I wrote an iPad review on August 20th of last year. In that review, I wrote:
I’ve already decided that iPad is not for getting work done. It’s meant to be a free-time machine. A machine that is there for you when you want to consume content. A machine that replaces your newspaper, book and MP3 player and it only works in times when you’d grab a book and disconnect from your computer.
While at Blogworld in October, I wrote this:
I’m fed up. I’m tired of people linking to proof that the iPad is for getting work done. I’m tired of seeing one or two painters, “DJs” or writers using their iPad justifying an entire industry of millions of people that are buying iPads. I’m sick of it.
and
I’m tired of seeing everyone use their ipads at this conference. Blogworld is cutting edge and 25% of the attendees are using iPads. It sucks watching them try to be productive. It takes 3 times as long to do anything on an iPad compared to a Mac or PC. The iPad is for consumption. open a book or news or video and do that. If you want to blog, edit photos, upload photos, use AIM or plow through a dozen emails, the iPad is NOT going to work for you exclusively for 4 days in Las Vegas.
I purchased an iPad 2 on Friday (launch day) and love it. It’s a great upgrade that’s not for everyone. Here’s my rule, if you have enough for an iPad left over after paying rent from the paycheck, buy it. If you don’t, skip it. Don’t save your pennies to get an iPad. I’ll talk more about the iPad 2 in a future post. Let’s talk about the iPad as a productivity device.
The title of this post was plagiarized from the fantastic and talented blogger / developer, Marco Arment who makes Instapaper (my review of it). Marco wrote a post titled, “Moving on from iPad “office productivity” apps” which I highly recommend that your read. In it, Marco writes:
Most of us tried to rationalize the iPad’s purchase by telling ourselves that it could often replace a laptop. The productivity apps and the Keyboard Dock support that view: that the iPad is a new kind of computer that might replace your traditional computer, and therefore, it’s rational to spend over $500 for one.
and
The iPad isn’t really a great “office productivity” device, in the traditional PC sense. It can be used that way in some cases, but it’s rarely the best tool for the job.
I never liked the Keyboard Dock (or using a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad). It looked like a temporary hack, like the USB dial-up modem: a bridge from the old to the new until people didn’t need it anymore. And it was clunky: not only was its protruding shape awkward and difficult to pack in thin bags, but using a keyboard at all in iOS was (and remains) half-baked: users needed to constantly reach up and touch the screen in use. If you need a physical keyboard very often with the iPad, you’re probably better served using a laptop, especially now that the 11” MacBook Air exists.
It seems that Apple has discontinued the Keyboard Dock with the launch of the iPad 2, which confirms that they saw it as a temporary hack, too. And rather than issue a huge update to the iWork productivity apps, they branched out into different uses with iMovie and Garage Band, and beefed up the graphics processor more than any other upgrade to strongly benefit games.
I don’t think this was their plan from the start — I think Apple didn’t know any better than we did, a year ago, whether the iPad was going to end up as a productivity device in practice. They probably thought, like we did, that it would replace laptops a lot more often.
But, as often happens in technology, the iPad hasn’t “killed” the laptop at all — it has simply added a new role for itself. And that role doesn’t include office productivity for most of us.
Apple is now adapting to the market’s actual use by retreating somewhat from office productivity and pushing strongly into new territory — casual media creation — to see if that gets a stronger uptake in practice. I think it will be a lot more interesting than office productivity, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in iOS to make it practical (especially regarding file transfers with computers).
Like Photo Booth on the Mac (and now also the iPad), casual iPad users will have fun playing around with GarageBand for a while. Maybe even iMovie once or twice.
I still don’t think Apple has found the sweet spot for the iPad’s usage: the ideal role it fills in personal computing. And I don’t think we, as developers or iPad owners, have found it, either. But I know that sweet spot exists, and for a computer category that has only existed for one year, we’re rushing towards it remarkably quickly.
I agree with Marco’s words but I don’t agree with how he arrived at this place. In fact, I disagree with how everyone arrived at this place. Each and every person who reviewed the iPad sort of provided the same analysis out of the gate. I feel as if everyone, until now was saying that the Apple iPad was truly a productivity device. We’d link to photos painted on an iPad and tout that a music group produced their whole album on one and then we kept this up until the iPad 2 came out where Apple released iLife apps and killed the bluetooth keyboard product.
We always follow Apple’s lead.
iPad 1 was about iWork and the external keyboard. I used these and hated them. The system just didn’t work and iWork is a joke on the iPad. You can open documents but creating them is idiotic. I own all three apps so Apple is having the last laugh with my $30. I have buyer’s remorse but no one has had the balls to stand up to Apple and demand a return policy or demo period and no one ever will.
I have been saying that the iPad is a different category and not for productivity since it was released yet, many bloggers are finally picking up on this. Marco isn’t alone here and everyone seems to be coming around to the fact that the iPad isn’t a game changer in the way we all thought it was. It’s actually a game changer in the way it revolutionizes gaming, reading, consumption and mobile communication via iPad and services like Twitter. It’s not for executives to catch up on emails and create PowerPoint presentations.
Since day 1, I’ve used my iPad for reading RSS feeds and books. I use it to review emails and tweet from time to time when the iPhone is almost dead. Right now, I’m using it to listen to the SF Giants game and see the play by play and stream the audio to my AppleTV while writing this on my MacBook Air. I couldn’t research and do all of the things required to put this post together as well if I was on an iPad. The Mac is far superior to iPad and we all believed this marketing BS because we were all trying to justify a $499 purchase. If you don’t have a modern computer, don’t buy an iPad. It doesn’t work out of the box (requires iTunes) so that’s Apple’s first omission that you need a computer in your life to use iPad and it just isn’t a multi-tasking, powerful enough machine to truly get work done and that includes uploading photos of your grandkids to Facebook.
I’m glad Marco and others are coming around to this fact. I just wish that it had happened sooner.