What’s Missing From The iPad

After having a chance to read the initial reviews and reactions over at ArsTechnica, Engadget, & cnet I have come to some conclusions.  The iPad is evolutionary, not revolutionary.  As ArsTechnica put it, it has not been met with the same reaction that the iPhone had when it was announced.  It does not seem like some amazing paradigm shifting, innovative new product that simply blows everything currently offered out of the water.  It seems like just a logical offering of Apple to try and capture more of a complete line of technology products.  There are some glaring omissions that may lead to it’s ultimate demise.  More after the break

1. No remove-able battery. This is nothing new for an Apple device.  The only products made by Apple that offer removable batteries are their professional powerbooks and their entry macbook.  The macbook air does not have a user replaceable battery and none of the iPod family of products have one.  This however, I feel, might be a big problem on this front.  Few people replace their laptop batteries, and a built in battery in the iPod is simply a cost saving/form factor decision.  However, for more power hungry devices like laptops (which a tablet is closer to) the battery will wear out and significantly faster than normal due to the heat.  This is going to be a problem and I see it causing many a unhappy user wanting to throw theirs out after 2-3 years.
2. No flash slot, or USB slot.  The iPad is much more of a standalone device.  The only way to get data off of it conceivably at this point is through email or mobileMe.  This sucks.  A microSD or even SDXC slot would have enabled users to better manage their documents.
3. No webcam.  Really, a tablet with Cell based data connection, microphone and speaker (no “phone” ability though) but no webcam.  That just seems capricious.
4. Still no flash.  What the hell good is a 10″, 1GHz processor with all the bells and whistles to give a ‘magical’ web experience if you can’t experience the best parts of the web… like Hulu, or key parts of other major sites.
5. No multi-tasking.  Again, a lot of power but nowhere to go.
6. Still locked to Apple’s app store and ecosystem.  You will have to ‘Jailbreak’ your iPad if you want it to run any non Apple sanctioned software.

To review, you are paying more for less (welcome to Apple) and it still seems to be lacking any discrete function besides just being a really big iPod touch.