Apple iPad - questions to consider before buying one.

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the introduction of Apple’s iPad in early April, but will it deliver on its promise? And what exactly is that promise anyway? Steve Jobs made it look great, but the actual demonstration was a very well orchestrated event and you really didn’t get a decent look at the product – so let’s take a peek at the actual beast!

Touchpad Keyboard – is it better than the iPhone?

For the simplest of reasons, yes – it’s larger which means there is more space thus it makes typing that much easier. You’re still not going to write a 500,000 word novel on it, but it should suffice for emails, texting and tweeting.

In addition to this you can connect to a Bluetooth keyboard, or be able to use a dock that has a built in keyboard.

Will it be able to run all the apps available for the iPhone?

Yes – well mostly – it will upscale most iPhone apps to fit on the larger iPad screen (or to be viewed in an iPhone size mini screen), but it is my guess that most apps will have a iPad version at some point – this assumes that the iPad is as popular as the iPhone. The iPad has a larger screen and a better user interface, so it will be interesting to see if developers use the added functionality of the iPad, or simply adjust their existing software to ‘fit’ the iPad.

What doesn’t the iPad do?

This is one of the largest talking points on the web, and one of which Dell has seized upon. The iPad does not have a camera, does not support Adobe’s Flash and only Apple programs can run in the background. Furthermore, there is no USB port or memory-card slot; this is surprising as most mini computers and competitors have some form of USB/ and or memory card support.

There also is not direct printing support, so you’ll have to export files and print them on your PC or Apple Mac.

There’s no doubt that when Dell introduce their competitor, it will feature all of these.

What about the price?

Well you can get an iPad for $499 with 16GB storage and no 3G broadband, going up to $829 for 64GB of storage and AT&T 3G – for me this could be a mistake – some of the mini-computers, priced around $500 have Windows 7, wireless network capabilities and the ability to download kindle books; as they are essentially min laptops that allow you to use 3^rd party software, browse the internet and check email, Facebook, twitter etc, then Apple may face some stiff competition, especially from the likes of Dell who are introducing a competitor to the iPad.

Can the iPad run Windows?

The iPad isn’t slated to run Windows, but there are a whole host of companies that are designing ‘slate’ computers that will run Windows – HP already have a touch screen PC, so there’s no doubt that competitors who will introduce a device that is similar to the iPad but uses Windows – some have even suggested that the next version of the Kindle will feature Windows 7.

Can I throw my PC or Laptop away now?

No – like the mini-computers that are becoming more prevalent, the iPad is really designed to be a secondary computer used for reading books, checking email and surfing the web – it will not run top-of-the –range software. It has less storage space and will be a lot slower than most modern PCs or Laptops.

It’s probably going to be a great machine for travelling though.

Will the iPad replace the netbook?

It’s probably down to personal preference, but it’s likely that the netbook will be more powerful than the iPad and will probably have better functionality – the key to the iPad is its ease of use and Apple will be hoping that they continue to attract sales from iPod owners in the same way that sales of the Mac have benefited.

The iPad will probably be better for things like Video, but then most people already have an iPod that is more than capable in this area.

Will the iPad replace the Kindle?

Apple already compared the iPad against the Kindle with their tongue-in-cheek thanks to Amazon. The iPad will be a good alternative, with more multi-media usage than the Kindle, but don’t expect Amazon to give up that easily. There’s no doubt that Amazon are already working on something to compete with the iPad and there are already a lot of rumors about a link with Windows 7. Amazon already has a large user base and a large collection of books so it’s going to be hard for the iPad to completely eliminate it.

The advantage that the iPad currently has is that it is more of a multi-media reader – so you’ll get full color books and magazines - so Amazon does have some catch-up to do.

So is it worth buying one?

My best guess is that you should wait a year – there’s no doubt that the first iPad will have a lot of problems and over time Apple will release updates and eventually come out with an iPad 2.0. Also, there’s a lot of competition out there; Dell, HP, Lenova, Toshiba already are in the netbook market, it won’t take long for them to make a keyboard-less netbook that will compete with the iPad.

I would also expect a Google Droid Plus or some other Google gadget so until the market really develops and matures I’d wait and see how it turns out…