LIVEdigitally

Sony Remote Monstrosity
Engadget got a sneak peak of the Sony/Google TV remote control.  It’s either hideous, or simply an internal prototype used for them to develop with.  I wish it was the latter, but bet it’s the former.  Over on the Stage Two blog (I’ve been doing a lot more blogging there recently, it’s not just us pushing client work, give it a read!) I go into specifics of what’s wrong with it, and also tangible steps on how to improve it.

Early Revue Reviews
Saw a quick hit on CrunchGear today, I’m in complete disagreement with everything they say that makes it “good”.  My highlight nitpick is their closing remark: “As we said before, the real initial value will come from the camera that Logitech is selling for video chats on the TV.”  The real value of a $299 device is that you can hook up a $149 camera to it to do video chat?  Really?  That is going to move the needle on Revues?  Hint: no way.

Elsewhere, my friend Harry calls it the Swiss Army Knife of Internet TV products.  I’d say that’s a great analogy, but follow up with my biggest concern: the TV is the one place we don’t want something like a Swiss Army Knife. See, those Knives are handy to have around in a pinch, but in every way fall short of being really useful for a long period of time.  Yes, it’s cool to have a philips head screwdriver in your back pocket when camping, but I wouldn’t put together IKEA furniture with one, that’s when you need the actual screwdriver – aka the single purpose product that works really really well.

I’m maintaining my position that Google TV 1.0 is not ready for consumer primetime, and neither the Sony nor Logitech solutions are compelling to the mainstream.  Sorry to my friends who work at those companies, but this just isn’t what it needs to be for a big win.

Android #1?
I saw one of those big flashy attention-grabbing headlines today “Android Most Popular Operating System in U.S. Among Recent Smartphone Buyers”.  Beyond my general disdain for Android (though I will freely admit the HTC Incredible running Android 2.2 is leaps and bounds ahead of my old Eris, but still has lots and lots wrong with it – for another time), I hate headlines like these.  What would be MORE interesting?  What is the popularity of Android specifically on AT&T?  That’s at least apples-to-apples comparison (pun fully intended). Of course Android is going to hit the top spot, this is inevitable, not interesting.

Now what would be interesting?  Well, since this is arguably all about a landgrab for developers to adopt platforms, how about an analysis that talks about which platform is making the most money to developers? Until Android/Google makes the process of buying (and selling) apps easier for everyone, the money is still flowing to Cupertino.

iPhone-to-TV
The newest version of Netflix for iPhone enables watching the movies on a TV, rather than on the phone itself.  Very cool, nice novelty feature.  But when I see a phrase like “Who needs an Apple TV now?” I get reminded of how often people in the industry aren’t thinking these things through very much (no offense to the author of that particular blog post).  To be clear – a phone, even an iPhone, does not replace a TV dedicated device, now or ever.  Wrong device for the wrong purpose.

What if you need to make a phone call mid-movie?

What if your phone runs out of battery?

What if your phone drops the signal (apparently those iPhones are known to do that from time to time)?

What if you want to put the movie on, then sit 8-10′ away from the TV, and, say, pause or rewind the movie?

etc.

Congrats Foundry Group!
Just wanted to take a second to congratulate Brad, Ryan, Jason, and Seth at Foundry Group for raising their latest fund! I’ve had a long history with the guys and a lot of their investments, and since they are one of the few VCs who love the consumer gadget space, wanted to give them a little shout out here.  Keep up the great work, and keep finding the cool gadgets!

My friend Louis Gray wrote a piece tonight mostly about the new Apple TV, but focusing on how he believes Apple is introducing fragmentation into their ecosystem.  Go ahead, give it a read.

I was writing the following as a long comment, and just as I was wrapping up I thought it would serve better as a blog post.  Please consider it a counter-point, and you should definitely read Louis’ arguments first.  Go ahead, click there, then read all the way through the comments until you get to…

“I’ve yet to see anybody dispute the facts about each device running a different flavor of the OS, which is the crux of the issue.”

The reason nobody’s disputing it is because it’s not actually an issue.  Apple does not, for the most part, have fragmentation in their platforms (other than tiny exceptions, which I’m sure someone will point out snarkily in the comments).  This is about disparate products, not a fragmented operating system implementation (though I do completely agree that the iTunes experience is woefully out of date within the overall product line Apple sells).

