The one and only reason I won’t buy the iPad

So, finally the over-hyped iPad is here. Thousands of Apple fans were drooling over the release and Apple “revolutionizing the way we think once again”. They shown a pretty nice tablet computer with a pretty nice user interface (far from the detail and polish that Apple got us used to, though. The lock screen for example looks pretty bad compared to iPhone and for me is the example of how user interface patterns from one device might be a very bad idea on another device). Steve said that they want to show us amazing way to browse the web, read e-books and generally do our quick daily chores like reading RSS a breeze with an iPad on your lap (even though I seen a very true opinion around the web that if the back is gonna be as hot as iPhone is during normal usage, lots of Apple fans will get their intimate parts burnt to ashes). I said – no. I’m not gonna buy the iPad, even though I own MacBook, iPhone and I generally love Apple products. And there’s only one reason for that…

Multitasking

While I can understand iPhone not having real multitasking because of battery saving and Push notification being generally a satisfying tradeoff, I can’t understand why iPad won’t have multitasking. Come on, Apple, mobile phone might be gimped like that because the CPU isn’t as fast, because of lacks in on-board memory, even because usually multitasking user interfaces are getting pretty crowded on a small screen.

But here’s the thing – Apple tries to market device as the small, portable thing you can have on your coffee table and use like a “interactive morning paper” – browsing the web during breakfast, catching up on your e-mail, RSS feeds, Twitter, you name it. So my question is – why can’t I browse my RSS while my e-mail and Twitter updates are downloading in the background to switch to them being ready when I’m done with RSS? And while listening to music at the same time? For me it’s an equivalent of skimming through the morning newspaper while listening to the radio. I can do two daily chores at a same time without any problem, because none of those requires my full attention. If something – like a newspaper header – will catch my attention, I can just tune out on the others without any problem.

Therefore, sorry Apple, but even being your long-time fan, I will not buy your new device, because contrary to what you are trying to market it as, it will not help me in my morning RSS, e-mail, Twitter and even e-books. It looks like a great idea, the whole device, but I will not buy it until it will be able to do what you’re trying to market it as. For time being, I’ll just stick to my Macbook for daily RSS, Twitter and so on.