Much ado about iPad?

In this part of the world, if you get a new technology device within one year of its official launch, like iPad, you are definitely a ‘bigboy.’ REMMY NWEKE reports that the fuss iPad 2 has generated is all about marketing strategy.

Preamble:

IFvery known Americana; be it citizens of any former, either green card holders or even visitors, the news was that iPad-2 is here to behold.

It occurred to those who were present at the Silicon Valley end of the stores selling Apple’s iPad-2 that the long queues may not end soon. So, some went home without their heart desires, which ITRealms Online gathered was selling at elitist price.

Surprisingly, despite the fact and cry of unemployment in the United States, many people tuned out eager to buy this product, but little did they know that the difference between iPad, which in some cases observers described as ‘the original iPad’ and iPad-2, may not after-all worth all the troubles.

These views led ITRealms Online to examine the real difference between those two, after about eight months following the launch and usage by various Apple and iPad enthusiasts.

ITRealms Online investigations revealed that the truth is that the clamour is declining unprecedentedly, except for developing economies where new technologies are usually delivered or better still made available in the market place after about five to six months preceding the initial European or Western official launch.

What iPad offers?

However, the investigation further revealed that iPad’s features come with display of 9.7 inches on light-emitting diode (LED)-backlit IPS Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with a resolution of 1024 x 768; processor of 1 Giga Hertz on Apple A4; Grahics is powered on VR SGX 535, while the Memory is 256 Megabyte (MB) Radon Access Memory (RAM), just as the storage capacity comes in three categories, namely the 16 Giga Byte (GB), 32GB and 64GB.

As for the Cellular radio, iPad is using the Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) plus, which is a faster version of GSM triband on High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), a wireless broadband standard defined in 3GPP release 7.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a body of six telecommunications standards namely the Japanese-based Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), The United States-based Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), Korean Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA), and Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) of Japan, with particular reference to standard specification released in 2007 fourth quarter ‘Release 7.

Additionally, iPad’s Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) 802.11a/b/g/n has Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR, which shows that Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.1 + is fully backward compatible with 1.2, which was adopted by the Bluetooth’s Special Interest Group (SIG) on July 26, 2007. Whereas the Accelerometer is 3-axis, without Gyroscope; a device used in provision of stability or maintaining a fixed orientation, consisting of a wheel or disk mounted so that it could spin rapidly.

Though, the thickness of iPad is 13.4 millimeter, the weight is 680g plus the WiFi and also on 730g which comes with WiFi and Third Generation (3G) availability., addition to one Universal Serial Bus (USB) charging port.

The Differing factors:

Conversely, iPad-2 has the same features available in the original iPad, but in addition to having all the –so-called goodies of iPad, the version 2 of the iPad has a Video Graphics Array (VGA)  front camera tagged ‘Face Time’ and rear camera of 720 pixels of vertical resolution, which is of about a total of 0.92 megapixels or 921,600 pixels.

Equally, iPad 2 has 3.1 axis of Gyroscope with additional 6017g on Verizon and 613g on (AT & T); 1 Giga Hertz on Apple A5 with dual core, while the cellular radio has additional option for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Evolution-Data Optimized Rev, that is EV-DO Rev. A, even as iPad 2 becomes lighter with 8.8mm in thickness, coupled with two Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports.

Voices:

As for Lagos-based Abu Ahmmed, a Nigerian online enthusiast, it does not matter what the cost is, he just needs an iPad, in fact, he missed out in joining the bandwagon when the original iPad came on stream, but for iPad-2, it’s a must.

As at the time of this piece, he has ordered for two of iPad-2; one for himself and wife and his reason is that this revolution must not pass him by. He has heard much about iPad and wanted to be part of it. 

According to him, the mesmerization accompanying the iPad-2 by a few friends, cannot but literally force one to pick iPad 2 off the shelf, especially at his level as chief executive of his company.

For Yemi Oduase, an upcoming practitioner, what he does not like about iPad, whether version one or two is that it’s all about elitism and in this part of the world a few people are afraid to get debit or credit card to access the iTunes and Apple Stores if really one wants to add applications to the Apple tablet.

A software techie who commented on the iPad 2 told ITRealms Online that most applications are yet to take advantage of the increased speed of iPad 2, adding that when some of these programmes become more intensive on computers, people would definitely see a difference between the iPad 2 and the original.

Kunle Ijegun said that iPad 2 does not worth upgrading to unless for the FaceTime (FT) camera for chatting. Also, he noted that the processor is 2x faster but it’s not as persuading as iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS.

“It’s really just for the cameras or the looks,” he declared, insisting “It’s personal preference on whether you like the FaceTime or not. Otherwise you’re just wasting money.”

Susan Isuzu, a banker who loves mobile devices, said that she was a bit disappointed with the iPad 2 because of the Adobe Flash player and JavaScript which are not supported.

“I won’t pay a single kobo for it, for iPad-2 due to some websites are not accessible without both of them. I think its just a glorified notebook,” she said, pointing out that it might be wise enough to add some hundreds of Naira to get a Macbook Pro or any other better product which could give her what she wanted at ease including higher capacity storage for the hard drive.

She warned that those clamouring for iPad-2 should better think twice unless they just wanted to purchase it and look good and cool for owning one iPad-2.

As more mobile operators in the country find solace in this product to move their data offering, the fact remains that even corporate organisations doing promos these days use iPad as a bet for the star prize it is important to remind them that by mere using the original iPad against iPad 2 could make Nigeria a dumping ground for phased out technologies.

However, with the above comparison, your guess is as good as mine on all the much ado about iPad-2 and when next you want to ‘die’ for a product, always be careful and Nigerians would say in local parlance, ‘shine your eyes.’

 
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