Apple iPad Price Point the Most Important Feature
I want to start this article by saying that I am not an apple fan boy. I don’t know everything about the Apple iPad tablet. I don’t know all of its features. I know very little about its hardware. For that information check out this Article by Amit Tiwar from Samay Live
If you know nothing about it here is the YouTube link to the unveiling:
Apple Unveils the iPad – New York Post
What I want to talk about is the price. The most important thing about the Apple iPad is its price point, because it rivals the price of netbooks and brings the intuitive experience of the Mac OS into the homes of everyone.
Here is the pricing from Live from the Apple ‘latest creation’ event from engadget.com
Pricing for iPad
Why is that price important? Because it’s competitive. PCs make non geeks feel stupid. They get viruses and they have a huge, gross learning curve. Apple has been making intuitive easy to use computers for years. The MacBook is beautiful machine and most importantly it is a pleasure to use. The only problem before now was the price.
Now for $500 you can get a Mac OS based home computer that has an intuitive and beautiful experience.
If you’ve never used and Apple computer, what you will discover when you do, is that Apple has created tools to make your tasks easy and to make your work flow more productive. They have built INTO their products a little bit of extra just for the user (the user is you by the way). I am a geek and am willing to pay a lot of money for that experience.
The Apple iPad tablet is not designed for me. It was not created for geeks and designers. It was designed and built to make the digital tasks of everyday people enjoyable.
Let’s say you work at a job where you interact with a computer on a very basic level. You haven’t bought a new computer in a couple of years. The last time you bought PC. It was a good deal (and you couldn’t shell out the cash for a weird Mac). You used it for checking you email, reading the news, playing a game or two and watching the occasional movie or YouTube clips. You browsed the internet to pay bills and do online banking. Most of the power of that PC is wasted on you.
Now you need a new computer and here is this thing that does the 8 or 9 tasks you want to do for $500 to $1000… and it makes you feel good while doing it.
Maybe you were even thinking about buying a net book for $300 or $400 dollars. But wait. All of the features of a MacBook that you need for around $500 (remember the average person is not looking to run CS5, they want to check their e-mail, read the news and order movie tickets)?
See my point? The price point is THE most important feature of the Apple Tablet. It isn’t for the MacBook fan boy it is for mass consumption. It is about creating a new paradigm of experience for the everyday user.
If you disagree with me leave a comment.
Or read this article by someone who does: Why the iPad Changes Everything
A great asset to the everyday man, who wants to use technology but not necessarily, to understand it’s every quirk.
Great article Tayber, I’d like to add my two cents.
What let me down about the ipad, is that it’s really for casual and new users to enjoy the Apple experience. I agree the price point is pretty revolutionary with Apple. I’ll argue with you however, that it isn’t for designers. That’s what sucks. The hardware is hopefully there, but the software definetly isn’t. Unless your style involves finger painting, the ipad wouldn’t be of too much use to have, save being a really great toy to have around the house while hanging out with friends.
If Apple would be more collaborative with Adobe (and vice versa) this technology would allow designers to go back to their roots (ie, pencil to paper) with the precision of photoshop and we’d see an explosion of holistic creativity.
Time will tell, but I’m keeping my money in my pocket until I see an apple computer with the power of a Cintiq. That will be when the magic happens.
@ Joshua. great thoughts !
Even though I’m disappointed with the ipad from a designers perspective. i’d definitely buy it for my mom… and for myself.
Apple’s stuff is just so refreshing to use.
great article tayber!
It sounds like you’re creating problems for yourself by trying to solve this issue instead of looking at why there is a problem in the first place