Before being given this assignment, I had only used an iPad
two or three times before. I’m not what some people would call “Mac enthusiast”, and I usually get annoyed
when I hear that Apple is coming out with some new product that people camp out
for days to over-pay for. So after hearing what I had to write about I borrowed
my father’s iPad and played around with it for a few hours. Maybe I’m just used
to conventional computers and laptops, but right off the bat I didn’t like how I
had to hold the iPad. I didn’t feel comfortable sitting at a desk and looking
straight down the entire time because I had to lay the iPad flat. And I couldn’t
really lay on bed and put it on my stomach to browse the web like I do with my
laptop. I know you can buy cases so that the iPad stands up at angle, but I feel
like that would only make it a bit more difficult to type. I might be a bit
biased because I’ve never liked phones that only have a screen and no real
buttons to press. I’m the kind of person that needs the actual touch and feel
of buttons or keys as I’m typing.
But besides that, I feel like the iPad is a machine that you
couldn’t really get any real sort of business or schoolwork done on. I feel
that it is more of a web-browser/iPod/video game machine. I couldn’t see myself
using it for anything other than those three things. I know that the iPad has a
newsstand app where you can read magazines and newspapers, which is pretty cool
feature. I could definitely see myself reading the morning paper on it in the
morning as I eat my breakfast. The iPads iBook and new apps are feature that I think
will attract people into buying an iPad. You can get all your newspaper and
magazine subscriptions in one place, which I feel is a lot more convenient for
most people.
Another feature which will definitely attract customers is
all the games you can play on it. I’m not much of a gamer but I do enjoy Angry
Birds and Words with Friends. It was a very different experience playing them
on a much bigger screen than my phone. The number of games in the App store is
massive, with games of all types for all ages and a lot of them are free. If I used
an iPad regularly and had kids I would definitely use it to keep them
entertained. You can also watch movies on the iPad, but I just don’t think the
screen is big enough for me to want to sit through an entire movie, never mind
hold the iPad in my hand the entire time.
Nevertheless, the iPad has been very successful and most
people that own one love it and use it frequently. It had been a huge source of
revenue for Apple and I’m sure their next version of it will be just as
popular. They continue to add new features to draw in new customer and keep
their existing ones. But for me, I just don’t feel that I would get enough use
out of it to justify me spending $500 dollars. Maybe in the future if I could
get a used iPad for around $200 dollars or so I would buy it, mainly for the
iBook and newsstand apps. I can see why people love the iPad but it just isn’t practical
in my world. With that said I’m definitely going to borrow my fathers iPad more
often though.
