than on an iPhone but many people are far more comfortable with thumb typing than I am. I'd really like to see a good stylus input system, the best I've seen so far is Notes Plus. I don't use it much but it's easy to see how it could evolve into something seamless (possibly requiring better hardware).

Certainly Apple is trying to do a lot with Siri. Voice input is interesting but works best when you're alone. Siri has only been on the iPad for 2 years and I still have an iPad 2 so can't use it. I'm using it more and more on the iPhone but I don't yet see doing lots of dictation to an iPad app.

It's still a great device for consumption (books, surfing, video, games, casual communications, etc.) and I think that's fine for now.