My Cellphone My Terms

10 reasons to skip the iPad this year

On Wednesday, Jan 27 – Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s new device the iTampon, I mean the iPad (sorry bad joke and it has been overdone) with alot of hoopla and media attention that no one does better than Apple. When the iPhone came out it was truly revolutionary – it changed the cell phone game but this device, the iPad is not likely to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor.

Why not? Well for one the smartphone market was (and still is) taking off and Apple entered the game late after RIM had demonstrated that the cell phone market was going to Smartphones in a big way. But the iPad is not a smartphone it’s a tablet PC or Apple’s iTablet. And tablet PCs have been around for more than a decade already and it hasn’t caught on. So Apple is attempting to drive a new category. What that category is – is not clear. I’ve heard  – it’s not a smartphone and it’s not an eBook – so its a Smartbook.  I’ve heard that it is in the netbook category and I’ve also heard of course that it’s in the tablet category. Whichever category it’s in, this is more niche that mass.

In addition, I see the tablet or netbook space as more of a niche space. I can see practical applications for the iPad in education, for artists and a whole host of other niche uses but not with the same mass market appeal that the iphone has currently.

So here are the key reasons why I won’t be buying an Apple iPad:

1. For a device which costs between $500 – $830 US, why would I spend that on a device that has only 64GB at the most, I can get a notebook or even a netbook for alot cheaper and whole lot more space.
2. No keyboard. If you want to use a keyboard the iPad connects or docks with a keyboard connector – so why don’t I just get an notebook to begin with or a real tablet PC.
3. No multitasking – so I can only use one application at a time – not in this century that was the last century – in this one I want the ability to run more than one application at a time.
4. No flash player – how can I have a really cool multimedia device which is supposed to be ideal for surfing the web and it does not have a flash player – c’mon.
5. No SD slot – while I was upset that it only came with 64GB of storage, I expected that it would have an SD slot which I can use from my camera to easily view photos. I guess not.
6. No Phone – an enlarged iPhone with no phone features. It looks like the iphone behaves like the iPhone but does not include any phone features.
7. Lack of social features – we live in a social world but one thing that the iPad lacks is the ability to easily share email, video, photos or even books with other iPad users. I guess you can use the web to do that. But I expected some iPad connectivity among other iPad users.
8. Wifi but no standard 3G features? You have to pay an extra $200 to get 3G, this should be standard in a device like this.
9. It’s too big! The iPhone is compact and can easily carried in your pocket. The iPad however, not so easy, it’s supposed to be a bigger iPod touch but it’s just as large as a netbook and even some notebooks – so why don’t I just get a notebook.
10. And finally, if you haven’t guessed, I don’t like the name –iPad, c’mon man, I preferred the iSlate it sounded better.

I believe the real purpose of the iPad is for Apple to enhance its large multimedia offering to customers – sell more iTunes music, sell eBooks, sell movies etc. And if that is the case then kudos to them, but that is a not a good enough reason for me to get the iPad.