iPad debut = meh.
Today’s mysterious product release from Apple was the less-than-mysterious tablet which Apple named iPad rather than iSlate or iTablet or otherwise. The iPad has been rumored for quite some time with specs leaking around the internet and speculation over the name, websites willing to pay top dollar for pictures of the technology prior to its release and an Apple lawyer sending a cease and desist letter, seemingly confirming suspicions about Apple’s release.
Yesterday, an educational publishing house executive accidentally slipped on air what Apple’s secret announcement for today would be and that in fact, the iPhone OS touch tablet would come loaded with text books, cutting down on college textbook costs, indicating that a primary function of the iPad is ebook reading.
The upside, the downside and more of the downside
As Steve Jobs spoke today about the “magical and revolutionary” iPad, Twitter lit up with people asking if it was magical enough to come with a unicorn and if it was so revolutionary that it would cuddle with them at night or clean their houses. Secondly, the iPad got flack for its name as people responded by asking when the “iTampon” companion gadget was coming out and if the iPad comes with wings (and those are the clean comments). It has been a trending topic on Twitter since the announcement and yes, it already has a satirical take on FailBlog as seen to the left.
The bright spot in the announcement is that the consumer product is not at the $1000 mark as it was suspected it would be, rather half of that, with the release price set at $499 per unit. The complaints are rolling in, however, that a separate data plan must be purchased for this device, seemingly doubling some peoples’ bills if they carry an iPhone and an iPad.
Apple has already run into problems however, as Fujitsu Ltd. filed a trademark application for the name “iPad” in 2003, according to DailyMail UK. Now, Apple has 33 days to submit evidence to the US Patent and Trademark Office that is it the rightful owner of the iPad name in the U.S. Apple has already filed successful applications to hold the trademark in Canada, Europe and Hong Kong.
Some are excited about the potential for this tablet and this year will be filled with talk of companies that are or are not adapting, but I’m not convinced that bleeding edge adoption is the way with this technology…
With little fanfare, confirmation that a core function is for ebook reading, and a trademark issue already under way, will Apple meet its sales goal for the new iPad and will it really be so “magical” that it will revolutionize technology as we know it? It will be great blog fodder and will be adopted by some of the hardcore Mac cult followers, but as revealed today, it’s not really a game changer, it’s more of a blip just akin to a cell phone announcement or a new esignature company- cool, great, but doubtful to be globally adopted in this giant sea of options.
