It takes a lot to get me excited over a new product.
In fact, today is the first time I tried the “new” Domino’s pizza. Loved the marketing campaign where Domino’s admitted their product was bad and needed to reinvent themselves. Made me want to give it a try. The only problem was, the Domino’s who delivered my pizza obviously didn’t get the memo about the recipe change. My hand-tossed pie with extra sauce and pepperoni lacked the garlic-buttery crust, the sauce didn’t have the “kick” it’s supposed to, and I never knew Mozzarella cheese was yellow like cheddar.
It’s reasons like this that account for my lack of excitability. So when Steve Jobs announced that Apple is coming out with their version of a tablet pc, the iPad, I didn’t get too caught up in the frenzy. Sure, I’m a Mac guy. I was driven to the other side not by drinking the apple flavored Kool-Aid, but out of frustration. Simply put, Windows is just too damn unstable and crashes way too much. Since switching over to a Mac, I’m off my blood pressure medicine and even kicked the anti-depressants to the curb.
So what’s all the fuss about this iPad? I turned to my dear friend, Dr. Michael Neal, who gets excited about things like this for his comments. The rest of this blog post belongs to him. Me? I’m going to email Domino’s and tell them their pizza sucks.
I was glued to the computer yesterday. Had 3 sites running on auto refresh so I got all kinds of info on the newly launched Apple iPad.
I think I’m slightly underwhelmed by it. On face value, the hardware is incredible in battery life, performance and the general look. But it isn’t magical as they state. There are other tablets that are very similar except for the thickness. I’ve got a 12inch Asus from 3 years ago that was close to that. But close isn’t good enough.
What’s remarkable about the iPad isn’t the device. Its the following:
- AT&T is offering unlimited data for 30 bucks without a contract. That’s a first that everyone seems to be overlooking. That’s half price of a laptop connect deal. Possibly less even. But AT&T sucks so whoopee.
- The iPad is unlocked. It will take T-Mobile less than a month to find a micro sim adapter and launch an unlimited plan so they can capitalize on this. It will be a boon for them.
- You won’t be able to type on this for even short periods of time without a keyboard. Put your keyboard on your lap and look straight down at it. Tell me how long it takes for your neck to get sore. 5 min? That’s why they demoed it seated with their leg up. In that capacity it will rock.
So basically, it’s a great piece of hardware.
Oh yeah, the book reader looks great. Till you take it outside. Ever use a kindle? It seriously rocks if you are a book reader.
It will also be pretty cool to watch TV on but good luck downloading TV over 3G.
What everyone seems to be missing is that this is just a platform. The magic will come in the apps. There are 140,000 reasons this tablet will turn into something incredible. Wait until developers get their arms around this thing. Imagine all the things you can do with 10 inches of multi-touchable super fast computer. That’s Jobs’ magic.
Apple will take the 70 million iPhone customers and convince some, if not most of them that this magic is worth buying. And buy it they will.
Dr. Michael Neal, OD lets his tech side show as CEO of Wink Interactive in Scranton, PA.