Possible Flaws In The iPad Plan

At the iPad announcement, people were hailing the iPad as the device that will revolutionize the world.  A parade of things that one could do with an iPad was rattled off.  The problem, at least to my eye, is that these are all things that can already be done with equipment that the average person has.  Basically, as far I my amateur eye can see, the iPad’s success depends on out-of-date classist and sexist stereotypes and complete obliviousness to the current economic climate.

Three weeks before the drop date, I am still wondering what purpose exactly is the iPad supposed to serve? If I want to surf the web while on the couch, I’ll use my laptop – like millions of other people do. Not only that, but I have a browser that is capable of display Flash elements, something which the iPad cannot do.  If I want to watch a movie, I have a television and Netflix On Demand and Blu-Ray. If I want to play a video game, I have consoles and a PC.  If I want to check my email or send an email, again – I have a laptop. And if I’m out and about, I have a smartphone.

So what niche in my day-to-day life justifies me spending upwards of $500 on a gadget that, based on Apple’s history, will be glitchy and buggy? What exactly am I – as a person with a TV, a video game console, a smartphone, and a laptop – missing out on?

This is problematic as I’d like to think that I’m deep in the heart of Apple’s target demographic. I’m a 35 year-old professional making a goodly amount of money. I’m an attorney, practicing law in New York for nearly a decade, and a salary to match, leaving me with a good amount of disposable income.

Like most people in the country, I drive to and from work. When I’m not at home, I’m either commuting in my car, or I’m in the office, at court, or even out with friends. So exactly where does the iPad fit in? While driving? While in the office? While arguing a motion at court? While having dinner with friends?

My iPhone sends and receive attachments. Often, I have my secretary or my paralegal email me PDFs of opinions to my phone if I’ve forgotten to pack them into my briefcase. And, in a jam, they can email it to me in .rtf or .txt.  I don’t see when I would fit an iPad into either my work life or social life.

My mother was the iconic example of the claimed target audience for the iPad.  She was born in 1946, making her a classic Baby Boomer.  She was largely technologically inept.  But she had a TV and a laptop and a DVD player. And she would check her email while watching TV using the laptop. It was a Windows laptop too. She knew how to use it – without any explanation – to send and check email, to surf the web, and to play Solitaire, which was the only “video game” that ever interested her.  Her only experience with Apple was wanting a bottom-of-the-line iPod to have all her music with her in the car.

My grandmother has a TV and a computer and a DVD player. Her computer runs Windows. She is perfectly capable of using it to check and send email, order things on the internet, work on her novels, and even keep tabs on me and my siblings using The Facebook. She is in her late 80s and is dotty and can’t cook worth a damn. But she still knows how to use a Windows machine without any instruction. She watches the news and some sitcoms and has no interest in video games – even casual ones.

My aunt lives in Cupertino. She prefers Mac. Her husband prefers Windows. She has an iMac, he has some kind of Windows PC. She is 67 and is perfectly capable of using her computer to write up narratives of her patients, send and check email, surf the web, and keep up to date on a variety of liberal blogs (because she is an old hippie). My uncle does the same things on his PC. He is in his 70s. They have a 60″ flatscreen TV, a DVD player, 5.1 surround sound and no interest in video games – even casual gaming.

My stepfather has a gigantic Mac Pro that he bought because my stepbrother told him it was the best computer on the market. He uses it to send and read email, surf the web, order things on the internet, and catalog his bird photographs and videos. He has far too much computer for his needs but he’ll run it into the ground like he did with his old iMac. He prefers Mac because that is what he uses at NIH. He doesn’t watch TV because not much on TV interests him. He is 71.

So there you have a range of Baby Boomers and seniors. What would any one of them do with an iPad?

Every girlfriend I’ve ever had has been plenty handy with a computer. And not being able to play Wordscraper or Farmville would be a deal breaker for them.  My experience has been that most women of my generation are perfectly capable of finding their way around computers.

Additionally, the women I’ve dated and both of my little sisters (age 21 and 18) play video games avidly – on consoles and Gameboys. My sisters are both loyal to Gameboy for portable gaming and choose console gaming over PC gaming. So which of these women needs an iPad?

If you look at the sales figures for computers in the last several years, the majority of computers sold have been laptops. And many households in this country have DVD players and televisions. I wish I could cite a specific study to bear this fact out and so I ask you to take it on faith that people in this country do in fact have electricity, color TV sets, and even DVD players and laptop computers.

Did I mention we’re in the middle of a recession?

So why would I on anyone spend $500+ on a gizmo to check email and surf the web and watch movies and play games in my living room when I already have a laptop computer in my living room that I can use to check email and surf the web, as well as a TV, DVD player, and video game console which I can use to watch movies and play games?

It seems to me to be $500+ for the privilege of having a single device that can do a bunch of things okay – things that are already being done very well by other devices that I own.