GearWERKZ TechBlog

I have been silent on the iPad, at least via any of my online outlets. Warner Crocker posted some questions on Gadget Fatigue over at GottaBeMobile, and a lot of those issues point to the reasons behind my silence. It has just been so loud and so fatiguing going through all of the data available, and more so in reading through some of the comments that defy an reasoning that I can comprehend. Over the weekend, Dan Ackerman over on CNET attempted to identify and offer some alternatives to the iPad, and I finally got off my duff to enter some of my thoughts on the device. Some of this might be without context without reading the full article over on CNET and breezing through some of the comments that I was responding in opposition to, but for the most part you are ok if you just peep the thoughts below:

"These are just my own opinions:
I found the article ok in its objectivity. The writer pointed out the same issues that I have in some other posts and blogs: UMPCs (which are what the Windows-based tablets are) have higher utility than an iPad in most cases, while an iPad will be easier to use, again, in most cases. And you, know, neither of these platforms has to be "right" or "wrong". My own opinion is that, "no", running background apps and presenting alerts is not equivalent to the definition of "multitasking" that I associate with a full OS (I have used different variations of Windows, OS X, and LINUX) or the some other mobile OS'. Windows Mobile and WebOS both offer multi-tasking in mobile OS' that present more utility to me as a user, while I concurrently admit that for some users, the iPhone OS' background alerts might be sufficient.

UMPCs have been around for a while, and they have been useful for some group of users. I, personally, am not going to define a device's success by number of sales. While I understand the need to use this metric as a yardstick by stock buyers and financial analysts, it is immaterial to me as an individual user. The iPhone has sold millions, but I found it a bad fit for my needs and had the cellular service stopped an now jsut use it as iPod Touch. I just need to know if a device is the right fit for me, and then I have to determine if a device is the right fit for the users who sometimes ask me for advice. For some of them, I am going to recommend an iPad, for some of them I won't. For all of them, I will point out the alternatives available on either side of the fence regardless, because I feel people should not make their gadget-buying decisions in a vacuum.

For Microsoft and PC makers, my one item of concern is that they are taking the UMPC spec, building new devices to that spec, re-labeling them Tablets, and in some cases positioning them through marketing as iPad competitors/killers. I am not sure this is the right approach. UMPCs have a high degree of utility, but are not good fits for the average user. In my own testing, I know that I can do a lot more on a UMPC, but I know it takes me longer and takes more patience to do certain activities than it would on an iPhone or on a netbook or larger PC.Ditto for Windows Mobile, where I feel I can do more, but certain activities take me longer (like navigating my web-browser), than certain activities used to take me on my iPhone,. But I've stuck with Windows Mobile for one of my smartphones and abandoned my iPhone because being able to do more was mosre important to me than being able to do fewer things more quickly. I've owned three UMPCs, and I continue to use them because they give me high utility in an extremely mobile platform.

In researching my own alternatives to an iPad, I am looking at devices with 7" to 10" screens with OS' lighter than Windows XP/Vista/7. In some cases I am looking for higher utility than an iPhone-like OS and Windows-compatibility (so I have looked at some WindowsCE and Windows Mobile devices), in some cases I have looked at ease of use (in Android or re-skinned versions of LINUX).

The iPad will probably, in my opinion, be a good fit for lots of users. It won't be for me. One major reason being that I insist that a device in this form-factor and occupying this use-space for my own needs be one that I can pick up off a table and write a note on, or be on a phone and write messages or notes from the phone-call on, so digital inking is a requirement. Again, this is just for me. I understand some people will maybe use the iPad in these scenarios and I guess type their notes (a usage scenario I attempted to use my iPhone for and eventually determined was not a good fit for me and abandoned) or tap o the screen one-handed while on the phone (or use a headset and type with both).

As for this comment thread and others on the iPad, I guess I am more interested in hearing how people evaluate their own usage-scenarios and how they project the iPad will fit or not fit them and how well. I am less concerned with hearing people attempt to summarily declare that their definition of usage scenarios defines the rest of the tech-using world, and therefore is an unquestionable yardstick of the iPad's potential success or failure. People say that UMPCs, and in an adjacent market, TabletPCs, have been failures. But certain companies continue to keep them in their product line-up. While those devices may not be their product-line leaders, I suspect that they have some rationale for maintaining production, through several iterations of a given model-line in some cases, other than just occupying another market-space. I am guessing that it is because they have found sufficient sales in a, granted, niche market, to support the number of units they have chosen to build each year. No one of these tablet alternatives to the iPad is likely going to be market leader in and of itself due to the extreme dilution of the market we are likely to see with the sheer number of different device produced. But the iPad itself, and some of these alternatives are going to be good for the different striations of users that exist. I personally am more interested to hear who these different types of users are, how they plan on employing a tablet device, and which device they think will fit them best. Sorry for the long post, and I have enjoyed reading the comments of everyone else.
- Z..>>"