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Besides the Name, Why Else the iMaxi Sucks

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 am by Jamie

padlock

If you recall my initial comments regarding the unfortunately dubbed iPad, despite a few personal gripes I thought that it was a solid idea. I take it all back. In my musing, I forgot that this was Apple we’re talking about. It should be called iPadLocked.

If you remember the iPhone launch, initially Steve wanted that puppy locked down. No outside apps. No dev kits. No nothing. He finally relented with the apps and released an SDK which really made the device the useful piece of technology that was promised. But to get an app on the iPhone still required Apple approval. Now while this strategy may work fine for a small portable device like an iPod or iPhone, when it comes to something that’s meant to replace netbooks and laptops, the closed system just doesn’t cut it.

The only way to get new programs for your iPad is to go through the app store which is vetted by Apple. Essentially, Apple controls the way you interact with media on their device. Now the quote “There’s no wrong way to hold it” and their entire introductory product video implies that the iPad will let you experience digital media in a manner that best fits you. This is a total lie. Sure, you can hold the fucker any which way, but you will be experiencing media in a manner that Apple dictates. Can’t change the video card. Can’t upgrade the memory to run insane things like Photoshop. Can’t put in a new battery. Nope. You get it the way Apple intended it.

Now for most, that’s perfectly fine. Most people aren’t terribly particular about how they interact with media. Show on, goood. Show off, find new show. Apple’s target market won’t give two shits that they can’t really customize their pad to fit their needs. They’ll just be happy to have the new hotness. But are the rest of us willing to let Apple dictate the way we interact and consume media?

Of course, this won’t matter a tick if the thing flops. The Cube, the Lisa, the Newton, the Air, all nifty ideas that failed to revolutionize much of anything. I think the pad is positioned to be a hit and it certainly looks pretty nifty. We’ll just have to see if there are iPhone-like lines when the thing is released, wings and all.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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13 Responses to “Besides the Name, Why Else the iMaxi Sucks”

  1. AvatarScott
    Posted: Feb 2nd, 2010 at 12:03 pm
    1

    You have doubts that lines will form of people whose only goal in life is to own the new hotness, regardless of how much sense the purchase makes? I mean, there were people in line to buy the 3GS months after they got the original 3G, willing to pay the $700 cost, just for minor OS upgrades. It doesn’t matter that this device is more of the same from Apple, a closed device for which you need Steve’s personal approval for any activity you choose to undertake. It doesn’t matter that this device aims to fill a niche that doesn’t exist. It will sell millions. Whether it sticks around after the initial buying surge is up in the air; I’m betting sales will taper off quickly, and iPad users will be relegated to a few Apple diehards and a few more that are happy with simple appliance computers with not much actual functionality.

  2. AvatarJack
    Posted: Feb 2nd, 2010 at 12:50 pm
    2

    There are other tablet PCs and alternatives that provide loads more functionality. This is merely pandering to the cult of the apple, and little else. At least until some mod jockey cracks it open and soups it up. Once Jobs sees how well it works when someone whose not paid to kiss his ass tweaks it a bit, he’s going to crack down with a mandatory firmware update at best and a lawsuit a worst. At least such was the case in the past with previous hardware, even from other companies. Still, after this, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some touch screen tablet style netbooks coming out within a year, if not sooner. And those are more likely to be more open, as well as functional.

  3. AvatarMichael M.
    Posted: Feb 2nd, 2010 at 2:12 pm
    3

    I finally realized one use I would have for this device, and it’s actually something where I could see myself purchasing it. Car computer.

    I think it has great potential there considering the size of the screen, especially for GPS. But additionally, checking email/twitter or the internet while in traffic jams would be nice. Along with plugging into the stereo system of the car to play music, or a movie (obviously not for the driver to watch.)

  4. AvatarKilmor
    Posted: Feb 2nd, 2010 at 7:21 pm
    4

    Without flash support, its dead on arrival. Some will sell, but not enough that you’ll be seeing them in every coffee shop.

  5. AvatarNodge
    Posted: Feb 2nd, 2010 at 9:03 pm
    5

    Star Trek makes me want one, but everything else about the device seems almost explicitly designed to put me off. The contracts, the store limitations, the lack of software support and hardware variance…
    Really, the only things I can think of in its’ favour is the fact its’ a recognisable interface and that it’s probably the best looking device of its’ type around. Not good enough reasons, really.

  6. AvatarSamuraiartguy
    Posted: Feb 2nd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
    6

    Hey, I knew pretty much before I went to bed on Thursday that this thing wasn’t for US. It’s aimed dead at the media-consuming mainstream computing public. CONSUMERS. Not Creative Pros, Geeks, Power Users or Wireheads. And I don’t expect it to replace Laptops and Netbooks, which will retain their place in the computing ecosystem. That slippery “in-between” spot between Smartphones and Laptops/Netbooks, they are surely staking a claim.

    As for me, I’d like pressure sensitivity. I live by my Wacom tablets, without them I’d likely be in casts up to my frakkin’ elbows from carpal tunnel.

    As for Flash. … 75% of the Web’s Video content. Not to mention games, e-commerce interfaces, most media sites, many site interfaces, and some entire sites. YouTube only works due to w custom app. But it AIN’T goona happen. Apple (read Steve) hates Flash, is on hostile terms with both Google and Adobe. Flash is not as swift, elegant and stable. Flash lets stuff IN. Apple doesn’t CONTROL Flash. And Steve sacrifices virgins to the god of Simplicity. Check out the stuff that Apple clips, that only comes back becuase Pro users HOWL. So while I love my mac, I am NOT Steve Job’s BITCH.

