Incidently I happened to be in apple store on a day prior and took this pic.Most of that crowd u see in it was on iPad counters.
I was gazing at people around and saw that from oldies to teanagers to kids , all had a a sparkle in their eye when they say ipad and were engrossed in using it.It surely is magical.But Cynics say its initial buzz and will die out.Google's Nexus one had similar buzz here in US.Google infact put its entire web advertising might to create the buzz.But the 74 days results comparison by flurry shows the reality
1 Million pieces dont get sold on buzz.Even after all this lot of people still have cynicism about Ipad.I had same cynicism about iPhone when it was launched 3 yrs back.It took 3 yrs for me to know the value in iphone.Now i can say,its not whether ipad is good or bad , its whether you are good for the ipad.This quote puts it in better way "Palm's CEO says he's never used an iPhone. That's like a 4-year-old saying he's never driven a car. He's just not ready for it " Apples products are at times so revolutionary , many people sometimes take time to grasp its depth.People couldnt just see the use cases and so the cynicism follows.I hence thought of putting some use cases .These cases i got thru just some 30 mins of thought, but the possibilities have no bounds.
1)Hospital: A CA hospital ordered 100 ipads. The use being a doctor can go to every patient with ipad in hand , pull up patients records , punch in prescriptions for nurse , see Xrays on the 10inch touch screen with pinch to zoom .With its small form factor its easy to carry , with battery of 10hrs it can last for entire day withour charging. A laptop can serve the same purpose , but its so inconvinent to carry to every patient.A iphone can be used , but its so incovinient to see X ray records on iphone.Ipad fits in this category perfectly.As Steve puts ,it does somethings far better than the iPhone or the laptop.
This players need u to carry dvd's , cant have streaming channels, have limited games.iPad far outperforms them.iPad can be strapped to back seat and kids can be kept busy with some cartoons streamed from live tv .Even Adults can watch thier live tv , videos , matches , play games on long trips.Someone even fitted Ipad in the dashboard, so it serves as good gps device.Yes iphone can do the same thingh , but i doubt you can give it to kids sitting in back seat to remain engaged watching cartoons. Ipad does it much better.
ii)Kitchen:It also replaces the protable kitchen tv/clock/timer With the right accessories , it can be used as kitchen tv , timer app, receipe demo apps etc.It would far better than any such device in this category as its form factor makes it possible to tug it on fridge or any wall or flat surface on kitchen , rather than a permanent fixture and the apps ecosystem increases its functionality in kitchen domain manyfolds.A iPhone or laptop can also be used, but for this category of use the Ipad is much better
3)Kids Education:
i)Hand skills: Ipad definately serves a big purpose here.As of now kids use Microsoft's MS Paint on pc's , play games on it.But with a ipad , they dont have to use mouse and keyboard to paint.They paint with their hands and fingures.They can not do this on PC.iPhone is more clumsy.iPad is just better at it.Imagine kids drawing on ipad with their own hands,learning musical instruments by touch and 2 kids collaberating.Thats much better.
ii)Science: Imagine kids check sites like howstuffworks.com .On it they see some machine .They can actually touch and feel the machine , change designs, rotate it to see it inside out.Learnign physics by actually applying touch to change pressure , force , speed and see the difference.Lots of educational games will be designed to make learning more fun.Of course this can be done on PC,but doing it by touching it makes it more intuitive , efficient and engaging for learning.Its more better.
iii)Textbooks:With ipad students dont have to carry textbooks to school.Ipad is a great reading device.They can take with them digital copies of textbooks to school.No weight load on thier backs.They may still take notebooks to take notes , if the entire school is not yet on ipad.But no one stops them from carrying digital textbooks than hard copies.Plus this textbooks , if designed as a app will be more interactive.They will have illustrations in the form of videos, animations,games etc.Ipad will truly bring a revolution in education sector , i believe
4)Book reading:Well kindle definately serves the purpose here.But Ipad is just better.Kindle can just read books.Ipad does much more.Even book reading , Ipad does better.You can download images from books, copy paste any passage to mail , or any application.Kindle books are portable to ipad as well.Iphone can be used but its screen is too small for book reading.For a air flying exec to my many leads and managers in india who have chauffer driven cars and who's travel time up-down office is about 3-4 hrs a day , it definately makes sense.Here again laptop can be used , but imagine pulling out laptop in car backseat or flight to read a book for a hour or two., then shutting it putting it back in is a pain, but on Ipad its more better.
5)Digital photo viewer:Ipad can very well serve as digital photo frame.Its elegant look makes it far better than any other in the market.And it has 10hr long battery.Most digital photo frames need a dedicated wired connection.Ipad can be put as photo frame when you are not using it.Its like u keep it in your drawing room.
Come from office , use it to check mail and stuff and put it back as photo frame.When guests are there & u r attending them and not using Ipad,that time it can serve to be a nice photo frame in drawing room.Its more better than other digital photo frames
6)India Vaction : Also when i have to go to India on a vacation , i have to carry lot of digital photos and want to show to my relatives and friends.Some in villages , and some who are old and not technology savvy and dont have dvd players with usb port and photo viewers.If i have to show my pics to them , i have to show them on my ipod touch which is clumsy if at a time 4-5 people have to see.I cant carry my laptop to all these places.I can carry a Ipad which is size of a book and has 10hr battery life and bigger screen .Its more better.Also when i move from one place to other place , in all the travelling i can play games , enjoy videos etc.
