Web Usability

iPad makes me a little iSad

The iPad is out of the bag and it turned out to be… a zoomed-in iPhone. Which is not iBad, it’s just a little iSad.

By building on one of the most successful devices of the last decade, iPad already got basically everything that makes the iPhone a great device (and a great success): awesome touch interface, App Store, accelerometer. Add in iBooks to make it a Kindle killer, and you are starting to look at one iRad device.

So what didn’t we get?

• No Flash – I don’t like Flash all that much either, but leaving it out of a supposedly great device for web surfing is more censoring than Google China ever was.
• No Multitasking – Aggravating, although it isn’t so much of a problem if they can get push to work properly. If Apple allowed apps to run side-by-side it would likely mean that apps would have to be compatability-tested against each other or that the development requirements for apps would have to get stricter.
• No Camera – Wow. Even the iPhone has a camera. Puzzling decision to say the least, it basically crippled an otherwise great blogging device.
• No USB – This is not as bad as it seems since you still have Bluetooth for your keyboard. And we all know how an USB port would stand out as a sore thumb against that beautiful surface… </sarcasm>

No one is betting against Apple this time either – it would be crazy given their previous successes. After all, building the technology on the iPhone brings a lot of benefits:

• Thousands of already popular apps available in App Store at launch
• A familiar, awesome interface
• A fanatic audience

So is the iPad an iFad? No, but expect the second generation of the iPad to be what it was for the iPhone – a much needed shoring up of the most glaring weaknesses.

Wanna read more about the iPad? Mashable has a great summary.

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