17/04/2010 Apple iPad – a positive view!

Tagged under Automation, distributed audio, multi-room audio, Olive, Technology
Posted by Len | 1 Comment

I am sure that there has never been a release of a piece of electronics that has sparked as much interest and controversy as the recent iPad release from Apple. On the whole the consumer reaction has been positive, but it continues to receive critical comments from many within the industry. I have yet to have the opportunity to play with an iPad, but have watched the emergence of the concept closely.
To be honest I have been fascinated by many of the comments and the criticism aimed at this product. Yes, it appears that the iPad has some obvious failings, but given what I believe this product is all about, these failings are certainly not critical. It also appears that most people passing comment on the iPad expected it to be either an iPhone on steroids or a stripped down version MacBook. My expectation has always been that this would be a stand alone product. Because of its design (and heritage) it would always share features of the two other product categories, but I don’t believe that Apple ever intended it to ‘be’ either category.

We cannot ignore Apple’s ability to create both market categories and demand. While the success of the iPod has been phenomenal many people have forgotten that MP3 players had been around for years before Apple took an interest, and it was a struggling category. In only a few years the iPhone not only reached market dominance, but changed the entire philosophy of mobile phoning. They immediately raised the bar to an exceedingly high level (which consequently spawned challengers such as HTC), and they have created an industry where the ‘phone’ is now only one of the attractions of the mobile phone industry. When was the last time you read a critique on a ‘smart phone’ which made reference to its ability as a phone in the traditional sense? Have no doubt, what Apple has done with the iPod and the iPhone they will do with the iPad.

The potential for the iPad, and the product category that Apple will create, is enormous. Obviously Len Wallis Audio views it in relation to the services that we offer, but its usefulness will go way beyond what LWA can do with it. For us it will have an immediate application for multi-room audio/visual distribution and for Home Automation. The success and consumer acceptance of both of these concepts depends on convenience, interface and price. The iPad potentially come up trumps on all counts.
(The Crestron app has already been released, click here for more information.)

The one criticism that I do have issue with is price – many critics have commented that the iPad is overpriced. Give me a break please! One of the first companies to jump on board with an app for the iPad was the Home Automation company Crestron. They are arguably the best Home Automation company in the world, and are priced accordingly. Their app will turn the 9.7” iPad into a Crestron touch screen controller for way less than $1,000. The 8.4” Crestron equivalent will cost you a cool $6,600. In fact the iPad will sell for around the same price as a Sonos remote, gives you much, much more real estate, and still do all the other cool things that the iPad does. The ability of the iPad to control anything from a simple Olive multi-room audio distribution system to remotely controlling your entire Home Automation system, including security, will make it one of the most valuable, yet least expensive, products that we offer.

Possibly the best and most balanced critique of the iPad I have seen has come from Michael Greeson of the Diffusion Group, a consumer technology research company based in the US. I was alerted to this review by David Richards of SmartHouse magazine, and following is the article as it appeared in SmartHouse.

‘Michael Greeson, a founding partner of Diffusion Group research claims that “What the iPhone is to the Mobile Web, the iPad will be to the Home Web” and that the new Apple device will have a major impact in the home.

He says “Yes, the iPad is relatively expensive. Yes, it is closed. Yes, it further extends Apple’s tightly-controlled ecosystem onto an ever-broadening array of usage domains. Yes, Wi Fi receptivity is an issue, as is the “walled garden” of sanctioned applications, the lack of support for Flash video, etc. And, yes, all of these shortcomings piss me off”. He said.

