Answering James Wolcott, the iPad and micro four thirds cameras both appeal to tech savvy early adopters. That is to say both products mostly get used by people who will log onto the internet and talk about them. Take me for example. I’m nuts about my E-P1 but I would not even recommend the camera except for experienced photographers who like to travel light.
SATSQ
by Tim F| 44 Comments
This post is in: Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
gbear
(crickets chirping)
MikeJ
iPads appeal to people who hate intellectual freedom and want Steve Jobs to decide what language developers can write in. Just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West.
Wile E. Quixote
Do you think that micro 4/3rds will take off though? Does it have potential as an option for people who want something between the current crop of prosumer cameras and full on DSLRs?
BDeevDad
@MikeJ: I’d only add folks who think they are tech savvy, but actually want to pay more for someone else to set it up for them.
Violet
I think I read that they sold fewer iPads than they expected on the first day/weekend of the release. I get the impression it’s not going to be a breakthrough item, like the iPod was when it first came out. It’ll work for some people, not for others, but it’s not a “must have” for the average person at this point.
eastriver
Wolcott is right. I haven’t seen anyone peacocking with an iPad in NYC this past week. Normally you’d see a few of the trendies whipping it out just to show it off.
The only one I saw was in a publishing office. (I got to play with it for a couple of minutes. Like a big iTouch. Great resolution. But a little heavier in the hand than you’d expect.)
I suspect that many of the sales were to people who wish to market on the iPad.
Comrade Mary
Me, I’m waiting for the iTunch. He’s already a rectangular, white, high-maintenance, single-tasker. All Apple has to do is make him smaller.
Also.
Brachiator
The initial appeal of the iPad may be to early adopters, but any technology succeeds because people find it useful and easily and quickly incorporate it into their lives.
The iPhone and iPod were sexy gadgets, but are now practically everywhere (this also includes other MP3 players and smartphones). In my office, iPhones, Droids, and other types of smartphones have quietly replaced any other type of phone (and I don’t recall seeing anyone with a Blackberry).
Also, for example, I still see a few people with Walkmans and other types of CD players, but it’s much like watcing someone driving a horse-drawn buggy. Similarly, DVD players ultimately totally displaced VCRs. I know more people who use a laptop as their primary PC than a desktop. But this shift in usage has little to do with being tech savvy. And ultimately, the early adopters mainly end up just paying more to get the first versions of stuff.
As for cameras, I guess that different markets have emerged again, even in the digital age. I recall a recent photo of Obama visiting the troops. Scores of soldiers were taking pictures. Everyone was using compact cameras and cell phone cameras. The same is the case at other events. There is some interest in superzoom compact cameras (look at the rankings and reviews in amazon, etc). Serious photographers have their needs, but most other folk are looking for the digital equivalent of an Instamatic.
As an aside, I see increasing numbers of people with Kindles. They’re usually too busy just reading to get involved with discussions of their device.
Eric U.
I’d like an iTouch if it was open and cost no more than $350 or so. Jobs can keep the current version.
burnspbesq
The iPad is all that and then some.
Ah blow mah nose at you haters. Your mother was a hamsher, and your father smelt of elderberries.
Comrade Kevin
@MikeJ: zzzzzzzz
Seanly
I recently bought the 14 MP Panasonic Lumix DMC FH20. Not a lot of settings that I’ll never use and it’ll be a good little camera for the 95% of my pictures that are snapshots of my dogs. I got tired of getting the more feature rich Kodak cameras which then go bad after a year or two.
As far as ipad, I’ll wait on that a bit. Might wait to see how the HP Slate does when it comes out. My wife & I tend to end up getting the 2nd string tech. She has the Droid & loves it and I have a Zune for my music.
trollhattan
µ4/3 has captured 20% of the Japanese market and 10% of the U.K. market, in less than two years. Mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras will eventually overtake dslrs insales, once contrast-detection af catches up to phase-detection af in speed, and Canon and Nikon get off their lazy butts. I give it less than five years.
