So you think it’s the iPad that’s missing features?

January 30th, 2010 | Published in tablet | 10 Comments

It’s amazing how many people complain about the hardware specs, but forget about the software. The iPad has the most important feature of all: usability.

Remember mobile internet before the iPhone? Nobody used it. Then along came the iPhone: technically nothing new: touch screens existed before, mobile browsers existed before.

But only the usability of the iPhone has made people start to use mobile internet. So much so that AT&T has a hard time keeping up.

Hardware features don’t matter if the usability isn’t there. And that’s where the iPad shines, just look at some of the video’s here: New Multi-touch Interactions on the Apple iPad. Again, it’s all about the software. Software is the key to ease of use. Apple has just made computing a lot easier.

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Fernando

You can find that kind of usability in the non-iPad version of iWork. They have just adapted it to multitouch, and iWork hasn't replaced Office in the Mac, so it's not just about usability. By the way, did you see him typing at any time? Do you guess why? Right! It's because it's awkward! And you're expected to type for real with it? Great usability indeed!
And from a usability and software standpoint you should expect multitasking and flash support, they're pretty basic needs these days. So, what were you saying about the usability of the iPad again?

andrej

Office is a different case because the main issue there is document exchange: people want to be able to share documents with other people and ms-office is the default. Doesn't mean people don't complain about ms-office's usability: ms-office 2007 was all about improving it's usability.

My girlfriend as an iPhone, haven't heard her once complain about the lack of flash support. Flash is just a nice to have, not a must have. I expect the iPad to be really great for watching video though, so it would be great to have flash on there. But adobe is already working on a work-around: converting flash to real iPhone OS apps. And i expect a lot of video sites to adopt html5 video tag.

Same thing about multitasking: not a biggie. Power users might want it, but casual computer users are just confused by it. Haven't heard my girlfriend complain about the lack of multitasking on her iPhone.

Regarding the keyboard, tried to write a document on the couch the other day on my laptop, really awkward. Laptop keyboards only really work well when your sitting behind a desk. I don't see why you couldn't get the same usability with a bluetooth keyboard on an iPad.

Dave

Flash unfortunately is everywhere and its a major drawback for this device. My kids have netbooks now and I could see me replacing them with an iPad.. However 90% of the websites kids go to are flash based or have major flash components.. Webkinz, Games Games, You Tube, many Facebook apps, etc. I think Jobs is foolish if he thinks he can kill flash on his own.

AFAIK, the iPhone does have multitasking but only Apple is allowed to use it.

As for using a laptop on a couch.. I've worked many days from there with the only issue being screen real estate. If i'm doing serious work I need my dual monitors.

I bought my first iPhone last week and I was really looking forward to it. However, i'm not as impressed as I thought I would be. The web browser is definitely the best I have used on a mobile phone, second being the blackberry. (Haven't tried an Android). But other than that I think its overrated.

andrej

I agree, there are a lot of kids sites that require flash, but i expect them to move to alternatives soon after the ipad has been released. The ipad is the perfect kids devices, so it's a must to have your kids software available on it.

Yesterday some stats about mobile video where released: the dutch site http://www.uitzendinggemist.nl/ is a site where you can watch tv programs you missed. They have a special app for the iPhone, as it doesn't support flash or silverlight: 66% of all mobile video streams are consumed using the iPhone app. So currently if you want to be successful in mobile, you need an iphone app more than you need flash.

andrej

I saw some hesitations, probably because of the newness. But i doubt that it's worse than the iPhone, which works really good.

Charlie Hayes

The videos I saw of people using the iPad showed everyone (including Apple employees) having a very hard time using the device.

andrej

I saw some hesitations, probably because of the newness. But i doubt that it's worse than the iPhone, which works really good.

Charlie Hayes

I disagree =/

andrej

Why?

Frits Hoogland

totally agree. I do not understand why everybody is complaining about the ipad.
it's a device which is the apple answer to e-books, like the kindle, done in the apple way: extreme usability.

Andrej Koelewijn

So you think it’s the iPad that’s missing features?

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