It really IS a big iPhone (without the phone,  which actually makes it a big iPod Touch).  NOTHING new about it other than being big.  The only thing remotely NEW about it is the data plan deals Apple got (half the price of a Laptop data plan).   Here’s the problem(s):

I bought my iPhone in mid November 2009.  I’m in it for two years.  I can’t plunk down another $30 for data for the privilege of doing that stuff on an almost 10 inch screen (as nice as it looks,  and as “sexy” as it is to actually hold one and touch it….that’s what I heard from everyone who played with it in Apple’s “petting zoo” (as Leo Laporte’s gang called it on their coverage)

There was NOTHING that surprised me.  NOTHING.  Everything presented yesterday was the same stuff we’ve been doing on our iPhone (aside from the iBook store,  which indicated nothing beyond what Kindle already does). The iPad,  presented as it was as the “answer” to netbooks (and I don’t buy the argument that this is not Apple’s netbook. Jobs said it was.  “Netbooks are not good at anything” he said as he prepared to unveil the iPad.  It was all about the “this is what we need” that represents the everything a user needs that is done better than netbook.  )

I take it back about not being surprised:   I was surprised at how much the device was simply a big iPod touch with a half price data plan.  I was surprised that there was NOTHING aside from the sheer size that was in any way groundbreaking.  NOTHING.  Not even a web cam.  I was not only assuming there would be a Webcam,  I expected there to be two:  one which also faced forward for Video Chat.  And of course,  no USB either,  so a web cam could be connected.   I REALLY don’t get that,  but that’s Apple.  It’s almost like no-USB port is like some sort of dogma.  All it does is make it necessary for users to get files onto the device via some other device,  and I have practically given up now on iTunes making any sense from a usability standpoint.  I still have two apps on my iTunes on my desktop,  but when I go to move them onto my iPhone,  the app collection it shows on my desktop does not have all the apps shown that are on the phone,  and when I check “manual” rather than “sync”,  it still tells me that it will delete apps from my phone that aren’t on the list in my iTunes iPhone app list.  Whaaaaaa?  If this all about users,  and usability,  all this betrays that.

I was hoping that amongst all those possibilities that Apple would be ahead of us in how things could be used,  and giving us new ideas,  that there would be something like Scoble told the Gillmor Gang:  that the device would tie together the iPhone,  the Pad,  and AppleTV,  to create a user creativity paradise of sorts.   We’re in a “Social Media age” , right?  With Apple being long known for providing hardware and software to CREATE and edit media,  and now that services like YouTube are out there,  and Netflix (who are also talking about getting into TV shows)…..I heard myself saying “Yeah,  that’s the ticket”   to Scoble’s prediction about that.  (He talked about it in the 1/22/10 episode of the Gillmor Gang).  So I scoffed when Jobs declared that Apple was “at the intersection of technology and liberal arts”,  since they did NOTHING with this device to enhance participation in the creation of liberal media.  I guess what they told us with the iPad was that they see us only as consumers of it.   And they did nothing to address the problem of Flash,  which most media outlets still use to give us Web video,  so there’s still that gaping hole that started with the iPhone OS. FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.

The device itself looks great. It is reasonably priced as a Web browsing, eBook reader with promise to do much more as APPS arrive to take advantage of the screen’s possibilities.  But as a “positioning piece” that Apple wants to replace the idea of a “Netbook”,  it doesn’t do anything but display video bigger (and reportedly faster).

I am looking at figuring out how to do a video distribution service,  something along the lines of a mobile video capture and streaming service that can go cover an event or a conversation and get it out to the accessible channels.   I was hoping that with Apple’s prominence among media production folks,  that there would be some “pro-sumerish” Video capabilities that would move the studio features into the hands of the budding professional,  and more importantly,  bring alive the idea of grassroots production.   Scoble talked about this in the aforementioned Gillmor Gang episode in  just this way.  Scoble!  Your fault.  Your vision got me all hopeful about the iPad!  Nothing coming soon there from Apple it seems.