Here’s a working pro who’s convinced about µ4/3’s rosy future.
stevehuffphoto.com/2010/04/07/the-olympus-e-pl1-review-the-best-jpeg-camera-ever/
ipad, Kindle, iphone…somewhere out there is a convergence communication-productivity-media consumption device that will finally click. We haven’t seen it yet.
Brachiator
@Eric U.:
I saw a preliminary review of HP’s new tablet. The reviewer was praising it and it looked hot. It promises USB and TWO cameras and all kinds of stuff that the iPad doesn’t have. Only 3 problems.
It hasn’t been released yet.
No idea what the price will be.
No mention of apps or what stuff might be available for the thing.
Just pointless.
Competitors seemed to be stuck on the idea of tablets as laptops without keyboards. Total lack of imagination.
This is not saying that all might be smooth sailing for the iPad. Unlike the iPod, which made it easy to get music and video for a modest price, one highly pimped iPad app, newspapers and magazines, cost more than their web versions and don’t always offer additional value, as far as I can see from some online reviews.
On the other hand, real people, as opposed to reviewers, clearly find the iPad to be useful and fun. And this is the main deal.
Pigs & Spiders
I took an hour to play with the new iPad at the the 5th Avenue store yesterday with about 300 other people. While I won’t buy one because I don’t have that kind of disposable income and I already own an iPhone and a MacBook Pro, I am willing to predict that Apple will sell between 3 and 5 million iPads in the first year and that no one will come out with a truly competitive device until 2011 at the earliest. The speed of this thing is truly unfathomable given the level of processing that must be going on, and that’s without even mentioning the battery life. In 3-4 years when I replace this laptop, I’ll get a desktop and whatever version of the iPad is out then.
Unabogie
Seriously, though, Apple’s new app TOS is just godawful for developers. It’s the opposite of the wonderful freedom and openness of the web. Apple is demanding that developers program in their language and only their language, even if the end result is the same. And it’s basically to kill their competitors and no other reason that I can tell.
I do Flash and Unity 3D, and Apple is threatening to ban them and other similar platforms from all Apple products. This is fine if there are lots of choices, but for godsake, why reward them for this? The closer they get to market domination, the few independent developers will be able to survive. And the fewer sources of content we’ll all have as Apple decides what’s “useful” and what isn’t.
Eric U.
is the thing about flash because it crashes so badly? The rules forcing programmers to use Objective C, C++ and C are pretty outrageous.
And am I the only person that finds watching the destruction of Texas Stadium to be really enjoyable? sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/news/story?id=5075040
Unabogie
@Eric U.:
I know that’s the story. Adobe claims that Flash works poorly on Macs because Apple won’t support hardware acceleration like Windows does. Apple claims it’s because Flash sucks. I don’t really care about that as much as I don’t want some petty feud between two billionaires to put thousands of lowly coders out of work.
Either way, CS5 exports an iPhone app file, and Apple wants to ban it. But Unity does it a similar way, and they may get caught up in the feud. My take is that developers should support the open platforms and devices, since allowing Apple even more power seems like suicide.
BeccaM
Sometimes the impulse towards central control is lethal. Here, not only is Apple imposing extreme limitations on software development environments, they are exercising total veto control on what is offered as a valid application on this device.
However slick, however functional, I simply do not want to give one company that much control over my computing environment.
Microsoft already pushes that limit nearly too far for my tastes.
From the other side though: What sane, serious company would put money into the development of an application that Apple might, for any reason, refuse to allow to be sold? And where there is no recourse, no appeal? Answer is ‘none’. Oh, there’ll be “cool” applications, and some few might make some bucks.
But the serious innovation will be elsewhere.
Martin
I think you answered your own question there. Apple says that Flash sucks because when it does suck, Apple gets fucked over waiting for Adobe to fix it.
The reason for the ban on the 3rd party development platforms is likely the same – what happens when Unity fails to update their toolkits to support the multitasking APIs? Apple’s ability to push the platform forward dies because developers will complain about a lack of upgrade paths that Apple had nothing to do with.
