wow. months of the blog world jerking off to today’s fantasy finally ended with everyone feeling a little disappointed. The iPad is here, and we are all once again, wondering what we will use it for. I wasn’t going to post about it but there are a few things I think people are overlooking.

A4 Processor. whaaa?

We knew apple bought a processor manufacturer so this isn’t a total surprise but it is a big move that I think will impact things more than people realize.

First, apple is now in the business of once again using proprietary technology instead of off the shelf components. While it may be totally awesome now, Apple runs the risk of chips from other companies getting way faster quicker than their own and users waiting years for upgrades like in the PowerPC days. Luckily Apple has gone through processor switches before and knows how to package binaries that work on multiple architectures.

Second, and I think perhaps more significant, using a custom processor could stop the porting of other operating systems dead in their tracks. If apple doesn’t provide the right specs or compilers, it could be forever before we can see Chrome OS or any other Linux running on their hardware, which is too bad.

Missing Features

All the tech blogs are hard and fast complaining that there is no SD Card. personally I don’t think people will give a shit. Most people who have SD slots in their phones or Netbooks never use them.

No Camera – sucks. video conferencing and even (choke) A.R. would be cool on it.

No GPS – As far as I can tell there is no GPS receiver. This is too bad. It would make a great co-pilot tool on road trips. I guess with gsm you can get psuedo gps but it’s not quite the same.

Awesome Features

USB Charging – You can charge the iPad with USB. This means car charging. The thing I miss most about my tiBook was being able to use it in my car without killing the battery.

GSM unlocked. Yeah, AT&T sucks. everyone knows that. With an unlocked device, it opens up the possibility not just of other carriers supporting it, but perhaps real price competition. If this thing sells as many as they hope it would be a prime opportunity for T-Mobile to offer the same data plans for $10 cheaper.

Hopes for Accessories

I think the right accessories could save the iPad for me, here is what I would like to see:

DSLR Tether – If I could plug it directly into my camera and get shots full screen as I take them, it would be amazing for studio shots. Even better if I could use it as a remote while the camera is on a tripod. This should be possible with the SDK: so Nikon, Canon, get to it! I would switch to Canon if they pull this off first.

A really good, accurate, stylus – yeah, finger touch is great and all. but as @thisIsStar said on twitter earlier, it isn’t a Wacom killer. There would be a certain awesomeness to be able to sit on the couch and work in illustrator or photoshop with precision. I don’t know if the touchscreen is sensitive enough for good fine control, but maybe it is, and maybe they could do it with some sort of add on.

We’ll see

Anyways. I have no doubt apple will sell a ton of these things. At $500 bucks I’ll probably get drunk and buy one eventually.

oh. and yeah. did I read that correctly on the tech specs page? The OS still can’t read iCal .ics files sent as attachments in email? WTFx1000? My windows mobile phone from 8 years ago can do that.