Filed under: Hardware
iPad in the family: What it'll take
So here's a rundown of four very different people in my family and if/why they will be getting an iPad:
Person: My mother. 62. Queen of the Luddites.
Computer proficiency: Absolutely none.
Will she be getting the iPad? Yep. The 16GB 3G model.
Why? My mom has never owned a computer. She doesn't have an internet connection. She couldn't explain to you what Facebook is. And she refers to my iPhone as "that information device."
Given all this, I was quite surprised when she said she'll be getting one right away. But then it made perfect sense. My mom hates computers because the icons are so small and the various program UI's are relatively confusing (remember, she's a 62 year old woman who still clings to her VHS tapes). My mom never saw the value in getting a computer and subscribing to a $30 monthly internet service when computers were always hard for her to use (she never really understood the mouse moves the cursor on the screen thing) and the only thing she would really use the computer for would be email.
For her the iPad is perfect. It's not small like the iPhone, so she can see everything on the screen without squinting. Because my mom is a light internet user (think email and Skype), the $15 pay-as-you-go 250MB 3G price plan is perfect for her – especially since she can cancel at any time. She doesn't have to sign a $30 a month contract and has no modem to worry about dying on her. But, the real appeal about the iPad is there is no mouse for her to fuddle with or cursor to follow. With the iPad, when she wants to check on her email, she simply touches the screen. My mom has poor sight but the iPad is both large enough and features a simple enough UI that she can touch to email with ease.
Best of all, when she isn't checking her email, the iPad will double as a digital picture frame. My mom loves her photos and has recently gotten a digital camera. But with no computer, she's had to take the camera card to Walgreen's to get the pictures printed. Now with the iPad and the camera connection kit she can bypass a computer entirely and view her photos as never before.
Person: My brother. 34. Public school teacher.
Computer proficiency: Intermediate.
Will he be getting the iPad? Not yet.
Why? My brother won't be getting an iPad until it offers him something he doesn't already have in his iMac. What would that something be? An iComicbook store.
My brother has collected comics since he was a kid – back when they were 75 cents an issue. Today they run about $3.99 each – a price many think is just too high. He's had to cut back on the amount of comics he reads because of their high cover price. But what if he could buy a digital issue for 99 cents each? That would be enough for him to get the iPad.
And it just might happen. Jon Fortt over at Fortune wrote an article that made a lot of sense about why he believes comics will come to the iPad. His thesis? Steve Jobs is the largest Disney shareholder. In August Disney bought Marvel Comics. Disney is extremely concerned about turning a young, tech savvy, male audience back to their brands. The marriage of Disney and Marvel might just produce a subsection of the iBookstore in the very near future called the iComicstore. If Marvel signs on, you can bet DC Comics will follow suit. Once this happens, my brother will buy an iPad, as I'm sure legions of comics fans would.
Person: Me. 32. Tech blogger and writer.
Computer proficiency: Expert.
Will I be getting the iPad? Not yet.
Why? No, not because they didn't put a front facing camera on it as planned. Really people, do you really want the person you're vid chatting with to be staring up at your nose hair? I think the iPad's pretty cool, but I see it more as a content/leisure device – and right now the content is lacking. Sure, the iBooks app is nice, but I'll have to see if reading a book on an iPad is an enjoyable as reading a paperback or as easy on the eyes as reading on an E-ink reader.
There is one thing that would make me buy an iPad right away. It's another subsection of the iBookstore that I envision: the iMagazine store. I've written about this before, but I'll repeat my talking points here: I like magazines, but like my brother, I find the newsstand cover prices are a bit too high when I only want to read one interesting article that's caught my eye. If I could buy that single issue on an iPad for 99 cents, it would be a done deal. Add bookmarking, highlighting, and a built-in dictionary panel like the one in Mac OS X and I would be in heaven.
As with comics, the expensive cover price is a result of the costs of printing, shipping, and distribution. If magazine and comic publishers switched to the digital iPad distribution format, they could easily cut the cover prices while still maintaining profits (due to no printing or shipping costs, and cheaper distribution costs through Apple). Magazine publishers may actually be able to make a healthier profit if they introduce pay-per-click dynamic ads in the issues. This would especially benefit digital comic books because many fans go back and read their favorite issues again and again (thus they would be seeing new ads each time).
Person: My sister. 30. Occupational Therapist.
Computer proficiency: Intermediate.
Will she be getting the iPad? What's that?
Why? Please, I'm still trying to get her on a Mac or even just an iPod.
IMHO, Apple will implement an iMagazine and iComicbook store sooner rather than later and that's when my brother and I will jump on the iPad bandwagon. In the meantime, I'll have to live with the fact that my mom will have the latest and greatest tech gadget on the planet while I curl up with a good book and a copy of Men's Health.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
steve said 8:10AM on 2-08-2010
Interesting, my Mum cannot get on with a normal computer but is thrilled about the concept of an iPad keeps asking when they will be out.
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crsh said 9:16AM on 2-08-2010
Oddly enough, I thought the iPad was going to be perfect for my mother, but she shrieked in horror at the idea of using a touchscreen ("it's always going to feel greasy and have fingerprints all over!") - note that prolly applies to any touchscreen, not just the iPad.
Oh well, I guess a Mac Mini and a nice screen is going to be as far as she's willing to go, hehe.
fractal said 10:54AM on 2-08-2010
Does your mother realize she will need a computer to put content on the iPad or at least to back it up?
That's my biggest gripe about the iPad - there's a whole group of people that the iPad would be perfect for, but needing another computer just defeats the purpose.
pito189 said 11:41AM on 2-08-2010
@fractal Not to get content at all. But to back up yes, which most people don't do anyways and blows my mind. My roommate hasn't backed up her iphone in like a year because she says it takes too long.
