28 janvier 2010

So it’s the iPad, then

Well, that was… something. I just about went through all phases of grief during that one-hour keynote, starting when Steve Jobs announced that name and when, a minute later, the first official screenshot of the iPad’s home screen appeared on the web. Omigod, it’s just a giant iPod touch.

Or is it?

The thing is, Steve Jobs pulled the wool over our eyes from the start, when he said again that netbooks are crap, and it only became evident at the very end, when he announced the list price: the iPad is Apple’s netbook.

That’s what it is and nothing else.

And it’s offered at an okay price for a product you’d define as “Apple’s netbook” — the upper limit of what could be an okay price, but that in itself was to be expected.

It’s not at all what I hoped for, but it’s not just a giant iPod, either — and it’s also noticeably cheaper than I expected. The special version of iWork (I so didn’t see that coming) and the starting price point are what define it as a netbook; as such, it’s not something anyone absolutely needs, but it’s something many people will want, and I’m thinking that a large enough number of those people will buy it. (Of course, unlike netbook makers, Apple will actually make a profit on those sales.)

And if you take the optional 3G plan, that makes it that much more of a bargain. Unlocked device (heh, fool Steve Jobs once…), no contract, very competitive prices? Here’s hoping Apple manages to negotiate equivalent offers in the rest of the world — but if they managed to get AT&T on board, how hard can it be? (It’s kind of a bargain for a carrier to support both iPhone and iPad anyway, as there’s bound to be customer overlap and customers will end up paying twice for the same unlimited data.)

Now, the ball is in Microsoft’s camp, to release the Courier or not. But I’m very afraid Redmond doesn’t have the guts. (Just as afraid as hopeful, really. I need to sell apps on the iPad, so I need to buy an iPad, so that makes the cheap part of me not so eager for Microsoft to offer a decent competitor.)

A few additional thoughts, as usual:

• I’ve asked several times over the last few years if Steve Jobs actually ever used a Mac at all anymore. Well, now we. I’d even wager that the main reason why the iPad needed to have iWork was so that Steve could make his Keynote presentations in his couch and never have to touch a physical keyboard again in his life. (Of course, that’s bad news for Mac lovers — but we’d guessed for a while.)

• The rumors about a multi-user setup with facial recognition were cool; as it turns out, there’s no hint of any capability to have multiple accounts, just like the iPhone. It’s a little surprising for a device that’s both so personal (e-mail accounts, demo of the Facebook app, etc.) and yet so fit to be purchased for the whole family and left to wander around the living room.

• Speaking of multi, there will evidently still be no multitasking. Once again, it’s not a huge deal if you consider the device as a netbook, but now more than ever Apple really needs to allow background processes to handle communications. Notifications are nice (well, no, they’re not), but Twitter and IM just need to be running on the machine and have access to that huge empty status bar up there.

• I had just about every single of my predictions wrong, because they were more of a wishlist than anything else, and because they all applied to a $800 tablet. Where I was analytical, though, I was right: only one screen size, models with and without 3G… and no stupid technology such as a tactile back cover or a pico-projector. Just saying.

• I don’t know if Steve Jobs is getting senile, but the iPhone’s catchphrase was already awkward enough (never could get down with “breakthrough internet device”) and the iPad’s is just pathetic: "Our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” Yes, that’s what’s written on Apple’s home page right now. Rolls off the tongue, eh?

• Wanna bet that Apple intentionally leaked higher prices so that we’d be pleasantly surprised today? Well, it worked.

• Now we know the real reason why they retired the iBook name. I wasn’t that far off.