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Posted on January 29, 2010 at 11:10 AM.

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iYiYi
by LucianoJJ

If Steve Jobs announced an Apple version of a multimedia lava lamp, I can just imagine the reaction. One-quarter of the public would buy it, one-quarter would try to copy it, and one-half would complain about it. The pending release of the iPad caused many to do their own tech inventories, and compare what they own to the tech specs of the new device. Search the internet and you will find a multitude of wish lists, lists of what the iPad lacks, what competitors could/will offer, and reasons why Apple will fail. Rather than review all of those angles, I�d prefer to list my own personal, aging/overweight/slacker/sports fan/gamer perspective. This is a blog after all.

I missed watching the Winter Classic live. The CBC broadcast was available for download via iTunes. Listening to Jim Hughson call the play-by-play was a bit of a flashback to the old NHL games, before Gary Thorne took over those announcing duties. But imagine the difficulty of following a hockey puck on a three-inch screen! As much as I like the iPod Touch, it is difficult to use it for extended periods for video. Using video output to an HD set was not satisfactory, either. The iPod Touch/iPhone video experience is best for YouTube clips. I cannot be alone on this opinion. With a larger screen, the iPad has to be an upgrade and a more useful option for anyone who chooses to access video via iTunes.

MLB.com was featured in the iPad launch extravaganza. MLB�s website is already promoting the iPad application to entice people to subscribe to their video package. For those of us who choose not to upgrade aging PCs, or having inferior video cards, the iPad may be an improvement over the current offering of streaming sports video.

An EA Sports representative took the stage and test-drove a version of Need For Speed on the iPad. EA executives must be thinking, �if we struggling to get on board with the Wii, we have to be out front on this gadget.� Games have to evolve beyond last gen ports, or oversized versions of current handheld games for the iPad to be a successful gaming device. It is possible that younger gamers who have simply outgrown the DS or the PSP will put the iPad on their holiday wish lists.

The Kindle killing potential of the iPad, and its tremendous potential for education and for journalism has to be repeated here. People who don�t own eReaders of any kind will probably try it, in the same way people who didn�t own video consoles tried the Wii. Could the iPad make downloading books as trendy as buying iTunes music? Granted, that may be too much to expect, but bookstores are about to face further competition. How long will it be until bookstores turn off wifi to keep coffee-sipping slackers from downloading books?

An executive for publisher McGraw-Hill leaked a bit of information about the device eighteen hours before the launch. How surprising that McGraw-Hill was not on the agenda with Jobs and his crew? It would be hard to confirm, but it is likely that tying in textbooks to the iPad would have been a significant selling point. Somehow making newspaper content more dynamic, beyond current web edition offerings could justify the subscription models we will see within the next couple of years. The size and form factor of the iPad makes it more compatible with the newspaper, and easier to manipulate.

The key to the launch of the initial iPad is to view it as the start of a different platform. It has elements of what currently exists in multiple bits of gadgetry. It does preserve Apple�s proprietary, closed approach. The true benefit of the iPhone and competing smart phones is the rise of the apps and widgets that transcend desktop programs. Laptops surpassed desktops, but netbooks have failed to exceed laptops. Maybe netbooks are best for the Third World market they were created for. Someone will make a better iPad, someone will make an iPad killer, and someone will pack the landfills with what we discard when this tech movement renders our gadgets obsolete.