Rebuttal to an WSJ iPad article

Why I Don't Want an iPad for Christmas

A decent article for the non thinking person. I'm not a writer so I may not refute as eloquently, let me also state that I have no interest in Apple, own no stocks and don't work for them. My arguments apply to almost any popular product as much as it does the iPad. I also look at the iPad from a photographers point of view and find it's storage capacity far too lightweight for my use. It seems Brett Arends and the WSJ are okay with picking up the thoughts and editorial content of thousands of others and calling it an article, I go to the WSJ for original thinking not rehashed goggle searches. Here are my thoughts:

Point by Point Rebuttal

1. Everything is cheaper next year, it's a rather weak argument. You can always say I'm waiting for the next one to be cheaper or better there is nothing profound about that. The problem is there will always be a next one. If your a geek, tech fanboy, or just want to have the latest toy you'll get it if you want it enough. Often people who say I'm waiting for the next one are really saying I can't afford it right now. Come on admit it, we all do this. You either want it or you do not, it's a mater of how you're going to justify the thing you want and how much you are willing to sacrifice for it. Or if your wealthy you really don't care about the cost.

2. I think I answered this already. Things generally always get better. Cars, computers, cameras, toys, robotics, cell phones etc. The real question is do you like to lead or follow? Are you a safe player who minds your budget or do you like having the newest thing when it first comes out? Does your career require you to be up-to-date on the latest gizmo or is it just something you'd like to have. And again, is your budget one where you can have the latest thing and dispose of it or hand it down to children or others easily or do you need to move cautiously and stretch every dollar. I for one am somewhere in the middle, I am often required to be up on the latest trends, however I make things last and only buy if I can write it off on my taxes. Ask my wife, I've never bought a new computer, however I always have the most powerful and capable ones you can get, generally through barter and customizing that I can do myself or I find ways for clients to buy them for me.

3. Profit margins, I have no problems with a healthy profit, I'm not a socialist or communist and take no issue with a company that takes every advantage of the market it operates in. The margin Apple makes pays for it's leading edge R&D, state of the art design, willingness to open new markets that other companies benefit from, provide forward thinking designs that raise the bad for everyone. If you have a problem with margins you'll have to give up food, jewelry, cars, energy, politicians, electric cars, medicines, eating out, movies, music, live entertainment etc. All operate with margins and profits that far exceed Apple's. This boils down to envy and greed on the part of those unwilling or unable to reap such rewards and think they have the right to take from others to pad their own pockets without doing the work or putting in the efforts that others do. Strange how margins and profit concerns disappear when it's something you really want or a organization you want to believe in.

4. Competitors, If it were not for Apple there would be no competitors. Apple did not invent the tablet, but like many things they developed the marketing, desire, designs, and infrastructure to make the industry viable for everyone else. Apple singlehandedly revived the dying music industry with the iPod for example. Apple's designs with the early iMac helped all computer companies get past the grey box and open up an entirely new market and opportunity to sell products to people who want computers to work well and look good. Bill Gates once said when asked why he did not want to destroy APple. That he needed Apple to innovate and create products for the rest of the industry to copy or try and beat constantly pushing the computer industry to greater innovation. Some one has to lead so competitors have something to reach for, to compete with.

5. Okay this one is a bit more complex, Flash has it's detractors, I'm one of them. It can be slow and interfering, it can be difficult to execute and works on some browsers one way and differently on another. Apple has a long history of driving and creating industry standards. Right now they are trying to drive us to HTML5. A superior product by most accounts. Sometime change is painful and requires leadership. Apple is striving to drive us to a more open standard, one Adobe does not like because it costs them money. Apple gets nothing from HTML5, just a more widely adopted open standard that is free to all and consistent everywhere on all platforms and browsers. Mostly what you’ll loose is a lack of pop-up ads and annoying efforts to get you to buy insurance, go back to school or sexual enhancement products. Most of the more popular video sites are moving to or already have moved to HTML5 because it’s faster to deploy and cheaper while requiring less bandwidth to deploy.

