Apple is hoping cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, iPods, PDAs and Kindles just won’t be enough.
The computer hardware and software super-giant is set to release its version of a personal reader Saturday. Steve Jobs, CEO, said the iPad will be much more than just a reader, filling the void between a computer and a smart phone.
But does the void need filling?
“It’s a giant iPhone, just without the phone part,” said Jared Mannen, a graduate student in the UF College of Pharmacy. “Sure, it could be useful in class, but compared to an actual laptop, not at all.”
The iPad will be a half an inch thick and weigh only 1.5 pounds, which is thinner and lighter than any other reader or netbook on the market. The display is 9.7 inches with advanced In-Plane Switching technology, making it the highest quality of a device in this category, Jobs said at the unveiling of the device in January.
“It is so much more intimate than a laptop, and so much more capable than a smart phone,” Jobs said in January.
But there is much speculation in the technology world that it will be a flop. Among a sea of jokes about the other meanings of the tablet’s name, there are many harsh online reviews outlining its shortcomings.
Brennon Slattery, of PCWorld.com, called the overall reaction to the device “underwhelming.”
Slattery said the major issues with the iPad were that it lacked a camera and it cannot multitask or run Flash, which is software commonly used in online Web sites and advertising.
Judy Robinson, UF professor of Internet communication classes, said these perceived shortcomings were just that: perceived.
“When Mac got rid of floppy disks people were enraged,” Robinson said.
She foresees the iPad having many applications on campus in and out of class for students.
Robinson maintains that the iPad is the next step up in mobile learning and the beginning of a technological evolution.
“Often Apple leads the way and impacts life in ways we had not thought,” Robinson said.
Andrew Ford, a UF journalism student, doesn’t share Robinson’s sentiments.
“It appears to be geared towards consumers, not producers,” Ford said. He already gets The New York Times on his iPhone and doesn’t see how the iPad would be an improvement.
Despite tepid initial reviews, the campus bookstore hopes to be selling the iPad as close to the release date as Apple’s stock will allow, said David Looney, the manager in charge of Apple products at the UF Bookstore.
He doesn’t know how many iPads would be in the first shipment to the bookstore.
The iPad, in addition to the entire Apple product line, excluding the iPhone, should be available with educational pricing, Looney said.
Other authorized Apple resellers in the area are AT&T stores, Best Buy and RadioShack. However, only Apple stores will have iPads on Saturday.
