It has been something like a hundred hours since the iPad was officially in our midst and I wish I had a penny, for every person who has compared it with a laptop and a netbook and trotted out all its pluses and minuses in comparison. Of course, one can understand the reasons for such comparisons – after all, the iPad too is a portable device with computer-like features and prowess. However, I would beg to differ from most analysts who seem to think that Jobs’ latest gizmo is targeted at netbooks or the laptops. Sure, it can do stuff that those two gadgets can, but the presence of a physical keyboard and better connectivity with other products (from DVDs to USB drives to printers and scanners) puts that twosome in quite a different category, methinks. No, much as I love the concept of the iPad, I do not see hardcore notebook and netbook users dumping their usual tech weapons of choice in its favour.
Where I do see the iPad blowing a hole is in the gaming and e-book reader segment. If the iPod touch made a big dent in the portable gaming market with its easy to download and use game system, I have a sneaky feeling that the iPad might just create a few headaches for larger consoles. Yes, it might sound strange to be comparing what is essentially a large iPod touch with the likes of the Xbox 360, the PS3 and the Wii, but consider the facts – you get a lovely large screen which does not hog the room and can be easily carried, controls are simpler, graphics are not too bad and just about every title that you want is going to be there in downloadable format – no need to fiddle around with disks. Yes, I can see traditional gamers turning blue with rage at the very suggestion, but the iPad offers a lot that conventional consoles do not – ease of use, portability, and good titles at relatively low prices. Hardcore gamers might not flock to it, but a lot of fringe and on the go players just might. Yes, you won’t get the kind of high-definition graphics that you see in a PS3 or an Xbox 360 game, but on the flip side, you do not have to search around for a television to plug your console into or scuttle around for a gamepad!
As for e-book readers, the iPad is going to take them out simply because it offers so much more than a Kindle or a Nook. Yes, it costs more, but judging from what we have seen so far, it performs a lot better too, and in many more departments. The e-ink edge that Kindle claims to have is going to be nullified by the multimedia prowess of the iPad and of course, all the apps from the App Store. Android e-book readers might stand a better chance of survival, but they too will do so by focusing on their additional abilities and not just e-book reading. It is a tad sad to say it, but the iPad and its competitors might just wipe out the specialist e-book readers in the coming years.
Interestingly, the perceived shortcomings of the iPad – no Flash support, no multitasking – are not going to make a difference of the debilitating impact that iPad is going to have either on the gaming or the e-book segment!
Anyway, I don’t see people ditching their laptops for the iPad (irrespective of what Mossy and the rest say), but yes, if I were into consoles and e-books, I would either start slashing prices or getting a lot more innovative. The iPad is a killer product all right, and methinks the consoles and e-book readers are going to be its victims.
not to miss: will the OS 4.0 change the game?
http://onlygizmos.com/iphone-os-4-0-official-sneak-peak-in-3-days/2010/04/