iPad has arrived ! … now what?
After just a short wait in line this morning at the South Tampa Best Buy store, I finally got my hands on an iPad. Unfortunately the store had no accessories so I’m currently going commando with my lovely new tablet. Hopefully I can avoid any nasty accidents until I get some sort of protective gear.
So far the greatest advantage of the device has been the beautiful apps designed intentionally for the iPad. In particular, I really enjoy reading articles in the USA Today app. Additionally, Disney’s Toy Story storybook app is likely to quickly become a favorite of my one year old son.
Where I have been disappointed with the device is in the lousy upscaling of iPhone / iPod applications. I guess I should just thank my lucky stars that the great all-knowing turtlenecked one has allowed me to use my iPhone apps on the iPad.
This brings me to my most interesting concern with the iPad platform, Openness. So far I have to admit that I have been impressed with what Apple has allowed on the iPad.
The iPad tuned version of the Kindle app was one such pleasant surprise. My puny mortal mind can only interpret this decision by Apple in one word, aggressive. It seems as if Apple is saying, “Sure, we’ll let your boring eBook reader app on our new device, but don’t be surprised when our eBook platform makes yours an also ran.” I have been using the Kindle app for a couple months now to read while using the cardio equipment at the gym, and have really appreciated the convenience of it. I still need to poke around the iBook app a little more, but my initial impressions are pretty good from looking at the free Winnie the Pooh book.
Another interesting move by Apple was to allow the Netflix app on the platform complete with streaming video. While this could threaten the usefulness of Apple’s own video store, it also is one move that sealed the deal with me. I’m sure I’m not the only person who thought this was a dealmaker, and that may be why Apple was willing to potentially cannibalize one of their own businesses.
With the device only existing in the wild for less than 24 hours at this point, there’s really no way to know what Apple’s openness strategy will be with the iPad. I, and probably most of my fellow early adopters, hope that this is a sign of an open iPad platform that will be a place for creative and dynamic software to strive for years to come.