First, all the comparisons about what does/doesn’t play on Apple TV on day 1 of shipping are irrelevant – the wide swath of Americans who will buy the device will pick it up later this year (you know, November-ish), by which time the content library will be different.

Second, it’s not as if there’s any cross-product features, other than the few apps which happen to run both on an iPad and on an iPhone/Touch.   When we talk about Android fragmentation it’s because all the products are being labeled as having a common platform, yet there is MASSIVE discrepancy between user interface, app compatibility, features, etc.

Third, Apple isn’t out there marketing “iOS 4 devices” other than when it needs to in re updating iPads/iPhones.  And even then, it’s highly product-specific.  Android, on the other hand, *is* a promise/value expectation (and I’ll avoid commenting on the quality at this point).  When Google touts new Android features and someone with a Droid Eris (my former, sad sad sad phone) hears about them, they have *NO WAY* of knowing they will never ever get them.

Fourth, and last, is about the developers.  Ultimately fragmentation is most keenly an issue to them (even more than consumers), as it impacts their livelihood.  So if you are developing for Android, yet your app won’t run on the mega-phone Evo, and runs poorly on a Droid X, but is nice on the HTC Incredible (my current, much better, but still lacking phone), how are you supposed to communicate that to consumers, who will inevitably write poor reviews, not trust your brand, and ultimately not spend money with you.

That’s the problem with fragmentation.  Now let’s look at developers for iOS – they know exactly (1) how big their market potential is, (2) where the money is flowing, (3) how to build apps within the ecosystem, and (4) with 100% certainty, which devices their apps will run on.  A bad user experience is utterly the developers’ faults, not due to some random hardware maker poorly implementing an OS.  And if/when Apple TV gets iOS 4 (my prediction is it doesn’t happen until the next version of the device, but I’m getting a lot of these wrong these days, so who knows???), developers will have a clear path to build whatever apps they can, knowing exactly how they will perform.

OK, so the other day I made the comment that in order to compete with all the other media streaming boxes out there, Roku should look at really doubling down on more content.

Shortly thereafter, Netflix (another one of my absolute favorite companies) announces a partnership with NBC, thereby giving Roku a helping hand (and yes, other Netflix boxes as well.)

And now this, Roku skillfully lines up Hulu Plus as a content partner. Actually, from my perspective, this is a bigger win for Hulu. As of now, I had held off of getting a Hulu Plus subscription but now, seeing that it will be on my Roku, I may just sign up!

Now with Roku you get Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, Amazon and a bunch of other content providers, plus 1080p output, plus USB playback all at a sub $100 price.

Sure, none of these content partnerships will be exclusive, but Roku provides them all in such a neat, easy-to-use box that is available now.

So remind me, why would you be interested in any other offering out there?

(If they come up with a new UI, I’ll be in TV heaven)

Hello,

I’m a longtime fan of LiveDigitally but a first time contributor. Jeremy has been kind enough to invite me to write for the blog whenever the mood strikes and today seemed like the perfect day for my inaugural post.

Picking up on previous posts on what makes a great Google TV or Boxee app, I thought I’d jump in with some thoughts of my own on one of my favorite devices, the Roku box.

I got my Roku about four months ago and I love it, I really do. It gives me about 75% of the content I would want on my TV, which was enough to get me to “cut the cord” and cancel my cable subscription. So for the past few months, Roku has been my rocket ship to the TV universe.

I haven’t seen Roku’s latest offerings, but here are some thoughts on what I have seen and heard about their current boxes:

1. Roku wins universal praise for its ease and setup, but not so much fanfare for its UI; I can’t disagree. The box is dead-simple to set-up and use, which is great. But the UI is uninspired and doesn’t really encourage you to really delve in to what is on offer
2. Another piece of high praise is reliability, my box hardly ever flakes and we put it through the ringer. It is hard-wired into my router so I can’t vouch for the wifi capability, which appears to be improved in the new boxes launched today
3. Content: At the outset, Roku was essentially a Netflix box. That was great a year-or-so ago but now, everyone and their brother is a Netflix box. Roku has some nifty content like MLB, Pandora, Amazon and a few others, but they need to continue to expand with more mainstream stuff.  Apple has Netflix and just scored ABC and FOX. It isn’t a huge leap forward, but it may be enough to peel off Roku users.
4. Developer community: Related to the content problem, I know from some developer friends that Roku isn’t the easiest platform to develop on. Obviously this is a problem as competitors, both large and small have strong developer communities. Difficult development platform=difficult to get the choice apps/content.