“All the same, I do not regret deciding to purchase a $699 64-GB Wi-Fi-only iPad, not in the slightest. It is sleek, fast, and highly functional, and consistent with my expectations of the first-generation of Apple tablets. And just as the iPhone was a huge step forward for mobile computing, the introduction of the iPad is a huge step forward for tablet computing. What the iPhone is to the Mobile Web, the iPad will be to the Home Web” he added.
He said that, just as the iPhone spurred the advance of mobile computing and made mobile web use a daily activity for many consumers, the iPad will spur the advance of tablet computing and alter the way in which the Internet is engaged in the home.
“No, tablets will not replace the PC, be it a desktop or notebook. It will, however, change the way in which consumers use the web, and in a good way. In terms of the applications and usage scenarios most likely to be advanced, I offer the following (admittedly incomplete) list. The reader is encouraged to think beyond the gen-one iPad. Again, this is less about the iPad specifically than it is about the platform in general. I am certain this list will encourage discussion (if not outright fistfights).
The tablet is a shared platform for whole-home computing. As I described to a group of Intel executives some five years ago, the digital home of the future will likely have a single server and a variety of multi-purpose thin tablets that will be used by household members to access local and web-based applications and content.
Imagine a rack that charges and holds two or three of these tablets (much like gaming terminals used in your favourite pub), and an easy-to-use widget-based interface that enables a wide variety of applications. The iPad represents a meaningful step in this direction.

The tablet as an entertainment remote control
There is no doubt that, properly equipped, an iPad-like web tablet would be the perfect multi-source, multi-function remote control. Demand is already there, the challenge is to make it happen, and there is no doubt several vendors will soon address this need. Companies like OpenPeak are already supplying telecom operators with the “OpenTablet,” a platform that looks very much like the first-gen iPad and features a variety of entertainment and home controls. These tablets will be able to interface with, access, and shift all sorts of content and applications to other connected devices.

The tablet as a home management and control platform.
 While the iPad is hardly an open platform (all apps must be vetted by Apple), application developers from across the home control spectrum will enable a variety of apps that exploit this platform, thus reducing the need for dedicated, brand-specific home control interfaces such as those offered by Crestron.
Why pay an extra $500 or more for this type of “touchpanel” when this same functionality can be downloaded to an iPad? You wouldn’t, and that’s why Crestron, unlike OpenPeak whose business depends on hardware sales, has already launched an iPad app for just this purpose.

A secondary TV that can be used in any part of the residence. Homeowners will no longer need to buy a second stand-alone TV for each room, instead having a couple web tablets that can access TV and online video customized to the specific user. This is an especially useful application given the fact that younger consumers watch so much online video on their PCs and, as TDG predicts, much of the video viewed on home TVs will soon come from online sources.
As the price of the iPad comes down (and it will, by several hundred dollars for Christmas 2010), these platforms will become an inexpensive way to extend video viewing (and Internet access, in general) to every room of the home.
A “coffee table” platform for immediate access to relevant news and weather. The simple widget-based interface of the iPad foretells of a day when consumers will not have to hassle with booting-up a PC or typing URLs in order to access content. For example, The Weather Channel widget pulls up real-time weather for your specific locale, all on-demand. No need to enter a URL or wait for a TV broadcast to get around to such details.
An easy-on-the-eye platform for reading all sorts of online newspapers and magazines. 
iPad like tablets offer a much simpler way to enjoy online text, offering a wide variety of widgets by which to access your favourite periodicals. Again, the consumer no longer needs to haul out and boot-up a laptop in order to read online text.
 A platform your grandmother could use (yes, the expression is overused but this time it really applies). Using the iPad is sinfully simple for basic applications like email communications and viewing online photos and video, the stuff that most appeals to those older consumers that have yet to buy into the PC culture. I intend to sneak an iPad into my mom’s home as a digital picture frame, and then teach her how to use it for the stuff that matters most to her. Yes, this is the same woman for whom I purchased an Apple iMac and who, though properly configured for easy use, could not bring herself to engage it. I swear this time will be different!

Ultimately, Apple’s iPad will advance the tablet PC market in the same way the iPhone advanced the mobile phone market: both in terms of functionality and mainstream appeal. Thanks to Apple’s entry into this market space, the value proposition for web tablets will rapidly become less about the hardware and more about the applications it enables – precisely as it should be.
As I have said on several occasions, vendors and service providers must cease talking to consumers about “the technology” and show them what it will do…as individual human beings. After that, consumers will be much more likely to buy into the vision espoused by tech leviathans.
Yes, it will take several years before mainstream consumers buy into this vision, but let there be no doubt that the introduction of Apple’s iPad—an easy-to-use, app-driven platform with loads of useful home applications—will be the first step toward a revolution in in-home computing.’

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