I was not that impressed with Apple’s release of the iPad 2. It was truly anti-climactic what with all the hype and hyperbolic speculation bandied about ad nauseum. I’ve said the original iPad is a game-changer and was saw a bright future for it at the outset. I was not wrong.
But the iPad 2 is not a game changer. It is an evolution of an already strong product, a refinement in point of fact. It’s lighter, faster, stronger and includes features long predicted to make it into this revision. FaceTime cameras, for example, have ben expected almost as long as the original iPad has been out. It’s product positioning relative to the MacBook, esp. the 11-inch Air, has been refined. No doubt it will be a big seller as its predecessor. Ironically, the coolest innovation is not strictly within the iPad 2 itself but in it’s cover that doubles as a stand. Can’t wait to see what the iPad economy comes up with for that magnetic connect.
I was disappointed that Apple stuck with 3G for a couple of reasons. One, on the macro side their analysis of how 4G is playing out is like mine: Betamax vs. VHS or Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD. We don’t know whether WiMax or LTE will be the Blu-ray of mobile broadband. Two, if Apple isn’t charging ahead into 4G it probably means a industry standard that would allow for cheap (and this is important) carrier agnostic components to manufactured is not around the corner. So 3G it is.
All-in-all ho-hum precisely because this is what we’ve come to expect from Apple.