Why the iPad failed
Back in June I had the pleasure of winning an iPad from the Onotate team. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely thankful but after less than 2 months of very little usage I’ve sold it. Why did it fail me?
There’s no use case
I have no use for the iPad. So many times I’ve “tried to fit it into my life” but it never really caught on.
A £400/£500 gadget shouldn’t be something you try to fit into your life. It should just fit. When I bought my first MacBook Pro a couple years back, it fitted perfectly. When I purchased an iPhone, it fitted perfectly. These things allowed me to be more efficient and productive. The iPad doesn’t do that.
I’ve struggled to find a use case for it. The best I’ve found is reading the Sun in bed when I wake up in the morning. That’s a damn expensive newspaper, considering you still have to pay a monthly subscription for the newspaper on top of the initial app purchase.
I’ve also tried browsing the web while in front of the TV, but again I rely to much on my “work environment”. As a web designer I’m never just browsing, I’m usually doing some sort of work on the computer that involves a host of other apps.
iPad apps suck
I have yet to discover an iPad app that ‘wows’ me. Yes there are lots of beautifully designed apps from a lot of talented developers but nothing has stuck out as a ‘must have’.
If you ask someone with an iPad to recommend some apps, you’ll generally get a response that includes the following.
File sharing apps
What’s the deal with file sharing apps? Haven’t we been sharing files easily for years? Why do we need an app to do this? I can just use my laptop to produce the files I need and remove the need to ‘share’ them or sync them from the iPad.
Reading apps
I tried to read books on the iPad. I have to admit it is a lot better than I thought it would be, but you still can’t beat a physical book.
I prefer lifting a book, highlighting key lines with a highlighter, bending a page corner and setting that beside my bed as a reminder to read it. A digital book doesn’t replace that.
RSS readers
When it comes to reading RSS feeds, if I come across a useful article I’ll tag in on delicious. If it’s really useful, I’ll share it on Twitter, or I’ll open up TextMate or Photoshop to make something. I can do these things no problem on the MacBook Pro but on the iPad it can’t be done or in the case of sharing on Twitter, it involves opening and closing apps.
Why is it so successful?
The iPad failed for me but it certainly hasn’t seemed to have failed Apple.
Apple indicates that it has sold 3.27 million iPads as of June 26. That translates to more than $2 billion in revenue for the company in a product category that didn’t even exist one year ago.
The above is a recent extract from Mashable.
A few good use cases or suitable personas I can think of include:
- People who travel a lot – it’s lighter than a laptop, has longer battery life, so is useful for email management and web browsing if traveling regularly
- Sales people – if you go out to pitch to potential customers regularly or give one to one presentations on a regular basis it is quite useful
Is it a fail in the long run?
Apple have introduced this new product to the market, and being the first company to do so has contributed to its success. It’s a new toy, a new era, so people are jumping on board and trying to justify its existence.
One year from now we’ll surely see a certain ‘type’ of person who relies heavily on the iPad, but right now I’m not sure who that will be.
For me, I’d prefer to sell the iPad (which I have done) and upgrade to an iPhone 4 (which I plan on doing).
Have you got an iPad? Do you want one? What do you really think of it?
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33 Appreciated Comments
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On the , Mike van Hoenselaar said:
I think you think of it to much of a computer. As a replacement of something. It’s a whole new thing and has a whole new target audience.
I use it for a lot of things. And we have practically the same profession.
- I like the games, you don’t
- I like reading from it, you don’t
- I browse a lot indoors, in the train, at meetings – you don’t
- I use it to make notes, take sketches when in a meeting – you don’t
- I watch movies (in bed, on the couch) – you don’t
- I love reading my news on an iPad – you don’t
So you see I have a lot of point why I like using an iPad. You don’t. But maybe you are just not the target audience. The iPad for me is media consumption. Nothing more. I keep creating stuff on my MBP.
On the , marge said:
Do you really read the Sun!!!
On the , Stuart Gibson said:
You should be castrated for dogearing books anyway :P
On the , Chris Johnson said:
Very interesting read and echos the thoughts of myself not only for the ipad but for a lot of todays technology. As much as I am an avid “geek” in terms of technology, like yourself I will never actually buy something I don’t actually need.
