The Other Drummer

I really, really hate it when companies try to make it sound like they’re doing you some big favor when they aren’t.

“Hey, you seem like a nice guy. So here’s what I’m going to do for you…”

I detest it.

Two recent examples come to mind.

Apple

When the agency laptop battery exploded our IT guy took it to the Apple Genius Bar. The “Genius”, after treating our IT guy with 16+ years experience like a 6th grader, said, “Well, these are normally $179 but I’ll replace it for free.”

Gee, YA THINK?

The conversation should have gone more like this:

“Hi. This happened to my laptop. I was…”

“Oh, wow. I am so sorry. Yeah, we’ve had problems with these batteries and I’m so sorry this happened. Would you mind waiting a minute while I go to get you a replacement battery?” [After returning with the battery.] “There. This one shouldn’t give you any more trouble. Let’s turn on the laptop and make sure there wasn’t any damage. Working? OK, good. Again, I’m really sorry for this happening. I know it’s not much, but I’d be happy to offer you a $5 iTunes gift card for your trouble.”

Instead of acting like some self-righteous, faux-benevolent retail cog he should have been apologizing profusely. THE PRODUCT EXPLODED after all.

Comcast

When I got out of the shower and walked into my bedroom to get dressed last week I saw the shadows of two guys against the blinds. Creepy. I got dressed in the bathroom.

A few minutes later at about 8:30 there was a phony-sounding “tap-tap-tuh-tap-tap…tap-tap” at my front door. It was the guy who’d been lurking outside my bedroom window! Just who I wanted to see as I was walking out the door to go to work!

He explained that I was getting more channels than I was paying for. I was aware of this as we had called Comcast and told them but it apparently took them three years to get around to checking it out.

The short version (yes, there is a longer version which I will most likely write about later) is after lurking outside my bedroom window unannounced, knocking on my door at 8:30 in the morning and then trying to do a high-pressure upsell he had the nerve to say, “You’ve been really nice about this. [Note: I've said about four words the entire time.] I can give you the premium (or standard, or whatever it was) service for $29.99 for six months.”

Don’t BS me, jerk. Comcast advertises their “$X for Y months” promotions all the time. Don’t act like you’re being all nice to me and making some giant concession on my behalf when you’re really just trying to score some kind of commission for yourself.

I’ll end here. But, like I said, more later on the Comcast bit.

Image courtesy of here.

Check it:

Looks pretty good to me. Expected, but good. Give them some time to mess around a bit and get really comfortable with the platform and I think it’ll be even better.

While this video demonstration alone doesn’t make me want to run out and buy an iPad right away, I’d definitely pay extra for a digital subscription along side the standard print version.

On a separate note, digital print publications (I may have just coined a new term) will have the ability to track effectiveness of advertising in a way never before possible. Think about it: instant A/B testing in a print publication. Push out the new edition, give it a week, then replace the lower performing of the two ads. Never before possible in “print” media. Plus, you can get data on exactly who sees your ad, for how long and whether or not they interact with it.

What did you think of the video? Did it get you excited for the iPad?

Exploding batteries in Apple products aren’t exactly a new phenomenon (see even more coverage here, here and here) not to mention fraying cables and chargers.

However, I think we may have an exploding battery first here at my place of employment: This beaut (pictured above) was 1. turned off and 2. not being charged when it blew. Even worse, it was being stored in a super-cooled server room. Stellar. Thanks Apple.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt and there wasn’t any damage done to anything but the battery and the laptop.

Our IT guy has an appointment at the Apple Genius bar this morning. I’ll keep you apprised as to what transpires.

UPDATE:

They replaced the battery for free. They were kind of jerks about it, from what I hear, but they replaced it nonetheless.

It’s weird. Since the iPad was announced I find myself thinking about different things I do and if I’d prefer to do them with an iPad (theoretically since, you know, I’ve never actually used one).

For example, I’m currently reading the Ensign, Wired, a book for work (which I think I’ll write about later), and of course the scriptures and dozens of blogs and websites. I usually have a notebook or my iPhone (with Evernote) nearby whenever I’m reading just in case I want to make a note or jot down an idea, so having an iPad where I could semi-easily flip over to my notes and back is appealing.

Here are my thoughts on each.

Ensign/Wired

I would absolutely love to read the Ensign on an iPad, mostly because it would mean I’d have the latest edition with me. I honestly think I’d read more of the magazine if I had an iPad version.

