It’s been a hot minute since the iPad was announced. I’ve given the device some thought, and I’ve come to a choice: I don’t want one. At least, I don’t want one yet. Truth be told, yes, it’s a neat little device. Yes, I could use it to read books, listen to music, watch movies and the like. Unfortunately, there are a few things wrong with the device, that prevents me from wanting to go out and splurge on it. Let me explain further.It Comes Down To Usability
I was reading the live coverage of Apple’s announcement. As soon as Steve Jobs announced the new tablet, I was like, “Oh, shiny! Me want!” Then, some of the finer details of the iPad were announced. Still no Flash in the web browser and no multi-tasking. “Fine,” I thought to myself, “those are things I can live without… right?” The more I thought about that, the more I decided that, no, I couldn’t.

I already have a notebook computer. I use it primarily for reading/typing downstairs in front of the TV. If I want music, I’ve got Pandora. (And possibly iTunes, if Apple enables web listening in the future.) True, it’s a little heavy to carry with me anywhere I go, but I don’t do that very often. Ideally, I’d have a really great smart phone that I could copy music/videos/documents/books too. (iPhone/Nexus/Etc.)

Would I use an iPad? Sure. I could buy and read books on it. The prices for e-books on Amazon’s Kindle weren’t too bad. Err, I guess I have to take that back. Publishers are raising their rates. (Which makes me wonder why someone would buy an e-book if they’re about just as expensive as their physical counterparts?) At any rate, I could see myself reading books on it.

I could watch movies on it. Though, when would I do that? It’s not too often I’m in a situation where I have that much time to watch a movie/TV show/etc.

I could use it to listen to iTunes. But, there again, when would I do that? Wouldn’t an iPod Touch be much better for that? (Or again, a good smart phone.)

As I mentioned above, the iPad doesn’t have a complete browser. No Flash. There are sites I go to where the Flash components need to work. Sure, HTML 5 might make Flash obsolete eventually, but for now, it’s a big part of the web. I’m willing to forgive its absence on smart phones, but not on a device that is, essentially, supposed to be a type of computer.

When it comes down to it, it all comes down to usability. For $300, I could have an iPod with 32gb of memory, and do just about everything I would need it to. On top of that, it’s portable enough that I can really take it anywhere, since it fits in my pocket.