People are impatient.
Jordan said 12:27PM on 2-08-2010
@Pito:
Unless you expect a person to buy all their content from iTunes, then yes, a computer is needed.
Jordan said 12:28PM on 2-08-2010
Not to mention a computer will be needed for software updates
Andrew said 12:51PM on 2-08-2010
@pito I never backup my iPhone either. There's no point really. I use Google Sync's Exchange system for my contacts, calendar, and email, and I sync my apps to my computer occasionally, but I don't bother with backups because if something happened to my phone I'd just restore it, add the Exchange account, and resync my apps and music and stuff and be done.
Now, that won't save some things like texts, but I find that a fresh start to me is more important than old texts and high scores on my games.
And for the iPad, I assume nearly everything can be done over the air in the built in App Store with the exception of music, movies, existing pictures, and of course, updates. I'm sure plenty of people will use it without ever plugging it into a computer, but yeah, it could use one sometimes. It's the kind of thing that if you don't already have a computer, you dont have music, movies, or pictures already, and a mom can let her son or daughter update it for her occasionally.
Mr Lizard said 2:16PM on 2-08-2010
@ Fractal,
The iPad will function just fine without a computer.
Aside from getting an existing CD collection onto it, there's no real need for a computer. Backup etc is a nice to have, but aside from photos/purchased music, this thing isn't really gonna have anything important stored on it.
If I got one of these for my parents, I could pop round from time to time with the MacBook Air to back it up, but I don't see a computer as an essential companion to this device.
Brian! said 3:32PM on 2-08-2010
Does anyone realize that the cheap iPad, the one that seems like such a good deal, is going to fill up fast with content?
Well, video anyway. I am bummed about the whole Flash thing. Everyone complains about Flash, but it could have been made to where you needed to click on the Flash box to activate it. Then you could still have your fast browsing, but when you wanted Flash you could activate that one part of it per site.
Right now, for watching video media, I end up paying even more for the iPad since I have to buy all the shows I could be watching for free. Great for iTunes' sales numbers, but not so great for us consumers.
As it stands, Mom is going to have to not only buy her favorite shows that she already pays cable for, but she will have to use her main computer to manage them anyway. So much for simple.
sodapop said 2:14AM on 2-09-2010
@ fractal - there is a new business you could start up! Remote backup of iPad, iTouch and iPhone.
Kenneth WedMore Lund said 8:19AM on 2-08-2010
This is EXACTLY what is happening here!
The gadget freaks in my familie don't want it (they say) but my mother etc. are all over the place to tell me why they want one NOW :)
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Jordan said 9:18AM on 2-08-2010
Interesting, my mom asked me what it was and I told her. She thinks the same thing I think, it's stupid. Her words: "oh, I thought it was a real computer"
"Person: My mother. 62. Queen of the Luddites.
Computer proficiency: Absolutely none.
Will she be getting the iPad? Yep. The 16GB 3G model.
Why? My mom has never owned a computer. She doesn't have an internet connection. She couldn't explain to you what Facebook is. And she refers to my iPhone as "that information device."
Something tells me that if your mom has never owned a computer or internet connection by now and is 62 years old...she doesn't really need this.
Wonderboy said 1:05PM on 2-08-2010
Sorry Jordan, but she's 62... that means she's got a solid 15-40 years of healthy living to go. If you think she'll never use the internet in that time, just because she hasn't yet, you're crazy.
Daniel said 9:00AM on 2-08-2010
Does your brother know about panelfly (http://www.panelfly.com/)? I'm not reading comics that enthusiastically, but I really like the App. You can get Marvel Comics for 99 cents and they are already working on an iPad Version as it seems.
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fractal said 11:12AM on 2-08-2010
Just checked out www.panelfly.com - very cool. I like everything in one place, so it would be nice to see comics show up in the iBookStore, but readable with the PanelFly app.
But this is a good start.
Twist said 11:21AM on 2-08-2010
PanelFly looks pretty awesome and the iPhone version of the app is really well designed. It will be a killer app on the iPad once they get a larger selection of titles and publishers.
KevRev said 12:28PM on 2-08-2010
Another good comic reader on the iPhone that will no doubt get an iPad version is Comics by comiXology . I enjoy the options it gives you while reading ... like the one to keep the next page/panel hidden until you get to it. This adds a greater level of suspense to a story that wasn't quite there for me when reading the paper versions.
I guess, unlike your brother or you, I plan to get one knowing the content/apps will be arriving swiftly. Like an iPad sized app for Bible reading with access to every version published (and hopefully note-taking & bookmarking features). Magazine publishers will no doubt be making their content available on the iPad because it's an idea who's time has come and there's money to be made there (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk&fmt=18).
Brian said 8:36AM on 2-08-2010
It is a mum gadget, am thinking it would be ideal for her.
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Michael said 8:36AM on 2-08-2010
The comments about your mother wanting one are exactly my thoughts as well - my mother is 78 and I got her an iphone about a year ago - and she actually uses the thing!!
Not only does it provide her with a cell phone to contact us when she is out and about - but it has totally re-aquainted her with music - as she has not had a stereo of any kind for 20+ years - now she has a Altec Lansing docking speaker set up and her iphone is her 'stereo' - buying music on iTunes, streaming music, etc. She loves it.
The iPad, with its bigger screen, will finally allow us to get her a 'computer' with a big screen to allow her to do what she does - read email, check her bank statement online, read books and EASILY connect to the internet to do these things.
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Peter C said 8:37AM on 2-08-2010
Without the ability to touch-type it's dead in the water with me. The simplicity simply adds a layer of complexity.
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