5 Reasons why the iPad *will* be successful

The iPad is here. It is easy to hate it. Why? Because of all the features that were rumored to be but were found to be missing. Everyone is out to bash the device and express their disappointment through various jokes and articles. Did Apple make a big mistake? You may want to think twice about that. The name aside, here are 5 reasons for why the device is headed for being successful at what its intended for.

1. Sex Appeal: You can try to deny it but at the end of the day, the sex appeal of the device gets more weight than most people realize. Once its available in the apple stores to play with and someone in your friend circle gets one, suddenly your phone screen will start to seem small and the laptop will start to feel heavy to carry around. It has happened before with other devices. You see something –> You don’t need one –> You want one –> You need one.  The feedback from some of the media folks that attended the launch event says that watching someone else play with the device does not do it justice and that once you play with it in your hands, its beautiful and enticing.

2. Apps: Why did the iPhone become so popular? Apps. Apps. Apps. The iPad comes with a double whammy. Not only does the iPad get to leverage the existing 100,000+apps from app store but the fact that so many people already know how to build these apps and now want to make tons and tons of money by creating iPad apps, the number of available apps will continue to skyrocket. This dramatically increases the value for money you receive by purchasing this device.

3. Multimedia Content: Never before has a device like this been available to content producers. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities from a content production perspective. A book does not just have to be text, but rather it can contain multimedia components now.  With newspapers being in a crunch, this gives them an opportunity to differentiate themselves, create quality content and charge a premium for it. Once there is enough content available, people will choose the multimedia content rather than plain old text.

4. Futuristic Features: Some of the features provided by the iPhone such as the accelerometer and the compass created a new category of applications not available to app developers for other devices.  The same will be true for the iPad. In addition, this is just version 1.0. Going by some of the patents that apple has filed, the features that people were expecting in this version should not be too far away. The recent decision by Apple to remove the Wi-Fi restriction for VOIP calls will also enable you to make phone calls through the iPad. A camera and proximity gesture control may be on their way too. We can be sure that if a feature goes into the device, it wil be because Apple will implement it really well and until then, we just have to wait.

5. Price: Yes, its not the cheapest device in the market but thats not what its trying to be. Apple managed to set high expectations for the device and then coming under the $500 mark for the starting model changes the game. Very soon, people are going to think “If I am spending X amount of dollars, then I might as well spend Y amount of dollars and get the iPad because the iPad is capable of doing so much more.”. Apple has managed to squeeze the e-book readers and the netbooks with a single device by pricing it well. People will feel they are getting more for their money with the iPad even if they do not use or care for those extra capabilities that they iPad is capable of.

Summary:

The iPad is going to be a game changer. Already, Macmillan publishing was able to negotiate a higher price after being initially declined by Amazon for their content on the Kindle. Why? Only because of the other option now available through Apple that gives them a higher cut. The iPad is sure to attract more people into the Apple ecosystem (as closed as it may be) and change the dynamics for multiple industries.