What did Apple Miss on the iPad?

Apple’s much-touted iPad was launched on January 27th. Most of the must-have features we listed in the blog entry titled “5 Must-have Features For Upcoming Apple Tablet” are now part of the actual iPad feature list. But it’s not without limitations though. Below we compared which of the five features Apple has implemented in iPad and to what extend.

1. Operating System: We wrote in the older post “It will have elements from both the operating systems (Mac and iPhone) like App Store support from iPhone and run multiple applications like Mac OS X, but it will be very different from both operating systems.” Well now that we have seen the OS on the iPad, we can certainly say it’s more like iPhone than Mac OS X. However, even though iPad’s home screen looks exactly like the iPhone the difference in UI of the two devices is very imminent in applications that Apple showed on stage. There is no multitasking support for third party applications. It is likely Apple did this to offer longer battery life, which was the next feature we wrote about.
2. Longer Battery Life: We wrote “The tablet is a device that is designed to be used on the move, so if it could offer whole day use on a single charge it would make the device more useful.” We thought 8 hours battery life will be sufficient and iPad offers 10 hours, which is great. And from what we have seen in past, Apple devices normally offer quoted battery life in real world also.
3. iTunes Integration: Apple has not only brought iTunes integration on the iPad, but has also added new iBookstore for eBooks. The iPad also supports current iPhone applications and Apple has updated iPhone SDK to bring native support for applications designed specifically for iPad. As we wrote in last post “iTunes has played a big hand in success of the two devices (iPod and iPhone) and it will again play a very important role in success of Apple tablet.”
4. Wireless Sync: This is one area where we were very disappointed by Apple’s approach. We were hoping that Apple would use WiFi pairing that will allow wireless syncing between two devices via a router or directly whenever the two devices are near each other, which will keep the data up to date and offer hassle free syncing. To sync and backup data on iPad with iTunes, you will have to connect it via USB, which as we said before can be a problem for a device that is as big as iPad, if your primary computer is a small laptop like a MacBook.
5. Price: Like battery life and iTunes integration, price is one feature where Apple was right on the dot. There were rumors that Apple will price the iPad around $1,000, but just two days before the event we posted that our sources say, we will be surprised to see the price tag, which would be about half, around $500-$600. In the 5 must-have article also we wrote “Apple will need to price the tablet in $500-$600 range to gain traction in the market.” The starting price of the iPad is $499 and we believe it’s perfect for a product like iPad.

No one can predict how successful Apple iPad will be, but it looks like Apple is aiming in the right direction with the new iPad.

[Via TechzTalk]