iPad – Apple for ‘next big thing’?
May 30th, 2010 by Heather MaloneyI’m often asked what the next big thing is going to be in the IT industry. I’ve been thinking lately about Apple’s amazing success with the iPhone and how many people who are PC users through and through (myself included) have embraced the iPhone as a must have due to how easy it is to use. I continually hear stories of pain trying to get smart phones setup to receive emails and connect to the internet; with an iPhone it’s a breeze.
Given Apple’s recent amazing successes, it struck me the ‘next big thing’ in technology is probably going to come from Apple, and perhaps that ‘next big thing’ will be the iPad. Whilst initial reviews show that there is a long way to go for the iPad to be really useful, Apple wasn’t initially successful with the iPhone either, but made changes based on user feedback.
Australians have shown themselves to be keen to take up the new technology with Apple stores around the country selling more than anticipated, with uncertainty around when new stock will arrive.
Do you have an iPad or know someone who does? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
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May 31st, 2010 at 9:09 am
Whilst I love the Apple products, I am happy to wait and assess others reactions to this new product. If it is excellent, it will be around for a while!
May 31st, 2010 at 11:07 pm
So far I have two friends with iPads. One bought it for business (he picked it up in America 6 weeks ago) and says it is the greatest thing since sliced raisin toast. The other bought it as a way of having the internet on the sofa without the awkwardness of a laptop.
I shall be interested to hear how both fare in another month or two. I suspect the business user will love it for what it does: he spends a lot of time in clients’ offices and doing small-scale presentations, and most of his work involves the web (he runs a web-design agency). But I am not so sure it is really the right device for surfing from the sofa during the commercial breaks or to look up some stats at quarter time – I think an iPhone is fine for that!
I suspect, though, that the format has a role to play, particularly in the business world for people in on-site customer-facing roles. Whether Apple will once again end up the forerunner with the elite project and only a minority market share, as with desktops and laptops, or instead repeat the iPhone success, remains to be seen.
In two years time, I would put money on it, we will see the iPad able to sync files directly with PCs and Macs, perhaps even mountable as an external hard disk. This will be possible via 3rd-party apps within six months, in the form of the iPad mounting network shares, and Apple will soon cave in on this. But I don’t think Apple will cave in on Flash (and I think this is actually going to be a good thing for the web in the long term).