iPad - Stemming the Flow of Complaints

I'm quite amazed at the whiplash from the tech-heads and geeks around the iPad.

Is the name unfortunate?  Yes.

Does it do everything under the sun?  Hell no and thank god!

Will it be a game changer?  Yes.  No question.

But, Sean, "It's just a large iTouch!!!" 

I hear this over and over.  In fact, I predicted it would be a large iTouch.

So here's what I say back to all the geeks.

"Boo Hoo."

Because what people are really saying when they complain about this is "I wanted something new that was alien and inconceivable."

"I wanted to be surprised more!"

The iPhone was not alien and inconceivable.  We all knew it would be a phone and iPod with applications.

What made the iPhone so wonderful was the focus on design and the experience of using it.

I believe and predict that the iPad will be a game changer and here is why.

It is what we all needed and the industry was waiting for.

But no one had ever produced it.

Amazon came close with the Kindle.  But it failed to allow for further innovation by third parties out of the box.

Amazon also failed miserably with rolling out their device internationally.

Let's also keep in mind that the publishing industry is in need of some serious innovation here.

The content industry is still reeling from the financial shocks they have had to endure. 

And to date there has been no easy way for traditional publishers to reach a global audience while also adding unique value.

With the kindle, every publisher is the same.

This is assuming publishers don't make the same mistake as NBC and publicly state they will never be on iTunes (which NBC then had to take back many years and lots of missed dollars later).

The iPad will see a global increase in purchased consumption of eBooks and rich publishing content.

Will publishers make as much per title as they want?  no.  But it will drive revenue.

And yet the savviest amongst us are shouting out the perceived faults of this device as loud as they can.

So let's look at these complaints.

One of the biggest complaints is the lack of multi-tasking.  You can only run one application at a time.

Geeks are aghast.

"Boo Hoo," is all I can say back.

The average person won't care.  Nor will they care that the bevel is "large" or that there is no camera on their media reader.

Now... no flash sucks... but that's not a deal breaker.  That's just Apple being stubborn.  Again.

Here's the kicker.

The geeks clearly have their pocket protectors in a wad over this.  But mark my words, almost all of them will have one of these.  

They will all own an iPad.

Or they will go and buy a Sony Reader and we can all sympathize with their sad, poor little ebook content.

So let's assume it's just a fanatical few who are up in arms.

What will people care about?

That's easy.  The battery life, the responsiveness of the unit, and the experience of using it.  The experience being tied to the content available.

Design is a hard game.  It is a game of constant restrictions and constraints.

You can't have everything.  You have to make intelligent compromises.

Note:  you can have everything with bad design.  Tried to use an alarm clock recently with 325 functions but only 3 control buttons?  It's three years later and I still can't operate my alarm clock reliably.

Apple made the right choices.  10 hours of batter life together with a form, size and weight that is f'ing amazing.

So I believe quite strongly that the iPad will be a game changer. 

I have long stated my belief that piracy will not go away.  In fact, it will get worse.

The only solution for the publishing industry is to make their content ubiquitous to the user (digitally) and easy to purchase.  Easy, easy, easy!!

I spend quite a bit of money a month through my Apple TV because it's the highest quality HD content and it's one easy click with millions of titles at my fingertips.

But when something isn't there... hello torrent.

Remember this presentation from Sports Illustrated?

We all thought of it as science fiction.  Who in their right mind in the publishing industry would pump this kind of money into something this risky?  Only a moron looking to do a Kliavkoff. [edit: correction to name made]

Only now, the hardware exists to exactly enable this vision.

The iPad.

Sport Illustrated just has to write an app.  No hardware risks.  No crazy licensing deals.

Anyone can take their publishing vision and move it onto a platform that will have a global rollout and support.

I would like to applaud Jobs and Apple.

This larger than life iTouch may just change publishing.

Something has to.

Image source: yaunus