So first ship day for the Apple i-Pad came (and went), with thousands of folks standing in line to see and buy the latest New Thing. And a very good day for Apple, with a reported 300,000 pre-orders and first day sales.
Now the focus shifts, not just to how many they'll sell in the first month or the rest of 2010, but also (and perhaps just as importantly) to what people will do with them and what apps will be available.
The usage patterns and the apps (which to some extent will determine who will buy the i-Pad and what they'll be using it for) are what I'm interested in.
(I managed not to pre-order an iPad -- it was very hard -- because I don't want the Wi-Fi version. I think I will order the 3G version even though I know that waiting for the next version is probably a more sensible idea. Techno-lust!)
There's an article about the fact that Google immediately ported Google Docs to the i-Pad (I'm not exactly sure why you couldn't just get there on the browser) and the fact that MS doesn't seem to be interested in getting their new on-line apps ported (same question). The interesting thing isn't so much the article (which is quite straight forward), but rather the comments (76 when I looked) on what it means.
Ignore the expected open source guys who hate Microsoft and always say something way over-the-top negative on every occasion. I love open source, but it's not really the point of this discussion.
The guys who get it are writing about the fact that Microsoft is a software company and that should mean that when a relevant platform appears -- especially one that is anticipated to offer a broad market -- software developers should get on board.
Of course, some might think that Microsoft is waiting for the delivery of its Courier tablet (which exists today, as best I can tell as a concept video). Perhaps they're much further along with Courier than we suspect and they want to save their software for their own platform? Even so, a software company usually writes for other platforms -- just as Microsoft writes Office for the Macintosh, even though it runs on a competitive OS.
I'll be tracking who writes for the i-Pad much more eagerly than I tracked all the pre-ship hype. That's predictable for any hot product and Apple is a master at gathering attention. But what applications run on the i-Pad and better yet run well, exploiting its features, will determine the size and shape of its marketplace.
Even better, of course would be an application no one ever thought of before, because it took the arrival of the i-Pad platform to spark some developer's imagination.
Some Additional Thoughts
After I read ZDNet's article (see above) I read a great article by Jason Hiner on Tech Republic on the i-Pad and business -- again, with many comments. This is more about whether an i-Pad fits into the business environment and pros and cons of using the machine, but again applications and Apple-s application environment are a recurring topic. More food for thought.
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