Some of the pet peeves that are missing from my current box have been addressed by the new ones, the biggest being previously a lack of USB. With my current XR, I don’t have USB to view my own content, which is frustrating. Happily, that has been solved with the XDS

But even as it evolves, Roku is firmly staking ground in the low-end market, which I think is a good move.

The big battle around media-streaming boxes will be around price/performance; Google TV seems to be on the highest end, with estimates that their box will be in the $200-$300 range, Boxee is next at under $200, with Apple TV and Roku coming in at the sub $100 range.

GoogleTV and Boxee promise a more active experience, with more features, web surfing  etc., but also with a more complicated remote/UI. AppleTV and Roku look to be more of lean-back experience of just watching content via a simple remote/UI.

My money is on the lean-back experience, which I think is more viable for the short term. A simple box that lets people access most of the content they want will be the gateway drug to media-streaming boxes. Boxee and Google TV look/sound great on paper, but I wonder if they may be too complex too early in the lifecycle of this product segment.

It’s been official since a tweet last week, but the i-stage website was updated today to reveal this year’s judges/mentors, and I’m extremely excited to have my name in the list.  Other judges this year are Richard MacManus (founder of ReadWriteWeb) and Frank Gruber (founder of TECH Cocktail), and previous judges have included Blake Krikorian (my boss and mentor at Sling Media, currently living mostly off the grid), Ryan Block (founder of GDGT, former editor-in-chief at Engadget), Natali Del Conte (CNET), Ross Levinsohn (Fuse Capital), Jeff Pulver (involved in pretty much everything), and more!  Needless to say, I’m honored to have my name in this list of esteemed technologists!

This is neither my first foray with i-stage nor first judging with CES.  Last year I was a judge for the prestigious Innovations awards.  Two years ago I was working with team Boxee when they went to, and subsequently won, the inaugural i-stage event!  This plus the three “best of CES” awards I’ve been involved in, and I’d say I’m quite excited about being on the other side of things this year!

We haven’t seen this year’s list of contestants (still two days to enter), but I’m excited to see what’s up-and-coming in gadget land (especially since I like to think I’m already involved with most of the new stuff – so this makes it even more intriguing).  I’ll put together some thoughts and recommendations on what contestants should (and should not) do to increase their odds at winning (and while cash is nice (kidding!!!!), I’m more interested in impressive technology and great product experiences).

Big thanks to Clayton Morris for having me on his show last week.  We talked a lot about Google TV, as well as some iPad cases and some Android chat.  I had a few Skype/headset technical difficulties, but overall it seemed to work quite well!  Was on with esteemed guests Ross Rubin, Dan Costa, and Jeff Pulver.

I purchased an iPad on day one (roughly minute 3), without much assurance as to how or why I’d use it, or even if it would be a “keeper” in my digital lifestyle.  Here’s a recap of my feelings over the past two weeks:

Day one.
Let’s be honest, the first day of any new toy is either “wow this is awesome” or “gosh I’m disappointed”.  Most products don’t get well-tested in their first few hours of use, and it’s generally hard to evaluate the real-world practicality of any device.  For example, a digital camera will take good pictures, but you might not try it in a fast-action setting; similarly a GPS device will get you to your first destination, but you won’t evaluate how rapidly it finds the signal when you are lost up in Tahoe.  My day one was a lot of fun.  I didn’t really “do anything” with the iPad, other than try downloading stuff, typing on the keyboard, doodling in one of the (way too many) doodle apps.  Good times.

Week one.
Within three days I had sync’ed my email, contacts, and calendar to the device, and all worked quite smoothly.  I copied some photos, videos of the kids, some Arrested Development episodes, and some music from my library.  I also experienced my first real “use” of iTunes as a sync platform – it’s okay, but has some bizarre shortcomings that I was quite surprised about.  I downloaded a few apps (all free ones, didn’t want to buy anything yet and still haven’t bought one yet to this day actually),  played with them, kept some, deleted others.

