What I’m saying is that the iPad appeals to a very deep and longlived fantasy in the consumer electronics world: A device that does it all. At least, if all you want to do is consume media.
And there’s the problem.
Apple is marketing the iPad as a computer, when really it’s nothing more than a media-consumption device - a convergence television, if you will. Think of it this way: One of the fundamental attributes of computers is that they are interactive and reconfigurable. You can change the way a computer behaves at a very deep level. Interactivity on the iPad consists of touching icons on the screen to change which application you’re using. Hardly more interactive than changing channels on a TV. Sure, you can compose a short email or text message; you can use the Brushes app to draw a sketch. But those activities are not the same thing as programming the device to do something new. Unlike a computer, the iPad is simply not reconfigurable.
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I’m very divided on what to think about the iPad. I’ll admit to being more or less completely disappointed (by everything except the price point…) … I had really expected / hoped for something entirely different.
So I’ve been reading whatever iPad reactions I come upon, hoping to elucidate and figure out what I’m feeling. I think this article may be too harsh, but there are some interesting points… the point about it being a “consumer” device and not a producer’s one, mainly.
Plus, the article above has a shot from Videodrome, which instinctively made me want to vomit when I saw it. XP Curse you, Cronenberg… cuuuuurse youuuuuu…
