When Apple releases a New Shiny Object, the web goes abuzz. Individual
reviews of products are great and most of us have our go-to sources.
I'm a big fan of Gizmodo myself, but I'll tend to Google "Shiny Object
Review" regardless and get some other thoughts and opinions to round out
my own secondhand assessments. I've never been totally comfortable
with getting only one sources' thoughts; what if their one review gadget
was a dud in some way? should their negative review apply to everyone? Point
being, when
assessing my gadgets, I like the quantitative approach over the qualitative one.
With first-gen Apple hardware, surveying a
pool of stalwart early adopters could better inform us majority. (I am an early adopter of some things, but Apple gadgets are not one of them.) I'm
not exactly sure when Apple is planning on another brand new Object, but
if this little experiment has proven useful for anyone in their
assessment of the iPad, I may run another for the eventual second
generation.
, this is just an informal look at a few iPad owners' experiences and opinions from their first few days of ownership. Please excuse the generic and poorly formatted pie charts; there was enough data to manage that caring about appearances was quickly
eclipsed by the need to output.
The answers are presented in the order
in which they were asked, and some are grouped by theme or
commonality. There were 16 total respondents, and all but 4 questions were
mandatory (the non-charted answers were open-ended optional questions.)
Hard drive choices were almost perfectly split, and only 3 of 16 users aren't using any accessories with their iPad. But as you'll see in later answers, some who are using cases highly recommend them.
Apps, apps, apps
While some people (2) haven't paid for any apps, every user has
downloaded at least one. 11 respondents have downloaded at least 11
free apps, while only 4 have downloaded 11 or more paid apps.
In terms of usage, Safari (5) and Netflix (3) are the most popular, together constituting half of the respondents' most used apps. But in terms of preference, responses are all over the board; only Netflix got multiple responses (2).
Usage
Most everyone is using their iPad for many of the devices upfront capabilities: for overall usage, all 16 responded with email, 15 said web, 14 said video, 14 said games, 12 said books, 10 said photos, and 9 said writing. Music, magazines, and iWorks all received 8 nods, just 50% of the respondent pool.
I find the lesser responses about music particularly interesting. It makes sense that a larger tethered machine like the iPad is less convenient for listening to music compared to, say, an iPhone. A lot of conversation about the iPad though categorizes it as a device for consumption
(at least contrasted against its ability to produce). This could be a potential area of distinction and differentiation for the iPad, though more data would need to be provided to analyze any further.
New behaviorsHere are (synthesized) answers to an open-ended question about new behaviors:
Has owning an iPad resulted in any new behaviors, and if so, what are they? (For example, do you now read newspapers when you didn't before?)- More books
- More magazines
- Started reading comics
- Study Linux more
- Read the news more (x2)
- Read newspapers more (x4)
- Cook more
- Doodle more
- Wasting more time
- Watching TV in bed (x2)
- Checking weather more often
- Checking stocks more often
- Read RSS (x2)
- Less use of other computer (x2)
- Nothing new
- Stay awake reading in bed
- Blogging more
- More time on the web
- Read more in general
- More games
Immediately, reading pops out as a commonality, though sources are wide-varying: books, magazines, comics, programming languages, news, newspapers, RSS, and web surfing. Apple and their partners are touting the iPad as a revolutionary device for the news and newspaper industry, which I've often heard disputed in iPad reviews online. However, you can't argue with the fact that as a platform, the iPad serves up information in a way that is leading to new consumption behaviors.
I find it interesting too that so many respondents are consuming more information in bed specifically (a bit more on this in the next sections) and that these behaviors - watching TV and reading - are longer-form. I would imagine reading books or watching TV on the iPhone in bed is less than ideal (I've certainly never done either in my 2+ years of iPhone ownership), so this may be another area for the iPad to differentiate itself:
where you use it, compared to the iPhone or a computer. (Apple alludes to this in their print ads that show off this 'casual computing' behavior.)
Where
Home and office unsurprisingly dominate place of use. Most respondents are using their iPad either in a sitting position (chair / bench, couch) or sitting / leaning / lying down in bed. I was also glad to see one respondent write-in and admit their toilet use, if not dismayed at others' sheepishness about their own admission.
