Silicon Shecky

The iPad and Tablet craze is upon us. The amount of these devices out in the business world is increasing at an extreme rate. I recently got an iPad from work, and here is what I think about it.

Being in the IT Consulting field, one has to keep up on the latest fads. The iPad is the biggest of these fads right now, and I was able to have my office get me one so I could learn it and support it. Besides My office, a lot of my clients are getting these nice little devices in.

The iPad itself is a neat idea. The form factor, touch screen, and clarity of the device makes it something people want. Then there is the “it” factor, which means everyone wants one. For uses such as games, note taking, and e-mail, it works fantastic. The speed of the processor is adequate, although it does hang a bit at times. Its multiple tab web browsing ability works nicely also. I can understand why people tend to be so up on it, but like everything there is a downside.

First thing I noticed was no built in apps for PDFs or Word Documents. The ability to at least open these items so one can read them is essential for any business class device. I am not saying edit these items, cause there are pay for apps you can get that will give you a full Office suite of tools. I mean just Acrobat Reader, or an Office File Viewer is really needed.

Also, the size. I have a Samung N120 Netbook, which I loaded with Ubuntu 11.04, and it is almost the same size and weight as the iPad. Yes, the iPad is quicker to access, but the Netbook gives me a full keyboard, and with Ubuntu on it, a full office suite for no more cost than the device itself. Then there is the price difference. Most Tablets are starting at about $500 (The first gen Galaxy Tab 3G is costing less with a Verizon data contract) and that is usually for a 16GB Wi-Fi only version. Netbooks start at $250 and have at least 160GB of storage. The iPad is even more restrictive as you do not have any USB ports nor SD card slots to expand storage on it.

The downsides from my perspective are why I don’t think the iPad is a proper business solution at this point. When you have something that gives you more versatility and storage such as a Netbook, at around half the cost, you have to wonder why the iPad is doing so well. In the near future tablets like the iPad will be more business savvy, but right now, its a neat, overpriced, toy.

Ok, so Apple wants to represent the high moral ground. While this can be called commendable, the new $2 app called Puff Puff Pass is all about smoking. You can’t have it both ways Apple.

Steve Jobs recently said something along the lines of, “If you want porn, get an Android.” Jobs scoffed at the open development and that porn apps were made for the Android phones. Now don’t think of the fact that there are apps for the iPhone/iPad from Playboy, which makes the statement somewhat laughable, not to mention that you can get porn on the iPhone through the browser. Now they have allowed an app that is all about smoking. Cigarettes, Pipes, Cigars, yes smoking. I don’t know about you, but smoking is far worse than porn, as it really is a drug that is addictive and bad for you. Now add on that kids can get this app and one has to ask, “What are your morals Apple?”

I’ve gone off a bit about Apple here and there. I flat out hate the iPhone and (max)iPad. I feel they are overrated pieces of equipment. There is much more to my dislike of Apple than just that.

Back in the 80′s Apple computers were all the rage. You had the Apple II series, then the Macintosh came out. Pricing was similar to PC prices. You got bang for the buck. Then Apple went and got rid of Steve Jobs, and it went downhill. In the mean time Jobs continued on and refined his business acumen to become the CEO he is for Apple now.

While all that happened, PCs came down in price. Microsoft was the evil empire, and Apple was a nice alternative, if not a little out of most peoples price ranges. Microsoft helped Apple avoid going out of business by investing in Apple. Then the iPod came out, and all bets were off.

Now I will disclaimer this by saying flat out, I have no affiliation with any company I mention in this piece. I don’t get pre-release items to review outside of my company’s Action Pack subscription, which the company pays for.

Now that that is over with, lets continue. The iPod was a much needed item in the marketplace. It combined with iTunes worked so well initially. The iPod still does work well. iTunes became something else. A cash cow. Proprietary file formats that would not play on non-iPod mp3 players. Digital Rights Management that would lock the song into one machine. The worst was (and still is) trying to port your bought music collection to a new PC. Still people flock to it (I use eMusic and Amazon).

Then came the iPhone, and initially, I thought it was a decent idea. I still think its a good idea, but poorly implemented. It is overly restrictive, you can only put on there Apple approved apps, and it is on a network that cannot handle the data flow. The iPad is nothing more than the iPhone in larger format. Same OS, same restrictions.

Now comes the new Apple developer rules. To put in in simple terms, you cannot write something in a non-Apple approved language, and cross compile it to run natively on the iPhone and iPad. this hurts for websites especially because of Adobe Flash, which is not nor will be supported on the iPhone or iPad. How do you get away with not supporting one of the most popular web systems out there and say that you offer the best experience? Personally if I was a developer, I would just cut Apple out. Write for the Android phones, which you can set to load non-marketplace apps. The Android OS is nice, robust and can do anything that the iPhone can. Plus it will give you control back over what you do, and show Apple that it is not the be all end all.

Speaking of Apple being the be all end all, it seems that unless you kiss Jobs rear, and only write good reviews and hype, otherwise you don’t get early access to Apple stuff. If that isn’t blackmail and a way to force good reviews to get more sales early on, then I don’t know what is. Heck it sounds to me like it should be illegal, because the bad reviews seem to get buried, so the consumer is fed incomplete information.

Don’t get me wrong, the Mac is a nice machine, and one day maybe I can afford one. while its nowhere near as secure as Apple touts, it is a machine that does just work. Unfortunately, it is too darn expensive for me right now. The bang for the buck isn’t there.

Apple is heading down a major slippery slope right now. Using lawsuits to try and stifle competition, locking out developers, lying to the public, I swear I’ve heard of these things before. Oh yeah, it was the same stuff Microsoft was doing right before it got hit with an Anti-Trust lawsuit.