On the , Clark Caughey said:
Couldn’t agree more Lee. When it comes down to it, I’m an Apple fanboy but I still couldn’t justify the purchase of an iPad because like you I didn’t see how I personally would use it.
I get the idea and I know there are some markets in which it will be very useful, but it’s a consumer device, something which you use to explore information & content but not create it and is therefore of little use to me and many other designers.
On the , Mark McCorkell said:
Since the iPad was launched, I have been trying to justify buying one, and struggling to do so! I think they are a superb piece of technology, but I can’t find a use for it that my Mac and iPhone combo doesn’t already do for me.
It can do a lot of things for some people, but I think I’m in the same boat as yourself, and can’t find that niche use for it. I think if I was someone who travelled a lot, it would be great though.
On the , Lee said:
@Mike: I guess I’m comparing it to a computer (and less so an iPhone) but only because it does pretty much the same things: browsing, emailing, games, reading, watching movies. Is it worth the money to be able to do these things with something that’s more portable and light weight? Depends on your daily routines.
@Marge: Dear Deidre rocks! ;-)
@Stuart: Harsh
On the , Alan Anderson said:
your certainly inviting trouble with this post … yet I agree with you. I’ve been an apple fan from way back when it wasn’t cool to be an apple fan and I haven’t got an Ipad for exactly the same reasons you highlighted above.
I refuse to upgrade my MBP to a unibody one because on long trips I carry two spare batteries, giving me close to 10 hours or so productive battery life in the programs I use and I can have access to all my files offline without needing to sync, I still carry around a pad and paper around the house and buy the newspaper each weekend because I love the feel of something in my hands that I don’t worry about my 2 year old son grabbing and destroying.
On the , Rich Dale said:
A round trip to London on Friday proved *my* use case (read pitiful pleading with wife) for having an iPad. I lugged my MBP about all morning, used it for a presentation, then lugged it about all avo.
The opportunities to use it at the airport or on the plane are minimal given the hectic/crushed nature of those environments, whereas the iPad would be a simple, convenient alternative.
On the other hand, we need a new sofa, so my iPad travel dreams won’t be coming true anytime soon!
On the , George Kulick said:
I am actually dieing to get one. I don’t currently accept Credit Cards for my business except through paypal. And I want to use the Ipad app Square Up to swipe customer cards. I think that is a decent use case for me.
On the , Mark McGall said:
Really like this post, I couldn’t agree more. The price tag doesn’t reflect the ‘need’ for the product and I, for one, have no intention of buying one. About time someone said it!
On the , Barry McGee said:
A colleague brought one just after it was launched and I came to the conclusion after 10 minutes of playing with it that the iPad is a nice to have, a luxury.
I simply cannot justify buying one because like you, I have a laptop and an iPhone which do evrything I want to do very well already.
On the , Joe Stevens said:
I guess it isn’t for everyone. I use the hell out of mine, its the first thing I reach for when I want to browse the web. Going to my desk to do browse just seems like a hassle now. Its also my favorite way to read books, comics and watch videos. I agree with you on how much of a hassle it is to share stuff on Twitter and Facebook. Maybe one day Apple will build extensions into mobile Safari to make it easier.
On the , Matt Johnston said:
I had to weigh in.
All of the commentary above says one thing: developers and designers have not delivered for you.
Games have delivered for me (Mirrors Edge, Osmos) but there are some killer apps missing. Apps like Flipboard provide a new and useful (but sadly not multiuser) way to consume news and there are others.
What’s missing I guess are new creator apps. Like the revolution that Kai’s Power Tools were for UI wayback when.
For my part I’d like to see what the designer of Lookaly could do with a new interface metaphor. Labelling any of it as a fail for you is premature, I think. iPad (or one of the spiritual descendants) may yet prove to be essential for you. The apps (your particular itch for a touchscreen device may not yet have been scratched or even conceived).
On the , Colin Mitchell said:
How could you besmirch such a fine piece of technology by reading the Sun on it?
I bet if you look closely at it with the power off, you will see, on the inside of the screen, a thin indelible imprint of insouciant innuendo, a masked mish-mash of muddled misanthropic morality, pointedly polemical political posturing and the outline of a pair of breasts.
