eCrane Blogging

Yesterday I got to play with a coworker’s iPad.  Awesome!  Apple has once again created a game changer.  The realization hit home this morning while I was at the health club working out.  I was reading a technical periodical and saw a picture of another, very different, new tablet computer.  This is the kind with the keyboard and the screen that flips around and can be in either laptop mode or in tablet mode.  When I saw the picture I had an emotional reaction:  old, creaky, inefficient, ugly, etc.  ”What?!?  It has a keyboard?  And look at the ugly hinge where the screen flips around!”  Up until I played with the iPad, I would have welcomed the chance to play around with (and own) one of those tablet computers.  Now, I just don’t care anymore.

The iPad brings an elegance to the field that will set the standard for all other tablets.  Just as the iPod was not the first portable MP3 player, the iPad is not first in the field.  But it will redefine the field, just as the iPod did.

Yesterday Apple announced the iPad.  It looks awesome and I’m sure it will be a great device.  But I’m disappointed about a couple things.  They should have put a camera on the front.  They could have made video chat/video conferencing ubiquitous.  It seems like a lost opportunity.  And as a developer, I’m disappointed that there is no way to do my work on the device.  Wouldn’t geeks everywhere have rushed to buy one if they could build iPhone/iPad apps on an iPad?

But I am pleasantly surprised by the price.  With a $500 entry point, they are positioned to sell a bunch.

The iTunes store has a university area, including a bunch of Engineering classes. I’ve been going through the programming for the iPhone class from Stanford University. Very cool idea. I wish I had more time to explore more of these.

Click here to open the Engineering area in the iTunes store.

Yesterday I took my iPhone into an Apple Store because I was having problems with the camera. The pictures were all turning out blurry. I used to be able to take better pictures with the phone. They weren’t great pictures, but they weren’t bad either. But lately I could practically not use the camera because the pictures were so bad. So I made an appointment to see an Apple Genius. He looked at the camera, took a couple pictures and then proceeded to pull out a brand new iPhone for me. From his perspective, he doesn’t even know if there’s a problem with my phone. Could it be just that I’m really bad at taking pictures? But he took me at my word that I used to be able to take good pictures and now I can’t. I was once again amazed at the incredibly high level of professionalism and customer service at Apple. Some people won’t buy Apple products because they think them over-priced. It is experiences like this one that make me a loyal Apple customer. I don’t mind paying a bit of a premium because Apple stands by their stuff and they want their customers to be happy.