What's interesting to me is how transferable these answers could be to a question about books instead of iPads, and how this batch of answers really drives home the point about the iPad's niche as a legitimate platform for both video & non-web-native text (i.e. books, magazines, newspapers). That dual usage coupled with great portability constitutes serious 'casual computing'. Personally, it's this realization that has gotten me genuinely excited about tablet computing.
Attachment
The variance here is interesting. The same number of respondents (4) keep their iPad with them for only 1-10 hours per week as do those who keep the iPad with them for 60 hours or more. Though it makes sense that if you bring your iPad to work with you, you're likely automatically in the 60+ hours group.
Performance
Battery life, multitouch, and indoors viewing are all positive, as is the general performance. (Anecdotally, I've heard the sentiment reiterated about performance from users IRL and around the web.) Display outdoors is also generally positive, but connectivity is an issue for some (3). Most respondents find typing to be good or better (11), though 4 are on the fence and 1 feels negatively about it. This is interesting because typing was one of the public's early questions about the iPad, but it seems respondents are generally comfortable and/or satisfied with the experience.
Screen size and body size are almost unanimously 'great'. Weight is a slightly polarizing feature, apparently; 3 respondents feel negatively about it. I've heard generally good things about the iPad weight - that it's noticeably lighter than laptops and even netbooks. But I'll let this point rest since it's so subjective.
Flash
Probably the most talked-about feature - or lacking feature - of both the iPad and the iPhone: Flash. I'm actually surprised how many people say the lack of Flash has affected them (6); I had thought it would be less. With the
rift gulf chasm between Adobe and Apple only getting wider, this will not only continue to be a polarizing issue for the iPad, but for all of the dev world.
3G envy
Looking back at the earlier questions about when and where iPad owners are using it, these responses make sense: enough people use the iPad in non-wifi areas to pine for 3G coverage. Something to keep in mind when assessing personal usage of an iPad.
Expectations
All 16 respondents say the iPad has met or exceeded their expectations. From a scientific method perspective, we can't assume "met expectations" necessarily means the same as "satisfied"; we can only assume whatever their expectations were going into their ownership - objective or otherwise - were met or exceeded. Nonetheless, a telling indicator from a pool of iPad'ers.
Final thoughtsHere are synthesized responses to some open-ended questions from the survey (multiple similar responses indicted by multiplier in parentheses):
Any recommendations or tips for other iPad users?- AirVideo is a must-have
- Buy a case for gripping
- Buy a docking case if you want to dock
- Try Instapaper for web reading
- Buy the Apple case
- Read the user guide
There clearly seems to be a need for an iPad case, be it for gripping, docking, or general protection.
Any recommendations for those who don't own an iPad?- Wait for 3G
- Wait for an OS update
- Try it out in person first
- Buy one (3x)
- Great entertainment system for kids when traveling
"Buy one" was a repeated suggestion, as were calls to wait for various updates. But some insight from a user with kids: the iPad apparently makes great entertainment for them on trips.
Any final thoughts or comments on the iPad?- Lots of potential (x2)
- It will change everything about casual computing
- Keynote is terrible and a huge step backwards in presentation software
- Syncing is terrible
- The wifi is glitchy
- Needs more apps
- Looking forward to forward-facing camera
- Looking forward to multi-tasking
- Developers need to migrate to HTML5
- Buy the case both for protection and standing options
- It's given me separation anxiety
My personal takeaway from this last question: if one is interested in an iPad, wait. These responses echo previous answers from this survey, as well as other anecdotal evidence I've seen around the web. "Lots of potential", "It will change...", "Looking forward to..." are indicators to me that Apple has yet again started on the right innovating foot, but that they have much to improve upon before the iPad truly begins to live up to the hype.
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Thanks again to everyone who retweeted the link to the survey, and of course a huge thanks to the 16 respondents who filled it out. (I forgot to decide anonymity or disclosure in the survey itself, so no respondent's Twitter names here.)
And if you're interested, you can download the raw data
here as an .xls file.
