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.