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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Tomorrow morning, Apple's iPad goes on sale. Today is then perhaps a good time for assessing my last three months of prognostications about the tablet. I have not exactly been iPad's biggest fan, and I'll admit some of that trepidation is reaction to my journalist peers going so gaga over the device -- pretty much sight unseen.
Earlier today at BoingBoing, Cory Doctorow wrote: "I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who'll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff." I agree.
Altimeter Group's Michael Gartenberg didn't. He tweeted: "I think that the press is all over the #iPad because it's a genuinely interesting product. Period." I responded: "Until this week, 'generally interesting' was just hype. I hope iPad succeeds, but, seriously, trade that Kool-Aid for Diet Coke." His retort: "Use one for a few hours and then we'll talk
"*Mine: "That's a very reasonable response. Had iPad v1 shipped with WebCam and 128GB storage, I almost certainly would have preordered."
Now it's time to open my past iPad prognostications to microscopic inspection. I won't be super hard on myself, so that you can have your fun in comments.
1) In late December I asked: "Are Apple stock price gains the reason for recent tablet rumors?"*Absolutely they were, I assert, and they continue to be as I expressed in last week's posts: "Be smart, don't buy into the iPad hype" and "Of course media bias favors Apple." Apple's share price has consistently risen with the degree of iPad hype. The stock reached a new 52-week high today, $238.73, before closing at $235.97. Share price is up from $192.06 in late January and $112.71 a year ago.
2) Early January post "The world doesn't need an Apple tablet, or any other" stirred up lots of heated discussion. I stand by my reasons, among them the functionality overlap of smartphones below and laptops above. The New York Times is an interesting authority questioning iPad's consumer appeal, considering the publisher has a prominent -- and oft-touted -- iPad application. From today's story, "Doing the iPad Math --*Utility*+ Price + Desire":
3) My January post "12 reasons why I won't buy an iPad" stirred up Betanews readers to comment. I now have a companion in iPad crime. Today at BoingBoing,*Cory Doctorow posted: "Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)." Hell, that reads like one of my snarky headlines. Doctorow sees iPad as more suitable for general consumers than computer*aficionados*and packing unwanted usage restraints, like DRM that prevents sharing of content like comic books. From the post:
Over at Fast Company,
Tomorrow morning, Apple's iPad goes on sale. Today is then perhaps a good time for assessing my last three months of prognostications about the tablet. I have not exactly been iPad's biggest fan, and I'll admit some of that trepidation is reaction to my journalist peers going so gaga over the device -- pretty much sight unseen.
Earlier today at BoingBoing, Cory Doctorow wrote: "I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who'll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff." I agree.
Altimeter Group's Michael Gartenberg didn't. He tweeted: "I think that the press is all over the #iPad because it's a genuinely interesting product. Period." I responded: "Until this week, 'generally interesting' was just hype. I hope iPad succeeds, but, seriously, trade that Kool-Aid for Diet Coke." His retort: "Use one for a few hours and then we'll talk
"*Mine: "That's a very reasonable response. Had iPad v1 shipped with WebCam and 128GB storage, I almost certainly would have preordered."Now it's time to open my past iPad prognostications to microscopic inspection. I won't be super hard on myself, so that you can have your fun in comments.
1) In late December I asked: "Are Apple stock price gains the reason for recent tablet rumors?"*Absolutely they were, I assert, and they continue to be as I expressed in last week's posts: "Be smart, don't buy into the iPad hype" and "Of course media bias favors Apple." Apple's share price has consistently risen with the degree of iPad hype. The stock reached a new 52-week high today, $238.73, before closing at $235.97. Share price is up from $192.06 in late January and $112.71 a year ago.
2) Early January post "The world doesn't need an Apple tablet, or any other" stirred up lots of heated discussion. I stand by my reasons, among them the functionality overlap of smartphones below and laptops above. The New York Times is an interesting authority questioning iPad's consumer appeal, considering the publisher has a prominent -- and oft-touted -- iPad application. From today's story, "Doing the iPad Math --*Utility*+ Price + Desire":
Many consumers do not understand the device's purpose, who would want to pay $500 or more for it and why anyone would need another gadget on top of a computer and smartphone. After all, phones are performing an ever-expanding range of functions, as Apple points out in its many iPhone commercials.
David Pogue expressed similar reservations in his complex*iPad review for the Times.3) My January post "12 reasons why I won't buy an iPad" stirred up Betanews readers to comment. I now have a companion in iPad crime. Today at BoingBoing,*Cory Doctorow posted: "Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)." Hell, that reads like one of my snarky headlines. Doctorow sees iPad as more suitable for general consumers than computer*aficionados*and packing unwanted usage restraints, like DRM that prevents sharing of content like comic books. From the post:
The real issue isn't the capabilities of the piece of plastic you unwrap today, but the technical and social infrastructure that accompanies it.
- If you want to live in the creative universe where anyone with a cool idea can make it and give it to you to run on your hardware, the iPad isn't for you.
- If you want to live in the fair world where you get to keep (or give away) the stuff you buy, the iPad isn't for you.
- If you want to write code for a platform where the only thing that determines whether you're going to succeed with it is whether your audience loves it, the iPad isn't for you.
Over at Fast Company,