7)Never miss a match: U never have to miss a sports match.Its 8pm in office and theres a match going on.You can sneak with your collegues for dinner at canteen , watch the match on table and come back to work.Or you are late to reach home in time for match ,watch it in car.Iphone can do this , but Ipad just does it better.Imagine keeping ipad on dinner table in canteen and 4-5 guys watching the match.Or on a important
match day you have to travel somewhere, you can still catch the match on Ipad.Watching match on 10inch screen is better than on iphone.Iphone and laptop can be used , but using Ipad is much better
8)Retail outlets: Ipad has a accesory to read credit cards It can be used by retail outlets to better engage customers.
i)Starbucks: In one of the survey Starbucks found that their customers wanted it to reduce waiting time in queue..Imagine walking into startbucks and instead of waiting in queue , there is ipad kept where customers can browse and customize order , pay for it and sit at their seat waiting to be called when the coffee is ready.That Ipad at the outlet can also take surveys, flash discounts , or similar engaging stuff
ii)Barber shop:Imagine barber shop has kept 2 Ipads for customers.During waiting time , they can browse thru a app for hairstyles, select and customise styles or else if nothingh play games to spend time.Thats a wonderful way to engage with customers.
Now in above two cases sure ipod touch or a laptop can be used.But ipod touch is too small and touch computer is too space consuming , too limited in experience.Ipad does it much better
9)Handbag computer:I had a friend who's mother is a socialite.She told me she wanted to buy a laptop for
her mother which she can carry with her in her handback.She choosed netbook.That was last year.Ipad is product for her.Stylish , elegant personal computer which fits in handbag.Many people who are not techies , who travel and use laptop only for videos, games , net browsing , online shopping , online social networking etc.For them Ipad is best choice.They dont want to bother about ways of managing applications on laptops and all little techie know-how of nitty grittys. Ipads way of doing it is simple and elegant .U need no computer knowledge.Its that intuitive.Its much better.
10)Creativity at the spur of the moment:Apple has one the best software for creative people who create music, play instruments , create paintings or drawings , create videos, create blogs.Mac is hence more popular among these people.Such people when they need to express their creativity at-the-spur-of-the moment, iPad serves the purpose best
i)News Reporters/bloggers: When a reporter while outdoors suddenly stumbles on some interesting news event.He can capture it with his phone , take pictures.But to prepare the complete news item he has to go back to his laptop.He cant do it his phone and he can not be carrying laptop everywhere.But he can do that on a ipad and post it instantly.For eg my first post on this blog was written entirely on iPod touch when i was sitting at Starbucks.But before i could post it , i have to come to my laptop to check the layout and other stuff.I couldn't do it will on iPod touch.Carrying Ipad as a personal diary with you anywhere , can help create blogs , news items online anytime , from anywhere at-the-spur-of-the-moment. iPhone , laptop can be used , but Ipad is much better
ii)Drawing,musicians , instrument players:They get their inspirations anytime anywhere.With Ipad handy with apps like iLife , Garageband, iMovie, etc they can start improvising on their inspiration at that very moment.Imagine a piano artists gets inspiration for some note , while is outdoors.He can pull out his Ipad, which he is carrying like a personal diary, and start improvising using the piano app .Of course he can do that on iPhone .But using paino app on Ipad is much better.
What cynic say of Ipad, is same as what they said about when apple introduced iphone , is same as what they said when apple first introduced laptop to the world.But it took time for them to understand its true potential, as Apple was always ahead of time.
Above i have highlighted Ipad is much better so many times just to stress what Steve Jobs said about Ipad ie "It does not replace iPhone or laptop, but it does certain things far better than iPhone or laptop.Ipad fits in that 3rd category of device." Ipad is for customers who want that 3rd category and are ready to pay $500 for that much better experience and today in just 28 days there are 1 million people have approved of that 3rd category device.I am not in that category yet, but that doesn't mean i hate it..I am just not ready.
Kapil, you yourself answered your question. Once you are used to an apple, you won't like any other product where apple offers a solution. Most of us who have been used to apple's MAC machines or notebooks know this. For us (the mediapersons), apple is like an inevitable stuff you cannot replace when it comes to video-editing solutions.
ReplyDeleteOver to your question, apple's entry in the "FMCG" kind of appliances was made with iPhone. I call the phone hardware like an "FMCG" in electronics market scenario. So, apple had to go for a toss several times before iPhone was a real success. If you remember, iPhone too had a strong buzz and stronger sales in the first round of its launch but it dwindled and then regained to reach where it is today. However, by the time of iPad, the market scenario in this "FMCG-electronics" marketplace has changed and iPad will have it.
For your convenience, I'd just like you to compare it with Microsoft. Regardless of the product quality or total values, each Microsoft product tastes success which is much higher compared to its competitors. But, it is after few months that we really know whether the product was a success or not. Commercially, a product may achieve a very high RoI (return on investment) but the real success can be measured on the basis of the customer feedback and how the PLC-graph behaves over the next few months.
hmm agreed..With the iphone , no one could initially see the vision until the apps store came along and then the apps ecosystem.iPad debuts with this ecosystem in place , so need to see how long it goes.
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