My love/hate/love relationship with Apple has a long and storied history. My first experience with an Apple computer was back in elementary, where each class had one Apple computer per classroom. Of course, the classic game of the time was Oregon Trail – assuming the floppy disk worked. There was no thrill like the thrill of shooting a buffalo on the green and grey computer screen. Outside of playing Oregon Trail however, there was little use for that particular computer at the time.
Fast forward to my freshmen year at the University of Michigan. I’m enrolled in my first C++ course, CS 183. At the time, I was cursing Steve Jobs for returning to Apple and creating the “innovative” bubble iMac. Why? Because at the time, the University CS Program required all students to program and submit their code via the computer labs. We were using a program called Code Warrior, and for whatever reason, the University only offered it in their labs on Macs. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, but Macs at that time were running OS 9, which was so bad and clunky that it made me absolutely despise Apple. I remember having a heated conversation with a fellow student regarding how horrible Apple products were. Luckily for me, a friend of mine had a copy of the Windows version of Code Warrior, so I could code from the comfort of my cramped freshmen dorm room. This saved me the 5 minute travel time down to the computer lab and away from the despicable Macs! It also allowed me to code a pretty kick-ass calculator that could add, subtract, divide and multiply – and output the answer. I was on my way to programming stardom.
The story of Steve Jobs starting Apple, getting kicked out and then returning is one my favorite corporate stories of all time. Without getting into the details too much (you can read the history here), the short version goes something like this:
- Steve founds Apple with Steve Wozniak in the late 1970′s
- Jobs convinces then Pepsi CEO John Scully to leave Pepsi to run Apple
- Scully and the board of directors forces Jobs out of Apple
- Jobs starts NeXT Computer
- Apple – losing money and in need of a makeover of their operating system looks at possibly licencing (gasp!) Windows. Instead, buys NeXT for their unix based operating system.
- Jobs becomes interim CEO and integrates NeXT technology to the core of Apple products.
- OS X changes Apple forever and convinces me to turn to the dark side.
My first product I bought was an iBook G4. It had a 12″ screen, was perfect size for carrying to and from class and had a great battery life. It was slow, ran a buggy version of Microsoft Office for Mac, and barely had enough internal RAM to open Adobe Photoshop, but I loved it. I’ve pretty much been a Mac convert since, having gone through multiple Macbook/Macbook Pros and my latest additions of an iMac and the iPhone.
Having been in the IT Consulting world for a while, I still had to keep a Windows box or two around, and of course when Apple went with Intel, you now had the ability to run Windows software either natively or via Parallels/VMWare Fusion. Make no question about it, Mac products are more expensive, and you’ll pay a premium for them. But they just work, and I’ve rarely had problems with any of my Mac products. Their Apple Care program is great, but to be honest, I hardly ever partake in that program only because I take care of my equipment and it lasts as long as I need it to.
As with most Apple products however, I generally like to wait for revision 2 of the product. The first revision usually generates a lot of hype, and is found to have this problem or that. When Apple made the announcement of the iPad, I thought the product looked interesting, but beyond being a larger iPod Touch/iPhone how could it benefit me? I already had a Macbook for travel, an iPhone and an iMac for my daily use. Pre-order? Nah, I’ll pass. I’m sure it’d be a fun toy, but I couldn’t see myself using it that often in place of my laptop.
As the release date became closer, and as I read up more about the platform I suddenly had rush of regret come over me for not pre-ordering. Sure enough, the day of the release, they were sold out everywhere. I also realized all the different applications that the iPad could be used for. You know where this story goes – I had to get one. I’ve got some ideas for applications, and I’m excited to see what applications and uses that developers come up with for this and other tablet-touch-devices in the near future.
The questions I get asked most frequently, is how is it that different from an iPod Touch or a laptop?
The Pros:
- Battery Life. 10-12 hours depending on use. Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal got over 10 hrs of use playing non stop video. That’s pretty incredible for a devices like this. Try that with a standard laptop – without getting this massive battery add-on.
- Large Screen. It’s like an iPod Touch/iPhone, only you can actually view things the way they were meant to be.
- Netflix Streaming. Netflix has to be in my top 10 products I love. And it’s on the iPad. Awesome.
- eBook Reader. It does everything the Kindle can, and way more. I personally would rather carry my books and publications on this device. Especially while traveling.
- Killer Applications. Some of the applications created for this are truly amazing.
- Typing. It’s surprisingly easier than I had thought it was going to be.
- Quiet and cool to the touch. If you have any Apple laptops, you know they tend to run pretty hot and often sound like F-16′s taking off when using resource heavy applications. Need to cook some eggs but don’t have a frying pan? Run multiple rendering applications and crack open some eggs. Not true with the iPad. I’ve never had it run hot, and it doesn’t make a sound. Awesome.
- Intuitive use. It’s just simple to use. How easy? Easy enough for a 99 year old to make it her first computer. Have parents or grand-parents that don’t want to learn how to use a computer? Setup an iPad, hook up some wireless internet and send them one.
The Cons:
- No USB port. Would be nice to be able to use third party camera’s or other USB devices.
- No Camera. Speaking of camera, a front facing camera would have been awesome for Skype conferences or other web chat applications. I’m pretty confident future revisions will include one.
- No SD Memory slot. This one I can’t figure out. Pretty standard in laptops now, I’m hoping v.2 has one.
- No Flash. The story that never ends. As Jason Calacanis said: “No Flash or Adobe Air is pathetic and anti-competitive. The Government should really investigates Apple’s jihad against competitive application and media platforms–it’s disgraceful.”
- Fingerprint magnet. When the screen is turned off or in low lighting, you can definitely see the fingerprints all over it. When in use, can barely tell and it cleans off nicely.
PC makers and other manufacturers are right behind and will releasing iPad-like devices in the near future, and I’m curious to see the Google Chrome enabled tablet devices that will be out shortly as well. Like it or not, I think the way content is consumed and distributed has changed forever. And I like where it’s going.
