“Touching” Tech Predictions

I’ve read numerous tech blogs since I posted my view of the iPad yesterday. Here’s what I see in the future of computing. iPads.

Ok, well not the actual iPad because it sucks. While it sucks, I think the iPad is going to open an entirely new market of tablet computers (even though the iPad isn’t an actual tablet) and computers in general. From this point on I’m going to refer to iPad similar devices as iTablets. HP just announced and released a video of its slate, which looks almost identical to the iPad. There is really BA one in development, which I’m embarrassed to say I forgot the brand name.

While the there aren’t many of these iTablet devices on the market yet. I have seen quite a few designs and pictures of things to come. The market is going to full of iTablet devices soon. When Apple unveiled the iPod, there were a lot of competitors but Apple beat them in the end. Unlike the iPod, I don’t think Apple is going to beat microsoft (or whoever the competition is) in this area at least not with the iPad.

Here’s my prediction: by 2014 at least 40-60% of the American population will have completely moved away from computers as we know them, desktops and laptops, and they will have moved to iTablets. Possibly everything will be done on cell phones, because a lot already is.

Who knows? There are probably some analyst that know the exact numbers, but I’m not one of them. I am excited for the market the iPad has opened, I’m still disappointed in Jobs for the iPad though. Oh and yes the title “Touching Tech Predictions” is a pun because to be a tablet it basically has to have a touch screen.

Have a good day!

Thanks for reading,

-Evan

The iPad

The iPad. I’ve made fun of it on twitter. I made fun of it on facebook. I even made fun of it on an Episode of Killin’ Time with Thomas & Thomas. Yet, Steve Jobs insists on making this gigantic iPad. It’s essentially an iJitterbug (shout out to alex for that). It’s just an iPod with big buttons. I was inspired, or angered, to write this when I recently read a blog where the author said, “It’s a flawless device.” and “It’s going to change computing as we know it!”

To his first statement, of course it’s flawless! It’s a big iPod! The iPod touch is essentially flawless. To his second point I ask How? How can it change computing as we know it? I want to point out that this guy was the only person say, at least what from I’ve heard, that it’s easy to type anything more than a paragraph. He also said that anyone who buys this is never going to need a computer again…What? Dude! Did you read anything about it? You have to sync it with a computer! So yes, you still need a computer.

Here is my opinion on it. I think it is just a big iPod. I think if Apple would have made a tablet that ran on OSX than that would have so awesome! Honestly I would have sold my laptop, which I love, and bought one. But no! They just made a big iPod! It has wifi, apps, music, and like I mentioned you have to sync it with your computer. Here’s some cool stuff. It has a new books app, which lets read pretty realistic books. There is a downside to this, I’ve heard that the backlit screen could be harder on the eyes than an e-reader like the Kindle or just a real book. You can watch movies on it. I recently read that they’re making apps for Hulu and Netflix. That’s pretty cool in my opinion. If you’re sitting in the airport and want to watch a movie or catch up on the latest episod of The Office you missed, there you go. If you want to watch some TV in the airport on this you’re going to have to dish out $499-$899 plus AT&T pay-as-you-go service.

People have tried to compare it to e-readers, netbooks and ACTUAL tablet computers. It really can’t be in this any of these groups, I say because it’s a big iPod!!! With the iPod, I think Steve Jobs found the groove that works for him and stuck with it…unfortunately for us we now have the iJitterbug.

Who is this for? I think there will be people out there that will love it, and will use it everyday. Those people will read their paper on it, take notes on it, do emails, etc. I think there will be people that will buy it, use it for a week, set it down and completely forget about it. Then there are people like me who are just disappointed in apple. Steve Jobs, you let me down.

Well, I hope that if you get an iPad you enjoy! I hope you enjoyed this post! I’m in a hurry so this was kinda rough and thrown together. I hope it’s ok!

Thanks for reading,

-Evan