Most of my time in week one was spent using the device in three settings (well, kinda four – read below)

1. On the bus
   Media device: Watched videos, wrote a blog post, listened to podcasts
2. At the office
   “Accessory” computer to my iMac:  Mostly light email, calendaring, some Harbor Master.
3. At home
   Laptop replacement: light-to-moderate email, Web surfing, lots more Harbor Master.
4. Demo to others
   My fourth scenario was simply showing the iPad to anyone around – lots of inquisitive folks wanting to see it in use. I wish I was getting a commission.

Week two.
The second week of use was my true “now how do I feel” week with the iPad.  Was it actually better/easier/more convenient than my MacBook?  Did I really want to carry this on the bus or other places? Would a murse fit into my lifestyle okay (separate post of iPad cases & sleeves coming)?

The above answers were all “yes”es, and more.  The only three uses of my MacBook last week were: watch NHL GameCenter (Go Habs!), sync and backup digital pictures, and charge/sync content to my iPad.  For literally everything else I used my iPad in lieu of the MacBook.  And not only did I use it, I found myself preferring it for most casual use.  But then this weekend got even more interesting.

On two different occasions this weekend (at a movie theater and while touring farms North of San Francisco) we had the iPad handy to look up long lists of content.  To be perfectly clear, we opted to carry an iPad rather than print out Web pages.  This was a conscious choice, and not in any way for “show off” factor (don’t worry – that was accomplished through plenty of other methods).  It was just an easy way to bring content along with us AND have our calendars AND have email history AND have contacts/address book information.  Things we obviously could do with smartphones (but generally choose not to), paper (ugh), or laptops.  But I’d *never* throw my laptop in the trunk on a day trip – something that just felt natural with the iPad.

It ain’t all kool-aid!
There are certainly flaws with the iPad.  In fact, my evernote-based list of likes/dislikes actually has more entries on the dislike list (future blog post).  It is, unquestionably, about the least ergonomic device I’ve used (the lap-pad pics from their ads are great, but radically unrealistic).   The lack of even simple multi-tasking (mail + calendar anyone?) can be annoying.  They could even take a cue out of Android and include a “back” button that spans multiple apps.  More on this in a future post.  But most importantly…

It’s not a replacement for any computer.  Just some.
As much as I believe the iPad has major impact in regards to light/casual/home computing, I don’t think most households could get by with “only” an iPad.  The lack of ability to effectively handle one’s digital camera needs is a “killer feature” for having a computer.  Further, no businessman could possibly exist on the iPad alone, though it’s an amazing complement to one.  I will say that I believe mail on the iPad vastly outshines any other non-computer device, specifically including BlackBerries, and that’s an important piece of ground for Apple to break.

But it is game-changing, and almost definitely not a bread machine.
I like having the iPad around.  I like turning it on, using it, then knowing it’s still there. It feels like everything the original PalmPilot put into my hands (though unfortunately not my pockets), only in context of computing and the Internet in 2010. I believe my use will only increase, and intend to start purchasing apps now.  It’s probably the most interesting digital accessory one can purchase, and unquestionably dabbles in “computer turf”.  I thoroughly enjoy using it, and find that it is helpful (not harmful) to overall productivity.  Except, of course, when I play Harbor Master.

I’ve been asked to write more frequently about building gadgets, so I’ll be putting together posts that reflect the variety of experiences and advice I’ve gleaned over the years. To get this party started (yo), I thought I’d share what I consider to be a fairly amusing, yet quite real, topic: the FlowerPot Gadget Design. The story goes something like this…

You’ve conceptualized some new gadget. It’s going to revolutionize the long-sought-after convergence between microwaves, WiFi routers, and doorbells. The technology is mostly figured out, the first rev of the board design is mostly working, it’s time to start thinking about the actual product now. You hire a top-notch industrial design firm (probably the one who used the coolest method of binding their sketches and/or presentation), share your vision, and await your first concepts.

A few days go by, and their team shows up with a cleverly bound sketchbook, all parties very excited about the upcoming ‘reveal’. Anywhere from 6-12 concepts are shown, some very simple ‘boxes with a mild twist’, some ubercool concepts that are obviously impossible to actually manufacture, and then, there on one of the pages, it is. The flowerpot. You look at it a couple of times to make sure the synapses are firing properly and that you are in fact seeing a flowerpot. And it’s true, you are.

