Apple iPad Executive Summary

"Apple is now the largest mobile technology company in the world."

This statement is fictious and based on (closed source) measuring techniques invented by Apple themselves. Nokia is far bigger in mobile technology when properly measured - this was also brought up in Nokia's press info yesterday.

iPad. Too big to carry in a pocket. Has to be put down on a table or lap to use onscreen keyboard efficiently. No multitasking. No flash. No phone.

The only thing I can imagine where iPad beats Nokia N900 is battery life.

No built in camera or mic!?! Big mistake... if one is going to carry an iPad around then presumably it is instead of a netbook... so one wants to be able to do video calls using skype, etc...

The comment about being bigger than Nokia is based on revenue and is a direct quote from the Apple keynote. I think if Nokia plans to dispute it a press release is not strong enough :-) Apple are three times their size in market cap too I note.

Re: Size I think you are missing the point about which space this fits into, there are plenty of applications where ANY mobile screen is too small, I can't fit my macbook or imac in my pocket either but no one would dispute their success globally with 5-10% or more of new sales in their segments now I believe.

Re: Multi-tasking I agree that might be an issue but they are defining the category. Separately I heard they are working on that for the all the iphone OS devices (including ipod touch and ipad) as a response to android which has limited multi-tasking.

I agree no camera or mic is a big mistake, they are probably worried about google voice or skype eating into their iphone revenues but also cutting off their nose to spite their face because the camera is crucial for social and many web2.0 business apps now.

I bet we see both camera and mic PLUS multi-tasking in the next version.

Some serious and not so serious feedback on the ipad if you have time

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/29/apple-ipad-review-photos_n_441770.html

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1e630e1274/steve-jobs-addresses-ipad-concerns-with-jony-ive?rel=player and some other less savoury links on the same site.

Can you imagine if the iPad could make phone calls? It would be like Dom Jolly in Trigger Happy TV!

Great summary.  I wonder if the absence of phone capability is just a continuation of Apple's genius in enticing us all into having lots of different devices ... I can certainly imagine having an iPad on the arm of the sofa or in the kitchen as a handy web terminal (in a house that already has a Nano, Touch, 2 laptops, 2 phones ... )

For me though, the big announcement from Apple this week wasn't iPad, but the fact that Voice over IP (VoIP) calls - like Skype, Fring, etc - will now be allowed from iPhones on the 3G network, something that was previously limited to use over WiFi.

And not just for audio calls - it also opens up on-the-move iPhone video calling, video contact centres and video IVR (IVVR), albeit that they are one-way only so long as the iPhone doesn't have a forward-facing camera.

... and maybe next year the iPad 'S' will do video calling too!