So Apple finally announced it’s latest gadget – the iPad. Possibly the most-eagerly awaited tablet since Moses was on the scene (© All today’s newspapers), the iPad is – in layman’s terms – an VERY BIG iPhone… but without the phone bit.
It’s a touchscreen device for reading books, surfing the web, emailing, playing games, watching videos, listening to music etc. So, 90 per cent of what the majority of us do on a laptop for entertainment basically.
Prices start at $499 for a Wifi-only model, with higher-priced versions also coming with 3G abilities too.
Sounds like a good deal, an interesting addition to the gadget world; so why are some geeks up in arms?
Well, the iPad runs a version of iPhone OS, that is the operating system that runs everything – think of Windows on a PC – and, like the iPhone, the iPad will only run applications downloaded through the iTunes App Store.
That is, every single application will have been tested and approved by Apple – unlike, say, a computer where a user can buy and install applications for a multitude of sources.
Certain sections of the geek world don’t like this level of control, they prefer “open platforms”, another way of saying they want to be able to control every single aspect of their computer.
That’s fine but the iPad isn’t a computer. It’s an appliance.
That’s the difference between geeks and Joe Public (broad-brush stereotypes on both sides but go with it for now). Geeks think they should be “allowed” complete and unfettered access to every single gadget that comes in their direction.
Joe Public? Couldn’t care less… Does the thing work? Does it do what they want? Is the price right? Super… I’ll have one of those then please.
A computer is like a blank canvas – it can be configured to do anything the owner/user wants it to. From editing videos to writing HTML, producing accounts to entertaining “the world”.
An appliance does one or more jobs – and does them bloody well. Think toaster, think oven, think fridge. We don’t expect to be able to make changes to the way our toaster works – we buy it to do the job it was designed to do.
The iPad isn’t a computer. It’s an appliance.
And we want one. Now.