Now I don’t know if the flowerpot originates in design school, or if some legendary designer once waxed poetic on the flowerpot as ultimate incarnation of designing gadgets. I can say I’ve seen the concept presented many times in my career, a surprising amount i’d say. Even last week when meeting a new (and very cool) gadget company when discussing their product strategy I explicitly asked the question if their ID firm mocked up a flowerpot. They showed me the molded sample.

I’m not a designer, but I believe I have a good eye for products combined with a healthy respect for the design process. I know there is often a healthy ‘battle’ between design concept and real world implementation. But I am pretty sure we aren’t going to see very many flowerpot gadgets actually come to market anytime soon, well maybe with an exception here and there.

And then again, maybe the FlowerPot Gadget *is* the future….

I’m writing this on my ipad, from the bus, really just to see if I can and how well it works (and how much the motion sickness will hit me by the time I’m done). Note: the preceding sentence was unfortunately all that i recovered after I accidentally quit without saving. But i can tell you i wrote a lot, and am mild to moderately queasy now, but am at a computer to finish it up.  Not for any reasons other than there’s just nothing better than a 27″ screen!

Why am I so bullish on the iPad?  In a nutshell, it does 80% (or more) of the things most people need to do with their computers in their home life.  Here’s a quick rundown on the 5 major components of “common use computing” and the iPad’s “fit” to task…

1. Email.
   Email is either top or the 2nd-most important personal computing task.  Email on the iPad works great, especially for typical “staying in touch” emails, forwarding along urban myths, sharing funny videos, and all the things most people use email for on a day-to-day basis.  As my last time stating it – this is not about office computing, nor those who are taking office computing tasks and doing them at home!
2. Web surfing.
   Again, either 2nd or top on personal activities is simple Web surfing.  Facebook, YouTube, viewing photos, reading stuff, playing games, etc.  While there is a major drawback in the lack of Flash, the reality is this will change one way or the other (in other words: either less Flash on the Web, or Flash comes to the iPad) sooner or later.  In my weekend’s worth of use I encountered flash twice, though on the other end my cousin’s kids were rendered practically useless to visit the sites they frequent.  Safari on the iPad is a very nice browsing experience, though I believe it could be improved a lot – tabs, for example, probably do make sense (where they didn’t on the iPhone).  In the “80%” view, it’s definitely above satisfactory.
3. Media consumption & playback.
   “Stellar” is probably the right word I have to describe the iPad as a media device.   Video looks amazing, music playback is the same as any iPod, it just works great.  My wife’s already streamed a Netflix movie, and I’ve synced kid videos from our Flip (they actually look better than they do on the higher resolution screen of the MacBook).  Moving to mixed media types, well there’s again, the lack of Flash, but the YouTube app works well enough, Marvel has a very interesting comic book reader, and I expect we’ll see other new forms of content coming soon.  Again, there are quirks, but it’s overall one of the best media players I’ve seen.
4. Simple productivity.
   Most people don’t need PivotTables, Custom Animation, and WordArt.  They need basic spreadsheets, simple presentations, and light document editing and creation.  For a fee, those features are available for those who’d like them, and my hunch is you’ll see a lot more show up in the coming months.  Those apps plus EverNote, WordPress, and others enable some very light touch (or is that multi-touch) ways to continue to manage non Web-content on the iPad.
5. Gaming.
   Gaming on the iPad is great, though it does not replace PC gaming at all (hence the magic 80% number).  Further, initial reviews of some “power games” for the iPad, such as Command and Conquer, imply it can do a lot more than just labyrinth.  I do feel the power-gaming community will not ebb from their platforms, but I do think the iPad will represent a lot of new gaming potential for both casual and heavy gamers.

I will maintain my statement that the iPad is ushering in a new era of gadgetry, in fact it’s probably going to change the way we think about computers in the future. There are, and always will be, complaints and criticisms of new products.  It doesn’t quite do everything as perfectly as possible.  Yup, check, that is true to all things.  But perfection is not, and never will be, delivered by any kind of gadget or technology.  There’s always going to be something it misses out on.  But then again, when was the last time you bought a $500 device to help you fold a t-shirt?  So there!

