Yesterday’s Apple’s keynote was reminisicent of a commerical aired in the mid eighties during a Super Bowl, minus the woman with the sledge hammer.  Apple, for days had been telling the media and the public to expect something big at the Keynote, something unexpected, something that would change life as we know it.  So, the curtains were lifted and Big Brother himself appeared to present Apple’s latest creation … the iPad (I think the jokes are overdone now. So this writer will refrain from using one.)  There, Steve Jobs stood with a big brightly lit piece of slate in his hands and proudly proclaimed “I am Steve Jobs. I make fire!” 

What the iPad basically is, as you probably know by now, is an oversized iPod touch. It cannot be called a tablet, nor can it be called a netbook.  It is not a functioning computer at all, with all applications having to be from the Apple app store (it is unclear at the moment if the iPad can also be jailbroken). What will give users a headache and is not being openly stated by Apple is that all music, videos and bookson the iPad must be purchased from the iTunes store.  There is also no longer any “Authorized Reseller” business either, you MUST buy an iPad from an Apple Store or order it online.  Also, despite it’s name, the iPad is not a pad at all.  There is no electronic pen with which you can jot down notes with. You simply use the on screen keyboard if you want to send a message or take a note.  Buyer beware,  touchscreen does not necessarily mean tablet.

While, with the iTouch you could connect to your own wireless internet; with the iPad, it appears you will have to pay a monthly fee for the internet service from AT&T. More corporate control.

This whole idea is a farce, but it will likely sell, thanks to to the committed members of the Apple cult.  When Steve Jobs bought Pixar, he told members of the small production company “let’s be pirates”.  Well,  the people at Apple are being pirates; corporate pirates.  For most of the last decade, Apple was a company about innovation and making good durable products — I wonder if the same thing can be said about it now.  The iPad is a unfortunate testament to the fact that Apple has sold out.  It appears to be poorly designed with very few improvements from the smaller iPod touch, other than the fact that you can read books (but even this could’ve been done with an app on the iTouch).  What is even more disheartening, again, is that Apple has commericalized the product, making sure that the iPad is a constnat source of income for them and AT&T.  Innovation seems to have taken a backseat to making money.

I still like Apple products, and to be fair, I have not even tried the iPad: it may be genuinely good.  But what is concerning, is what appears to be Apple’s slow move to total corporate control.

Information on iPad from: http://www.newsweek.com/ID/232792

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