As a photographer I see a few potentials for the IPad. However, I do have some major concerns. First let me explain why I will get one
When meeting with potential clients I think the device will come in handy.
1) I can have the client look at my different galleries. I can do this already with a netbook and I do, but it often times becomes a pain. The netbook is more bulky and just doesn’t look as good.
2) I can have the customer view my pricing in a nice format and I am hoping that someone will come up with a app that allows a customer to sign a document. If this happens they can sign right there and I email them a copy. I can do part of this with a netbook.
3) It just looks cool. And in the marketing world this really helps. I much rather hand this to a client to check out my work then a netbook that may crash or go slow. The demos we have seen show it as an instant on device that runs apps quickly. I have had slideshows crash on me, and various other issues with my netbook. Normally I hate closed source and things like that but I see the point here with apps that are verified. Apple having the control in this situation works and eliminates frustration and other issues.
4) I like the idea of being able to sit on the couch and look up things online, or check email. Again I can do this with my netbook but its not the most comfortable thing in the world. Only time will tell if the IPad will be better here.
Now the things I do not like, and these are obvious.
1) No Flash – I am not sure how Apple plans to revolutionize the world with a “internet device” that doesn’t have Flash. Even Linux has plugins for this…
2) No multitasking – This isn’t a huge show stopper for me because I plan to use my IPad for only a few things, but I know this is a show stopper for most. Why can’t I listen to music and write a document? Does apply really want people to use two different devices for this?
3) No USB – I would of loved to be able to hook this up to a external drive. So it looks like my netbook will be going with me on photoshoots instead of this. Yeah 64Gigs is a lot but when I am in Yellowstone for 7 days and using a 5D MKII and 7D I expect to shoot a ton of images in RAW which will more and likely go past 64Gigs.
Things I don’t care about.
1) No camera – to me this is completely useless. I have no desire to video chat or take pictures with this. I have my pro cameras to take pictures.
2) No OSX – I love OSX, but this device is meant to be fast and simple. I have a computer at home to edit pictures and do other things.
Anyway thats my take on it all. I see myself buying one unless someone announces a better device. I really think Apple will correct the multi-task issues before its released…and not having Flash will probably get fixed as well. If they don’t they are going to get a ton of calls. Yes HTML5 will solve this in the long run, but right now Flash is king of the hill for some of the most popular things out there. I hated Flash when it came out and still hate it, but so many things use it so we have to live with it right now.
by ShutterShane
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