And for those of you who still feel “it could be more” or complain about the lack of a camera, here’s a video reminder for you to enjoy…

Everything’s Amazing, Nobody’s Happy from frijole on Vimeo.

I’m willing to place a small wager that I represent less than 1% of iPad pre-order customers when I say: “I have never owned an iPod/iPhone, nor used iTunes to sync a media file/collection.”  Yup, I’ve never dealt with the library, App Store, syncing, or anything else before.  Sure, I’ve used my friends’ iPods to browse and play music, but that’s about it.  In candor, my one experience with buying and playing content from iTunes was quite unpleasant, but I recognize it was a bit of an anomaly.

My expectations are fairly straightforward, or so I think they are.  And while I suppose there’s probably videos or web pages that already explain it all, I am looking forward to a fresh, unbiased out of the box experience (OOBE).  Here’s some of what I expect:

• I can go to iTunes, pick stuff I like/bookmark/purchase, and it will automatically download to my iPad over WiFi.  Now I have a hunch the auto-sync part may not work like I hope, and I may need to sync over USB, which wouldn’t be terrible, but disappointing.
• I can browse and search the app store from the iPad, find stuff, purchase & download directly
• I can (fairly easily) sync media files (music, photos, videos) from my iMac/MacBook to my iPad
• I can sync from one iPad to more than one Mac computer (home MacBook, office iMac)
• On the iPad, Web links to apps enable direct download & installs (with no intervening steps)
• On the iPad, I can browse music on my local iTunes server, and sync them (with no intervening steps)

My biggest concern is the ability to use the iPad, find content on the local network, and browse it there.  I mean this specifically with iPhoto, but general file browsing & playback is also a desire.  I’ve got close to 10K photos on my NAS and my MacBook, and would like to view them whenever I’m on the home network.  Further, I’m hoping to be able to do so while away from home, though I’m not sure if that’s possible (even with MobileMe – a service I do not currently subscribe to).  The mere idea of “use my iPad as a remote photo viewer” reaches “killer feature” category for me.

I’ll check back in on this topic once I’ve played more with the iPad + iTunes and taken enough time to sit down and write something.  Which may or may not occur via my iPad.  I’m sure there’s an app for that.

(I didn't have time to photoshop another clever image)

Just saw the iPad has started shipping.  Feeling a little tingly.  Truth be told, I’ve been looking forward to getting mine (in-store pickup; kids would go nuts sitting around all morning while I wait for the UPS guy) for the past week or so.  Which is fairly unusual for me.  While I know most of my friends and colleagues (and family especially) think I always have all the latest everything, the truth is I’m an atypical “gadget guy” and not commonly an early adopter of technology.  I’ve done a little “self-review” of me + new tech, here’s the results:

Last gadget I’ve pre-ordered?

• N/A

Number of products (any kind) I’ve pre-ordered, past 5 years?

• One. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Gadgets of which I’ve owned the first-generation versions AND been an early adopter of (specifically: owned prior to virtually anybody I knew)?

• TiVo (Philips 14-hour unit)
• Rio PMP300 (16MB version)
• OLPC (charitable donation, didn’t really care about the computer)
• Slingbox (doesn’t really count since I didn’t buy it)

Apple iPod/touch/phone products I’ve owned:

• N/A

Gadgets of which I’ve owned the second-generation versions OR late adopted:

• PalmPilot 500 (and Palm V and others)
• TiVo (again)
• Harmony remote
• Android phone
• Rio Karma (was awesome)
• Sonos
• Jawbone
• iMac / MacBook

I definitely love new technology (more specifically: gadgets) and while I am usually ahead of the “mass adoption” phase, it’s rare for me to have something hot off the presses.  Also, I almost always buy things that have clear, tangible, lifestyle benefits for me – I am not a “buy it just to have it” kind of person (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  So why on Earth am I pre-ordering a brand-new gadget in a category I’ve previously disdained?

I’m not sure.

Yup, that’s the truth.  I have no specific use-case for it.  I don’t see exactly where it fits into my world.  I don’t even know how well the darn thing works!

But I have a feeling.

I’m pretty sure it’s going to work well.  I’m pretty sure it’ll fit into my world, whether it’s for fun at home, informative on the bus, or productive at the office.

Not just the kool-aid.

