iPad Musings

I don’t know if the iPad is something I’ll get, but it sure looks cool. I’ve already had two friends of mine, who are not computer-savvy at all, say they really want one!

One friend just bought a netbook because she wanted a small, portable computer to do some light internet surfing, email and general writing. I tried to talk her into a Mac, but even used ones were more than she wanted to spend.

After the iPad announcement, she said “I’m returning my netbook and buying and iPad. It’s exactly what I want.”

Another friend owns a hair salon and was looking to get a laptop to keep in the salon to look up customer info and do slideshows related to “color profiles” (whatever that is). Anyway, she also said “When are these iPads coming out? It’s exactly what I need for the salon!”

Both of these folks already have an iPhone. Anecdotal, for sure. But I think Apple has something big here.

And how did my friends know about the iPad announcement? I didn’t tell them: our local paper put it on the front page the day after it was announced. How’s that for free publicity?

As for me, I had owned an Asus netbook for a while, but after I had my iPhone for about a month I realized that I wasn’t using the netbook any more. So I sold it on Craigslist. Netbooks are popular, not because they are useful mini-laptops, but because they are a cheap and inexpensive way for someone to be able to surf the internet and send email. Sure, a few heavy travelers love them and maybe a few geeks. But I bet dollars to donuts that most netbook sales are to people who have little computer experience. For these people, I suspect that everything they do on their netbook will also be doable on an iPad.

I really liked Dan Moren’s latest iPad article at MacWorld. I think he nailed it. As much as some of us hate to admit, computers are still for too difficult for most people to use. Sure, most people can learn and memorize a few things, but they don’t like it and get confused as soon as something “unexpected” happens. The iPad aims to change that.