10 Reasons Why You Can't Have an iPad Right Now
Posted 02/09/2010 at 10:36pm
| by Michael Simon
Love it or hate it, despite its lack of Flash compatibility, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with a pulse who wouldn’t relish the opportunity to spend some quality time with Apple’s latest piece of technology. So, there’s a pretty good chance Apple would have racked up a few thousand impulse buys had it offered iPad for sale following its dramatic introduction in January.
So why is Apple insisting that we wait 60 to 90 days? Let’s review:
Communications breakdown
At the bottom of every iPad page and at the conclusion of the promotional video, you’ll find the same phrase: “This device has not yet been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.” Much like the iPhone, Apple unveiled the iPad several months before its on-sale date to avoid being scooped by an FCC filing. Any telecommunications device is obligated to go through the FCC approval process, which often takes a month or so and is likely responsible for the extra 30 days of wait time tacked onto the 3G-enabled iPads.
While likely just a formality, Apple also doesn’t want to cut its target date too close to the end of the FCC process, just in case it needs to tweak any of iPad’s internals and resubmit. So, 60 to 90 days hits the sweet spot between not-too-long and not-too-short of a wait. It took us seven months to get our hands on an iPhone, so surely we can wait another 60 days.
A bug’s life
While Steve did his best to keep everything running smoothly during his big iPad demo (‘cept for those nasty blue boxes where Flash videos were supposed to be), he couldn’t hide every bug and disabled feature from the intrepid reporters invited to test-drive the new gadget. Suffice to say, the earliest iPadders found more than a few flaws in the new iPhone OS, and we’re quite sure Apple’s developers are already hard at work fine-tuning apps (particularly iBooks) and rewriting code to get everything in tip-top shape.
And tip-top is the shape it most certainly needs to be. Apple may be enjoying a spate of unparalleled success, but there's still quite a bit riding on its first truly new product in three years. From the iMac to the iPod, iPhone and now the iPad, Apple’s creations are as much about their place on Apple’s roadmap as the products themselves. Had the iPod flopped, we might not have the App Store or iPhone; if the iPad fails, who knows what we’ll miss out on.
Critical condition
Steve Jobs would like us to think he pays little mind to critics not named Walt Mossberg, but truth be told, he’s probably read as many iPad reviews as we have. And while we don’t foresee an iPad-was-my-idea ad campaign anytime soon, we have little doubt that at least some of those criticisms have planted seeds in Steve’s brain. A select few may find their way into the final shipping product and others will get shelved for future revisions, but Steve will pay close attention to our gripes and grumbles over the next 60 days. Don’t believe us? Just
shoot him an e-mail.
Though we’re pretty sure Flash won’t make the cut, 60 days is more than enough time for Steve to make some serious changes--even cosmetic ones--to the iPad prototype. Remember, back in 2007, Apple surprised would-be early iPhone adopters by tacking on two extra hours of talk time and upgrading its display to “optical-quality glass to achieve a superior level of scratch resistance and optical clarity.” But if you’re holding out for a battery or a thinner bezel, don’t set your hopes too high.
Believe the hype--it's a sequel
It hasn’t all been as positive as the viral video of Steven Colbert pulling one out of his oversized jacket pocket at the Grammys, but iPad has dominated headlines, Google Trends, Twitter and water-cooler talk, and it’s unlikely to die down anytime soon.
Apple’s new device might have fallen short of its impossible expectations, but we doubt Steve’s too concerned about all that negative press. We've already been through this with the iPhone: It’s not so much about sales as it is getting the iPad name on as many lips as possible; once people know what it is, they’ll surely want to find out what it does and how it works. And once they see one under the lights at their local Apple Store, something tells us they’ll forget all those jokes about its name.
With weeks of rumors and a few tantalizing words by Steve himself, all eyes were trained on A
pple during the days leading into the iPad introduction, as its strategic hype machine whipped the industry into a frenzy. And once Apple starts sending out e-mail notifications that the iPad’s ready for pre-order, it’s sure to start all over again.
Third-party time
Since the App Store changed the face of the iPhone as we knew it, Steve knows the success of the iPad is inexorably tied to its developers. Sure, Photos and iWork are nice, but Apple has left the creation of the first killer app to one of its third-party developers. So it’s only fair that they get some time to do it.
Apple wasted little time getting the iPhone SDK 3.2 into the hands of their developers, who in turn wasted little time celebrating the iPad’s potential. Even before the United Kingdom’s Northern Film & Media launched a 40,000-pound iPad investment fund, Omni Group promised to bring all five of its popular productivity apps to the new tablet; Firemint divulged that an iPad-style version of Flight Control had actually been in development before the gadget even landed; and ex-Facebook app developer Joe Hewitt could hardly contain himself: “Seriously, if you're a developer and you're not thinking about how your app could work better on the iPad and its descendants, you deserve to get left behind.”