6. Add-ons, I have to agree with this one, at least sort of. The apps cost more to buy than the ones on the Android platform, even for the same apps (I use an Android phone by the way, I refuse to use the more expensive AT&T service with it’s often loss of connections and terrible service). The wi-fi argument made in the Wall Street Journal is like political double speak. 

My wife won an iPad at work, the most basic model. I was quick to point out that without the 3G capability it would have problems running some applications as the Journal article suggests. I was wrong and so are they. Wi-Fi is everywhere, often free and open. Sure I can't use the wifi connection while driving in the middle of the desert but then again I should not be using an iPad while driving anyway. Most applications do work without internet access and are just as functional as anything on your laptop, or netbook for that matter. Are you tossing out your laptop or netbook because they don’t have 3G service? I don’t think so. If yo want it there is always tethering, just like you can do for your laptop. If I were to buy an iPad for myself I see no reason to buy one with 3G and comparing it to the underpowered black and white only Kindle, neutralizes all the rest of the points the WSJ makes in the rest of the article. A Kindle is a book reader with anemic internet and productivity tools, books are still expensive, and it has no color so forget video. The iPad is starting to replace people’s laptops and doing it well for many. So I have to agree I don’t need the $989 model either, my wife has not had a problem using hers any of the places most people will use the iPad 95% of the time, at home, at church (yes many great apps like hymns and scriptures are available so replace that old heavy Bible) in airports, on airplanes, the same places most people use laptops most of the time

7. The Games? Really? Do I even need to respond to this? Addictive gaming behavior? While the Brett is at it lets ban all cigarettes (I don’t smoke) alcohol (I don’t drink it either), gambling, vacations, people with too many cats, collecting ceramic figurines, investing, after all investors spend a lot of time doing that don’t they?  Sure some people over spend, over eat, over drink, or play too many computer games. Lets get rid of the XBox and Wii while we're at it, after all those are games and thats a waste of time too? Are you a puritan or perhaps some kind of anti technology tech writer? Most cell phones have time wasting games too lets ban them all.

8. Waste of Time - according to the article reading articles is a waste of time too. Don’t read any more articles in the WSJ, don’t go online and visit the WSJ sites it’s a waste of your time and keeps you from reading paper books (which kills your Kindle point) and sex. Oh and avoid Facebook too. You can read but don’t do it on a digital reader or on the internet, that is a waste according to the author. Are you sure you're a online tech writer? Or maybe your just too lazy to realize your telling people to avoid what your getting paid to do. Maybe you should rethink your argument a little.

9. It’ll get boring. Now your just trying to fill space to make your 10 items list. Try harder, I have to wonder if your editors are still on holiday and missed how lame an argument this one is. Welcome to western civilization, it is built on consumerism, we like new stuff so what? Not getting an iPad is not going to fix all society’s ills. And yes in the 90s it was the Palm which made the iPad possible. Who knows what new technology and benefits we will gain in the future based on the technologies and infrastructures being built today. It takes money to build and it takes consumer spending to pay for it and consumer feedback to help it grow. Perhaps you prefer the dark ages where progress only happened with the forced ideas of kings and dictators. Seems you have an obsession with failed methods of progress. Sure the iPad will get old someday, just like that bad tie and cheap haircut your sporting, that was so last year! Why even wear clothes they go out of style so fast?

10. Brett Arends’ last comment seems like more Apple envy. Apple happens to be the big dog at the moment, Brett's argument here mirrors those written about Ford Motor, Microsoft, Goggle, Walmart, America, Ma Bell, Every industrial mogul in they're times. Journalist love to stir up hate, envy, greed at whomever is the big evil corporation of the moment, always with the same argument. They are scary and evil or  bad because they are successful, evil because they invent stuff many people want, corrupt because they are smart enough to make a profit at good design and innovation. Simple minds will always buy into this argument the easiest, it’s always easy to hate on those who are doing better than us, are smarter, consistently succeed, and getting paid for it. It's one thing to love the underdog, but that does not mean every successful company is inherently bad. Success is the ultimate American dream far to few comprehend anymore.