iPad - Stemming the Flow of Complaints

I'm quite amazed at the whiplash from the tech-heads and geeks around the iPad.

Is the name unfortunate?  Yes.

Does it do everything under the sun?  Hell no and thank god!

Will it be a game changer?  Yes.  No question.

But, Sean, "It's just a large iTouch!!!" 

I hear this over and over.  In fact, I predicted it would be a large iTouch.

So here's what I say back to all the geeks.

"Boo Hoo."

Because what people are really saying when they complain about this is "I wanted something new that was alien and inconceivable."

"I wanted to be surprised more!"

The iPhone was not alien and inconceivable.  We all knew it would be a phone and iPod with applications.

What made the iPhone so wonderful was the focus on design and the experience of using it.

I believe and predict that the iPad will be a game changer and here is why.

It is what we all needed and the industry was waiting for.

But no one had ever produced it.

Amazon came close with the Kindle.  But it failed to allow for further innovation by third parties out of the box.

Amazon also failed miserably with rolling out their device internationally.

Let's also keep in mind that the publishing industry is in need of some serious innovation here.

The content industry is still reeling from the financial shocks they have had to endure. 

And to date there has been no easy way for traditional publishers to reach a global audience while also adding unique value.

With the kindle, every publisher is the same.

This is assuming publishers don't make the same mistake as NBC and publicly state they will never be on iTunes (which NBC then had to take back many years and lots of missed dollars later).

The iPad will see a global increase in purchased consumption of eBooks and rich publishing content.

Will publishers make as much per title as they want?  no.  But it will drive revenue.

And yet the savviest amongst us are shouting out the perceived faults of this device as loud as they can.

So let's look at these complaints.

One of the biggest complaints is the lack of multi-tasking.  You can only run one application at a time.

Geeks are aghast.

"Boo Hoo," is all I can say back.

The average person won't care.  Nor will they care that the bevel is "large" or that there is no camera on their media reader.

Now... no flash sucks... but that's not a deal breaker.  That's just Apple being stubborn.  Again.

Here's the kicker.

The geeks clearly have their pocket protectors in a wad over this.  But mark my words, almost all of them will have one of these.  

They will all own an iPad.

Or they will go and buy a Sony Reader and we can all sympathize with their sad, poor little ebook content.

So let's assume it's just a fanatical few who are up in arms.

What will people care about?

That's easy.  The battery life, the responsiveness of the unit, and the experience of using it.  The experience being tied to the content available.

Design is a hard game.  It is a game of constant restrictions and constraints.

You can't have everything.  You have to make intelligent compromises.

Note:  you can have everything with bad design.  Tried to use an alarm clock recently with 325 functions but only 3 control buttons?  It's three years later and I still can't operate my alarm clock reliably.

Apple made the right choices.  10 hours of batter life together with a form, size and weight that is f'ing amazing.

So I believe quite strongly that the iPad will be a game changer. 

I have long stated my belief that piracy will not go away.  In fact, it will get worse.

The only solution for the publishing industry is to make their content ubiquitous to the user (digitally) and easy to purchase.  Easy, easy, easy!!

I spend quite a bit of money a month through my Apple TV because it's the highest quality HD content and it's one easy click with millions of titles at my fingertips.

But when something isn't there... hello torrent.

Remember this presentation from Sports Illustrated?

We all thought of it as science fiction.  Who in their right mind in the publishing industry would pump this kind of money into something this risky?  Only a moron looking to do a Kliavkoff. [edit: correction to name made]

Only now, the hardware exists to exactly enable this vision.

The iPad.

Sport Illustrated just has to write an app.  No hardware risks.  No crazy licensing deals.

Anyone can take their publishing vision and move it onto a platform that will have a global rollout and support.

I would like to applaud Jobs and Apple.

This larger than life iTouch may just change publishing.

Something has to.

Image source: yaunus

Comments

[paulmcenany]

Dude, have you seen my desktop? I need multi-tasking... :)

[Sean Howard]

LOL. No argument here dude.