That said, the iPad and similar devices that follow will probably have a high take-up from people with neither laptops nor iPhones, and while I agree completely about the pleasure derived from a physical book or newspaper, lighting and enlarged text will transform reading for many older people who would prefer books but find them too difficult to view.
On the , Lee said:
Thanks for weighing in all. Some interesting points arising:
Gaming
The iPad is good for gaming. I can’t argue with this, I’m a fan of Angry Birds as much as the next guy is. Although if I really want to sit down to game I’ll generally play the Xbox. Which leads onto the next point…
Travel
The iPad fits if you travel. Whether that be by plane, train or bus you can consume media or play a game with ease (where you can’t bring your Xbox with you). I don’t travel that much so this is where it hasn’t fitted for me.
@Rich: Enjoy the new sofa ;-)
@George: Does sound like a good use case, accepting credit card payments. If you’re in sales it definitely looks professional.
@Joe: I think more or easier integration between different apps, or like you say Safari extensions, would definitely be useful.
@Matt: Totally. I’m waiting for the inevitable brainwave that changes my mind. I’m certain I’ll end up with another tablet at some stage when the right combination of use case and app(s) come along (whether that be the same iPad, next generation or another make). For me it doesn’t exist yet.
On the , Susan said:
I’ve had a Sony Reader for years, upgraded it 1 1/2 yrs ago and passed my old one down. I don’t need to be online to read, I’m online long development hours at a dev machine. Maybe if I hadn’t already owned something I’ve been reading on I would’ve been tempted. Have several dev machines, have a phone, have a reader… don’t have or want an iPad.
On the , Jim Munro said:
I usually don’t respond to obvious linkbait titled posts like this but… ;)
I seem to be the only commenter that uses their iPad *all the freakin time*. I bought it with no real use case, but I have found I love being able to lay back and read, not have to wait for it to power up. The battery life is nice too.
I use it mainly for consumption, so it’s not going to replace my laptop. But when I’m not at work, it gets a lot of use.
I was surprised at your summary that all apps suck, I would agree that most free apps are not that great, but there are a few that shine. I still think it’s so early yet that the great apps are yet to arrive and may come after iPad 2.0 (with retina display and 2 cameras comes out).
You must have not tried Osfoora for twitter or Reeder for RSS (btw, you can tweet from Reeder within the app. I use that feature frequently.) Both are nice apps that have a lot of features that you might have liked.
Also, you can not only highlight with the Kindle app, you can also dogear pages (without fearing castration). Also, I love GoodReader for PDF books which are becoming more common. I haven’t warmed up to iBooks yet.
It all boils down to the individual I guess. I guess I must be the iPad’s target market.
On the , Lee said:
@Jim: Nice one, it is good to hear both points of view.
iPad apps don’t really suck, that’s a bit over the top. They just don’t make me think ‘wow’.
The app store frustrates me a lot. Takes a while to load. When it does load, I want to see the top apps (which actually rarely change). I’ll want to load more to see more top apps, so will tap a few times to load 25 more. After clicking through to read about that app, then clicking back, you have to ‘load more’ again to get back to where you were. When you install an app, the app store closes (same on iPhone actually) which means having to reopen it and start all over again. Just isn’t that slick.
Would like to see trial versions of apps (not just lite versions) before buying them, just like Mac Apps, so you can try them before forking out the money for them.
But it is early days, I’m sure there are a lot more to come.
On the , Jim Munro said:
S/B titled the iPad app store failed. ;) I agree it is lame and probably is preventing or slowing the cream from rising to the top. I know a lot of app devs are complaining about it.
Love the idea of try before you buy apps. I always try the Lite version first when possible. I usually base my purchases off of word of mouth (aka twitter) recommendations. for now. until the app store doesn’t suck any more.
On the , Adam Cartlidge said:
I’d get one, if even just for the filth.
Yea you can watch filth on your iPhone or whatever, but the iPad is bigger.
Win.
On the , Chris Armstrong said:
I think it’s perhaps a little ahead of it’s time when it comes to making business sense, as that require decent productivity apps that havnt really appeared yet (but which will come I’m sure).
