Techpreneurship, with Jeff Amerine

Jeff Amerine

(Jeff Amerine is an IA advisor, entrepreneurship educator, and officer with the University of Arkansas Technology Licensing Office. Each Thursday, his Techpreneurship blog will appear in INOV8. Drop him a line in comments.)

So has Steve Jobs done it again?  Here’s the product unveiling Steve Jobs did yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eVCFXxgn2M

Is the iPad the next revolutionary, media-changing device that will reinvigorate “old media” and in the process kill the one-trick-pony e-reader, the Amazon Kindle?  Some of the Apple zealots on TechCrunch think so.  Check it out:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/28/top-10-reasons-ipad-kindle/

And other analysts are suggesting this might be a $3 billion business for Apple in a year…..Really??

I’m concerned the iPad is simply a tweener product that is not quite small enough to easily carry around,  not quite useful enough to be a laptop replacement, and not quite big enough to be excellent for watching HD video.

And of course since it comes from Apple, count on it being more expensive than many full function laptops and notebooks, and way more expensive than a Kindle (if perpetual eye strain from reading ebooks is your gig).

So what impact will this have on the 3rd party mobile app developers?  Will this even expand the universe of possibilities created by the iPhone and the App Store?  The jury is still out.

The good news is that the iPad uses the iPhone software development kit (SDK). So App compatibility should be easily achieved. There are also a variety of firms that have created tools to ensure Apps can take full advantage of the iPad’s features.

Finally, I am really wondering if Apple missed the mark on the name. Even the Wall Street Journal Online resorted to 5th grade humor yesterday regarding vulgar but hilarious variants of the name tied to potential price/feature levels… I’ll let you use your own imagination on this one, or Google it – your choice.

So that leaves the question we started with.  Is this the next opportunity for a Techpreneur-driven, mobile-app explosion, or just another tweener tablet product that will go the way of the Newton?  Hard to bet against Jobs, but nobody hits home runs with every swing….

Let me know what you all think.

9 Responses to “Techpreneurship: iPad – App Gold Rush Part Deux or Fools Gold?”

1. Ryan Frazier says:

   February 7, 2010 at 9:13 pm

   How to Love the iPad

   Kindle DX 9.7” – $489.00
   —
   1024×768 color display upgrade – $1.00
   Internet browsing upgrade – $1.00
   iPod w/16GB upgrade – $1.00
   Run iPhone apps upgrade – $1.00
   1Gz A4 processor upgrade – $1.00
   H.264 720P HD video upgrade – $1.00
   Bluetooth upgrade – $1.00
   10hr battery upgrade – $1.00
   Multi-touch display upgrade – $1.00
   Digital compass/accelerometer – $1.00 
   —
   Your cost: iPad $499.00

   from Kevin Rose’s blog
   http://www.kevinrose.com
2. Amazon Kindle says:

   February 3, 2010 at 1:32 pm

   Apple has just released Ipad with similar pricing and better features for their base model. Do you think launch of Ipad will affect the Kindle DX market? Many Thanks
3. IP Droid » iPad: what does it mean? says:

   February 2, 2010 at 3:44 am

   [...] innov8: Techpreneurship: iPad – App Gold Rush Part Deux or Fools Gold? [...]
4. Arturo says:

   January 29, 2010 at 3:50 pm

   I think that in the current form the iPad is too expensive and not very functional. However, I believe that the release of this product is mostly about building market awareness for the product over time. This procedure will allow Apple’s customes to keep the iPad in mind. They will watch it grow-up, and reach full marketability. It is then we will see Apple push and entice them to buy. As time passes, Apple will continue to increase the number of features and lower the cost, while it differntiates the product through advertising.

