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I must say it was a close one. There is little doubt the choice I made to buy an iPad 2 was ramped up by “live” video conferences, refresh rates on live blogging site sand just plain ol” fashioned marketing. I really like Apple and think they make great hardware and I am, by trade and passion, a gadget freak.
It”s just not me.
By impulse alone I woke up at 4am on the morning launch of the apple.com store for the iPad 2 and by luck I was able to grab one with ease. Then the wait began… I even opted in for the free engraving reading “@StandAndStretch” across the back with a little notation, “iTunes for life!”. Well, maybe not the latter but I was pumped. I grabbed the handy new little magnetic thingy that looked so cool with the finger rolling around and making it bend and swerve and hold the iPad this way and that way. I was sold. I wanted in. All my previous mockery and bullet point jokes of Apple deficiencies were boiling me in a stew guilt and happiness. For one side of me thought I was giving in but the other side, the kid in me, merely felt better for just “belonging” to an elite group of Apple lovers. I had dreams of half-eaten apples and horribly skewed smiley-faced people. Something wasn”t right.
After all, I am a coder. I know Android has the potential to do great things and who cares who”s first to do this or that. If traditional businesses worked on this model everyone would focus on “keeping up with the Jobs”s” instead of concentrating effort on quality. (I started this post acknowledging Apple”s hardware as magnifico so stop hating.)
So it happened. I was able to enjoy lunch with someone I hold in high esteem when it comes to coding, web development and just general tech knowledge. f=”http://twitter.com/justsmitty”>@JustSmitty (or Justin) and I were catching up on our monthly lunch to crack skulls over the latest news or ideal coding framework and I mentioned I placed an order for the iPad 2. His eyes opened and I could feel his contempt starting from deep in his f=”http://www.publicserviceevents.co.uk/tag/fruit-machines/”>Fruit machines chest as he said, “You did what?” We talked for about 5 minutes and I knew I had made a grave mistake. We talked about Google Apps and how my life was entrenched in a wealth of applicable software that provides for my personal and business life. And then he mentioned something about iTunes and I simply said I was done, “I am going to cancel my order of my (engraved) iPad 2 when I return from lunch.”
Sure enough I returned from lunch, logged into my ghost-town Apple account, found my order and hit cancel. I sighed with relief and started to feel like a duped consumer. Had I really fell victim to the outstanding marketing abilities of Apple or did I really see a tool that was going to change the business-scape for my own needs? Who knows. I tweeted out to my friends and family… “Apple order #2348184 has been canceled. Thank you.” which I copied straight off the Apple account page and didn”t look back.
Two weeks later…. I am a very happy consumer. Still iTunes free since 2003. Here are some of my images. I want to try and do a video but this short bullet point can cover until this.
- Honeycomb stretches the previous version apps so they don”t look like an rectangular waste of space like the iPhone apps on iPad.
- Super Fast; I”ve used an iPad 2 and hardly can tell a difference between the two.
- Screen is slightly closer to the 16:9 ratio which is fine. iPad felt more like a slate. Xoom sometimes feels a bit too small. (Or my hands are large prehistoric food grabbers and the device is normal size)
- Google Apps are flawless and better than web.
- 3D rendering of interface (especially YouTube.com) is off the charts
- Speakers are louder
- Camera”s are nicer
- Well done Honeycomb.
Interesting.
I was completely Apple-free until the iPad2. Just got it Monday, but in preparation for getting it I bought my wife a used iPad.
ITunes isn’t an issue for me… We buy all our songs DRM free through Amazon.
What it boiled down to for me was fear that too many of my coworkers were down the Apple path, and were starting to look at serious collaboration apps. Doesn’t do me any good to have a really cool Xoom that doesn’t play with the others.
I played with the Xoom for a couple of hours in a Verizon store, but I held back on pulling the trigger. I remain glad I did. Apps that don’t rotate, quirks in the system. A couple of weeks ago, Motorola announced it was ramping down production of the Xoom by June… I tweeted at the time it was to make room for manufacture of the Xoom 1.0. That was meant as a joke, but it just felt true to what I had experienced.
At the end, I chose “Really, really good” over “potentially great but unknown.” Since I don’t flip gadgets, I am at peace with my decision. (My computer is 4-5 years old, my laptop is 6, and our TV’s are 10 and 19.)
I don’t know that there is a right or wrong answer for everyone… Just differing need.
Understood.
Collaboration for me is within the web. Other than MobileMe, all of the iPad apps use third party software to connect. I’m not as impressed with the Xoom as I am with Honeycomb. The Google App integration is right where my colleagues and friends and family exist. Anti-Apple…not really. Anti-proprietary, yes.
I am completely turned off by the amount of money that goes into Apple’s marketing. If it’s a great product, it doesn’t need so much push. I believe that speaks for itself.
As for iTunes, I don’t ‘hate’ it but it burned my hide early on with the first and only iPod I purchased for my self and was so broken hearted when I found out i had to load my music through this unfamiliar interface that wanted me to insert 0.99 cent sized quarters for songs…
Thanks for the comments! 😀 You made me realize ‘potentially great and unknown’ is a little more inviting to me. I’ve had conversation where I’ve swung the ‘simplicity’ of the iPad into a negative thing. All about perspective. (and buy a new TV….sheesh).
Later!
You never really explained why you decided against the iPad. Was it just the wait?
You never really explained why you decided against the iPad. Was it just the wait?
Nah…just the culture exposure. I ‘thought’ I wanted an iPad… I do feel like either would have been fine but I am now 100% android on the mobile arena.
If I had to remark why I canceled my order it would also have something to do with handling the iPad before and after I ordered it. The iPad is more square and I am unfamiliar with the App store and functionality. It seemed a little too ‘third grade’ or dummied up. Android feels a bit more real…like an experience outside the apps. It’s alive with Honeycomb. iPad was rectangularly structured and it felt unnatural. But then again, I am almost void on any Apple culture or product for several years.
>:^( That’s all I’m going to say about that…