Stephen Adetumbi’s Blog

Over the past decade Apple has emerged as perhaps the undisputed champion of delicious technology engineering. More than this it seems to hold true that once you go “App” you won’t want to go back, because Apple products tend to maintain a high level of user satisfaction in comparison with the competition.

I love Apple’s stuff. I wrote this blog post on an Apple laptop, which I’ve had for the past 2 years and I’m almost just as satisfied now with it as when I first got it. I also own an iPhone which I also acquired 2 years ago, and for the most part I am still very happy with the technology, it has been a great source of blessing to me. Apple’s computers are the bomb, and if you regularly do your computing on something other than a Mac then you mostly likely need to switch.

Notwithstanding I haven’t bought into Apples marketing campaign strategy which seems to say, “If you don’t buy our latest product then you are an uncool miserable wretch who wears a goofy brown suit.” Here are 5 reasons why this is especially the case with me concerning Apple’s newest technology - the iPad.

1. Cheese

Shortly after the keynote speech introducing the iPad was over, I was instant messaging with a friend about Apple’s new latest and greatest. My buddy’s first response to the contagious yawn I shared with him over the release was that the name was kinda cheesy. I immediately dittoed the sentiment. I feel like Apple is getting carried away; sticking a lowercase “i” in front of any random name to make sound cool, just feels so 2005. I truly believe this is a convention Apple needs to reevaluate heading into the new decade, especially now that they’ve given to one of their most impressive pieces of hardware technology a name that could easily suit a random 3rd party freeware application that wouldn’t even be worthy of sitting on my OSX dashboard.

2. Superfluous

As I’ve mentioned before I already own an iPhone and a Macbook Pro, and between those two I have the portable means to suit all my digital needs. Steve Jobs foresaw that folks like me would grumbling along these lines so he tried to get around it by arguing that we needed something better to browse the web, do email, watch video, eBooks etc - but it didn’t work for me. The iPad pretty much is nothing more to me than a portable TV / ebook reader. Email looks far more inconvenient to do on an iPad than on a laptop or even an iPhone. Actually its the worst of both worlds. Like a laptop it has to rely on some sort of surface under it to complete the task and like a smart phone you have to bend your head over the strictly horizontal setup to get it done. Its not small enough for my portable music needs, and the list goes on. I may even argue that a laptop would better suit the traveling video needs of people like me. Say I’m traveling and watching a video with friend on a Wifi enabled plane, and while the video is playing I get an instant message from another friend. On a laptop I can just make the video window smaller, and without stopping the video I can type a quick message to my buddy telling him to leave me alone and then maximize the video window again. Its called “multitasking”, and it appears to be missing from the iPad as it has been on all of the iPhone OS releases. I’m no market prophet but still my hunch is that one day Apple’s attitude of “we don’t care, we’re going to do it our way because you can’t live without us” is going to catch up with them which brings me to my next point.

3. No Adobe Flash

Rahr! This is the point that pushes my feelings concerning the iPad’s release beyond apathy into feverish irritation since Apple is pushing it as the best web experience. Engaget posted this picture from the keynote screen during Steve Job’s demo which seems to be an omen of no Flash support.

The whole thing feels like overtly deliberate attempt at strong arming us web developers away from Flash so that the millions of future iPad owners can have a complete experience on the websites we create. But here’s a question to all those mulling the purchase of an iPad based on its web browsing capabilities: How can you have the best web browsing experience “hands down” using a browser that doesn’t support a basic technology that is found on 99% of internet enabled computers in western nations, which as a result makes this browser incapable of accessing “over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web“? Apple has been saying a lot about how the iPad is so magical, I think this to mean they invited Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and all of your favorite characters from the Magical World of Disney into iPad’s web technology committee.

4. They Forgot a Built-In iSight Cam

5. Can’t Afford One Right Now

I’m very, very happy with the fact that Apple seems to be seeking to make their technology more affordable. The iPad’s pricing is another excellent step in that direction. Yet we’re in recession right now, and in the coming months if I find myself with some extra cash I’m going to stick with some cheaper forms of entertainment that is compatible with my current digital duo (or perhaps with living people) and try to send a few extra bucks to help the folks who will be suffering in Haiti for many years to come. If you feel I’m being flamboyantly pious on this point then I invite to join in with me, the hurting people down there will certainly be thankful for whatever type of goodwill they can get — modest or ostentatious.

So there you have it. The top 5 reasons you won’t see me with an iPad anytime soon. Again I’d like to reiterate I’m still a really huge Apple fan, so I’d like to request that someone wake me up when the iPad craze is over and Apple is ready to release their next iPhone model. Good Night!