The limitations of iPad
by Ilya Shmorgun
The announcement of iPad 2 made me revisit the idea, which occurred to me some time ago. The first generation iPad is impressive hardware wise and now the new version has a dual-core processor and 9 times more powerful graphics. It even has dual video cameras. So what is the biggest limitation of iPad?
After being on the market for almost a year it is still astounding how many high-profile companies have been ignoring the device. iPad users are still forced to stick with iPhone versions of Skype, Facebook, Flickr and Remember the Milk. How long will it take the developers to finally make their applications take full advantage of the available hardware?
Apple is clearly taking the lead on this front, first with iWork and now bringing iMovie and GarageBand to the iPad as well. As Jobs mentioned these apps are an opportunity for Apple to set the bar for developers, to show how things are supposed to be done. Of course this also begs a question of whether one needs the resources and talent of teams at Apple to deliver such high level experiences? And with the number of 65,000 apps being promoted by Apple as being iPad specific applications it does not seem that most of those solutions are really that good.
With only 15 million devices sold it maybe just a question of time. Although the dynamics are great it seems that more time is needed for the iPad to reach broader mainstream adoption. And only then once a certain critical mass is reached it will not be possible to ignore the platform any longer. Until that point it appears that the biggest limitation of iPad today is not the hardware but the software, for developers are only starting to scratch the surface of what is possible.
