I spent way too much time playing with the iPad today. In fact, I’m still thinking about it and here’s why: The browser is better than the browser on my MacBook. It might be the best browsing experience out there. By a lot.
Not only is the browser really (MacBook Pro type) fast, but it is a much more natural way of “surfing”. Instead of hitting your trackpad you just point to what you want on the screen. There is no hand-eye coordination required. It is the best of the iPhone’s pinch/scroll/zoom/resolution independence on a sufficiently large laptop caliber display. If I want to go portrait? Boom.
Make no mistake: Apple is targeting the uber-hot netbook market with this device. What are you doing 90% of the time on a netbook? Browsing. And it isn’t even close here. The iPad is on another level in browsing. The only area where a traditional netbook shines is in typing URLs. But in the hour of playing with the iPad, I rarely found myself longing for a keyboard.
So what about the other 10% of the time on a netbook? Instant Messaging? Office Apps? VoIP? They’re pretty much all in the App Store. And Office is $30 for iPad vs >$100 for a netbook, something that makes the $499 iPad vs. $299 netbook price easier to justify. I wasn’t immediately able to operate iWork apps on the device but I started to learn pretty quickly. These apps might be the X-factor for this device. A touch office suite. A big first.
When you add in that this device is also an e-book reader, a gaming device, and a movie viewer, $499 doesn’t seem like a hard sell.
The monster downside to this device? Lack of a camera. I think this is a crippling move by Apple that does two things: One, it keeps iPhones relevant and important. Two, it is a huge differentiating factor that will sell lots of v2 upgrades. My hope is that someone makes an add on camera that fits pretty snugly onto the 30-pin connector for ~$30 (which seems to be supported by the software). Lack of Flash also is a bummer, especially in the Hulu category. But I think Hulu may come up with an App at some point as well.
Another interesting note: Apple today lifted its ban on VoIP over 3G on the iPhone…which will likely translate to the iPad. So that means that, theoretically, I can dump my voice provider (AT&T) and just use the iPad as a phone for $30/month for unlimited data on AT&T. I know that is extremely unrealistic to carry around that big thing everywhere I go (and I’d be losing a camera FFS), but, I am already missing using it.
And if you think about the big picture, that “desire to use the iPad.” That certainly bodes well for sales.
Apple last year announced it had spent $500 million upfront to to get first shot and better prices from LG over five years. This is what lead to Apple getting that gorgeous 27-inch iMac display before any other company (Dell now carries one).
Businessweek’s cover story this week is the 