Simply put, iPad is only as strong as its weakest app. By getting the SDK into developers’ hands a full two months ahead of iPad’s launch, Steve’s hoping his investment in strong is handsomely rewarded.
Read between the lines
You can argue that Apple would have been better off recycling the “iBook” name for the device rather than its e-book store, but it’s hard to argue that iPad’s reading experience is by and large the tablet’s most compelling feature. With a built-in store, virtual page turning and a promise that titles will be priced “the same” as the Kindle, Apple clearly intends to hit the ground running with iBooks.
There’s just one small problem: It’s not quite ready for prime time. When eager journalists launched the iBooks app on those first prototype iPads, they were met with a padlocked store and a sparse bookshelf containing just 17 titles; add an unworkable search field to the mix, and you’re looking at a long road to completion.
Apple’s already won its first battle with Amazon--the dot-com giant opted to “capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms” of higher e-book pricing, presumably after Apple applied some pressure to the publisher--but there’s a major war looming once the iPad lands on shelves. And you can rest assured that the iPad and iBooks will be locked, loaded and ready for the fight when these 60 days are up.
Fantastic 4G
It only took about a week after the iPad introduction for speculation to resume regarding the next generation of the iPhone, sparked by the
purported discovery of an early image of the handset. iPhone has followed a predictable early June upgrade path, but with all iPad models expected to shipping by May 1, Apple might tweak that schedule this year.
After spending a few minutes with the iPad, we can’t help but notice the potential for synergy with its little brother. From file sharing to photo beaming, we think Apple’s got some tricks up its sleeve for the new iPhone that’ll make it virtually inseparable from its taller twin.
At a closed Town Hall meeting late lat month, Macrumors.com reports, Steve Jobs uncharacteristically talked tough about the 2010 iPhone 4G release, calling it an “A+ update” designed to keep Android developers on their heels and promised “aggressive updates” to the iPhone that will leave competitors in its dust. With some 60 days until the first iPads begin appearing in stores, Apple’s iPhone team has more than enough time to perfect its new device as the ultimate accessory to its new tablet.
Fab 4
With no killer app to speak of, the iPad’s reception has been lukewarm at best, with detractors picking on its lack of camera, multi-tasking and Flash support. Now, we’re not expecting to see a camera until at least next year--and if you’re holding out for Flash, you should probably look elsewhere--but we also don’t think the version of iPad Apple showed us is complete.
We weren’t surprised to see iPad running a version of the iPhone OS instead of OS X proper, but Apple’s decision to incrementally update OS 3 piqued our curiosity. With no iPhone-specific enhancements to speak of, Apple clearly has a major iPhone software update waiting in the wings, most likely slated for a standalone press event in early spring. And we think it’s going to make iPad a whole lot better.
For starters, the elusive multi-tasking that everyone’s clamoring on about is rumored to make an appearance, and 60 days gives Apple plenty of time to fine-tune a solution that will enable apps to run in background without draining the battery or taxing the CPU. Also possibly on deck are improved gestures and synching, UI changes (many of which we’ve likely already seen on iPad) and a tactile, motion-aware interface, all of which will bring iPad to the level we expected at its launch.
It’s the economy, stupid
Apple may be navigating the recession with skill and ease, but expecting customers--even devoted ones--to drop several hundred dollars and another $30 a month on a brand new toy is a lot to ask when times are tough. But Uncle Steve cares so much about us, he’s given us three whole months to find ways to save:
1) Cutting out those daily trips to the coffee shop will save about $15 a week, or approximately $130 over 60 days, enough to splurge on a 3G model.
2) Bagging a lunch (or dinner) instead of ordering in at work will put about 200 bucks back in your pocket, even more if you include movie theaters and sporting events.
3) Stop buying scratch tickets, CDs, DVDs, magazines (except Mac|Life, of course) and candy bars, quit downloading music and movies, and unsubscribe to those “special interest” Web sites.
4) Stop going to see “Avatar.” That alone will be good enough for a keyboard dock.
5) Want a case, too? Cut back on a few premium cable channels. More storage? Cancel your underused gym membership. Flash? Save even more and buy a netbook.
Lines, lines, everywhere there’s lines
There’s no better advertisement for a hot new product than a giant, snaking line outside every Apple Store across the country. Whenever iPad is released, it’s a pretty safe bet that fans will begin camping out a few days before its sale date, piquing people’s interest without an ounce of effort from Apple’s marketing department.
And the longer Steve makes us stare at its revolving homepage gallery, the more we want the damn thing. Just wait until there’s a 10-foot one hanging in the store window.