However, I find it hard to beat coming home knackered after work, and rather than sitting down at ANOTHER desk to spend my evening, lying back on the couch or bed and browsing/watching/reading/playing something.
Perhaps the main sticking point at the minute is the price, which will come down, but I do think that multitouch interfaces are the way forward for 90% of the things we currently use our computers for (not to mention the things we havnt yet thought of). In comparison to multitouch, using a mouse is like using a stick to play a piano. Once theUI puzzles are solved, and there’s a multitouch version of Photoshop/InDesign/Etc (or whatever they’re called, I actually don’t think Adobe are nimble enough to be the ones to make this happen), I dot think we’ll look back.
On the , Travis said:
It’s all a matter of preference, I suppose, but I prefer to do most computing on the iPad. My Macbook Pro, though beautiful and wonderful in every way, is a big, heavy, tethered machine. It has essentially become a desktop. It has hard drives and a Wacom tablet hooked in and it needs near constant power to live. My iPad is unencumbered. I can pick it up and run to a meeting and not worry about bringing a power charger with me. With my stylus, I jot down notes in Penultimate, sketch with ArtStudio. I’ll use Reeder or Flipboard or Twittelator to browse RSS and Twitter because they present this information in the best possible way.
Also, your note about not being able to share directly to Twitter from an RSS reader is wrong. Reeder and Flipboard do this very well.
On the , Philip said:
I don’t use my 16 GB that much either
I do read the Times on it -most days
I do travel a lot -but a 60 mins flight means it is often ‘off’ for take off/landing
I used to be good at games -now I am old!
the sharing thing -really pisses me off
as does ‘itunes’
I do think we are all wrong
the real beauty of the ipad is in folks that don’t own an iphone,don’t know what ‘mbp’ stands for
The genius of the ipad is not for ‘us’ -it is for ladies and kids and old people
and perhaps most importantly those that don’t currently own an apple product
On the , Tri said:
I can’t believe this hasn’t came up yet. The iPad has REVOLUTIONIZED the experience of sitting on the john. Truthfully, I don’t have one, but I made sure I had to take a no. 2 every time I go over to my friend’s crib lolz. Seriously, this alone is a good reason enough to buy one for me, but I’m just $500 too poor :o(
On the , Fraser said:
Lee
It does not surprise me that you dont like the iPad. It’s a consumption tool. You use productivity tools.
I have one and use it for presentations and email like you point out. My 9 year old loves it and it’s amazing to watch how kids use it to search, learn, play.
Hang on to it. You never know when an interesting client brief comes in.
F.
On the , Sean said:
This headline is just link bait, you’ve only argued why the iPad has failed for you, not failed in general. I also disagree with your suggestion that web designers don’t browse unless its for productive purposes, you say you don’t just browse which is fair enough, but ‘as a web designer?’
On the , Lee said:
@Chris: I think you’re right. It wasn’t made for productivity but consumption. There will be something that comes out in the future Minority Report style.
@Travis: Reeder is quite good, never tried FlipBoard. If I read a good article at night say, I’ll put it in a ‘tweet later’ app so it’s shared when more friends are online. Which may also go to Facebook. And I’ll also tag it on Delicious. But I guess that’s just down to my work flow.
@Philip: Ladies, kids and old people – this is what I originally thought. Maybe it takes a while for the hype to come down for these types of users to jump on board.
@Fraser: You’re spot on.
@Sean: Yep, to clarify this is a post about why the iPad failed for me and why I sold it. Fair enough re. the web designer bit. Didn’t mean to speak for all web designers, just backing up the point that I’ll usually be doing a few things.
On the , Zade said:
iPad is like Italian sports cars, they look marvelous but are not practical for daily use. Sure they turn heads but when you have to take it to the mechanic every week, it really becomes a pain in the butt, and you wish you didn’t get it in the first place. Same thing happened to me when I got the ipad. it was highly recommended by two (executive-type) friends and i quickly ran my fingers on the screen and it looked nice, so i decided i’d like one too. I am neither what’s referred to as an “Apple fan boy” nor an “Apple hater”, so my opinion is purely objective coming from someone who believes technology should be used for human increased efficiency and pleasure.
