There is no doubt that the iPad is here to stay in a big way.
The revolutionary Apple iPad is the kind of item that “Q” might have rustled up for James Bond – a fantastical device; a gadget only available to members of the Secret Service that 007 fans would drool over but never expect to possess in their lifetime.
Well we all may have to wait for the invisible car or the pen telescope, but the anticipation has finally ended and now the iPad is on the open market for all to buy. By all accounts, Apple has done it once again – changing people’s perceptions of what a computer can be and opening their eyes to a brand new world.
The Apple iPad is thin and lightweight with an impressive LED backlit 9.7-inch screen that displays pictures and videos in brilliant glossy colour. Once you’ve synched it with your computer and iTunes, a whole new world of music, films and thousands of apps are opened up to you. There are hundreds of games ranging from the simple to the complex, applications that can help you manage your money, manage your day or manage your weight. Film buffs can download their favourites to be viewed at any time and use the headphone jack for private sound just in case they’re sitting next to someone who isn’t a Schwarzenegger fan. Did you miss an episode of your TV show?
Find it on iTunes and get up-to-date in a jiffy! Music videos are brought to beautiful life – Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Usher…they all just seem to jump off the screen towards you.
The Kindle brought books to bookworms in electronic format, enabling them to carry around many volumes in one neat package. The Apple iPad offers the same but with graphics, pictures and even animation. Now you can download top authors, latest releases and bestsellers within mere minutes and start reading. Magazine publications are also getting on the iPad bandwagon, making their issues available electronically at the same time that the hard copies hit the newsstands.
Of course with this brand new product comes brand new accessories. Apple has a number of additions to enhance your experience, including a case that doubles as a stand, a camera connector for loading digital photographs, a dock, a keyboard dock (very useful for those who want to write more than a few sentences) and extra 10w power adapters. Third party companies have stepped up to the plate, offering different types of cases and screen protectors because big business for Apple also means big business for them.
So is the Apple iPad the absolutely perfect product? The majority of people who have bought one answer with a resounding “Yes!” but it does have its drawbacks depending on the requirements of the person using it. It does not have a USB port and cannot print directly to a printer. It has no built-in camera, but many are expecting this and other features to be added when the next generation is revealed.
It does not support Adobe’s Flash, but many sites which use Flash (such as YouTube) are now offering alternatives like HTML5. The screen is undeniably gorgeous, but the one advantage that Kindle has over the iPad is its ability to be read in bright sunlight – the iPad’s screen is difficult to read and see properly in bright light.
All of the above being said, it seems that Apple has hit a home run with the iPad. Ask anyone who has purchased one since it was released earlier this year, and they will invariably tell you that they don’t know what they ever did without it.
You can’t argue with sales figures either – millions were sold in the first few months and they were impossible to keep in stock. It is only recently that customers can actually walk into an Apple store and buy an iPad without having to reserve one in advance. The Cayman MAC Store experienced the same level of demand – creating a waiting list and getting models to clients as quickly as possible.
“The popularity of the iPad was as obvious here as anywhere else in the world,” says Manager, Tony Cleaver.
“We had many advance orders which we managed to honour within two to three weeks, yet even now when iPads have become more easily available and we actually have some on the shelves, they don’t stay there for very long.”
There are six different models of iPads: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB WiFi and 16GB, 32GB and 64GB WiFi + 3G. The Cayman Islands do not presently have a 3G network, nor are there any immediate plans to implement one by local service providers. Those who travel frequently may find the 3G model more advantageous, as they can sign up for short-term service in the US and elsewhere, assuming that those countries offer 3G. WiFi is so accessible internationally, however, that this may be the only necessary connection option for you. Again, it all depends on the user.
One of the great features of the iPad is its extraordinary battery life. An average of nine to ten hours is fairly standard, but depending on what you’re running, it may have power for longer than that – great for long haul flights, long haul meetings or keeping kids entertained.
There is no doubt that the iPad is here to stay in a big way. Competitors are scrambling to produce an alternative, but in the meantime expect to see iPads popping up everywhere. The world (and James Bond) waits with bated breath to see what Steve Jobs and Apple will come up with next. WH