28ipad-190It took me a solid day to digest, but after just about 24 hours after Steve Jobs announced the (Gawd) iPad, I have one response.

Just what in the hell was Apple thinking?

Note, the last time I had responses like that was after the launch of the MacTV and first Mac Portable, both of which were launches Apple lived to regret.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPad gives me a serious “want to, got to have”, and after Apple gets the bugs out I might just buy one.  Might.  But let’s get to the point of what I found wrong and right about yesterday’s annoucement.

1.  What in the hell you was Apple thinking when they named it “iPad”.   I remember sitting there thinking the obvious.  ”Feminine hygiene?”  ”What’s that got to do with mobile computing” I thought.   Of course I get it.  ”iPad” as in “a new way to write”, but really?  ”iPad”?

I wasn’t alone.  Heck in 2005 MadTV did a spoof on Apple’s naming convention with a bit on the iPad, refering to the aforementioned feminine hygiene product.

Watch:

Obviously the marketing guys and gals weren’t watching that day. Actually the name may not last especially if Apple is sued by Fujitsu. Turns out they had a mobile phone called the, yes, iPad, back in 2002.

2. Why a bigger version of the iPod/iPhone?

That’s what my first impression was. Quite frankly I was expecting a little something difference from the company that thinks different. Simply put why use a larger version of the iPhone sans phone? Or a better example, try jogging with the iPad. Sure people won’t use it for those purposes, but then I’m completely loss on just what purpose they will be using it. Which brings me to the next point.

3. A $500 book reader?

I like books, but I’m not going to buy a $500 device just to read them. Sure having titles available in a neat little “bookshelf” is interesting, but honestly who reads a book more than once? I only read one book more than once, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, but frankly I wouldn’t find it any more absorbing on an iPad.

Apple is making deals with booksellers to bring titles to the iPad much in the same way they brought music to the iPod. But again, people listen to songs more than once, not books. Big miss-read on user habits here.

4. No camera. Ah, even the freaking Nano has one of those. Skip one use I would have thought the iPad great for, Skype video calls for one. Photographers would have appreciated it as well.

5. No immediate availability. This is perhaps the greatest sin. After months, no, years of speculation of the product the least Apple could have done is to have had the damn thing ready for purchase. The iPhone was delayed primarily because Apple and AT&T were still working out the details. Yet the iPhone didn’t have the long history of speculation.

Perhaps that leads me to believe that what we saw yesterday isn’t the final product, but rather a “beta” or prototype to gage public reaction. If so they should take the hints received so far and take it back to the drawing board.

Oh and change the damn name too.

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