Anikto LLC

Impressions of the iPad

I’ve had the iPad a full week now. I’ve loaded it up with photos and music, installed about a gazillion apps and taken it on the road a bit. I feel reasonably qualified to provide a baseline analysis of the device and its potential impact on lifestyle technology. Summary: it’s a game changer, but a subtle one.

Form Factor

Immediately out of the box, the iPad feels heavy compared to expectations. That said, I have been known to carry up to three laptops and two Blackberry devices on my various travels. The addition of the iPad effectively lessens my burden by one laptop (and perhaps two), so the overall net gain is measurable.

The controls are similar to such devices as the iPhone and iPod Touch. The device does feel a bit brittle, so I splurged on a Belkin silicon grip sleeve and an Incase protective cover.

User Interface

This is an area where Apple has always excelled. The “swipe motion” haptic interface is intuitive and responsive. It’s easy to flip around and punch the Home button to quickly get a sense of orientation. Initial reports on the use of Voiceover, the built-in screen reader, appear to be very positive.

The four default icons at the bottom of the screen leave little doubt as to the iPad’s intended use: browsing, checking email, looking at photos and viewing media. The display is beautiful and easily customiziable. Smudges can be wiped away with a chamois cloth.

Apps/Features

Getting online is a snap, even without the 3G data plan; you simply locate a wireless network in the Settings and connect. The default browser is Safari, which is fine for the time being (more on that in a bit).

The iPad links directly to the App Store, where apps are helpfully classified in a number of categories. Some of the available apps are merely iPhone versions until their iPad-compatible counterparts are released. I immediately downloaded news apps for NPR, the Wall Street Journal, NY Times and BBC News.

Some apps provide geo-expanded services from your current location, such as Urbanspoon (locating restaurants in your proximity), Kayak (travel services), Beat the Traffic, Weather Channel and Yellowbook (IYP local search). After trying a number of Twitter clients I finally settled on Twittelator.

Because I plan to use the iPad as a presentation device, I downloaded Keynote for $9.99. I used it for a client presentation this past Thursday and it worked fantastically, both for a 1-on-1 session (where I invited the client to hold the device and swipe through the slides herself) and for a larger group. The VGA adapter I bought allows for projecting of Keynote presentations on a screen, which you then control by tapping the arrow displays on the iPad.

For general productivity, I’m finding GoodReader to be one of the better apps for reading literally any form of content (images, docs, PDFs and videos). Although pricy, the iPad version of OmniGraffle is very impressive and Popplet appears to be a terrific mindmapping tool. AppAdvice is a nice roundup of current apps with accompanying reviews.

Synchronization

The iPad uses iTunes as its point of centralization, which is a strange enough concept without the clunky sync mechanism that stands as the iPad’s biggest drawback. It took me several attempts to sync my Outlook calendars, contacts and inbox with the device, and there are still occasional instances where the iPad disconnects during backup sessions. Eventually I got it all sorted and can now access all of my email accounts.

Trying to get files into the iPad requires a new approach and mindset to file management. This is the biggest change I see with the way people currently use personal computers. Since the release of Windows 95, users have always thought of digital workflow from the point of view that “these are my files and I keep them in a folder called My Documents.” Those days appear to be waning, as we are increasingly relying on application architecture to dictate filetype compatibility.

Case in point: I wanted to add a video to a Keynote presentation, but I couldn’t move it into iPad as an independent artifact. I had to either import it through GoodReader (thus limiting its view solely to that app) or place the file in my laptop Pictures folder and sync it through iTunes. Even after that, I couldn’t do a proper import the way I normally would. There is no “saving” of files; we simply rely on the app to remember where we last left things. It’s a little disconcerting but clearly an indication of how the cloud meets the ground.

Flash Killer?

There has been much debate about how the iPad doesn’t support Flash content, and what this means for sites that rely on Flash/Flex applications to present rich media. I believe the conversation should be broadened to consider what app architecture means for the Web at large.

To me, the issue is really less about Flash vs. HTML 5 and more about app availability. I’m envisioning a digital landscape where all forms of content are delivered not through a third-party application (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), but through a standardized (yet brand-customized) vehicle designed specifically for that experience.

I could be wrong, of course, but I wonder if five years from now we’ll look back on the iPad as the first commercially relevant example of the Ubiquitous Web. Just this past week, I saw two separate articles (one in the NY Times Magazine) on the impact of “lifelogging” — the measure of data intended to cultivate and reinforce the idea of “self.” Devices like the iPad provide the inherent app architecture that enables such activities.

The iPad isn’t a Flash killer, it’s a browser killer.

Conclusion

I don’t usually buy first-generation technology products. I also don’t get entirely jazzed by “cool” devices; I’ve always been much more interested in the behavioral trends that result from digital innovation. That said, the iPad is quickly becoming my new best friend.

Buying an iPad won’t replace your phone and it won’t replace your laptop. So what is it? The reality is that the iPad is an ancillary device to both of those tools. It’s not quite robust enough to offer true productivity, but it beats the form factor limitations of most smartphones. I can see myself bringing the iPad to meetings and events where I would have previously brought a presentation laptop. (I’d love to see an iPad-compatible digital remote brought to market soon).

John Maeda once wrote about the importance of simplicity in technology, recalling an example culled from Japanese restaurant etiquette. Diners who experience what Maeda calls “menu stress” have the option of something called omakase (oh-maw-kaw-say), which translates roughly to “I leave it up to the chef.” Today’s digital aficionados just want to get stuff done with as few barriers as possible, and the design principles of the iPad strike me as a movement in that direction.

At the same time, I’m in agreement with Everything Is Misccellaneous author David Weinberger when he states, “The implicit can betray our real interests and way of thinking. The line between the implicit and the explicit is drawn by purpose and thus by what matters to us.” The producers of an iPad app that provides geo-proximal services recognize that it’s in the delivery of content in context where consumer value resides. You can show me a map of all the great pizza restaurants in Dallas, but if I’m located in Connecticut that’s not much use to me. Thus defines the business challenge for the next generation of software development companies.

So yes, the iPad is a cool device and will help me pass the time while I’m on a plane. That said, I’m most intrigued by what effect this will have on the digital landscape, as well as how various media and commerce streams converge going forward. As usual, the future is faster than the past.