My thoughts on ignorance about the iPad

Ignorance can be really annoying.  

A friend on Facebook was talking about how the iPad is stupid because it's overpriced, non-innovative (just a big iPhone), and dumb.

While some of the points he made weren't entirely incorrect, it still made realize how ignorant people can be about things like this.

As I said earlier today on Twitter, "Steve Jobs is a genius. He always knows what people want, even when they don't know what they want."

What I ment by that, is that he is able to see past what people think they want and build a product that they will truly be happy with. People originally criticized the iPad as being nothing more than a larger iPad. And, as I stated above, some people still feel that way.

However, for the most part, people are beginning to realize just how cool the iPad actually is. Many people were disappointed that the iPad was just running iPhone OS instead of a more full-featured version of OS X. But now, they realize that they don't actually want that.

Here is what I wrote in response to a series os comments on Facebook.

Max, I don't think the A4 processor is what is making people want this device. The A4 processor is what makes it all possible. It isn't the selling point however.

The iPad's awesomeness—similar to the iPhone's awesomeness—lies in its ability to function as a platform. Both the iPhone and iPod touch are platforms for developers to create applications. The iPad is an extension of this platform. It opens up new possibilites for amazing new applications.

The bigger screen allows for apps to be rethought from the ground up. We take for granted iPhone/Android apps today. They were all inspired by the iPhone, which got a similar reaction from people like you. Few could have imagined what we have today—a notion where your phone allows you to be connected to the internet at all times and with over 100,000 applications. So far, pretty much all of these applications are just simple and consist of 1 column in the layout. With the iPad, everything is different. For those who don't understand that, what a shame!

And Sergey, you would probably be making up some dumb excuse of why the iPhone or any iPhone-esque smartphone is stupid. But, because of the apps and all the cool things you can do, you don't say that. Even your Android—which you consider to be awesome—was inspired by the iPhone.

The iPad is the first of its kind. People might think there is no space for the iPad in their life. But, they're wrong. They just haven't seen all the apps on the device.

In the end, it all comes down the the software.

I spent a while today buying some of the early iPad apps from the iTunes store and reorganizing the apps on my phone. There were a bunch of apps that I deleted from my iPhone because I felt that their iPad counterparts would be better and more useful.

For example, most of my news reading apps—NYTimes, CNN, etc—I deleted. I look forward to the concept of being able to read the news on the iPad in an innovative new way that is much more functional.

On my iPhone, I never used the news apps because they simply didn't work so well. On the iPad, I intend to use them frequently.

Oh and the flow chart tells me that I should be asking my parents to get me the iPad.

I'll be waiting in line Friday for about 16 hours to get my first iPad which will primarily be my dads. In about a month, they will buy me mine own iPad.

By the way, for those who plan on making an ignorant response about waiting for the iPad, it's all about the experience. I am perfectly aware that, with the reservation and all, I could sleep in my own warm bed and wake up in the morning, maybe go out to brunch, and then still get the iPad I reserved.

Enough ranting. I just think people who say things like this are being entirely ignorant. Those kind of attitudes aren't want allow you to make a difference in the world. You need to think outside the box.