iPad doesn't look like a friend to authors

Thank the stars it's Thursday because that means the iPad frenzy is over. My quick thoughts on Apple's latest gadget: I'm thoroughly underwhelmed. Yes it's snazzy and yes it does a lot of things well, but there's a bunch of things it doesn't do - or that other things already do admirably - that really have me questioning how the iPad can be useful.

The iPhone already does just about everything the iPad does. The iPad has a bigger screen, which makes watching movies and looking at photos and websites even better, but that's about where the advantages end. It has no camera and, like the iPhone, it apparently can't handle Flash, the format that many websites and videos use. This isn't such a big deal on the iPhone, but on a bigger screen you expect websites to have full functionality.

Also like the iPhone, the iPad uses a virtual touch-screen keyboard. While it's nice to have one that's bigger than the iPhone's, I imagine typing anything more than a few lines on the iPad will be just as painful. Don't believe me? Try typing for a while without resting your palms on the keyboard and you'll see what I mean. Apple will be rolling out iWork apps (Pages and Numbers, etc.) with the iPad, but this software - especially Pages - will be hampered by the virtual keyboard. Steve Jobs did promise a physical keyboard attachment, but if you need a portable device that you can type on, a netbook is a much better - and cheaper - way to go.

Don't even get me started on how useful or desirable the full 3G-enabled iPad will be here in Canada. Once we start talking about data rates here, all bets are off.

There's going to be tons of disagreement out there between the Apple faithful and the regular Joes (I'd say PC supporters, but are there any of you left?) over whether this is a hit product, or a miss. I have a Mac and an iPhone and love both dearly, but the iPad at this point looks inferior to just about any netbook I've tried. Netbooks also look like they're going to improve significantly later this year, when versions running Google's Chrome operating system become available.

Mind you, the very first iPhone had a serious flaw - no 3G connectivity - that was quickly corrected. The rest, as they say, is history. Of course, the iPad could equally end up being a quickly forgotten Apple product... Apple TV, anyone?

And before we forget that this is a blog devoted to books in general, and a certain book in specific, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the iPad's book capability. Jobs also announced a service called iBooks, which is basically a repackaging of the e-books already being sold over iTunes. Yes, the e-books look pretty good on the iPad and yes, they are in the open e-book format - which will read on any device - and yes, it will give single-purpose devices such as Amazon's Kindle a run for their money. But, unlike Amazon, Apple doesn't appear to be encouraging any sort of self-publishing ventures.

As I mentioned the other day, the thing I like about what Amazon is doing is that it's letting any would-be author publish via the Kindle. Apple's iBooks service is being done in conjunction with major publishers, including Penguin and HarperCollins et al. Apple has also amassed quite the reputation for being very strict and closed about its iPhone app approval process. Put those two together and it doesn't look like the iPad will be any sort of friend to authors looking to publish independently, which is unfortunate given the expectations that this device would change the game in many ways.

The iPhone or the iPod, this is not.