Wired is a toss-up. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s a brilliantly designed and laid-out publication right down to the paper choices and the different kinds of ink. (Seriously. Look at the covers from last year. Awesome.) Even if an iPad version of Wired were mind-blowingly good (better than this prototype) I don’t think I’d ever cancel my subscription to the physical version.

Verdict? I want it. Ensign goes digital, but I’ll keep my physical subscription to Wired in addition to the digital version.

Book – The Element

I just started this book for work and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t care at all if I was reading it on the iPad. While the cover has a nice feel to it the pages feel thin and cheap. I’d much rather load it up and read it.

However, if I was reading a book I was really into (What Would Google Do?) or something I wanted to have an experience with (Harry Potter series) I’d still want a physical copy. Plus, if it’s a book that gets my brain going I like to scribble things in the margins, underline parts that stand out and make notes.

Call me old fashioned, but I love the feel of a book, the cover, seeing all the pages as they slowly move from one side to the other, and, yes, the smell. There’s something very satisfying about having completed a book which I’m doubtful you’d feel if you had a digital copy.

Plus, someday I want to have a library/reading room in my house that I don’t yet own.

Verdict? Meh. Maybe. Depends on the title.

Blogs/Websites

Considering how much time I spend reading content online, the more I think about it, I think it could make a world of difference to read it all on something like an iPad. Especially longer posts/articles. Take this one for example. Great content that I think would be less intimidating/more easily digestible on something other than a horizontally-oriented browser.

Be honest: wouldn’t you rather be reading this on your couch with an iPad? That’s what I thought.

However, consuming web content on the iPad has some limitations. While I read I like to be able to bookmark, share and save clips of things I’m reading. So unless they allow browser plugins for mobile Safari (ha!) the experience, in that respect, is going to be limited due to lack of a real browser.

Verdict? Despite the browser’s shortcomings I think it would be awesome to read web content from an iPad. Gimme.

Movies/Games

I rarely watch videos or play games on my iPhone. I’ve probably launched the YouTube app a grand total of six times since I’ve had my new phone. I don’t picture myself abandoning my new HDTV and watching stuff from my couch on a 4:3, 10″ screen.

Verdict? I don’t need yet another way to watch video. It’s a no-brainer to include it in the iPad, but I won’t be using it.

Lingering Doubts

A lot of what I do on the web has to do with content creation. I am a blogger after all. And while the iPad is designed to help you consume Thanksgiving-levels of content, I hope Apple (or, more likely, developers) imagine new and innovative ways for me to create, explore and share what’s in my head as well as gems I find while I engorge the gluttonous mass that is my daily information intake.

Reading Room image courtesy of here – #12.

As I’ve heard people talk about how the iPad is going to change the face of computing as we know it, while in the same breath argue that multitasking isn’t really needed.

They’re wrong. At least about the multitasking. Why? Because that’s not how we use computers.

Here’s how I’m thinking Apple could fix the problem, short of actually enabling multitasking.

Apple could fake it.

Bear with me on this.

Most of the apps I use (Facebook, SMS, Evernote, Safari, Mail, etc.) launch very quickly on my 3GS and based on everything I hear the iPad is even snappier. So what if Apple enabled a three finger downward swipe which would pull up a dock of your four (or in the case of the iPad, six) most recently used apps. Those apps aren’t open – they’re just the ones you used most recently (or the most frequently used apps, or you could choose which ones show up).

Clicking on any of apps in the dock automatically launches it, quitting the app you’re currently in – in one push of a button. Being that apps launch so fast, the effect is that you’re switching between apps rather than quitting one and launching another. This definitely beats hitting the home button, scrolling to find the app you want and then clicking it.

And Apple’s happy because there’s still only one app open at a time.

Sure, some apps take longer to load than others. But even as a navigational idea, I think this beats the current way people get around on the phone. It’s the iPad/iPhone version of Alt+Tabbing.

Of course, there are signs of “true” multitasking in the new SDK. But I still think it’s interesting to think about how Apple could have done things better.

What are your thoughts?

I've been asked by a number of people what I think of the iPad. Here are my initial thoughts.

What's in a name?
First of all, the name sucks. iPad? Seriously? The whole "i" thing is very 2001 and "Pad"…well…I'll spare you my own jokes and refer you to this long list instead.

Apple Slate or Apple Canvas or even Apple Tablet would have been much better names.

Consumption, not creation
One thing I'm a little disappointed about is that the iPad seems to be much more about consuming content than creating it. I like the Courier concept videos (must-see: here and here) and wish Apple would have done something like that or at least created an app that did something similar.

