Nearly a month with the new iPad

It's amazing how our perceptions and expectations of technology and gadgets change so quickly.  I had an iPad 1 on the day it was launched in the UK.  That was May  2010. I sold it on March 2012. During that time, it had been at my side as my trusted tool when I attended seminars and conferences as part of my job. It had been my bathroom and couch companion on a daily basis (Confirmed - I am a guy).

The first iPad got through 2 major iOS releases during that time.  It started at iOS3 before the iPhone 4 came out. I finished using at iOS5. Apple are very clever with their design and of devices. They future proof the device to a certain extent (2-3 years) to ensure it can run a number of future software releases before obsolescence starts to show up by virtue of new iOS features which will no longer be supported.  We saw this on the iPhone 3G when you upgraded to iOS4. Glenn Fleishman's argument on Apple's incremental improvement approach talks to that point.

That said, I had grown tired of my iPad 1. It started with the zippier performance seen with the iPad 2 with the dual core graphics chip and doubling in memory to 512Mb. My daily apps started creaking such as Guardian, The Times, dJay, FlipBoard and others.  I saw app crashes a bit too often. I would kill open apps sometimes just to reduce the chances of a large app launch going wrong (even though iOS memory management is completely seamless). Then I upgraded my phone to the 4S, which I posted previously. It became very apparent that in less than 2 years, I would want to upgrade to the new iPad as soon as I could.

For an iPad 1 user, it's like going from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 4 for the first time. Read the reviews from Gruber, Dalrymple, and Anandtech  on what feels like a huge jump in performance. There's been enough said on the Retina display, so all I will say is that this device has the potential to take publishing and new PC displays to a whole new level.  It's that good and most of all satisfying to use. I suspect it narrows the value add of the Kindle e-Ink displays, such is its clarity and brightness.

[FAO - owners of the Guardian and The Times apps. I'm sure you have it in hand. But please upgrade your iPad apps to Retina as soon as possible.  Right now and in places, they look terrible.]

On a day to day basis, the old irritants on the iPad 1 are gone. Apps like the ones I mentioned strangely do not crash any more (at least very rarely). I suppose this is because the new chipsets and the 1Gb RAM on board can cope with everything thrown at it and still have room to manoeuvre. I do understand that the 1Gb is not purely dedicated to the apps, but in part for the retina display. Of course, all this may change when iOS6 comes out and can do more on newer hardware which we will see in the fullness of time.

Typing on the new iPad is much, much more responsive. Fast typists like me now feel the new iPad keeps up with their speed, allowing for anyone being accustomed to typing on the iPad in the first place.  I've taken the new iPad on a couple of business trips, preferably over my 11" MacBook Air and I've been surprised at how fast I can do my surfing, social, document management, mail and calendaring and task management. I'll be sharing more on my comparisons with the MBA in a coming post. One of the themes coming out of this is that iOS apps on the new iPad seem to more often have an edge over the OSX counterpart.  Take OmniFocus for example, an application I have been looking at for task management. The UI experience on the iPad is miles superior to the OSX version, which is ok, but cumbersome in places. Of course, the OSX app will see another upgrade and for that matter, so will Lion, starting this summer.

Watching HD movies is simply fantastic. The detail is eye-popping on the Retina and very satisfying when on a plane.

The other big surprise was pairing the new iPad with the 3rd generation Apple TV. Airplay Mirroring has the possibility of becoming a staple device is most enterprises for presentation and learning and development. Great little device.

Downers? Possible LTE this time next year, since it won't work on the planned UK 4G frequencies. But if the incremental improvements for iPad (4) have anything to go by, this new one will be back on the market in no time :)

Woke up this morning...

..and got ready for my early morning run.  Fired up the Apple Store app on my iPhone.
Ordered the new iPad and Apple TV.

Nice start to the day.

Apple TV: the glue which binds the ecosystem?

Interesting that Gordon Kelly at TrustedReviews.com thinks the "just one more thing" announcement at the anticipated iPad 3 announcement may also be around a significantly enhanced Apple TV:

Apple TV is the glue that will once again bind all Apple's products together. In an age of Cloud Computing Apple TV is the product which will provide the role of iTunes, the central hub that had to be smashed as Apple finally got with the times with iCloud. The vision is devilishly simple: content via iTunes, control via iDevices and Siri and connection via AirPlay. The integration of apps would be nice, but with AirPlay Mirroring in iOS and now OS X Mountain Lion it seems an unnecessary additional headache to give developers. 

Roll on first week March...

The drivers for iTV

Really interesting view from Mark Sigal in relation to the speculation surrounding the proposed Apple iTV where he dismisses the conventional notion that Apple will release a HDTV product:

"Conversely, what if you could buy a set-top box that plugged into your modern, big-screen TV, and: 

• It just worked.
• Had every channel you currently get on cable.
• You could run those same channels as apps on your other iOS devices.
• Your TV could be controlled by any of those same iOS devices.
• You could upgrade to the newest version of the set-top box every 2-3 years (on a carrier-subsidized basis).

Who wouldn't buy this device? And why wouldn't the cable and satellite providers be all over this? After all, does anyone seriously like their set-top box?

As a sanity check, a carrier subsidy on a sub-$500 device is meaningful, whereas a carrier subsidy on a $1,500+ device like a TV set is nothing.

Wait! But, didn't Steve Jobs say that he'd like to make an integrated TV set?

Even if he did say that, do you really think that in his final official act as Apple spokesman, Jobs would telegraph to the world his company's grand intentions in the living room?"

