Ooh… iPad discussion.
Aight, here’s my take, and forgive me in advance for sounding a bit the Apple fanboy.
Multi-task: As has been mentioned, it does multi-task under the hood. Also, it doesn’t need to multi-task at much as your standard graphic UI OS. While I’d like to see a bit more multi-tasking (on both iPad and iPhone) the way you’re allowed to switch between applications without ‘losing your place’ is damn near what we do on other OSs anyways. Allowing a few more apps to run in the background would be nice but from what I understand that’s just a matter of time and not much of it.
Printing and connectivity: Keeping in mind that a) the iPad OS is in it’s infancy for that sort of plateform and b) we are rapidly moving away from physical connections for standard usage, it isn’t too far fetched to assume that most data transfers will soon be done wirelessly. More and more peripherals are relying on Wi-fi instead (or in addition) to wires so it’s safe to assume that as such devices like Android phones, iPads and iPhones become more popular, peripheral manufacturers will be creating the necessary devices and software to have their products be usable by such devices. Finally, the iPad helps reduce paper usage, so I’m not surprised Apple didn’t trip over itself to make it print-friendly.
Target demographic A - home users: We’re slowly moving away from the paradigm where people who own computers are computer people who do computer things and more towards a reality where people want devices that do specific tasks or group of tasks. The majority of today’s users don’t want to tear their boxes apart, overclock processors, fiddle with their OSs, etc. They want to collect and share photos and texts, watch movies, send/receive emails, play games, listen to music, etc. A whole bunch of lifestyle stuff. They want it to be easy, not require an extra degree, demand minimum maintenance and if it can not require a room of their house/apartment to be dedicated to it, all the better.
Target demographic B - office users: This is more insidious but no less true; the iPad has amazing potential as an office computer. Not for developers or rendering farms or what have you, but for cubicle drones, customer service, sales representatives, etc. Being able to not only bring a note-taking device with you to see customers or in meeting but instead your whole fraking workstation, connected to your office servers or what have you at all times is a game changer for productivity. “Johnson, do you have those sales numbers?” “Oh, I forgot them on my computer.” “Why didn’t you just bring it here?” Simply put, a meeting isn’t just about planning work, it becomes about DOING work. On the spot. Custom apps to fulfill industry specific needs and companies specializing in coming up with those apps and how best to meet those needs are going to start popping up if they haven’t already. This is without mentioning how a device that requires so little maintenance will affect companies’ IT needs.
This doesn’t just apply to the iPad. But the same way iPods and iPhones didn’t just take a purpose and expended upon it, the iPad will do the same. Right now it looks like just a netbook substitute, but when the iPod came out it looked like an overpriced MP3 player. If we’re lucky, in the years to come we’ll have a few healthy competitors to the iPad. Regardless though, what looks like a gadget right now, I believe, is actually an important game changer.
