Steve Job's Last Hurrah or His Last Fail?

For over years, I (amongst many) have dreamt of a do-everything tablet pc; A data pad right out of Sci-Fi movies and books. Something I could use to surf the net, read books, run programs and easily carry with me. I had visions of whipping out a wafer thin "clipboard" that was my computer. The so-called tablet PCs that Bill Gates pushed were close but clunky and under powered.

So when the rumors of an Apple Tablet started, some of us got excited. One of the journalists nicknamed it the iPad and I loved it. Though when the rumors of the name being iSlate came out, it made more sense. "Mom, Dad, I need an iPad for College" and the kid gets an iPod by mistake. So yeah, the iSlate is a better name.

Just a day or two before the big announcement, I was asked several times what I expected. Here were my guesses:

iPod Touch looking device, 7-10" screen size, flash storage, iphone OS.

The iPhone OS was almost a given as Apple loves the profits and control of the AppStore.

Now... here is what I really expected Apple to do:

1. Come out with a 7" model running iPhone OS. I.E. a big iPod Touch.

2. Later, bring out a 10-12" model running OS X. A REAL Tablet PC.

I'd be likely to buy one of each. Different tools for different tasks.

What we got was a 10" iPod Touch.

I'm Ok with that. I can even think of several legitimate uses for it. For what I do with my notebook in bed, it'd work fine. It'd be great for the kids in the back seat on trips. It'd be easier on my eyes than my iPod Touch.

But to hear Steve Jobs call it the best work he's ever done; To hear him call it the best browsing experience...; To see Apple.com call it "Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price." are all pure bullshit.

Steve, this isn't a new category of a device... it is just a big iPod Touch! That's it. Period. End of Story. If this is the best you can do and what you're most proud of, I think they removed more than just a kidney.

There is NOTHING innovative or revolutionary about the iPod. It IS just an iPod with a bigger screen. At least with your innovative and revolutionary iPhone, you took the features of the typical smartphone and put them in a really slim design with a nice user interface. (And to think I bad mouthed it!) The iPad is too big to be a portable device, and too crippled to be even a netbook, much less a full blown computer. How can it be a superior browsing experience when you won't let it run anything that requires Java, Silverlight, Flash or any number of other web technologies? Isn't that like pitching me a black and white HD television with a tinny single speaker (and no extra connections) and telling me that it's the best TV viewing experience I could ever have?

By default, a PC has extra I/O connections. The iPad has none. Every PC operating system released in the past 10 years is designed to run more than one app at a time. The iPad can't. An estimated 60-70% of websites will leave little "you need a plugin for this" icon all over their pages when you view them with the iPad.

Heck, Archos and others have similar products marketed as "media pads". They don't pretend that they're PCs, they don't claim that they're revolutionary... They are what they claim: Tablet devices for watching movies, playing music and doing minor web surfing.

I'm not the only one who sees these faults. Even some rabid Fanbois are backing away from the iPad. That's REALLY scary, as Steve's previous flop, the Macbook Air, didn't get the kind of negative publicity already generated by the iPad.

Yeah, Remember the Air? That was Apple's first attempt at a netbook. Underpowered, under-featured and overpriced, even for Apple. They killed the 12" Powerbook/MacBook Pro for that turkey. When was the last time you heard anyone praising it much less saw someone using one? I still see folks running 12" Powerbooks. They beg the Genius Bar employees to get them back working when they break. The Air isn't gone, it is still there on the Apple site for $1,499 and up.

Compared to the iPad, the Air is starting to look like a real bargain.