I also believe there’ll be some quirks I won’t like.  I doubt it’ll solve all my worldly needs. I am sure I’ll find some frustrations and it won’t do some things I want it to do.  I’m pretty sure I’ll end up paying the “early adopter tax.” I’m good with all that.

So what’s so exciting?

I think the iPad is likely a first glimpse into the real post-computer-as-computing era.  The phone (smart or not) simply doesn’t cut it, as a potential computer replacement, in fact it probably exacerbates the need for a laptop/device.  I believe the netbook as category has specifically emerged due to this issue, and think a device like the iPad does have huge opportunity in both the business and personal realms.  Oh, and I can’t stand netbooks. Small keys. Smell like cabbage.

Still not exciting there, Toeman.

Yeah, I know.  At the end of the day it’s a gut check.  And mine’s excited.

Last summer I wrote a blog post in which I claimed that tablets, for lack of a better word, suck.  Yet I actually woke up early today to confirm that I’d be able to get an iPad the day it came out. I wanted to take a moment to explain why I am actually excited about the iPad (image source = Scobleizer + my wannabe Photoshop skills).

First, my anti-tablet arguments, and how they do/don’t apply:

• Tablets suck at handwriting recognition.
  Still true, hence Apple implementing an on-screen keyboard and building a physical keyboard to go along with it. I don’t consider this a particularly great solution, I’d actually prefer a “Palm Graffiti-like” option (yeah, not elegant, but once you knew it, you were fast).
• Tablets suck to carry around.
  Still true, actually one of my biggest concerns about my personal use of the iPad.
• Tablets make you tired.
  From using my Droid Eris I’ve already noticed slightly different types of strains on the muscles in my forearms, not sure if its from the typing or the swiping (or the general frustrations with Android).  Curious to see how this plays out with the iPad.
• Tablets can’t share nicely with others.
  In typical Apple fashion, rather than try to make all Office apps work they’ve created a new ecosystem for productivity apps.  I feel this is an okay approach, but still not what I want.  I am concerned that I’m going to want to sketch notes and markup docs and have no way to effectively do it – but I can’t really tell if this’ll work or not yet.
• Tablets suck at hiding smudges.
  Any carrying case worth buying will have a little pouch to keep glass cleaner.  It’s going to be smudgeriffic for sure.
• Tablets are bad Web browsers.
  I think this is one area I’ll have to eat my words a bit – mobile browsing is better than it used to be, and it really seems that Apple has focused specifically on the Web experience.
• Tablets are priced poorly.
  Well, it’s not cheap, but it’s not crazy either.  For an early adopter product, I’d say its priced appropriately, though will need to eventually come down.  Unless it’s actually a viable personal laptop replacement (more below), in which case the price point is awesome.
• Tablets suck at everything else.
  Still true – unless the entire ecosystem is built off a custom app platform and instead of trying to run traditional computing applications (ahem, Windows), it’s running all new stuff… But it still might suck.

So what happened here? Am I just a rampant hypocrite? Have I been drinking too much Apple Kool-Aid?  Do I just want to be the first kid on the block with some shiny new object (unlikely)? Or is it something different?

For the “haters” (basically all the crazy tablet fanatics who got offended that I don’t love their products as much as they do and am apparently not supposed to state said opinion), this will sound bizarre, but in a nutshell I don’t really consider the iPad a tablet.  Yes, it’s a slate form factor. Yes, it has a touch screen. Yes, there are a ton of similarities to the tablet category. But it’s not a tablet.

I consider the iPad much closer to a “big iPod Touch” than any other category of product.  While it has some aspects of productivity tools, the reality is the product is optimized for other types of usage.  Let’s face it, that virtual keyboard is probably going to get annoying pretty fast.  Further, with no USB there’s very few options for extensibility.  Which means you can’t think of it like a “computer”, since it’s actually much less versatile than one.  But as a product, it’s just as versatile as it needs to be.

From one perspective I guess I do drink a bit of the Kool-Aid, as I do believe the company has effectively built the “not a phone, not a laptop” product.  I also think they’ve built something with tons of versatility and practical use.  As we continue to march down the post-computing era of gadgets, I think the iPad will start transforming a lot of peoples’ mindsets on what exactly can be done with innovative technology.

And as I said in the original tablets suck post, “But if you do figure it out, I’m buying!”