Apple plays it safe with iPad, refusing to shift the goalposts

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Apple plays it safe with iPad, refusing to shift the goalposts

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 28 January, 2010

READ MORE: Apple | Mobile Content | eBook | iPhone | OSX

As Google gets more disruptive by the day, its former friend Apple grows more conservative. Like the young hellraiser grown up, Apple's iPad launch revealed a sleek but highly predictable device, well specified but offering very little that has not already been promised on a host of smartbooks and tablets in the past months. And certainly not set to revolutionize the wireless business model.

This was Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs building on its existing strengths and norms, rather than trying to move the goalposts. In particular, the iPad functions primarily as a giant iPod Touch, with all iPhone applications compatible but scaled-up for the impressive 9.7-inch color screen. This taps into the iPhone developer and user base nicely, but does not move the mobile user experience forward significantly. The rumored multimode display, switchable between e-ink for optimized reading and bright LCD for video and browsing, would have done that (and could still turn up in future devices, with Pixel Qi and Qualcomm Mirasol sure to be fighting for position). However, the current LCD screen does have some nice features, using IPS (in-plane-switching) to deliver quick response times for viewing video and wide angles.

More seriously, Apple's new reluctance to rock the boat was seen in the retention of its relationship with AT&T in the US. We can only imagine what incentives the carrier may have offered to postpone the end of its sole rights deal for the iPhone, and even get the new device too, leaving Verizon out in the cold. US carrier politics aside, more concerning is the retention, with any cellco, of the traditional carrier contract model. It would have been far more disruptive for Apple to lend its weight to the embedded wireless approach pioneered by Amazon with Kindle.

One of the most popular, if laziest, comments in the wake of the iPad launch has been that this kills the Kindle by offering a more multifunctional device. This misses many points, particularly that e-readers are only supposed to be optimized for one task, and so appeal to people who want the excellent reading experience that general purpose tablets omit. One size does not fit all in content consumption. A more interesting comparison with the Kindle is that the Amazon device, though restricted in functionality, has been high profile because it led the way to so many new market assumptions - the idea that users would pay for a device optimized for one usage rather than reasonably competent at many; the embedded wireless model; the ultra-simple integrated content platform. This had, of course, taken some lessons from iTunes, conceived when Apple was similarly radical, and Jobs was gracious enough to say he was "standing on the shoulders" of Amazon with the iPad's iBookstore.

The iBook reading app and accompanying store will certainly raise the profile and credibility of the paid-for content model, giving publishers new hope that they can stem the tide of free books and papers. It will not change the rules, but it has attracted several publishers already, including Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins from the empire of Rupert Murdoch, who really believes tablets will save his business. And while iBookstore has none of the market changing potential of iTunes or App Store, it will be well executed and well stocked - because content deals and delivery are among the things Apple is really good at, even when its devices are derivative.

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