The Phantom City

Subject line from today. Refreshingly straightforward. Disturbingly familiar.

“You have not had sex with a Russian girl? Come to us and you shall have it!”

I might think different after a while, but I was kind of interested in MacWorld’s live coverage of the event, so I decided to write down some thoughts to see if they survive as time goes on.

• I really hope at some point they come out with the iPatch.
• The iPad is an iPhone I can’t fit in my pocket and can’t use to make phone calls.
• The iPad is an expensive, but lighter and shinier, netbook where I have to pay extra for an hardware keyboard and comparable storage.
• The iPad has access to the Apps store, so I can run iPhone apps without having to squint at them.
• Maybe the iBookstore can force Amazon to start supporting epub?
• I’d get one over the Kindle DX at a similar price. I don’t know about Kindle 2.0 at its current price point.
• Unlike the iPhone, I could use it for extended reading. One also assumes the Amazon Kindle app will still work.
• iWork apps are kind of cool. Could use it for presentations at work.
• I love the data plan pricing, particularly the pre-pay option.
• I kind of wonder about the whole 250MB plan. That could be fine on the iPhone, but I suspect people would use video on this more frequently.
• Might have been an awkward design at 16:9, but I was a little surprised at the 4:3-ish screen ratio. Oh well, it’s not a TV.
• Games will be prettier, faster, and more involving, but I’d need to pick one up to see whether the size would be awkward for a handheld.

I like this gadget, but I just can’t see where it would improve my life in the age of the iPhone and netbooks. I’ve already got light-enough computing in a form factor that’s been around forever, and I’ve got good-enough ubiquitous data access.

But, that all being said, it’s one step closer to that future of computerized houses, touchpads, and jetpacks I’ve been hoping for since I was a kid, so I appreciate it for that.

Update: Almost forgot…if it’s running the iPhone OS, I’m guessing no Flash. Maybe more pressure to adopt some HTML5 alternatives?

Update, redux: I’m getting slightly irritated by the sheer number of blog posts I’ve read lauding the iPad as high-tech at a cheap price. Really? At the base level, it’s a 1GHz processor, 16GB of flash storage, 1024×768 multi-touchscreen, and Wireless-N. It’s not delivering high-tech…it’s delivering good-enough tech in a better form factor than we’ve been used to. That’s called design, and Apple does that regularly.

BTW, I have figured out an awesome use for the iPad in my life: A computer my mom would regularly use. She’s not a big fan of mice, or touchpads, or the pointy cursor, but a large touchscreen would be awesome for her. Now, if AT&T would actually deliver 3G to Reidsville, NC, getting her on the Internet would be easy. As it is, we’d have to get cable or DSL and a wireless router in her house.