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Mar.31,2010
I have a few predictions to make before the iPad actually arrives, and I think I’m pretty spot-on. Since it’s an Apple product, and everything they make sells like hotcakes, you can almost bet that the iPad will sell just as well as the iPhone. Don’t need “an extra device”? Yeah, you do. See, the thing about it is… at first, sure — it’ll be “just another gadget”. But once you start using it, it’s going to be the only device you feel like using.
Apple streamlines all of its user interfaces. I call it “dumbing down technology for the masses”. Any time I get into an argument, I pull that card against the Mac fanboy and it’s all over. You can’t deny that Apple dumbed down a potent operating system (FreeBSD & Linux) so the average Joe can use it without a terminal prompt or kernel recompilation. It’s brilliant. This is how Apple works. Get used to it.
To broadcast how much of an Apple fanboy I am not, here’s an interesting fact for you: I don’t own one Apple device. NOT ONE. I have a completely unbiased outlook on Apple’s products in the sense that I’ve used them before, they’re awesome, but they just don’t fit into my daily lifestyle. As a computer repair technician, I have to backup peoples’ stuff every day at work. OS X doesn’t like NTFS. They don’t play well together at all. And I can’t see any intelligence in gimping a $2,000+ Macbook Pro with Boot Camp, Parallels, or VMware Fusion just so I can spend $120 more on Windows 7. That’s retarded.
Back on track, you remember the iPhone hype and media coverage back in 2007, don’t you? 
Get ready to witness the same thing on a slightly smaller scale. Apple is spreading its iPad across the US at Apple Stores, Best Buy, and UPS deliveries on launch day. This will cut down on the perceived amount of success. But don’t be fooled. People don’t understand how it’s better than the iPhone or why they should replace their computer with it, but you just wait a week, or a month, whichever it takes. Apple will make billions off of this product. You. Just. Wait.
The Google video on YouTube about Google Chrome OS comes to mind. Early in their introduction video, they simply state that the first thing most users click on when their computer starts up is their web browser. That’s all they care about — how fast they can get on the world wide freakin’ web. And it’s 100% true! Other than e-mail, that’s a majority of what matters to Tom, Dick, or Harry. So there it is, web and e-mail in the palms of your hands.
Why is it better? Because it’s always on, has amazing battery life, and has a huge multitouch IPS display. People just do not understand the convenience that the iPad will bring. They look at the price tag and what they already own & know how to use, and they instantly judge the iPad without even using it.
Can’t multitask? It doesn’t need to. With push notifications for your instant messaging, I cannot think of one logical reason why the iPad needs to be able multitask. Especially not for the shorter battery life it’ll cause. Stop whining. Apple has so much money tied up in the R&D for the iPad that your bitching about multitasking just makes them laugh because you don’t see the full picture.
No external storage? You don’t need it! Buy the internal storage you need and be done with it. Apple not only wants complete control of the devices through iTunes, but they also want the end-user to have the best, trouble-free experience possible so they don’t have to hear people whining on the phone wondering why something doesn’t work. It all makes complete sense if you put one of Apple’s shoes on and one of the user’s shoes on. Try seeing both sides for once.
No camera? I can’t think of the last time I used a webcam. I really can’t. Once again, to give you a real battery life estimate, they cannot simply slap a camera in the iPad. It’s not only the power draw of the camera module itself that matters. It’s the extra processor cycles used to integrate the camera in real time frame-by-frame into applications.
The iPad will be a great success. Just sit back, watch, and enjoy. I’ve even printed comments from an Engadget post about how much people think the iPad will fail and they wouldn’t purchase one if it they needed it to stay alive. You’ll quickly see how wrong those comments were. In a few days.
