I’m disappointed. Steve has let me down. (Punishment for me putting him on my Death List last year? I still maintain that having a liver transplant is cheating…).
Yesterday saw the launch of the highly anticipated iPad, a new shiny device that isn’t the game changer that people were hoping for. In fact, the new piece of Apple gear has seemingly been met with a universal “meh”.
No one – including me – seems to get what it’s for. It’s ultimately a giant sized iPod touch.
It allegedly fills the gap between the smart phone (iphone) and the laptop.
Is that gap actually there? For me, possibly.
I own an iPhone and a Mac Book Pro.
For music on the go, I have my iPhone.
For video, I have youtube on the iPhone for watching quick vids on the go. For DVDs, TV shows, movies… well I watch those on the Mac at home. I don’t feel the need to sit and watch movies on the go.
If I’m out and about and need to jot down ideas… that’s where I could see the use of a tablet. Or for taking down notes in a meeting. I don’t want to sit and type while someone else is talking. I want to write notes on a screen, making them searchable later. I don’t want to lug my laptop around. I can’t make notes on my iPhone because the touch keys are terrible.
I had a row with it yesterday, because I wanted to press X and it kept displaying Z or C. I hate touch keys. HATE them. So I can’t see me sitting down typing anything at length on an iPad. I want to write.
But it does iBooks! I still have an original iBook at home… you know, one of the first white ones. I also have lots of real books. And when I don’t want to carry a hardback around with me, I use my Sony e-Reader. It’s not perfect. But I dont see the iPad as a threat to that or to the Kindle either. The advantage existing ereaders have is the e-ink technology. Without backlighting or refresh rates, my Sony is actually very comfortable to read. I couldn’t read for long on my laptop, iphone or even an iPad.
I’m possibly a publishers dream. I’ll buy the hardback of a book. And if there’s a limited edition out there I’ll buy that too. And then I’ll buy the paperback when it comes out. And then I’ll also buy the audio book. And then I’ll buy the ebook too. But even I think buying an iBook version on top of all that would be pushing it. Sorry.
So far, I haven’t seen anything about the device that I’d actually want. In the mean time, I’ll use my other gadgets for making notes on the go – a pen and a Moleskine notebook!
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