 |
| iPad 2 |
Do not despair if you bought an iPad 1 just two months before Steve Jobs announced the launch of a much faster and thinner iPad 2. Obviously, you feel cheated since the device was launched here more than nine months after US customers got it.
Considering the iPhone 3G was launched just after a month of the US launch, doubts arose in people’s minds about Apple’s India strategy. Was it dumping unsold goods in the Indian market? Was India a low-priority market for Apple?
All other Apple products have been in Indian stores within a month of their launch in the West. This includes all models of MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini and the latest iPod Touch (fourth generation). This device is exactly like the iPhone 4, except you cannot make calls.
The iPhone 3G came a month after its US launch in 2008 because Apple wanted to concentrate on the Indian market. If you remember correctly, 3G was supposed to be launched that September. It did not see the light of day as the Cabinet minister was changed and everything went bust.
“This dumping theory and India being low priority for Apple is hogwash,” says an Apple insider who refused to be named. He also pointed out that Indian mobile phone providers are tough bargainers.
The biggest mistake Apple made when it launched the iPhone 3G was that it left it to the mobile phone operators to sell them. Had it given the charge to the Apple Premium Resellers, who are well versed in Apple’s culture, more phones would have sold. The providers were ignorant on how Apple operated and they did not know answers to basic questions. Even today, if you ask them to activate the Visual Voicemail feature on your iPhone, they will stare at you blankly.
But, to be fair to them, hardly 2 per cent of mobile phone users use the Internet on their devices. Besides, EDGE was too slow. If you were lucky, you would get a download speed of 40kbps. This translates to waiting for about several minutes for a text intensive page.
Now that 3G has arrived, you can get speeds of up to 6Mbps. On an average you will at least get near 2Mbps. This means you can watch all the rich media the Internet has to offer without any buffering. I must mention here that the Sim card I use is from Vodafone. Aircel and Reliance too are offering 3G but they often slip back to EDGE, spoiling your Internet experience on the iPhone or iPad.
Now that Apple has struck a deal with the mobile phone providers, you can expect the price of iPhone 4 to drop sharply. iPad 2 prices should remain the same. I expect them to arrive in Indian stores by June.
The iPad 2 has double the RAM that the iPad 1 had (512MB and 256MB respectively). It has front and rear-facing cameras. If you need FaceTime, that’s an advantage. The iPad 2 is noticeably thinner and lighter. Realistically, that’s all there is to the iPad 2 that surpasses the iPad 1. Both can run the latest OS, 4.3.1. Neither has Flash support (which isn’t a positive, but a negative), and both have access to hundreds of thousands of IOS apps (though fewer are iPad optimised). Also, both have 3G support, not 4G. Apple will eventually adopt 4G technology, though it is unclear when.
Bottom line: If you have an iPad 1, stick with it — unless you need FaceTime — and wait for the iPad 3, which will be a much more compelling hardware upgrade. On the other hand, if you really, really want an iPad 2, go for it. You almost certainly will not regret it.
As for me, I am saving money for the iPad 2, the gadget lover that I am. I see that the two Imagine shops that sell Apple products are crowded with youngsters. 'The youth no longer want to upgrade their PCs but want to buy an Apple product for a better computer experience', says Sanjay Chordia, owner of both the shops.
Send your computer- related problems to askdoss@abpmail.com. The solutions will appear soon.
var addthis_pub='saugata.roy';