And as a VERY long time Apple user and shareholder, Apple has been fucked over by 3rd parties more times than I can document. I can’t say that I blame them for wanting to make sure that their new platforms don’t get screwed over as badly as their old one. I mean, anyone who has had to deal with AT&T surely must realize how much damage an outside partner can cause.
Martin
@BeccaM:
Except that you do that all the time in environments that you have a different perspective on. I have less control over my Wii, my Tivo, etc. Between those kinds of devices and a PC is a wasteland. Why? Surely there’s room for devices that are almost as open as a PC but not so open that users need to deal with firewalls and virus scanners and malware and all that shit.
Sorry, but I find the ‘too closed’ argument to be so much bullshit. If you were 20 years older you’d be bitching about how the iPad didn’t come with schematics like your first Apple II did. Computing has closed up because the market of people that insist on it being wide open is insignificant and shrinking and as it moves into wider markets, it’s better to jettison those people in favor of people that don’t want to deal with the crap that open systems brings with it.
cliff
is the iTunch 16:9 or 4:3?
asiangrrlMN
I would definitely buy an iTunch. The rest of it? Not so much. I have no i-anything and most likely will not. As much as I love my computers, I see them as strictly utile. I don’t ever have my cell on (which I only bought, with great reluctance, because apparently as a single woman living alone in MN, I had to have one), and I don’t listen to music except in my car and at my computer. I don’t do random, so I don’t need playlists.
Plus, the name. iPad. Just…no.
Comrade Kevin
Sure you are.
techno
Got to see my first iPad today. Took a 74-year-old friend to see it. He is interested in one because in previous attempts to get a computer to run he was unsuccessful because he never got a mouse to work (seriously).
It does WAY more things than he will ever use so most of the techie criticisms are irrelevant. It is a lovely piece of machinery–quiet, fast, and easy to use. My friend was playing around on the web in seconds. This thing BETTER be easy because I am going to be his tech support.
While he shopped, I played around with a 27″ LED iMac with a c7 quad processor. Since I actually do things like high-def video editing and 3d animation, this was to drool over.
Joe Buck
whoops, the comment that was here belonged in a different thread.
Martin
@Comrade Kevin:
Seriously, you’re going to doubt me here?
Bill E Pilgrim
@asiangrrlMN: iSee.
Calouste
@Unabogie:
Flash sucks pretty hard on the PC as well (actually most Adobe software sucks pretty hard), so I go with Apple in this case.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Calouste: Me too.
Plus, HTML worked out pretty well all things considered, so if HTML 5 can replace Flash, that can’t be all bad. Plus would be even more “open”, BTW.
arguingwithsignposts
This is a pretty detailed defense of Apple’s side of the Flash war.
ExtremismInTheDefenseOfLiberty
I carry a laptop because it is a portable desktop.
Why would I want to spend several hundred dollars for a device that is about a third of a computer? I need the whole thing.
However, I am not typical. If all I wanted was a fast, light device that can do a number of useful ordinary-person things rather pleasantly, I might want one.
But it’s an elegant motor scooter, and I need a pickup truck with a big hitch.
Sure, zip around and have fun on your scooter. But when you need to move, you will call me to help you.
Josh
I would, personally, take a Windows laptop over any kind of Apple do-dad any day of the week.
Just a personal preference. No fanboy shenanigans, no Apple-bashing.
I just don’t personally like Apple products, or the Apple business and computing philosophy. I don’t care for Microsoft’s, either, but–damn I do like to be able to tinker and explore.
I do use Apple computers fairly often, and I don’t have anything bad to say about them, per se–except that, on average, I’ve experienced more technical issues with Apple computers than I have Dell computers. I’ve had this XPS M1330 laptop for about two years and haven’t had a single problem (other than my motherboard and video card melting from overheating—it was my fault–I was…erm…never mind)…
jurassicpork
Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld knew Gitmo prisoners were innocent yet refused to set them free.
The Grand Panjandrum
@cliff:
IIRC 256:81.
stuckinred
I work on both Apple and PC all day every day. The differences are WAY overblown. Gives people something to whine about IMHO.