    I’ve come to realize over the years that there is a difference between being a Machead and an Apple Fanboy

  7. AvatarSamuraiartguy
    Posted: Feb 2nd, 2010 at 11:38 pm
    7

    @ Jack

    Google is already thinking about it.
    http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20000034-264.html

    No love lost between Google and Steve lately.

  8. AvatarJack
    Posted: Feb 3rd, 2010 at 3:49 am
    8

    Yar, but I like a little more bang for my buck. Truthfully, I like the concept of an ipod touch itself. Pocket sized, versatile, but without being able to modify and apply freeware and homebrew apps at will, I rather miss my old compaq handheld. :(

  9. AvatarScott
    Posted: Feb 3rd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
    9

    Users: Please make an e-reader, Steve.

    Steve: No one reads any more.

    Steve: Oh. Well, here’s an e-reader for you. It also browses the web! And…spreadsheets!

    Users: Thanks, Steve, but…Flash?

    Steve: Flash, eh? No one will be using Flash, it’s all going to HTML 5.

    Users:

    Steve Jobs makes devices that function the way he wants, regardless of the technology that is popular at the time. If the software isn’t tailor-made for his hardware, he doesn’t like it, and forces his users to either limp along with gimped hardware, or choose to buy other hardware that actually functions in the real world.

  10. AvatarScott
    Posted: Feb 3rd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
    10

    Dammit - forgot that brackets might not work. Well, it ruins the joke a bit, but put:

    –Kindle comes out, sells like hotcakes Holiday 2009–

    after Steve’s first line. Urgh.

  11. AvatarJeremy Dwiggins
    Posted: Feb 4th, 2010 at 2:24 am
    11

    Honestly, I can’t imagine wanting to run Photoshop on something like this. I was trained that Photoshop wants the biggest, meanest, gnarliest machine you have available to run it on, with good graphics and tons of memory. This device isn’t that. Will I want to edit photos a bit with a device like this? Sure. I just don’t /need/ PS to do it.

    I think we, the geeking-out computer user/abusers want every new thing to work for /our/ idea of “computer usefulness”… our problem is that we don’t own a multi-million dollar computer company so we can make it our way.

    Steve does. Right or wrong, /of course/ it’s gonna be what he wants. Many computer folks are complaining that it’s the 21st century and we still interact with computers with a typewriter… Steve thinks that this is a way to do something else. It won’t work for everyone.

    Interestingly, Gizmodo linked to a Fast Company “quiz” to see if you can tell the difference between comments about the iPad from last week, and comments about the original iPod in 2001. It’s funny to see how similar the complaints and concerns are. I think Apple’s the only company that could possibly get away with that /again/.

  12. AvatarAndrew
    Posted: Feb 4th, 2010 at 4:05 am
    12

    Hey Jaime,

    I only pop in every once in awhile (You’ve got style!) so I’m hesitant to stick my nose into what can obviously turn into a flamewar :P

    I find the opinions on the iPad to be rather interesting - people either love it or hate it. And it seems universal that tech-oriented people hate it. And for all the reasons you stated. It’s going to be subject to what’s likely to be the same system that limits the iPhone. The battery wont last nearly as long as the Kindle, even if it’s just use to read, and it’s not going to be capable of high end nerd tasks.

    I think the iPhone is still a fantastic device, even with its limitations. I instinctively take issue with the statement you made about the iPad being meant to replace laptops… but rationally I think you might be right about Apple’s intention.

    So where does that leave us? I think we need to change the context in which we look at the iPad. It’s meant either as a TV-side accessory that complements a full-fledged OS running on a real computer - or more likely meant for the casual consumer of internet applications. The people who use their computer to post on facebook, write blog entries from the park, and watch hulu.

    I think the real strength of the iPad will not be in its own OS and whatnot, but the partnerships that Apple would be stupid not to make. I picture them fleshing out the iTunes store with eBooks from a major publishing company to compete with Amazon; streaming movies from netflix or hulu, etc.

    How often have people asked you for help on using their operating system? I can’t count the number of times I’ve helped people debug their wifi connection, import their photos to whatever application, or any other number of tasks that as nerds, we take for granted. As far as I’m concerned, a limiting UI that’s geared towards short, basic tasks is perfect for people who don’t want, need, or even care to realize the they have the options available to them.

  13. AvatarCortharis
    Posted: Feb 4th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
    13

    I have to ask a lot of people who are pro Apple iPad this question: what’s so vastly different about the iPad that sets it appart from the iPhone?

    Because if you ask any consumer this is targeted at, the iPhone users and ebook readers (what few ebook readers there are), if they notice a big difference, they’ll probably just say screen size. Other than that, between the two of them they do the same thing, except the iPhone fits in to your pocket.

    I cannot see the same person who already owns an iPhone to want to give that up for an iPad or make that investment again. Netbook users are not going to shell out twice as much for a new netbook that has less memory, a non-changable battery and no keyboard.

    I really would like to see Apple design a proper tablet/ tablet hybrid laptop to drive that market a little bit, but the iPad just sets things back. I can’t even call this thing a halfway device because it doesn’t really set itself appart from an iPhone aside from it’s size.

    I don’t think it’s a bad thing that Apple /Steve Jobs decides to go out on a limb with his desire to creat new technology or a new experience, but at the same time it doesn’t seem like anyone steps up to Jobs and says “Look, I don’t think this is the best way to go about this. Why not try it this way, or explore it from this angle”. I don’t think Jobs has any opposition or counterbalance to his ideas or direction. And this was evident from even the title of the product.

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