But you will also be the first person to buy an iPad off the black market before it comes out officially. ;)

[Blair]

Great article, Sean! I totally agree with your view point. It's funny how people can slam something they haven't even touched yet.

I can't wait t get mine. :)

[Rhea]

Terrific post, Sean!

[Sean Howard]

@Blair: You gotta get in line behind me and Paul dude!!! ;)

@Rhea: Spoken by someone working in the publishing industry even! Though you guys are a bit more with it than most. ;)

[Ben Kunz]

Yes.

It's funny that most tech commentators can't see beyond the iPad 1.0. If you follow the typically product lifecycle, in two years the thing will have a web cam and cost $200. Four years out, it will be mirrored by dozens of competitors, and $99 panes of glass connected to the web will be a commodity in every schoolchild's backpack.

That, I think, is the cliched game-changer. Computers are about to get very, very simple. And frankly, that's what the world wants -- the equivalent of a TV set that you turn on with one button. I think the publishing industry has a rare opportunity to win back its subscribers, and that many unexpected industries will arise from a new, simpler windowpane for communications.

A glass pad that connects to everything, changes interface based on my modality, and (eventually in 2011 or 2012) lets me broadcast myself? If that's not design genius, I don't know what is.

[Matt Mantey]

iPad, great. For lots of reasons.

Saving or even extending the life of bloated publishers? No.

So publishers, like SI and AP, etc. are going to just skip the web site and social media things because now they can produce apps of their proprietary stuff and get people to subscribe to that? Pipe dream. They can't make a simple site today that people will go back to for free. The detail, design and experience it takes to make something this relevant and interactive is so far from their abilities on a weekly/daily basis.

And when the subscriptions don't come flooding in (how many iPads will be sold in the first 24 months - 1.5MM - so what?), they will lean on advertisers like Weber in this example to pay a premium for interactive space with 200 viewers? Weber doesn't have the ability to see that opportunity or the skill to build it. What return do they get - a PR hit about how innovative their advertising is? What's the value in that?

[Sean Howard]

First, my apologies to all for not responding sooner.

@Ben: I couldn't agree more. I'm very, very curious as to how the publishing industry views and moves on this.

@Matt: lol. Dude, I wish I could argue with you as I really, really want to see publishing survive. There are many roles they play (or have played) that are quite beneficial. That said, I've yet to see a publisher (O'Reilly aside) that hasn't screwed up the simple ability to buy a book online, let alone embrace emerging ebooks or apps. What I can say is that iPad will likely be a game changer. If they can prove that people will indeed pay for apps AND books on the same device, then Amazone will likely also follow in their lead. Oh wait. Amazon launched International access to their devices the week of the iPad announcement. And look... they finally released their SDK the same week. Crazy... they had years and couldn't seem to do that and then in one week it all happens. ;)

[Lance Puig]

"The only solution for the publishing industry is to make their content ubiquitous to the user (digitally) and easy to purchase. Easy, easy, easy!!" --- I very much agree!

Also, I hope I have the patience to wait for the next version. Since this is just version 1, I'm sure there'll be a lot of bugs to fix.

[Sean Howard]

I am 1000% sure I do NOT have such patience. I will gladly report on the bugs though to help you make it through the waiting period. ;) :)

[Daniel Rose]

Nice post. I actually liked the very last thing the most. "This larger than life iTouch may just change publishing. Something has to." How very true that is.

[Jay]

"...The average person won't care"

and

"The geeks clearly have their pocket protectors in a wad over this. But mark my words, almost all of them will have one of these"

Geeks aren't the average person and want content creation, not simply absorption.

You also applaud Apple's Big Brother system for how it deters piracy, then use the word torrent?

This article sounds biased and is contradictory.

FAIL

[Sean Howard]

Hey Jay,

I believe you used the word torrent as well.

Crazy.

And a biased post? On a blog? On a blog titled craphammer no less?

Someone call the press!!!

Dude. All blogs are biased.

Sean