   By making the product is as marketable as possible, Apple will position the iPad ahead of all technological competitors including Amazon’s Kindle. Then iPad can replace the Kindle in the Kindle’s space, especially if, more college text books are published in electronic form at a cheaper cost and price than paper and cardboard.
5. Jeff Amerine says:

   January 29, 2010 at 1:18 pm

   Amanda & Aaron

   Great inputs and analysis folks! The question is can the “sizzle” and Apple marketing acumen carry the day on a product that may have deficiencies? It will be interesting to see. I really appreciate your contributions. I always seem to get the best commentary when I cover mobility technology and trends. Maybe I need to do it a bit more, eh?

   Jeff
6. Aaron says:

   January 28, 2010 at 3:46 pm

   I think the iPhone 4 will likely have the best of the ipad features, so the iPhone will continue to be a better choice. This will definitely corner the e-reader market, but without a flash player it will never replace netbooks or laptops. It is ridiculous that Jobs has resisted Flash so resolutely. Bottom line, too much sizzle, not enough steak.
7. Amanda says:

   January 28, 2010 at 3:28 pm

   I was looking forward to the announcement, but not impressed. I’m sure this product will be better in 2.0 form, but right now: no multitasking (which makes it impracticable for the medical field and for most students), no flash video (I know, html5…but right now, kids want to watch Hulu, etc.). The only thing it has going is the app store, but I don’t see how it’s “better than an iPhone.”

   As for the ebook reader debate, I’ve read on netbooks and on my iPhone, my eink is so much better. You really don’t realize how much better until you try one. To buy this as a dedicated ereader doesn’t make sense, but I guess if you want an overall media device, it would be good enough.

   I can see this working for texts and journal articles, but not at that price (textbooks are not going to decrease in price that much. You’re paying for content with textbooks, not paper. McGraw-Hill has said as much). Newspapers it would work for…but is that enough for the general consumer to pick one up? I guess time will tell.

   Something I do think is positive is that they have a $30 data plan, no contracts. That’s an easy way for people who don’t think they need a cell phone (or have a pre-paid phone) to get a data plan. I can see that being a positive for some. I can have mobile internet for just $30, no contracts (granted, it only works on 3G and that is spotty in some areas, but it’s a nice idea).
8. Jeff Amerine says:

   January 28, 2010 at 3:05 pm

   Philippe

   I really like your thoughts relative to vertical industry and education applications. I just wonder if the iPad will be robost enough for some of those environments. I do completely agree that good applications can carry the day for a device even if the device is in my view a “tweener”.

   Thanks for your contribution to the debate and I look forward to you rolling out some killer apps for the iPhone and now the iPad.

   Jeff
9. Philippe Hausler says:

   January 28, 2010 at 2:02 pm

   Granted I am of the belief that the name is lack-luster at best and does evoke that “5th-grader” humor, the opportunities for development are outstanding. The iPhone/iPod bares the grunt of not having enough display to properly implement some higher level applications, and there are some industries that laptops are just too inconvenient. When I first saw the enclosure specifications, my first thought was “Wow this would be absolutely killer for the medical field” for that matter many other fields. All that would need to be done to extend the device to meet the criteria of being “useful enough to be a laptop replacement” is only on the shoulders of developers. The device is amazing when it comes to the raw specifications for making slightly more than mobile based applications: think thin-client.

   Personally I see this platform as an opportunity for innovation. Lets face it, even though the iPhone and iPod can programmatically deal with things like inventory management, medical records, or IT administration, that does not mean that form factor is the appropriate input system or display. The iPad fills that gap quite nicely for those niche markets.

   I also think that a lot of people missed the slight of hand when it came to the Apple iBooks store. Just imagine a collegiate environment: 3 books for classes can easily cost well over $500, Apple stated that they have already 5 of the major publishers for ALL of their books published. Additionally they posed that the books would be on average around $15. This is not to mention the fact that this can potentially skip the traditional distribution channels; in turn skipping over the publisher and allowing a professor that has their own books to be published on the Apple iBooks Store.

   So adoption of the device definitely could be there, in businesses, education, and consumers. All that has to be done now is build the right products to make the platform come to its full potential.