Apple iPad Review – Part 4 – Overall Conclusions and Predictions
Overall, I feel like the iPad is a neat device. It’s catching a lot of flack right now because Apple didn’t go all out right off the bat. I agree that some of the missing features and media agreements would have gone over a little better had they been available on the day of the announcement, but that’s not my call. When the device launches, it’ll get off to a slow start, but as it gets into the hands of consumers and more applications are made available for it, I think the opinions will start to turn.
It’s somewhat a shame that someone like me has to wait for version 2 to even consider buying this, but I’ve already got a lot of tech devices. In it’s current iteration, I could almost recommend this device to my grandmother, who reads books, checks her email every once in a while, and occasionally browses the internet. The downside would be trying to teach her how to use iTunes and getting her to trust paying for something online.
My opinion of the device, as of this very moment, is that it has a lot of potential, but needs to do some more work before it’s considered a success (or even a finished product). Like the iPod, it needs to prove it’s worth, as opposed to the iPhone which was loved (even though it lacked a lot of features for the first two years) immediately. I think that Apple will be able to pull this off and by the time the second version is out, it will be “the” device to have in the tablet/netbook market. In the meantime, plan on a lot of posturing and complaining from everyone out there who is not Apple.
Predictions:
iBookstore will be a huge hit. It may take a year or more to be on par with the Kindle store in sales, but it will eventually be a market leader, though not by the margin iTunes is.
Magazines and comics will start an entire new distribution method with this device, and if the prices are right, it will be awesome. I would buy a lot more comics if they weren’t $4+ each and I didn’t have to actually go into the comic shop. Price them at $2 each and let me get them online and I’m all over it. Same for magazines. I only get a subscription when I catch them for under $5. I’d even be willing to put up with a FEW innocuous ads, so long as they don’t take up my whole screen when I’m trying to get to a page.
There will be an explosion of “real” games developed for this device by some of the big players like EA. Someone may even develop some sort of MMORPG for it that could be very cool. Multiplayer becomes much more of an option than on the iPhone/iTouch.
Someday, which may still be 1-2 years from now, we’ll get a subscription service to the major TV networks and the iPad will consume a lot more video then.
iTunes will move more into the cloud, thus reducing the reliance on HDD space to house all your music. MobileMe will offer more storage space allowing photo galleries to also be housed entirely online.
Apple will partner with or buy a VOIP provider for use across the iPhone/iPad line. The money is in the data plans nowadays anyway…so the carrier(s) still get their cut.
eBook prices will go up. This is already starting with MacMillan having all of their titles pulled from Amazon over pricing disputes.
The iPad won’t sell nearly as many devices as the iPod touch, but it’s not expected to. However, it will find a niche in various industries and in-house IT staff members will write specific apps for their companies to utilize it.
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