Dave Caolo

My TUAW colleague Sang Tang took the first iPad ad apart, frame-by-frame, and determined how much screen time was allocated to each function. Awesome. Go and see the full chart.

In a TUAW post from May of 2009, we considered what Apple’s next big thing might be. In retrospect, it’s amazing how close we were to the iPad:

“…. consider [ebooks] on a device with a color touch screen that also has your photos and music, maybe even a few fun apps, and ubiquitous connectivity. Also notice that Apple’s keyboards have been getting smaller and thinner lately. The Bluetooth model without the number pad would be a perfect companion.”

Eerie.

Many people are bemoaning the iPad’s lack of a camera. Actually, they’re questioning why Apple would be so thoughtless as to exclude one. These are the same people who demanded copy-and-paste of the original iPhone and Wi-Fi of the iPod. “Apple has squandered a huge opportunity” they say.

That’s perfectly wrong. They’ve seized an even bigger opportunity.

The designers at Apple know full well that users want a camera in the iPad. They know that customers will bitch and moan without it. They know they’ll lose a certain percentage of sales. They also know that taking the time to find the single best way to implement it is worth the complaining.

Apple isn’t always the 1st to market. They didn’t create the first digital music player. They certainly didn’t create the first mobile phone and they didn’t create the first tablet computer. The important thing is they took the time to devise the absolute best way to implement each of those devices.

The iPod is hands-down the best digital music player. We take the iPod touch for granted at this point, but it’s a phenomenal device. When I consider it from the perspective of a former Rio owner, I’m in awe of the touch. The same is true when I consider the T-Mobile phone I owned 8 years ago. The iPhone is light years beyond that device.

Apple could have released a “compromise” phone 7 years ago, but they didn’t. The could have crammed every feature on their list into the original iPhone, dispersing the developers’ attention from the core functions that made the original model such a hit. Likewise, future iPad models will include features that users are demanding today. They’ll be added when — and only when — Apple is damned good and ready.

And that’s how it should be.

One of the fun things we did at Macworld Expo was to get our hands on a full-scale, 1:1 iPad mockup that the folks at Hard Candy Cases had made. The detail was great, right down to the switch, ports and Apple logo. It was even weighted properly.

We won’t see the real thing for a while, but the mockup gave us a terrific impression of the device’s size and weight. Thanks again to Dave from Hard Candy.

[Via TUAW]

And now I can check this one off the Bucket List.

I’m in San Francisco this week covering Macworld Expo for TUAW. It’s so exciting. This blog will probably be quiet for the week, aside for the occasional pics and non-work updates.

So, check TUAW for MWSF updates and here for personal experiences.

If this is true I’ll literally eat a hat.

David Pogue writes as if he’s seen it before, and he’s absolutely right.

There’s an interesting article at The New York Times today which states that most iPhone owners only use 5-10 apps with any regularity.

I’ve noticed the same behavior in myself. My iPhone has pages of apps (iTunes even more), but I don’t use most of them. So, this week I’m going to identify my most popular apps and vote the rest off the island.

Introducing iPhone Survivor. For one week, I’ll note each app I use and how often I use them. At the end of the week, they’ll be sorted on my iPhone by frequency (the most popular app in the upper left-hand corner and working down from there), while the apps that remain unused get deleted.

Update: Here are the results.