Xboxershorts
I hate ALL things Apple. I hate closed source and DRM and Apple not only embraces both but promotes both. And God help you if your Apple gear ever needs service, you can and will be raped (again).
If it can’t be found at Sourceforge then it ain’t worth it. Pay the developer directly for apps, screw all the marketing wonks and ad men. Let them get real jobs for once in their lives.
I love my 16GB flash memory Creative ZEN, at half the cost of a base level iPod, it does everything I ask (and need) of a portable media device.
WereBear (itouch)
I love my itouch and there is nothing else like it. Friends have phones which do some of its tricks, but that is all.
I consider it a state of the art Pocket Laptop. Of course, YMMV. But I can take it to lunch, surf the web, read a book, and calculate my tip
I think the iPad is going to capture the bunches of people who just want to do such things easily. And it’s cheaper and prettier than a laptop.
burnspbesq
Way too much hubris on every side of this conversation. The prevailing attitude seems to be “I have this thing that does what I need it to do at a cost I can afford, ergo, that thing is by definition the only good thing and every other thing not only sucks but is an existential threat to our way of life.” Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I had my iPad by 11:00 a.m. on the release date. It does a number of things extremely well right out of the box, and there are apps out there that give it the full set of capabilities that I want it to have. Is it perfect? No, it’s not perfect. There are a couple of apps that I use that have huge problems – and I’ve emailed and posted on blogs about those, and hopefully they will get fixed pronto (yeah, Zinio, this means you). But it is awfully good at what it is, and it will get better. If there is one thing that 23 years of owning Apple products has shown me, it is that Apple is relentless about improving its products.
If you don’t need what it is, that’s fine – but don’t you dare lecture me about what an assholic sheep I am to like a device that does what I want and does it at a fair price.
Island in Alabama
I’m holding off on the iPad, but picked up an m4/3 body (G1) last year and am thrilled with it. It nicely balances image quality with camera size, while still supporting the use of depth of field as an artistic element. For the casual user, the G1 (or EP-1) is still too complex, but that’s a general problem with modern cameras – far too many ‘gadget’ choices, and not enough design discipline.
In fact, whereas the iWhatever family shows the strength of disciplined industrial design, resulting in gadgets that people want to use, and can figure out (largely) intuitively, modern cameras show the weakness of feature-driven product development, resulting in hopelessly complex devices that take much of the fun out of their intended use.
I’d love to see an m4/3 camera designed to be as simple as an iPod, iPhone or iPad. I don’t see any signs the modern camera industry is capable of designing one.
thomas Levenson
@Island in Alabama:
The Leica Digilux 2 (Panasonic LC 1) was all that and more, sort of. Waaay too expensive on release, a relative bargain as a used camera, makes fabulous jpgs in full auto and gives you full manual control (and everything in between) with all the controls where they “should” be — if you are an old fart like me.
I still use it as my preferred camera for everything that doesn’t need a more than 90mm focal length, and that with its small sensor (larger than compact cameras, smaller the m4/3) and its mere 5 megapixels. There are a lot of people out there who would mortgage their houses to get a genuine successor to that camera.
Panasonic or rather PanaLeica could make one; they’ve chosen not to for reasons that I’m sure make sense on their camera roadmaps — but don’t in terms of building on one of the few really ace designs in digital cameras in the last few years.
As for iPads — I’m not a huge tech geek, but I’m getting one as soon as the 3g models come out; I’m going to follow Kos’s route and use it as a light travelling laptop replacement, haul the keyboard around, and use it for all the fun stuff in between road trips. Don’t care if that makes me a simp or a fanboy or whatever — I just want a sub 2lb readable-screen computer with me essentially all the time, and this is it.
Spike
I love my laptop, except when I’m trapped in an economy-class seat on a long flight and the borderline-sadistic seat pitch leaves me no room to open it. That’s the niche that I bought an iPad to fill.
Spike
Oh, and an aside to Wolcott: if your SLR/zoom combo is bouncing off your chest and/or stomach, you’re using the wrong strap.
Thlayli
GOS approves of iPad
That settles it, then.
;)