Apple’s iPad – Better for Lawyers?
March 1, 2010Is a simple tool with less functionality better than a revolutionary tool with more functionality better for the legal profession? Let the debate begin.
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William Blake said that “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water…” As the impending water flows on the iPad and it’s soon to be progeny, I am still as viscous as the river to come. While I haven’t docked the skiff, or even put the boat in the water yet, many others have commented on the newest soon-to-be-addition to the Mac family.
Most of us are a bit disappointed by what we’ve heard, yet I too, quietly wait to see if the water might shift, and still hope for a real mac-tablet.
The C&T board sounds off in response to some of the musings linked below, and in general to what ‘ought to have been ought’ down river.
See also:
http://www.cnet.com/apple-ipad/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358480,00.asp
http://mashable.com/2010/01/27/ipad/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipad-first-hands-on/
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/david-pogues-first-look-at-the-apple-ipad/
http://www.themaclawyer.com/2010/02/articles/ipad/excellent-resource-for-ipads-and-the-lawyers-who-will-use-them/
mark i. unger
Being an Apple user (as many of us are) I had great expectations of what Apple could/would/should have done with the iPad. Sadly, I have to lump the iPad with Apple’s other missed opportunities.
Currently, the iPad is nothing more than a large iTouch. Don’t get me wrong, I have an iTouch and like it immensely. However, what Apple *could* have done was make a large iTouch that retains the user-interface but with more PC-like capabilities for something more like a regular tablet PC. While the new blog that you mentioned is called Legal Tablet, I really don’t think the iPad is a real tablet computer. Instead of being a tablet with a good user-interface, the iPad is closer to a Kindle than a netbook.
In the electronics world, there has been a “schism” so to speak between “generative” devices (like PC’s that can be reprogrammed or reconfigured to perform many different tasks) and “appliance” devices (like toasters and washing machines that have fewer functions but increased reliability and lower learning curves). The trick is to strike the right balance. Here, the iPad is far more firmly in the appliance end of that spectrum. I was hoping for something more generative for the price that Apple is asking for.
While Apple has belatedly considered adapting their iWork applications to the iPad, that adaption is currently vaporware. Moreover, the only application in Apple’s iWork suite that is worth a damn is Keynote, so that is little solace to businesses and lawyers.
For the money, a netbook provides basic features, like cut/copy/paste; multitasking; and a (far) larger suite of applications (for Windows or Linux). Yes, Apple has apps, but apps can’t be piped like Unix applications can to form an application greater than the sum of its (piped) parts. I’ll keep my iTouch, but for $500, I can get a well decked-out netbook.
Just my $0.02.
I’m shopping for a netbook and have decided to wait until the iPad comes out. I’d like to play around with it and see what it can do. For me, it’s a major plus that all or at least most of the iPhone apps — I’m a 3gs iPhone user, by the way — will work seamlessly on the iPad. I am also impressed by the fact that Steve Jobs shed some of his stubborness and permitted the iPad to sync with a detached, physical keyboard. You can’t have a successful business computer without the capacity to easily create and edit documents and email. An iPhone and an iPod Touch can’t do those things well without physical keyboards.
But I’m still a little mystified by the lack of flash. I get that flash is a little buggy and drains battery life, bit it’s not going away anytime soon. Apple’s stubborness on the flash issue has opened up a huge opportunity for Apple’s competitors. How long before Google rushes in to fill the void with an Android-tablet that does everything the iPad does, but at least gives it’s users the option to use Flash?
Maybe I should wait a bit longer before I buy.