Why iWant an iPad

At first inspection, Apple’s iPad was underwhelming for me, almost lazy. Here’s an over sized iPhone that can’t make phone calls, doesn’t have a camera and will make me look crazy when I stick headphones into it.

But after watching the announcement and a hands-on demo, then reading the developer documentation, I believe this tablet could be my next — and only — computer. Since 2002 I’ve used a notebook as my sole machine (I’m on my third one.), and I’ve noticed two things over the years: my screen sizes get smaller and I don’t use all of the ports.

Now, full disclosure: when it comes to computers, I’m kind of a big deal. Friends and family call for advice, recommendations and help with their machines. In almost every case, questions fall into one of two categories: How do I…? and Why does it…? Many of the same people have iPhones (the rest want one), but I rarely hear a word about them.

So I don’t think it’s a mistake that Apple went with the iPhone OS over the Mac OS for their tablet. I think it was a well-thought out decision. For all of the ease-of-use claims Apple makes comparing the Macintosh to Microsoft Windows, the reality is that computers are hard. Folks think the blue E is, in fact, the Internet. And for some, saving a file can cause a panic attack if it didn’t wind up in the Documents folder.

Do not get me started on email.

But with the iPhone, I hand it to my father and from Zero he can figure it out. The web browser is obvious. The email client is obvious. It doesn’t run slower over time. You can’t get lost. Even for me, whose “main gun” is a 13-inch MacBook Pro (that is also running Windows and Linux), the iPad is a perfect secondary machine for true portability. Now imagine this kind of headache-free solution for the largest segment of consumers who purchase desktop and notebook computers: those who really don’t need a them.

Example, my father has a Windows desktop computer. Ninety percent of what he does takes place inside the Firefox web browser. The other 10% is background music that plays from iTunes. Total cost for said machine: just north of $1200. A fully-equipped iPad is priced at $829 and he can use it as his primary computer.

If nothing else, the iPad is an evolutionary (not revolutionary) product. One that align the industry and help define what the tablet computing experience should be — task-oriented without regard for the underlying system supporting it.