January 27th, 2010
…except that you can’t use it as a phone (not out of the box, at any rate).
The iPhone Gains Weight; Becomes Deaf
And it’s not really a computer, because it runs on the iPhone OS. So yes, as Steve Jobs pointed out, there are currently 140,000 applications for that OS, but most of them are better described as “applets” rather than “applications” because they do so little (as makes sense when trying to work on a small phone). Jobs introduced several developers working on either expanding their existing applets for the iPad or developing new ones. Most were games. Apple has re-crafted its own iWorks for the iPad, which provides a modicum of mature computer-like functionality, but with OS X out of sight, the real Mac and Windows applications will also remain out of sight, unless some expensive development work gets underway to convert existing apps to the iPhone OS, assuming that would be possible.
The reaction from the press and public has been mixed thus far. Those who feel Apple can do no wrong feel, for the most part, that Apple has done no wrong, and many think it a home run. Those of us who, while admiring Steve Jobs, consider him still as human, not deity, suspect he’s well short of a home run on iPad V1.
More to follow…