Chris J. Karr, January 28th, 2010

In light of the release of the new Apple tablet device, I wanted to share a few thoughts and initial impressions. These thoughts are focused on the device as a whole – I’ll be posting more on Apple’s foray into the electronic book world later. Disclaimer: I am an AAPL shareholder and I plan to purchase at least one of these devices for research and development work when they become available.

1. I never thought that I would say this, but the biggest “WOW” factor for me is the low price. I expected the device to retail for at least 50% higher ($750+). Given that I purchased a Nokia N97 for $600 a couple of months ago, a $500 Apple tablet was a very pleasant surprise. I’m looking forward to the inevitable price reductions over the next couple years.

2. I’m disappointed that the device is essentially an iPod Touch with a larger screen. I think that Apple had a good opportunity to scale Mac OS X down to the tablet form factor to do something truly revolutionary. While a larger screen will enable new kinds of iPhone applications, these apps will remain hobbled by the limitations that Apple originally established to limit developers from exhausting batteries and overloading cellular networks (example). I would gladly trade half of the reported 10 hours of battery life in exchange for doing things like running background applications.

3. I’m very disappointed that Apple continued to use the App Store as model for developing and deploying applications to the device. I understood Apple’s justification for the approval process when it was about vetting applications to protect the wireless networks. However, by making the App Store the only channel to load applications on the device, I can no longer give Apple the benefit of the doubt with respect to the App Store and can now only conclude that it’s more interested in skimming 30% from the Apple ecosystem than it is providing a powerful platform for third-party innovation. In other words, as a third party developer, I don’t see how the App Store benefits anyone other than Apple.

4. I find the whole book-like user interface metaphor to be intriguing. I haven’t decided if this metaphor is useful and worth replicating elsewhere (like the 3-pane interface) or if it’s a hacky way of reusing existing iPhone UI components on a larger screen.

5. This device will be a stellar video player if the battery life claims are honest. I would love to have one of these loaded with a few films when I find myself traveling cross-country on the Amtrak train. In terms of video playback, my only concern is the lack of third-party codecs and having to transform existing media to push it through the iTunes filter to the device itself.

6. I think that my overall opinion of the device will pivot upon whether Apple allows competing third party applications on the device. In particular, I am watching closely whether Apple continues to allow Amazon’s Kindle & Stanza applications on the device. If Apple can suppress its monopolistic tendencies and permit Amazon to deliver an optimized Kindle client, I’ll be sold on the device. If it rejects the Kindle application on the basis that it replicates core functionality, Cupertino will have a portable incarnation of the Apple TV on their shelves.

7. I was impressed that Apple managed to port iWork to the device, but until there’s a decent editor for Microsoft Office documents, the device will remain stillborn as a tool for doing any serious word processing or spreadsheet work.

8. I’m looking forward to using the device as a peripheral display for things like home environment state and for visualizing other elements of my context & environment. I also think that will be a nice touchscreen controller for Shion.

9. I’m disappointed that Apple continues to deploy its NDA on beta versions of the development kit. I see no good justification for not allowing developers to communicate among themselves openly using third-party forums like Stack Overflow.

10. I’m disappointed that there is no built-in Micro-USB connector that can be used to connect third-party hardware and other USB peripherals. Apple continues to push people towards its proprietary dock connector and dongles.

Overall, I think that the iPad is a very mixed bag. On one hand, the device will be an exceptional media player and terminal for doing very shallow computing. On the other hand, it showcases Apple’s worst tendencies and I think that these proprietary habits may hobble the device in the same manner that Apple’s walled garden has limited the impact of the Apple TV platform. I was pleasantly surprised at the entry-level configuration’s low price. If I were not in the business of ubiquitous computing, I would probably wait to purchase one of these until I saw what happened with Amazon’s Kindle apps and other existing software that now replicates built-in iPad functionality.