“The target market for the iPad isn’t as clearly defined as it is for most Apple products,” Ryan Faas writes for Computerworld. “Is it appropriate for business use? Is it a media player or e-reader? How would it be used in educational environments? Is it just an oversized iPod Touch? Exactly what needs does it meet that a smartphone or notebook can’t fulfill?”
“We won’t fully know the answer to those questions until the iPad hits the market in March or April or for a little while after it’s released,” Faas writes. “But maybe the point isn’t what the iPad is, but what it represents.”
Faas writes, “The iPad is the latest and most striking example of Apple’s use of multi-touch technology. True multi-touch capability was more concept than reality before the iPhone’s debut in 2007. In less than three years, Apple has taken that technology and baked it into every one of its product lines. After the iPhone came multi-touch trackpads on Apple’s laptops. Then, last fall, came the new magic mouse. And now it’s being used in a full tablet. With each advance, Apple rolls out new ways to interact with devices.”
“The iPad’s arrival also demonstrates Apple’s continued ability to push the envelope in other technologies, including battery life,” Fass writes. “Over the past year or so, Apple has pioneered the concept that innovative battery design can lead to better battery life and better design. Not everyone is happy about the trend toward built-in, nonreplaceable batteries, but Apple at least makes the concept seem feasible, and even desirable.”
“Finally, the iPad is proof positive that Apple has the financial resources to develop completely new products from the ground up,” Fass writes. “The fact that Apple designed and manufactured its own processor specifically for the iPad speaks volumes about the company’s vitality, even in an uncertain economy. And it bodes well for Apple’s ability to innovate in the years ahead.”
Fass writes, “All that said, I have no doubt that even if the immediate market for the iPad isn’t obvious, Apple wouldn’t have developed the device without believing it could be a vital product… So, what sweet spot is Apple aiming for?”
Full article, in which Fass looks at all of the markets to which iPad appeals (entertainment, business, education, etc.), here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s simple really, just look at it when it’s off: iPad is a blank slate. Apple’s iPad is for moms, dads, grandparents, kids, teens, and single adults. It’s basically for humans (and some primates) ages 1-100+.
@ Sky Lark – 07:50 PM
“If you own an oven it does not make you a top chef”
You’re absolutely right. But I didn’t pretend for one second to be a professional or even a good photographer. I prefer equipment that do only one thing.
@ Ringgo – 08:34 PM
It’s a pity MDN attracts so many trolls
But MDN’s takes are funnier than FS and MDN offers much more information. And there are relatively few trolls or Windows enthusiasts (poor fellows…) here, just ignore them.
@ Giles,
Darn, and I was going to give you a Swiss Army knife for your birthday:
http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?category=doityourself&product=53771&
I guess it will be a new toothbrush instead.
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Yes Chano, . . . I think you might be on to something. Do you remember when just a few weeks after the iPhone 3G release a small group gathered with their iPhones, and with various musical instrument apps, performed some tunes?
I imagine with more processor, bigger speakers and screens that we’ll be seeing some much richer development of musical instrument apps. . . . How long before a large group of music geeks get together with their iPads for Beethoven’s Fifth?
I would bet that it won’t be long before someone docks an iPad and uses it with a MacBook and Pianoteque to fill an auditorium.
The future for this thing is mind-boggling!
@ Sir Bates
I already have a Swiss Army knife… the one with only one blade.
I might have missed it in the comments but the largest and most logical market for the ipad is in the school systems. It will replace all of the text books. Ebooks are cheaper and easier to distribute then text books. Ipads are also cheaper then laptops and practically everything the school systems are using laptops for they can design ipad apps to take their place.
@Zura: Flash sucks; I had two Flash crashes today on my MacBook, and several times have gotten stuck in a Flash scripting loop I can’t get out of. Second, you can’t multitask on an iPhone either, but I expect multitasking to be in a future iPhone OS (and by extension on the iPad). Only thing I’d like to do is listen to one of my radio apps or MLB audio while either Web surfing or typing in Pages, but I can wait
I did some quick google searches with iPad together with each of the following terms to get a feeling for the level of interest in the iPad in each area.
Activities:
iPad business – 18,000,000 hits
iPad games – 16,000,000 hits
iPad education – 14,400,000 hits
iPad art – 13,400,000 hits
iPad medicine – 718,000 hits
Media:
iPad games – 16,000,000 hits
iPad books – 14,800,000 hits
iPad music – 14,600,000 hits
iPad movies – 13,700,000 hits
I’m not sure what it means other than the level of interest in all of these areas is phenomenal.
People have no idea how big this is … Steve knows exactly what he is doing .. he’s just made computing dead drop easy for your grandmother, father or anyone else who needs to work on a computer in your family … Here is the scenario. You have a mac with multiple accounts … each of your family members syncs their ipad to their own account … bingo … they walk away and never have to worry about how to work a computer .. everything they need is on the ipad … with no crashes … no viruses .. but access to all the apps they need for 99% of all users. The other beauty of this is … everything goes throught itunes … that’s all your apps … mail… etc .. etc … in other words there will never be a usb port to “install” anything .. it’s a completely controlled computing environment through itunes .. .and that’s a good thing.
NExt … you DON”t have to have a mac to use the thing!! BEcause it all goes through itunes which is platform neutral!!
So this is a hardware trojan horse into the pc world that was started by itunes for pc …. BRILLIANT!!!
A colleague was proudly showing off his new netbook the other day. I had to suggest he turn off some of the toolbars in IE so he at least wasn’t getting a letterbox view of the web.
P.S. I told him I was holding out for the iSlate (this was prior to the unveiling) and he said, “Huh?”
@ justme2,
If your using Safari, Chrome or IE (with Chrome Frame) you can view many YouTube vids with HTML5 instead of Flash. Simply got to http://www.youtube.com/html5 and click on “Join the HTML5 Beta” to begin.
Many of the Flash videos here on MDN won’t play correctly on my old G4 iBook, so I follow the included YouTube link instead. HTML5 works a heck of a lot better for me.
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