Why I Won’t Buy an IPad (probably)
As someone who spends a lot of time demo’ing applications and websites, the iPad is (almost) a perfect tool when meeting with clients and investors. Having to take out my laptop and try to navigate while showing sites is a real pain, so being able to use a tablet just makes so much sense. Plus, I am a mac fan and have lots of Apple products (an iPhone, several iPods, four MacBooks, AppleTV, etc…).
But there are two major issues that are stopping me from running to pick up the latest Mac Toy:
1. I can’t configure the iPad for what I need.
On my MacBook Pro I have a webserver installed which means I can demo applications and websites “locally” on my computer without having to connect to the internet. This is really important because in many restaurants you can’t get a reliable wi-fi connection, and I spend a lot of my time showing products that aren’t live yet.
2. Apple’s “Lock In” strategy is driving me away
Trying to move applications, music, files from one Apple device to another is becoming increasingly difficult – even when I have purchased the software or music from Apple. I recently spent several hours trying to listen to my music on AppleTV after they forced me to upgrade my iTunes to make it work.
I think that Apple has superior design and some great applications, but at this point I’ll wait for Google to launch a tablet and I’m pretty sure my next phone is going to be an Android.
It’s too bad that we have to breakup – it’s been a great ride Apple – but the relationship has to end and this time it really is you, not me.