Ryan Toyota’s Blog

As an avid Apple fan, I’ve been known to feverishly follow the live blogs whenever there’s a Steve Jobs keynote. Despite telling myself that no matter what kind of tablet was revealed this past January I wouldn’t need one, I still ended up being sucked in part-way through. I just had to know what Apple had been up to behind the scenes for the last number of years. Right after the keynote ended, in the wake of Steve’s reality distortion field, I found myself going through the usual frenzy of trying to figure out how much money I could scrape together to purchase the latest Apple offering. What can I sell to get the money? Where can I get a last-minute freelance job? By the end of the day, I had come back down to earth and decided that I did not, in fact need an iPad. Not immediately.

Then something strange happened. As the week went on, contrary to to the normal pattern of increasing unnecessary desire for the latest and greatest, I found myself wanting the iPad less and less. I found I was no longer enamoured with the idea of a stunning, life-changing tablet of perfection and instead starting to see the truth. Where had Apple gone wrong? I think there’s a key point, one that Steve actually discussed in his keynote, where the iPad falls short.

Quite simply, it’s trying to dominate a market that doesn’t exist. I quickly realized that I didn’t need the iPad because I seem to be getting by just fine without one. Normally I’m temporarily sold on how my life would be better with a faster laptop or more functional phone, but in this case the need just wasn’t there. Apple seems to think that this is a need that people won’t realize they have until it’s filled, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think as the iPad stands, it will be mostly confined to a luxury item and lack the usefulness that turns it into a need. (One could argue that electronics themselves are not “needs” but that’s another conversation altogether.)

There is another possibility I think. I believe the iPad could easily exist as an elegant replacement for a laptop. At it’s price point, it would make a fantastic portable accompaniment for an iMac or Mac Pro tower. I know many people that own laptops for portable convenience, but don’t need the full power of their laptop all the time. I much prefer to sit down at a desk if I’m planning to do some serious work, but I enjoy having my laptop to browse the internet, check email and view videos while lounging on the couch. Apple knows this, which is why Steve demoed the iPad while relaxing in an armchair on stage. However, the iPad is still lacking one big thing in order to work this way.

Flash support. I know it’s been mentioned, but it’s often been bundled in with with a whine about hundreds of important features that the iPad lacks. I’m saying the only crucial feature is Flash support. Everything else would be great, but that will come as an evolution of the product. For the iPad to make a big splash upon its release, I think Flash support is really key. Here’s why: Steve himself said that it wouldn’t succeed unless it not only did a number of things well, but if it did them better than the other options. Better at viewing photos than a computer or phone. Check. Better at checking email. Check. Better at watching video… will have to wait and see but I’d imagine this would be true. Better at browsing the web?

Let’s switch to a standard scenario at my home: We’ve got guests over, and something we’re discussing triggers a remark along the lines of “oh, have you seen that website?” “No, which site is that?” I ask as I reach for the iPad, which is charging attractively and conveniently on the end table beside the sofa. I pull up Safari and type the search query into Google. “That’s the one” my guest remarks as he points to the first hit. I tap, only to be welcomed with “This site requires Flash 7 or later.”

Scenario two: I come home from a day at the office and flop down on the couch to catch up on Facebook before dinner. I grab the iPad from the end table, tap the Facebook icon and start swiping through all of the latest news. It’s a smooth and enjoyable experience until I spot a video that one of my friends has posted of our camping trip two weeks ago. Five people have already commented about it’s hilarity, piquing my expectations until I see “Sorry, Facebook Video is not yet compatible with iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads, but we’re working on it.”

In both cases, I’d discover in hindsight that I’d rather be using a laptop. The iPhone gets away with its lack of Flash support because I don’t expect it to be the ideal internet browser. If I come across a site that doesn’t work or a video that doesn’t play, I just think “I’ll have to check that when I get home.” In the case of the iPad, I already am home, on my favorite device to browse the internet. My thoughts would be of a different nature I’m sure. It doesn’t matter if those sites should be using Flash or not. It doesn’t matter if Flash makes those sites ugly or not. It doesn’t matter if HTML 5 is better or not. What matters is that I want to view that content, and I don’t want to have to get up from the couch to do it. Lazy sure, but isn’t that what the iPad is about? Isn’t that what every new advance in technology is about?

So there you have it. I think the iPad has great potential, and I’m sure it will sell a ton of units and people will praise and berate it, but I don’t think it’ll truly have a place in the home until it gets Flash support. My two cents.