Form Factor

January 28th, 2010Blog0 comments

The iPad. There have been a lot of cheers from the Apple faithful, a lot of mehs from the Apple unfaithful; the battle lines are being drawn pretty quickly. All day yesterday people were emailing me, IMing me, and asking me in person for my thoughts on the thing.

My thoughts: This is definitely a first generation product.

It’s basically 2007 all over again: The first generation iPad is essentially another first generation iPhone — a device that’s missing key features that people will be pissed over until they arrive. The original iPhone lacked cut and paste; the iPad lacks multitasking, and it probably won’t get it until Apple can find a way to make it work perfectly interface-wise.

But here’s my prediction: I think that this is a win. Looking at the thing, I think that Jobs had two primary goals: 1) Get the form factor right, and 2) Get the thing into as many peoples’ hands as possible.

Regarding form factor, note that the basic shape and size of the iPhone hasn’t changed through three generations of the device. That’s because Jonathan Ive and company wanted to get it right on the first shot. They also wanted to make sure the software and the basic usability was rock solid from the beginning; every future addition (web cam, MULTITASKING, etc..) would be built upon that foundation. The iPad is the same: Get the basics right, the form factor right, and build upon it. And I trust Stephen Fry when he says they nailed it.

Next, the “getting the thing into peoples’ hands part”: Price. The Wall Street Journal postulated that this thing was going to cost a grand. This was probably an intentional leak on Apple’s part to set the bar; before yesterday, no one thought this thing would come in at $499. Nobody. No one mentioned price at all except by saying in passing that it was probably going to be expensive. In fact, an Apple product intro’ing at this price is kind of shocking.

But it seems that Jobs’ goal is to get as many of these things sold as possible. Sell them cheap and in volume. He learned his lesson from the iPhone debacle where Macheads bought first gen iPhones at inflated prices and then had to be given $100 gift cards later on to keep them from revolt.

And I think that he’s betting that once you own one of these things, you’ll upgrade to the next one and the next. Essentially he’s positioning the iPad as a product that asks to be constantly upgraded, with users buying a new one every 1-2 years.

So this product is betting the farm on form factor. Did Apple get it right? Did they create a product that lacks in features but is so rock-solid that it will eventually earn a place in a new, must-have product category?

The only way to find out is to hold one.