heute:pop:blog.  

I had the iPad since its release in the States so I had some time to play around with it. One thing that has to be said is that there still aren’t that many great apps but this isn’t the devices fault. It’s my fault for buying it so early. Also, the fact that I can’t buy apps on the iPad with my UK iTunes account is inconvenient. I have to buy the apps in iTunes on my mac and then sync them over which really disturbs the experience. Those issues will work themselves out over the next few months.

The biggest criticism for the iPad seems to be the fact that it’s hard to say what its purpose is. “The iPad is just a big iPod Touch” I hear a lot. And this couldn’t be truer. And this is why it’s so great.

The size of the device is what makes it so valuable for the media and entertainment space. Even though functionality on the iPad might be something we have already seen on the iPhone and iPod Touch it feels very much different just because the device is bigger. Consuming media on a bigger interface doesn’t only decrease the amount of scrolling or page turning but changes the overall experience. Everyone who tried to read a book on the iPhone will know what I’m talking about. It works fine but reading a book on the bigger device is actually pleasant whereby reading longs texts on the smaller screen means endless scrolling so you spend more time interacting with the device as oppose to taking in the text.

Another example: I normally use kayak for my flight planning and they have released an iPad app early on. The big app does exactly what the iPhone app does but the overall result is very much different just due to the amount of information displayed at the same time.

The lack of additional functionality on the iPad is not a weakness but a strength. And if you ask yourself whether you need one: no, you don’t. But you want one if you like to consume media and entertainment digitally.