Lookout Mobile’s iPad Thoughts
February 3rd, 2010 by Lookout Mobile
 Our first impressions was ‘what type of name is the iPad?’  Homescreen From a device perspective it looks great and will offer the user a clean and quick user experience when it comes to surfing the net, reading e-books, checking and responding to emails, watching movies and viewing pictures. The slickness is typical of Apple and once people start playing with it, and seeing it in the ‘real world’ the buzz will only intensify and people will probably start banging down on Apple’s door to get one. The epicenter of this device is the iBookStore and to a lesser extent iTunes (movies). The ability to purchase eBooks, magazines, newspapers and uni/school material will serve as another massive revenues stream for Apple. While, having a 9.7 inch LED-backlit screen, will give the user a great movie watching experience. It kind of feels like the auxiliary features like the web, iPod, email etc are just icing on the cake; the iPad is focused on the iBookStore. Hence, what they have created is purely an e-Reader on steroids. There is no doubt that the extra features will be the ‘hooks for the general immediate users’, but for the power users, business users, medical industries and educational areas, there are enormous potential markets that could open up with just the right applications.  Newspaper app From a more technical perspective, Apple’s purchase of the company PA Semiconductors a little while ago has shown to be a great move. It would seem that PA Semiconductors work on developing specialized chips that ran on very little power has enabled Apple to engineer a custom chip to run this amazing new device. This helps Apple to also keep things in house and under their very black hat. There is no doubt that its a massive opportunity for app developers and we are excited about seeing our apps on the iPad but the real commerce and advancements will be seen in the iBookStore and rightly so. The monetization of good, relevant and unique content is the future for the sustainability of digital content and there is a good chance that the public will be in for a massive surprise when they commence viewing newspapers and books via the iPad. Regarding the price of content: give it time and one would hope that the iPad’s seamless user interface, and simple and convenient delivery of content would justify the cost of content. Take the iTunes Store as an example: people thought charging for music would fail but to-date, Apple have sold more than 6 billion songs via the iTunes Store since it opened in 2003, making it the world’s largest music retailer. Regarding the ‘missing in action’ features – who really cares if there’s no camera or flash support? The only real missing feature (that will be corrected) is multi-tasking. The iPad is an e-reader with sublime features, (as agreed by Michael – head programmer) the reason there is no camera is because of relevance and price. What purpose will a camera serve? Can you imagine people lugging their 9.7-inch screen in front of a friend, whilst positioning them for the perfect shot? Use a real camera with a decent lens or use a toy camera in a phone for un-important photos. Don’t try to take a decent shot with a two handed hold on 2/3’s of an A4 page. Finally, the price point is a real winner for the consumer and ultimately Apple. Its essentially suggestive selling on Apple’s behalf – give the shaver away for free and make money on the blade. It will be really interesting in the uptake of the iPad. I doubt it will sell like the iPhone or iPod; nearly 50 million iPhones have been sold since its launch in June 2007 and the world’s iPod population is now more than 250 million and still growing. Where the iPad will have instant success will be within education. The education sector has been looking for a good portable device with good battery life, well priced, hooked in to the network and easy to interact with. However, the real test will be how it competes with the Kindle and other competitors and how they will price its content. Only time will tell… Update: click here to read Garry Barkers (The Age) thoughts on the iPad…  iPad Flat display 
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