Rotating Knives

  Ok, so it’s been three days since I picked up my new, magical device at the Apple store in Lehigh Valley, PA.  I’ve taken it to my granddaughter’s birthday party and my family’s Easter gathering and shown it off like it was my new child.  Here are my thoughts on the device.

1. It is gorgeous!
   Even the most ardent Wintel supporter cannot deny that the iPad is a work of art.  So thin…so well thought out…such a beautiful HD display.  Even the core design concept, a single, multi-touch surface uncluttered by hard buttons and switches, is a winner.  When you use an app, or look at photos, or read a book, or watch a movie, the device really does seem to melt away.  All you focus on is the content.  As other reviewers have already said, using the iPad is immensely satisfying.
2. It is fast.
   There is little or no delay when using the iPad.  Responses to user input are quick and crisp.  If, like me, you have gotten used to waiting a bit after double-clicking something, you will be very pleased with the speed of the iPad.
3. The larger soft keyboard is better, but still lacking.
   If you are a hunt-and-peck typist, then the new, larger keyboard on the iPad will suit you just fine.  If, like me, you took a junior high school typing class and then worked with a keyboard for many years and are pretty fast with the letters, you will not find the iPad’s keyboard to be useful for serious content input.   I started to write this blog post on my iPad, but it was slow going compared to using my good ole laptop.  Windows Live Writer is still the best blogging application in the universe. 
4. NetFlix is the killer app!
   I have a NetFlix account and love to watch movies and TV shows on my PC and XBox 360 through XBox Live.  But here’s the thing.  My PC is at my desk in my office and my XBox 360 is downstairs in the family room usually being used by my 11 year old son, so getting in some time to watch the next episode of Lost season 3 is not always easy.  With my iPad and the NetFlix app, I can go up to bed early, put on my headphones, and watch movies to my heart’s content. 
5. If you get one, be prepared for Wintel advocates trying to explain to you why you shouldn’t really love it.
   This is the most interesting part of the iPad rollout to me.  I love technology.  My primary expertise is the Wintel platform, but I have written Java applications that ran on Unix and scripts that ran on RS6000s.  If my boss came to me tomorrow and said “We’ll pay you to write objective C” I’d jump at the chance.  I have never, ever understood why people get so religious about technologies and vendors.  This is why the response of Wintel advocates is so puzzling to me.  Clearly, the iPad is a success with consumers.  Clearly it is a great device that does what is designed to do.  Yet I constantly hear people talk about how I’ll be sorry that it doesn’t multi-task, doesn’t have a camera, doesn’t run Flash etc. etc….  Here’s the thing, though.  I know it doesn’t do those things.  I knew that before I plunked down my money for it.  And I still love what it does.  I hope that Wintel vendors will see the consumer trend toward simple, multi-touch devices and start to come up with similar creative products.  If all they can do for a public that is hungry for this type of innovation is tell them “Oh, you really shouldn’t be hungry for that”, then they will fail. 

I’ll say more about the iPad when I have more to say.  Now if you’ll excuse me, i have to go.  That pilot episode of Modern Family isn’t going to watch itself.