Valid points indeed which may answer the go to market questions which Steve Jobs famously outlined at D8: AllThingsD. Perhaps I had this all wrong. Perhaps our attention should really be focused on a new set top box model now that the v2 Apple TV seems about to be replaced.

Hedging bets on the soon to be announced Apple HDTV

Since the admission of 'I've finally cracked it' in relation to a future Apple HDTV product (iTV) appeared in Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs, speculation has been rife on what that product might look like and the rationale behind it.  Several articles make interesting points in terms of what that product and service would look like.  The premise for all of them is interesting as Apple are known only to enter markets where they can add tremendous value and in doing so, they disrupt the natural business model for the incumbents for that product.

I still have an v1 Apple TV.  Like other v1 users who have kept their, I think its a well built and easy to use set top product for accessing audio and video in the 'walled garden' ecosystem of Apple protected stuff.  The v2 product, while simplified, essentially removed a number of features which original v1 users probably felt too important to lose.  For example, being able to store your content locally on the device instead of re-streaming your content every time.

In projecting what I think the future iTV will be, I decided to look at this across the following areas.

Starting point — the evolutionary approach
While revolutionary in terms of Apple's take on introducing a new product category, I also see it as a piece in the Apple jigsaw of products, fitting into now and future Mac and iOS product roadmap releases.  This is predicated that on seeing it, you would intuitively know how to use it. In that situation, it helps me predict what is going to be baked into the first version.

Hardware
Most, if not all Apple hardware products, are an object of desire and beauty.  They impute total quality inside and out. I would see the current display technologies such as backlit LED technology and with IPS for wide viewing angle support as a minimum feature in terms of the HDTV.  1080p will be a standard for a v1 unit.  AirPort wireless N wifi and a Gigabit LAN interface would be expected as standard.  Sensibly, I expect a border less picture supporting 16x9 or possible 16x10 displays.  Some articles have suggested Apple could go even wider to accommodate the side parts of the screen to add messaging and other types of  interactions with either Siri voice or iPad airplay mirroring or something else entirely.

Through the software and content layers below, I'd see a need for local storage within iTV.  Looking at 64-128Gb.  A potential game changer for some of the suggestions I'm about to make.

What will be the brains of this device? Perhaps a new piece of silicon which drives super graphics and on-board computing capability.  It is very much within their capability to produce an engine we have yet to see.  If anything, it will be the evolutionary step of what we've been seeing in their mobile devices.

HDMI integration – not so sure. It would be typical of Apple to ignore HD connectivity standards and go for something on the new innovation curve of device connectivity. I'm not aware of what that technology would be at the moment, so I would discount that and stick with the latest version of HDMI.

Software
It should come as no surprise that iOS naturally fits as the software OS for this new category of device in the Apple world of things.   Web connected and in seeing all other Apple services or Apple devices on your home network.  In that regard, I readily expect the iTV devices to support Airplay, FaceTime and other standard iOS features.

Interface
To ensure a "magical" experience for the user, there will be 3 types of input for the iTV

• An updated Apple TV remote (usual on screen menus and keyboards)
• iOS device input via the iPad or iPhone via Airplay
• An internet connected use of Siri voice activation to directly control all key aspects of the set

Siri and iOS devices are the disruptor's here.  A standard remote is there from a legacy standpoint for customers who may not have iOS devices at the point of purchase of a HDTV.

Content
Here's the bit of the jigsaw where it becomes really interesting. In terms of hardware, software and even interface, it's essentially another form of glorified Apple monitor (albeit a great one).  The key here is to provide a real alternative to customers who want to switch away from traditional  cable/satellite feeds and use iTV for all key content in the future  This is the biggest challenge for Apple in terms of disruption on the market place.

As I've mentioned before, the key success factor here, is that despite being a TV, through the hardware and software, you would already know how to use an Apple HDTV.  This helps us be predictive on the final product and what's potentially baked into it.

• TV — expect new content deals in place with providers (at least in the US initially) to stream content.  This would need to be in place with all the major networks. If they can pull this off and have also have it baked into iTunes, this would have huge reverberations in the market. 
• Movies — possibly similar deals with providers via iTunes
• Podcasts — nothing new, as would be expected
• Apps — a new iOS development platform for apps with TVcontent to be published via the Apps Store to access free and paid vide content.  This ties the existing ecosystem across Mac and iOS devices into iTV.
• Games — either via Airplay mirroring from an iOS device or better still, apps built for iTV using the computing and graphical capability of the set.  In one move, Apple threaten
• Connectivity to other devices — HDMI connectivity should be in place for your Blu-Ray, Satellite or Cable boxes and other devices.  Without HDMI slots, this would be limiting in appeal for the consumer.

The final package
So a Siri voice activated, 40-50" super thin LED display which runs 1080p, powered by a super powerful piece a silicon which has a high speed LAN and WAN connection.  It has iTunes baked in and has an app layer to access video and gaming applications to take advantage of the on-board computing capability and local storage.  It will run using less power than a conventional LCD/LED panels.

After all that, would I buy one?  Yes, if a) they can sign deals for content such as Sky in Europe and either  match or exceed the value proposition of Sky and other providers and b) by switching to on-demand TV with streams, downloads and apps - you only pay 20-30% more overall for subscribed content.  Despite the premium droolness of it all, it still needs to make financial sense to your average consumer.  Mind you, when you're Apple and go for the higher-end market for things, that approach can go out of the window and you still make pots of money.