{"id":1842,"date":"2011-03-15T22:53:11","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T03:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=1842"},"modified":"2011-03-15T22:53:11","modified_gmt":"2011-03-16T03:53:11","slug":"i-still-dont-think-apple-has-found-the-sweet-spot-for-the-ipads-usage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/03\/15\/i-still-dont-think-apple-has-found-the-sweet-spot-for-the-ipads-usage\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 “I still don\u2019t think Apple has found the sweet spot for the iPad\u2019s usage…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iPad<\/a><\/p>\n

I wrote an iPad review<\/a> on August 20th of last year. In that review, I wrote:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already decided that iPad is not for getting work done. It\u2019s 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\u2019d grab a book and disconnect from your computer.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While at Blogworld in October, I wrote this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fed up. I\u2019m tired of people linking to proof that the iPad is for getting work done. I\u2019m tired of seeing one or two painters, \u201cDJs\u201d or writers using their iPad justifying an entire industry of millions of people that are buying iPads. I\u2019m sick of it.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and<\/p>\n

I\u2019m 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The title of this post was plagiarized from the fantastic and talented blogger \/ developer, Marco Arment who makes Instapaper (my review of it<\/a>). Marco wrote a post titled, “Moving on from iPad \u201coffice productivity\u201d apps<\/a>” which I highly recommend that your read. In it, Marco writes:<\/p>\n

Most of us tried to rationalize the iPad\u2019s 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\u00a0computer<\/em> that might replace your traditional computer, and therefore, it\u2019s rational to spend over $500 for one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and<\/p>\n

The iPad isn\u2019t really a great \u201coffice productivity\u201d device, in the traditional PC sense. It\u00a0can<\/em> be used that way in some cases, but it\u2019s rarely the best tool for the job.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019re probably better served using a laptop, especially now that the 11\u201d MacBook Air exists.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think this was their plan from the start \u2014 I think Apple didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

But, as often happens in technology, the iPad hasn\u2019t \u201ckilled\u201d the laptop at all \u2014 it has simply added a new role for itself. And that role doesn\u2019t include office productivity for most of us.<\/p>\n

Apple is now adapting to the market\u2019s actual use by retreating somewhat from office productivity and pushing strongly into new territory \u2014 casual media creation \u2014 to see if that gets a stronger uptake in practice. I think it will be a lot more interesting than office productivity, but there\u2019s still a lot of work that needs to be done in iOS to make it practical (especially regarding file transfers with computers).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I still don\u2019t think Apple has found the sweet spot for the iPad\u2019s usage: the ideal role it fills in personal computing. And I don\u2019t 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\u2019re rushing towards it remarkably quickly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We always follow Apple’s lead.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0research 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\u00a0believed\u00a0this marketing BS because we were all trying to justify a $499\u00a0purchase. 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\u00a0omission\u00a0that 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.<\/p>\n

I’m glad Marco and others are coming around to this fact. I just wish that it had happened sooner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I wrote an iPad review on August 20th of last year. In that review, I wrote: I\u2019ve already…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-technology","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-tI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":981,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/08\/20\/my-thoughts-on-apples-ipad\/","url_meta":{"origin":1842,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 My Thoughts on Apple’s iPad","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"August 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The iPad has been out fo a few months but I'm just now getting around to reviewing it. Part of this was timing and being incredibly busy and the other bit is that I feel iPad is in its own category and no one should review it without using it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"My Thoughts","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/my-thoughts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8582,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2021\/09\/26\/technology-the-m1-ipad-pro-12-9-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":1842,"position":1},"title":"Technology: The M1 iPad Pro 12.9″ (2021)","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"September 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I stand by the remarks made in my update on how life with the M1 MacBook Pro was going. 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Anandtech published the only review that I will recommend. It's the only iPad review that is a real review covering everything a potential buyer would like to know. 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