Apple's innovation machine fails with the iPad

Last week Apple announced their much awaited product... the iPad. The product idea is good but it is just a bloated, oversized iPod Touch. The lack of innovation is surprising from Apple, who are renowned for their constant new ideas, almost as if they have a machine that just churns out innovation.

When Apple released the first GUI machine in the 80s it was an innovation, the same with the iPod and iPhone but the iPad just isn't anything new. The OS is just the iPhone OS, there are no notable features, there isn't a camera, there isn't anything to tell it apart from previous Apple products.

If Apple had played their cards right they could have innovated this product to become a proper ebook reader but the 10hr battery life just doesn't compare to the 20-30hrs offered on ebook reading devices like the Kindle and Nook.
By blowing up the iPod Touch and creating a tablet, what Apple have done is create a product that fits in an useless space between an iPod and an ebook reader.

Looking at Apple's past when it comes to tablet PCs doesn't help either. The Apple Newton for instance was a huge failure and it is looking like the iPad may have a similar reputation. If Apple had created a unique device that could run a scaled down OSX and run programs like Photoshop, the iPad might have looked like a success. If Apple had created a standalone ebook reader then there most certainly would have been success, but the way Apple has designed the iPad just makes it a device that no one will need.

Nonetheless, it is an Apple product so people will buy it just because of the badge and not because it will help them or be useful to them in any way.

Apple's January 27th event...what will be announced?

In about a week Apple is going to hold a mysterious event where they will announce their "latest creation". Rumours speculate that it will be a tablet PC but I'm not so sure. What is Apple's incentive for making a tablet? Based on rumours it will run iPhone OS but that leaves it open to apps on a 10" screen...app makers would have to rebuild existing apps to run on the tablet in full screen. This would be a risky move as there would have to be a separate app store and Apple has no reason to do this.

Apple also recently started talking to publishers and newspapers about content deals. This makes me think that it won't be a tablet that Apple will be announcing but instead a 10" touch screen ebook reader to rival the Amazon Kindle (and Kindle DX) as well as the Barnes and Noble Nook. Such a device would most likely be a colour ebook reader (making use of to the OLED screen) unlike the other devices and would be a game changer like the iPhone and iPod.

Another possibility for what will be announced would be an Apple Netbook with touch screen capabilities. This however seems less likely because neetbooks a declining in popularity.

Nothing will be known until the 27th but the rumour mill will keep on churning until then and whatever is announced it is sure to be popular, not just because it is an Apple product but also because it will innovate technology in a way Apple has been doing for years.