I can summarize the snags as I encountered them: first off i bought it just before a long 10-hour flight to kill time, only it won’t start because it needs activation. why? what if i don’t have a PC to activate so you need a pc to start using it, which means right there it cannot be a pc, you need a pc next to it.
next i play online fake money poker, but i could not download the software, because ipad does not allow it. why? then i wanted to reserve a car from a well known car rental company, but i could not reserve the car because their website uses flash (and ended up paying more for the car because reservation online is cheaper than showing up at their offices).
next I wanted to send an email with an attachment, but i cannot upload an attachment because i simply could not move my files to it.
then I wanted to load my songs, I had to download itunes then move my library to it, and from there to sync to ipad (the ipad player is really nice btw).
then i needed to move my pictures and that was a hassle too.
for web browsing i use Firefox for multi tab, but ipad won’t allow me to download it. why? i must use the extremely limited features Safari. why is that? I am not betraying Apple by using firefox.
by now I started feeling cheated especially as I paid a lot of money for it because i got it from outside the US. i thought fine I am sure my wife would love it (all wives like expensive and flashy stuff), but she too ended up leaving it on the side, and using our old laptop (she says she felt frustrated by the ipad but was unable to tell me why exactly).
then i thought let me at least let my 1 year old daughter play with it, but she was not enthused either (she was unable to tell me why either). on top of all of this, I need a pc to use the ipad, so the assumption is i have a pc, which makes it a “third class citizen”.
the ipad is too small to use efficiently but too big to carry around as a personal organizer, I also did not know how to hold it … it is always feels like it’s about to slip, putting it on a table reduces the wi-fi signal, while holding it after 10 minutes becomes hard, on my next trip, i doubt that i will take it as i cannot guarantee that i won’t need a usb port, or flash, or to download or upload, so it’s not a trusted friend, i will stick to my 3 year old laptop.
i am writing all of this on my laptop, i won’t dream of using the ipad for writing this long letter. I read what people say about “oh it’s for consumption of data not creating it”. What a lame excuse. How can you separate the two? I am not a graphic designer so I know already that I won’t be creating logos in my spare time on it. But you cannot separate one from the other, for example you get an email from a colleague or a friend asking you to send them a file or a presentation or a picture. In order to answer him you need to “attach” those files but those files cannot reside in the iPad, nor can you access a flash memory. This is data creation because by definition it can’t be consumption. So this email cannot be answered on the spot, you need a “real” pc for that. Most of my emails contain an attachment. If i needed to send a passing note to anyone I can send an SMS I don’t an iPad.
having said all of the above, i thought I don’t mind paying a lot for something if it pleases me, but the ipad is not that, it’s not a pc nor a laptop, not a phone nor a electronic organizer, not a camera not an mp3 player, it’s not a tv nor a media center (does not read flash memory), it’s not an internet browser because I am not a kid who needs to start from the beginning every time i close safari to use the calculator. I finally reached the conclusion that the ipad is a lot of wasted energy and effort and R&D by Apple in a nice package. today I sold it to my friend for 25% less than what i bought it for, but I am relieved. and i will never buy a “closed” system ever again. One last note, judging by how strongly owners of iPad reply to my bashing it tells me they hate it too, but they suffer from that psychological phenomenon in humans that “justify the decision after it’s made even if utterly wrong”.
On the , Lee said:
@Zade: Insightful experience. You make a very good point about the need to have a PC to activate/update etc. So before you buy an iPad you *need* a PC/Mac (or at least easy access to one)
On the , Peter BArr said:
I hear ya Lee!
On the , Peter Robinson said:
I sold one also and I bought mine Lee!!!!
My ten year old son thought it was magic, he loved laying with the games and apps. I think there’s a bit of insight in there somewhere but I also think it was a bit extravagant to gift to my kid. Instead, Santa’s gonna bring him an iPod Touch.
For anyone in the industry, it would make much more sense to buy a decent laptop or save the money towards something bigger. If you are already ‘kitted out’, I’d recommend satisfying your gadget fix with a Kindle and spend the change on a relaxing weekend away to read the thing.
On the , Peter Robinson said:
@Zade : iPad is like Italian sports cars, they look marvelous but are not practical for daily use.
Beautifully articulated.