The Apple iPad - Do you really need it?

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The Apple iPad was recently announced to the world and has been received with mixed reviews. Brightlabs has a look at the key features of the device and examine how useful it is, and who will benefit the most from it.

On the 27th of January Apple’s newest product, the oddly name iPad, was announced to the world at the 2010 Apple media event. For many months prior and right up to its unveiling, there was much speculation as to what the details of the product would be, but everyone had an idea that it would in fact, be a touch screen “computer”. The final product that was revealed to the world was not exactly what everyone had in mind – the iPad is seen by many as just a large iPod Touch with the option of having a  3G chip for internet browsing (or a large iPhone without the ability to make calls), others see it as the next step in technology; a hybrid mix between a portable media device and a notebook computer. So, what does the iPad actually do?

What is the iPad?

Apple’s newest product is simply a touch-screen portable multi-purpose device, measuring about 9.5 inches high, 7.5 inches wide, and 0.5 inches in depth. It’s an aesthetically impressive piece of equipment with a large touch screen and a considerably large bezel also located on the front of the device (more on that later),and a smooth, tapered aluminium back. The whole unit only has 3 small buttons (On/Off, Mute, and Volume) – further building on Apple’s penchant for simplicity in design.

The product is being marketed as a portable media device, enabling you to watch movies, listen to music, browse the internet, check and send emails, sort out your calendar, view photos, and read e-books – this last feature, being the most talked about thus far.

What features does it have?

The iPad offers all the basic features of the company’s current range of touch-screen products such as the standard multi-media features (mentioned above), debatably some more practical than others. Browsing the internet, checking emails, and viewing your calendar would all be great in an environment where you weren’t moving or didn’t have to try and hide the size of the iPad from the public (on a train, bus etc), but watching movies, viewing photos, and listening to music would all be best done at home or in a more isolated setting such as a plane trip – places where viewing a large screen would be better than something more subtle.

The iPad can do a lot of nifty things, but one feature that a lot of people are talking about is its ability to display e-books on its large LED screen. E-books are electronic versions of standard printed books, but usually cost a fraction of the price. They are stored in the memory of the device, so you no longer need to lug around heavy bags full of books – the iPad can store as many e-books as you want and they will only ever weigh as much as the unit itself. E-book readers are not a brand new technology, so why the hype over the iPad’s ability to display them?

People are excited about the e-book capabilities of the iPad for two reasons, or rather, there are two groups of people that are excited about it – publishers, and readers. The publishers are excited for a few reasons; the iPad’s greater processing power and better screen mean much greater possibilities in e-book features, it also means as the market grows they will have the power to charge more for their products. Amazon’s Kindle reader was the dominant e-book product before the iPad was released, therefore publishers were at the mercy of Amazon when it came to dictating the terms for sales of their books into e-books, this meant they were selling the digital version of their books well below what they were worth. With the iPad looking like strong competition for the Kindle, and Apple having their own (and very, very popular) store, publishers can now increase the prices of their books because of greater competition thanks to the iPad! This may not be great news for the other group, the readers, but it will mean that e-books can now be more interactive, have colour, and be displayed on a more powerful and multi-purpose device. The Kindle is limited by its black and white screen and its lack of multi-media functionality – this is definitely where the iPad has the upper hand.

What isn’t so great?

There was a lot of hype prior to the release of the iPad, the kind of hype that Apple’s big media exhibitions are renowned for before the release of a newly designed product. And like most other Apple product hype, people have a general idea but never really know what is going to be released until Apple officially announces it on stage. What people were expecting was a portable tablet version of Apple’s computer range, running the popular Mac operating system. Upon the iPad’s release, many people were shocked to find that the device was much closer to the company’s iPhone and iPod touch products – sporting a similar exterior design as well as a very similar operating system. This means that the iPad’s functionality is somewhat set in stone. Its software will have to be developed based on its own SDK (software development kit), which means that programs that run on the Mac OS will not work on the iPad - problematic? Potentially.

The device also lacks several basic features such as USB ports, card readers etc. This disappointed many people, and was considered by them as a draw-back compared to competing technologies. To get this type of functionality you have to buy extra connector cables to attach to the device – often not the most cost effective nor the most aesthetically pleasing solution.


Other features considered "missing" by some critics include the ability to view movies in a widescreen format, its lack of flash capabilities (a big no-no especially with so many modern websites using flash in one way or another), the inability to multi-task, and the lack of a camera, to name a few key "missing" features.

So is the iPad any good, and who would want to use it?

The iPad looks nice, however opinions differ here on what is considered 'nice'! Its black bezel is frowned upon by many but it’s a necessity – it provides a physical border to allow users to hold onto it without making unwanted contact with the screen. The missing physical features (USB ports, card readers etc) give the unit a simple and smooth design. The interface is also very straight forward and would be easy to operate for an experienced or amateur user. If you can ignore its setbacks, it actually makes for a very handy travel device – an in between for a laptop and an iPod. A laptop can be a bit bulky for plane trips or for browsing while on the couch/in bed, and an iPod/iPhone can be a bit too small – so the iPad is the perfect in between for these two technologies. We have explored the e-book capabilities of the device as well, and that coupled with its ability to handle a variety of other tasks makes it a very competitive option against other devices such as the Kindle.
The question is, if you already have one of Apple’s smaller portable devices, or even a laptop, do you really need an iPad? Well...probably not, nor would anyone else need this device. It’s simply an extra luxury, a bridge between two different technologies. It would however, make an excellent home multimedia device. If you put all your holiday and family photos onto it, along with your favourite songs and you have it sitting in one of Apple’s (accordingly priced) docks, or mounted creatively like a photo frame, it would be nice way to show off your “digital life”.
The iPad could be used in a business environment to a lesser degree as well. It has an impressive looking calendar system as well as quite a comprehensive email application. It may prove to be most popular with school and university students – a simple alternative to carrying around heavy books, the iPad has the ability to store all your resources on one easy to use, easy to transport around, device. If students embrace this technology, particularly the e-book functionality in lieu of purchasing text books, this market could prove to be the biggest yet for this device.

How much will the iPad retail for?

At this stage Apple has only released US Dollar (USD) pricing, it is diffucult to say exaclty how much the iPad will cost when it's released in Australia, the Wi-Fi version of the iPad is priced in USD as listed in the table below:

	16GB	32GB	64GB
Wi-Fi	$499	$599	$699
Wi-Fi 3G	$629	$729	$892

What's the difference between Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi 3G - simple, Wi-Fi connects to wireless networks, 3G is what you have in your mobile phone right now, it's a mobile broadband service that works off telco-networks, meaning you can use it anywhere that has a 3G signal. Plain Wi-Fi on the other hand needs to be used in a 'hot spot' something that you would find, for example at your local McDonalds restaurant. The Wi-Fi version of the iPad will be launced in the United States of America in March, the Wi-Fi 3G version will be released in April. Release dates for Australia are yet to be announced.


The iPad was received with mixed opinions, some loving it while others hated it. For the people hoping for a new computer from Apple, it can be seen as a let-down. For those not expecting anything, it will probably come across as an impressive device that will prove to offer a competitive alternative to other technologies. For now however, its success is just speculation. For a product that hasn’t been released, it has generated more talk than most available technologies on the market. Time will tell how successful it will be, and where it will succeed the most. One thing's for sure, as with every Apple product, it will be updated and it will be more popular than the last.