Random thoughts on the iPad

Apple announced the iPad today and a friend at work (a true Mac Fanatic) was keeping up to date on the announcement. I was getting SMS messages about specs, costs etc. Brent rocks!

1. Nice looking. (No really.) Pictures at the bottom of this post.
2. Comes with a docking station to help type when you have “real work” to do. (Just like digging ditches!)
3. No mouse. From the picture you can see that there is no mouse. You will touch the screen to get things done. Love this and I’ve talked about how the iPhone is a physical device. This is simply removing another abstraction.
4. The case is awesome. It enables you to watch a movie on your machine and prop up the tablet to be able to type on it. I don’t watch movies on my computer and I now believe (after seeing this device) it is because there is a keyboard below. I always feel like I should be doing something instead of watching the movie. With the case, I don’t think I will have that response. The touch keyboard will benefit from the case, enabling people to type more easily on the go. (I don’t really need this but it looks nice.)
5. At first I thought this device was targeted at the passive laptop user. (Similar to smart phone users vs. standard mobile phone users.) Someone who watches movies and listens to music on it most of the time; not really for work. After seeing the docking station and the VGA connection for multiple monitors, I now believe that this could be a full replacement for my laptop at some point.
6. I wish I could dock it horizontally but the only way is vertically. For now.
7. Also, once Apple lets you use your iPhone (via Bluetooth) why would you need to have 3G support.
8. Jony Ive is a smart cat. Would love to interview him.
9. No video or still camera. I get the still (kind of) but how will I use the Skype with no video camera?
10. Apple and app developers are going to need to extend the application experience. An app should not just work on your iPhone. It should work on the iPad and your Laptop; specific to that device. (Do desktops exist any more?)
11. Can’t wait to see an augmented reality browser like Layar on this bad boy.
12. Update: Just had a conversation with a Brit that I work with, nicknamed Doubting Thomas (expect an audio/video blog soon!) and he mentioned that the iPad can’t multi-task. This is true of the iPhone except for voice and data things. I was then told by the Mac fanatic that with the release of OS4 and multi-tasking later this year; this will be a non-issue. Take that Thomas!

It’s important to note that The Onion uncovered to the truth about the development process in a piece entitled: Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet

CUPERTINO, CA—Claiming that he completely forgot about the much-hyped electronic device until the last minute, a frantic Steve Jobs reportedly stayed up all night Tuesday in a desperate effort to design Apple’s new tablet computer. “Come on, Steve, just think—think, dammit—you’re running out of time,” the exhausted CEO said as he glued nine separate iPhones to the back of a plastic cafeteria tray. “Okay, yeah, this will work. This will definitely work. Just need to write ‘tablet’ on this little strip of masking tape here and I’m golden. Oh, come on, you piece of shit! Just stick already!” Middle-of-the-night sources reported that Jobs then began work on double-spacing his Keynote presentation and increasing the font size to make it appear longer.

That’s all I have for now. Go here to be notified of when they can be ordered. Curious to see how this impacts the mobile space/mobile behavior.