iPad Confessions

Readers,

I want to fully disclose something with you for a moment:

I bought an iPad last week.

I really was not going to buy one. Frankly, I was underwhelmed at Steve Jobs’ initial presentation of the device, and saw no real use in the iPad. I was doing just fine...

until I went to the local Apple Store and test-drove one for about five minutes. People are right, you have to use one in order to fully appreciate what it is and just how useful (and immersive) the device is.

Why did I buy it? For me, the iPad replaces everything I used to do with a laptop: internet browsing, email, some word processing and sharing photos. The size really is excellent for carrying around, no bigger really than a normal sized periodical even with a case. As I said, the experience of using the iPad is very immersive, and as Apple said, it feels “right.” Let me list a few specific things I like about it:

The New York Times’ Editors’ Choice app could be the future of newspapers. The content is formatted much like the physical paper, with the same typefaces and column formatting, as well as photos. This “feels” good to me. Of course, I grew up reading my news online, and so this might not be optimal for those of you who really enjoy reading a “real” paper. However, as I said, this has the potential to become the next major revolution in publishing for both magazines as well as newspapers. (If I could only get the New Yorker to make an app, I would be blissfully happy).
Apple’s Pages app is really quite useful, and has a much better user interface than I thought it might. I am a regular user of Pages on my MacPro, and so I was already familiar with much of the program. iTunes is a poor document syncing source, and Apple needs to improve the syncing of documents, either through MobileMe or an improved interface in iTunes. Office users really need some better word processing solution, and Microsoft should jump on that. Also, I am interested to see what Google Docs does with the iPad. That could be really “neat.”
Video on the iPad is just great. The speaker is pretty good, but there is no lagging, no jerkiness, just smooth beautiful video. Good job on this one.
Photos on the iPad is another highlight. Part of the reason we bought an iPad was to share the 13,000 plus images we have in our Aperture library (we take a lot of photos). The photos sync seamlessly, if a bit slow the first time. After that, everything is great. The photos look just excellent - so much so that Jen’s grandparents had no trouble at all seeing them on the iPad’s screen.

As you can imagine, I have at least one suggestion for Apple: make iWeb for the iPad. As you might know, iWeb is how Jen and I “do” this website, and I would love to be able to blog from the iPad (ALA Annual? Hope to blog from there!). I’ll be surprised if they don’t address this fairly soon.

iBooks leaves a bit to be desired to me. As you might guess, I love reading a physical book, but I gave reading Thoreau’s Walden a try on the iPad (it was free). The text looks wonderful, and I love the different fonts and sizes you can pick. However, to make the text easily readable, you have to make it big. This is no problem in itself, but it does make you turn the page quite frequently, which (though it looks neat) is a bit annoying to do all the time. There needs to be some sort of arrow for page turning, in addition to how you can do it now.

And, finally, what do I see as the iPad’s implications for libraries? Well, smartphones really seem to be the “next big thing” moreso than what other librarians have pronounced. Tablet computing, as well as smartphones, will really alter how patrons interact with their libraries, and the libraries need to be proactive in changing to support their user’s habits. First, OPAC and library websites need to be optimized for the iPad and iPhone. Second, libraries should at least consider creating an app for those platforms, to better share the OPAC, as well as videos and other recorded events and such at the library. And, make all this free to everyone! Finally, the ALA (or PLA) really needs to make strong overtures to Apple so that libraries can have a role in the iBooks app. Maybe you can virtually check out electronic titles from the library, or even just find the book you are about to buy at the local library. This could serve as some form of standardization within libraries for the circulation of electronic books and resources. And we all know libraries and librarians love standards.

Have any questions for me about the iPad or other comments? Let me hear from you!