What does the iPad v2.0 need to succeed?
RIM just announced the Playbook, their take of the Tablet. HP/Palm is probably going to come up with something by the end of the year and anyone who has fiddled with the Palm OS can say that it would be amazing on a tablet. Now, Apple was the first ones to the Tablet market and they do have the Apple Advantage [ people love to talk about them]. What do they need to do to succeed? Here’s my take on this and what I would really love to see.
Better Multitasking
Steve promised us multitasking with 4.2 but that is pretty much going to suck. It works somewhat well on the smaller Phones but the screen on the iPad begs for a better way to navigate between apps. My worry here is not about the implementation of multitasking itself as what we have now is satisfactory and it will get better. Work needs to go into the application switcher interface. Apple already has an awesome way to do this – they call it exposé and it’s on the mac. Exposé on the iPad will be amazing and made for that screen. Include some gestural way to access this [four finger downward swipe works great on my macbook’s trackpad.] The iPhone made a big deal about getting rid of buttons. The idea of clicking the home button twice to switch between apps is just annoying.
Better Tabbed Browsing
Once again, an issue of translation between iPhone and iPad. The same things won’t work that well on the different sized screens. While the iPhone implementation of tabs works great for the small screen, the iPad has a larger screen which justifies real tabs.
Better Screen
The iPad was good when it launched. Great resolution for something it’s size. Then came the iPhone 4 with its Retina display. That screwed the iPad over. What does the iPad need to stay ahead in the game? Not asking for a Retina resolution screen – that would kill the battery life. Give us 1080p.
Noticing a trend here? I’m not asking for anything new at all. Just asking for what is there to be done better. You’re on the right track. Just make sure you stay on it.
