In the beginning, there was the iPad. Now comes the hard part for technology, publishing and entertainment companies everywhere: figuring out how, and why, people will use it.
Friday's launch of the tablet computer in Canada, the United Kingdom and seven other countries proved, once again, Apple Inc.'s skill at creating a sense of mystery and hype - even for a product that has been discussed and reviewed ad nauseum since its U.S. release in early April. But what is often lost in all the anticipation is that for the first time in the history of the technology industry, the most coveted gadget in the world is a device whose primary purpose has yet to be determined.
Will the iPad be mostly a learning tool? That's what the administrators at Seton Hill, a small Catholic university in Pennsylvania, believe. They have promised free iPads to incoming students as part of an aggressive push toward digital technology in the classroom.
Will it be a living room entertainment hub? BCE Inc.'s Bell unit has already released a streaming video tool for the tablet, and CityTV, owned by Rogers Communications Inc., launched its own app with short video content designed specifically for mobile devices. An important tool for written news and advertising? That prospect is quickly forcing the world's biggest content creators to hop on the iPad bandwagon. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and dozens of other major newspapers have released apps for the tablet, while Wired Magazine's slick new multimedia app, released this week, sold 24,000 virtual issues at $4.99 each in its first day.
Indeed, two months into its existence, the iPad's most significant achievement so far might be that it has caused so many others to scramble to innovate for it - even though it's not yet clear if the device will be an enduring commercial success.
"Everyone has a different spin on how they'll be fitting their content into the iPad. There's no de facto standard for what people are doing," said Jeff Brenner, a software consultant with NuLayer Inc., a Toronto-based web development firm.
"It's really very different designing for the iPad. It's a lot bigger real estate compared to the phone, but it lends itself better to a blend of native and web components," he added.
One of the key questions about the iPad is that, once the initial flurry of excitement and sales to technology enthusiasts is over, whether or not large numbers of consumers will choose to buy tablets instead of laptops or to replace their wireless smart phones.
Reporters Omar El Akkad and Iain Marlow and globetech.com editor Michael Snider took your questions on everything from data plans to favourite apps
Perhaps they will do neither. According to a Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. survey of 1,000 respondents during the first quarter of this year, only about half had any interest in the device. But 70 per cent of those surveyed who said they would purchase the device said they would make it a third electronic device - that is, an addition to, rather than as a replacement for, a laptop or a smart phone.
But there remains many factors keeping consumers away from the device. With a price topping out at more than $800, the tablet costs as much as laptops and netbooks with greater capabilities. Some users are waiting for better data plans from carriers; others are waiting for newer, cheaper versions of the iPad, once the device loses its novelty premium.
Kaan Yigit, president of Solutions Research Group, said he expects Canadian iPad sales, proportionally, to lag behind the U.S., where Apple sold about 1 million tablets in a month. Canadian sales of digital products have historically been lower than in the U.S. over the past three or four years, and iPad prices are slightly higher in Canada, he adds.
Indeed, the only product category that may be eliminated should tablets prove successful is the e-reader market, said Kunal Gupta, head of Toronto development house Polar Mobile. But that will depend largely on what tasks the iPad eventually becomes best-known for.
"A lot of people have said the iPad is just an iPod Touch with a bigger screen. In six months, all those people will have tablets," Mr. Gupta predicted.
But just as it forced users to find their own uses for the device, Apple has also forced companies to get more creative. Thomson Reuters Corp., for example, has spent considerable time and effort building a more expansive iPad app, which has already been downloaded about 100,000 times, the company said.
"Mobile devices, as we've known them before, haven't been particularly great for that kind of use," says Alisa Bowen, global head of consumer publishing for Thomson Reuters. "The iPad represents something in-between [a laptop and a wireless phone.]rdquo;
But has the iPad changed the way Reuters thinks and does business? "The short answer to your question is yes," Ms. Bowen said. "It makes consuming huge amounts of information much more enjoyable.
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A fever pitch for iPad
Eager buyers, some of whom had been in line since Thursday evening, finally laid their hands on the Apple iPad after it went on sale across Canada Friday.
Inside Toronto's Eaton Centre, 200 people waited for the doors of the Apple Store to open and when they did at 8 a.m., customers were greeted with a summer-camp scene of cheering employees, high fives and loud music.
Delaan Ruban was first in line after waiting outside the Eaton Centre since 7 p.m. Thursday night. He and several other Apple fans slept on Queen Street. "I'm too tired to 'whoo,'" the 18-year-old student said as the doors were about to open. "I've been up all night."
Charmaine Denton, who joined the queue at 5 a.m., said her employer was paying her $50 an hour to wait in line and buy one on his behalf. She doesn't want one herself: "It has to be functional for me, not just eye candy."
"I just bought into the hype," said Mike Kennedy, another customer who camped out overnight.
Staff at the store would not comment on how many units were sold or whether stocks were running low. Many customers ordered in advance, so lineups were not as dramatic as for previous Apple products.
In Canada, the cheapest of six models is $549 and the most expensive is $879.
Rogers and Bell have announced data plans for the 3G models and neither offers an unlimited option. Both are charging $15 for 250 megabytes of data or $35 for five gigabytes of data. The iPad is also being sold at Best Buy and Future Shop stores across the country.
Kate Allen
Staffers who've played with the iPad since the U.S. launch list their favourite apps
Apple's hits and misses
The hits
iTunes
The most popular music store on Earth can often be maddening to use (ever tried to transfer your playlists from an old computer to a new one?). Nonetheless, Apple has succeeded at making iTunes the hub of digital entertainment shopping. From movies to TV shows to music to apps - once Apple has your credit card information, you can buy pretty much any piece of digital content with one click.
iPhone
The device that crippled a thousand networks is the defining gadget of the data-hungry generation. Today it constitutes one of the biggest sources of Apple's revenue, and has perhaps the largest application store in the world. No other device has done more to cement the age of apps and bandwidth-hogging mobile devices.
iPad
Compared with Apple's newest tablet, the iPhone's bandwidth usage is downright conservative. The company has taken the same applications-centric philosophy that made its previous products so successful and put it in a larger case with more processing power. The result is a gadget that lets you watch movies in bed and play Scrabble on the subway.
The misses
Newton
Apple's first attempt at a tablet computer didn't go quite as well as the second. The Newton operating system powered such memorable products as the MessagePad personal digital assistant. Apple fans will quickly point out that such devices were ahead of their time - the MessagePad supported handwriting recognition! In 1993! - but the handwriting recognition wasn't great and the battery life was awful.
Apple TV
A device that lets users play content from iTunes, YouTube and other services on their HD TVs sounds like a great product. And in many ways, it is. Sales haven't been terrible since Apple TV was released three years ago. However the company doesn't seem to give the product anything like the prominence it gives the iPad-iPhone line. Instead of increasing the number of Apple TV models, Apple has reduced them.
iMac (original)
Take a look at the latest iMacs. Aren't they beautiful? With that sleek silver rectangular form factor, the computer looks like something a particularly athletic alien race might use. That's why it's so difficult to believe that this machine's first iteration was an ugly ball-shaped thing that came in the world's ugliest colours. The original iMac lands on this list purely because it looked like a fat M&M.
Omar El Akkad