5 Reasons You’re Disappointed in the iPad

Here’s my obligatory iPad post. I’m not defending or bashing the iPad here—just revealing the real reason behind it’s being…which might also explain the lukewarm reception it’s received.

1. It doesn’t cure cancer. Or male pattern baldness. Or whatever else people had in their heads it would do. Just because Steve Jobs says it’s the most important thing he’s done in his career, doesn’t mean it’s going to be a miracle. We’re talking about consumer electronics here. They’re great, but people were treating yesterday like they were expecting the Second Coming. Again: con-sumer elec-tronics.
2. The name. Yeah. Oh well. But look at it this way: people are talking about it and it’s easy to remember. I would have preferred iTab. But did you see Twitter yesterday? A lot of people who never would have heard of the iTab were asking what an “iPad” (or any other variation people have come up with) was and why all the buzz. In the end, I doubt the name will keep many people from buying the thing, but I’m sure the PR got stretched further than it otherwise would have. And you know what they say about PR…
3. The bookshelf design looks like it was copied from Delicious Library. Or Classics, or Shelfari, etc, etc. Seriously, do people care? They think Apple ripped off these other designers? Tell me- how many ways are there to represent a bookshelf? Basically two. Either you represent it realistically (like they and everyone else did), or you represent it a little more abstractly (like we’re doing on Readeo).
4. It’s missing core features. Flash, multitasking, camera, etc. Are you surprised though? Look at the effort Apple goes to to maintain control over the iPhone, etc. This ensures they have room for product revision and continued sales/upgrades down the road when they do add the webcam, the camera, multitasking, etc. (almost seems like they do this to spite early adopters)
5. Finally, and mainly: You thought they were going to release a revolutionary new product but what Apple really released was a business model. The whole iPad is built around the idea of the apps that will be built and sold for it. That’s it’s real reason for being. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing- it will be the apps that extend the thing’s usefulness. But at the same time, there’s something less magical about a product when you know that it’s main purpose is to extract bills from your wallet in exchange for things you think you need.