My Netlet

Apple Ipad

Deciding whether Apple’s success leads to all the hype or all the hype leads to Apple’s success is a lot like the old chicken and egg conundrum. In the end it really doesn’t matter. What we know for sure is that Apple has a proven track record of providing winners when it comes to its devices. Whether we are talking about the iMac computers, Powerbook notebooks, the iPod, the iPhone or the Apple Store, success is the one common denominator. The Apple iPad continues this tradition of innovation and success and has taken its place at the front of the pack of new tablet style computers hitting the market.

Though most people have forgotten, never knew or weren’t even born at the time, apple is no newcomer to the tablet computer genre. Apple released their first tablet computer in 1993, called the Newton MessagePad. This line of computers did fairly well until they were discontinued in 1998. Nearly 10 years passed before Apple ventured back into touch screen technology with the release of the iPhone, and they rest is history. Since the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has become the de facto leader in touch screen technology. The iPhone enjoyed unparalleled success, which led to the modification of the iPod into the iPod Touch. It was only a logical progression to an even larger and more versatile touch screen device. The iPad is the result of that progression.

The iPad utilizes a 9.7” LCD touch screen display with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution. In an effort to solidify claims about the screens durability, Apple stopped selling screen protectors in the Apple Store. The screen was designed to be manipulated purely by fingertip touch, without the need for a stylus or input device of any kind. The screen also utilizes a light sensor that adjusts the screen for brightness and an accelerometer that senses the iPad’s orientation in order to automatically change it from portrait to landscape mode.

All iPads enjoy Wi-Fi connectivity and the next release will also allow 3G connections. Built in Wi-Fi trilateration technology allows the iPad to locate itself on Google maps, a feature that could be handy in an urban environment.

Most criticism of the iPad centers around two areas. The first is its lack of Adobe Flash support. Apple’s iPhone did not use Flash, due to its heavy power and processor requirements, but many speculated that on an internet specific device such as the iPad Flash support would be necessary. Apple surprised many people by choosing to forgo this highly utilized technology. In response, several major websites have made Flash free versions of their sites available to iPad users.

The second controversy was the lack of a built in camera. Almost everyone at least expected the iPad to have a VGA webcam to use with such apps as Skype and other video chat programs. Instead, Apple made a camera connector kit available via USB.

The most innovative feature of the iPad is its brains. The iPad is the first device to use Apple’s new A4 System on Chip (SoC) chipset. This is the main reason behind the iPads excellent performance coupled with up to 10 hours of battery life. Instead of having separate components in CPU, GPU and memory controllers, the A4 contains everything in a neat little package that reduces power consumption. The A4 chipset is currently the industry leader in this type of design, although NVIDIA is trying to break the hold with its latest Tegra 2 chipset.

Currently, Apple is way ahead of its competitors in the area of tablet computers. But just like with the iPhone, they won’t be alone for long. Nearly all major computer manufacturers from Dell, HP and Archos to giants like Microsoft and Google are either in the design phase or pre release phase of their tablet computers. It remains to be seen whether or not Apple will remain top dog, but either way, consumers will win from this technological power struggle.