Will Apple’s new iPad succeed???

Yesterday Apple unveiled it’s highly anticipated tablet computer, the Apple iPad. I have to say, I am a little disappointed in Apple this time. With all the hype they had created and all the speculation and buzz leading up to the unveiling, Steve Jobs failed to deliver, in my view. For a few weeks now, there was a lot speculation on the potential looks of the device and what features it could potentially have. Yesterday we finally had all, or at least some of our questions answered. The real question is: Will it succeed?

Giant iPod touch

Just like the ex-president of Google China predicted in previous weeks. The iPad is nothing else than a glorified giant iPod touch. A beautiful, glorified giant iPod touch, that is. The fact of the matter is that while it is a beautiful device. The only two significant features – other than the larger screen and more horsepower – are the eBook features and the iWork integration. And while those two features may be enough to convince some people, those two features alone will not be enough to make the iPad a successful product.

Price

The iPhone became a very successful product for Apple, only after Apple slashed the price in half. The price drop gave Apple the ability to appeal to other consumers outside of Apple’s consumer base. The phone suddenly became and option for the average consumer looking for a new phone. The success of the iPhone allowed Apple to spin-off another profitable business, the app store. The app store is a very profitable business for Apple. Apple takes 30% of the price of any app sold through the app store. Apple made an estimated 1.4 billion dollars in revenue from the app store last year. All of this could not have been possible if the iPhone was still priced at its initial price of $599.

The same holds true for the iPad. In order for the iPad to be successful it must be affordable to the typical consumer, not just Apple fans, like myself. The main reason why Apple’s laptop and desktop sales have not seen a significant increase in sales with the success of the iPhone and iPod, still boggles me. With that many people walking into the Apple store to buy iPhone and iPods, there aren’t many snatching any of Apple’s laptops and desktops, which are equally as appealing as all other Apple products. The difference lies in the big price gap between comparable PC and Macs. The iPad will face the same fate if the price is not lowered. Apple does not seem to understand that the success of this device will not come from the profit they make from selling their hardware, but rather from the money they can make from the sale of books, movies, music and apps. Apple should follow the gaming industry and sell the iPad at a loss, or with a small margin of profit. That will put the iPad in more hands, thus increasing the pool of potential content comsumers. With the current iPad prices, the average consumer will shy away from forking over $500.00 for something he/she doesn’t really need.

Not another monthly charge

Another reason why consumer will shy away from the new iPad is the need to pay another $30 a month for internet access on another device. My wife and I currently own iPhones, which we pay $30 a month each for our unlimited data plans. If we were to each get an iPad, because we love apple so damn much, that would meanwe would have to fork another $30 each to get a data plan on each device. That’s on top of the $40 a month we currently pay AT&T for home internet. We would be paying AT&T a total of $160 a month. Just for internet access! Too much! Some may argue that the 3G plan is optional, but let’s face. At that point the iPhone becomes a better device, and there is no point to buy an iPad anymore. The bigger screen and eBook reading capability would be the only two valid arguments, and the validity will vary according to your needs.

Missing features

During the keynote Steve Jobs promised that the iPad would improve the experience of some key things. One of them being web browsing. I find that very hard to believe, when there is no flash support built-into the iPad. How is that making the web browsing experience better Mr. Jobs?
The lack of multi-tasking is also a big flaw of the device. The inability to run multiple applications is a big drawback for me. I want to be able to listen to my AOL radio application and surf the web at the same time. Is that too much to ask? What if you needed to work on a Numbers spreadsheet and Keynote presentation at the same time? With a netbook, you can do both things natively. They will be slow, but they can be done, and something is better than nothing.

What do I need this for?

One thing I just don’t get is what the average consumer needs this for? Most of the functionality that comes with iPad already exists in the iPhone and other smart phones, and the laptops most of us carry around daily. Steve tried to knock down the netbook, but Steve forgets what the purpose of the netbook is. The purpose of the netbook is not to make the browsing, email, photos, video, music, game and eBooks experience better. It was to make portable computing more, well, more portable. And to en extent they have succeeded. The only device that most consumers don’t have that the iPad could be a potential option for is the eBook reader. Most users have all the technology they need embedded in a phone and a laptop that they have become accustomed to carrying for quite sometime now.

Failure

The iPad will be a successful product with high-end costumers and Apple lovers like myself. The average consumer will not buy it, unless some of the flaws are addressed, the biggest one being the price. I am tempted to buy it simply for the eBook reader capability, and well, because I love this stuff. To steal a line from the presidential campaign. What about Joe the plummer? Joe the plummer will probably not even care to take a bite out of that Apple.