Less product, more platform
I think Apple didn't announce a product as much as it did a platform (as has also been commented on by Brett). For a while I've wondered why anyone would want a tablet: too big to put in your pocket, not functional enough to replace a laptop. So what's the point?

Apple intends the iPad to be a platform which content creators can make amazing things that are designed specifically for it. They'll be so amazing, we'll pay money for them instead of getting them for free on the internet.

For example, I'd pay extra to be able to read Wired's online content in an awesome, interactive format that looks more like the magazine than a website (I absolutely love Wired's design/layout).

Or, at least that's what Apple wants because it gets 30% of everything sold through the App Store.

Price
I'm pleasantly surprised at the $499 starting price point. However, charging an extra $130 to be able to access a 3G network is absurd. Cell phone carriers give away free phones with the necessary hardware to access 3G networks and Apple is trying to charge $130 just for the 3G radio/chipset? Ridiculous.

Data
What's not so ridiculous, and could actually make the $130 for the hardware bearable is the no contract, all-you-can-eat $30/month data plan that's available for the iPad. And rumor has it you'll be able to use VOIP (voice calls over the internet – Skype).

So if you don't make a lot of phone calls you could essentially be getting unlimited voice and data for $30 per month. Not too shabby considering most unlimited voice/data plans go for at least $70 per month. This becomes a more viable option if they allow multitasking. Just run Skype in the background and you're set.

Killer app: software that turns your iPad into a mifi/wireless hotspot using the 3G signal.

No word on whether or not SMS will be available as an add-on to the data plan.

Book reader
From all accounts, the iPad is an excellent book reader. That's fine and all if you read ebooks which, to this point, I do not. I've bashed the Kindle a number of times and don't see the point in laying down that much money for one. The iPad, on the other hand, has the functionality of the Kindle and everything else it does, making the purchase proposition much easier to swallow.

Assuming text books are readily available on the iPad and there's some kind of annotation capability, a $499 iPad seems like a no-brainer for college students – especially with the optional attachable keyboard and dock. Forget the laptop. Laptops are heavy and you have to carry around books. With an iPad you carry one device and that's it.

Heck. It could even replace your iPod if you had a headphone cable long enough (like Earhogs) and voice control. Just leave the iPad in your bag and run the headphones out.

I foresee a new trend in murses on college campuses. For me, it'd be nothing more than an iPad, a Moleskine notebook and some pens.

More to come
There was one thing that was conspicuously absent from the iPad announcement – notifications. With calendar, email and other apps in the App Store having built-in push notifications it seemed odd that they didn't show how those would work. My guess is that the OS we saw isn't the finished version and that there will be a revamped notifications system for the iPhone and the iPad.

I also don't think that Apple is going to let a custom 1 ghz processor go to waste running one app at a time. I'm guessing when the iPad launches in March (or soon thereafter – perhaps at WWDC in the summer) they will also announce multi-tasking for it and the iPhone.

Conclusion
Right now I'm in a wait-and-see holding pattern with the iPad. I'm curious to see what app developers and content creators do with it.

Steve tried to make the case that there's a need for a new category between smart phones and laptops. I'm not entirely convinced – at least at the current price point. While $499 is surprisingly low, it's not low enough for me to rush out and buy one (it would have to skew closer to $200 before I wouldn't think twice about it). I'll probably wait until at least the second generation – complete with camera, lower price (possibly) and an established base of must-have apps – before I consider a purchase.

In the meantime, my iPhone and Macbook are definitely doing the trick. Besides, would you want to leave an iPad next to the couch when you have a two year-old on the loose? Me either.

Jump to about 2:50 in. Yeah, this guy has some serious verbal diarrhea: he doesn’t only confirm that they’ve been working with Apple, but 1. it’s a tablet, 2. it’s running the iPhone OS and 3. how his ebooks will work on it.

Oops.

We all know how Dear Leader loves his surprises and can’t be too happy about this. I’m guessing he’s already dispatched his team of ninja assassins from Cupertino.

Via TUAW.

Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar says here that:

“The Tablet will also include a docking station… This could be a crucial feature for consumers who harbor an ongoing love affair with keyboards. For those unsatisfied with touchscreen typing, a dock would connect to a keyboard and mouse.”

The Google Phone is here: the Nexus One. It's faster than the fastest iPhone with a better display, new Android software, a 5 mpx camera, etc. etc. etc.. It's an impressive and very sexy piece of hardware.