Am I crazy or what?

Writing this from 32,000ft as I fly to New York for the launch of the new iPad 2.

It was fortuitous at the launch of the first iPad, that I was actually on holiday at the same time in New York. A trip that was booked months prior to the announcement of the iPad 1.

Honestly, it really was.

The fact that I was able to pick one up (well two actually - one as a prize for a special ScreenCastsOnline members prize draw) was fantastic, as it gave me a head start in becoming familiar with the device and figuring out how to get high quality screen captures from it. I didn't know at the time, but the European launch was actually delayed by a few weeks.

Perhaps I should point out here, that I'm not your average Apple user!

I know it's turning into a bit of a cliche when pundits pronounce they need the latest and greatest "as it's my job" but in my case, it really is. With producing the ScreenCastsOnline video tutorials, I really need to be aware of what's happening in the market place and to see where Apple is going. This is especially true as they integrate and merge platforms and develop the ecosystem. I'm constantly looking for interesting software and applications for the show, as well as more general topics. As things start to become more integrated, I'm noticing more and more requests for guidance from the viewers.

Then there's the punditry!

I guest on lots of different podcasts, not just US based, but internationally too. I need to know my stuff. It's OK speculating on futures, but when a device is out, I need to know the facts too.

Of course, ScreenCastsOnline needs publicity and the first iPad launch was great in that respect. I appeared on Leos syndicated live radio show from the 5th Avenue store as well as my YouTube unboxing videos getting viewed many thousands of times! Can't look it up, no Internet! (Just checked - a few under 24,000 views)

So when the new iPad was announced, it was a no brainer that I'd go across to the US to cover the launch and pick up the new device (OK - two devices again, I'll be giving another one away in April).

Actually, saying that, I nearly didn't.

I initially figured it would take a 4 or 5 day trip. As I'm still (yes still!) in catch up mode following the recent MacMania trip, I seriously wondered if I could take that much time away. On realising the iPad wouldn't be available until 5pm on Friday, it became feasible to do it in 3 days, so that was doable.

The travel isn't an issue (other than the expense) as I enjoy flying and besides, I got a direct flight to New York, it's only eight hours. Managed to get a cheap combined Flight and Hotel deal, although following that, was offered accommodation at a friends apartment. With the exceptional battery life on the iPad, I've been able to do a ton of stuff on the plane.

Going back to deciding to make the trip, one of the things I like to do is share the experience. This is true whether it's Macworld, MacMania, Blogworld or any of the trips I go on. I always make a point of tweeting or blogging as much as I can to share the experience. Without sounding too fluffy (I'm sure there's a more appropriate word than that), I fully appreciate that I'm in a privileged position to be able to do what I do. I work exceptionally hard to create the show, but it's only by the support of the members that I can continue doing it and enjoy some of the benefits such as equipment and travel. The least I can do is share the experience, and that seems to be hugely appreciated.

Fingers crossed, I'll pick up the new iPads tomorrow, get a head start in understanding the device, do an unboxing video, start to develop some content and be fully armed to wax lyrical about the new device when asked. I'll also be able to work out if I can use the mirroring and HDMI adaptor for capturing High Quality screen captures with my capture equipment. Hopefully, I'll also get some more exposure for the show and possibly along with that, some new viewers. In fact, any new viewers I get, either because of the exposure or due to the fact I'm giving an iPad away, will offset the cost of the trip and the two new iPads. It could possibly mean it will cost me nothing.

So you see, I'm not really that crazy Apple fanboi you may think I am!

Some further musings!

Been a busy week for me this week. As well as sorting out my own show with the first "Mini Montage", I was asked to guest on some other podcasts too!

YMPNow - Frank Petrie - Vimeo

Frank asked me to do a short video piece for his new podcast. The show contains a five minute video of my initial thoughts surrounding the launch of the new iPad 2. Apologies to Robert Llewellyn (@bobbyllew) as I recorded it in the car on the way to the Gym. Carpool has nothing to worry about, although it's a mighty fine view up my nostrils! That's not me on the opening still frame of the video by the way. 

Bagel Tech Mac - Ewen Rankin - Bagel Tech Mac

One of the newest Mac podcasts around and it's based in the UK. I joined Ewen, Andrew, Kyle and Alex to pontificate about the latest and greatest Mac news. 

NosillaCast - Allison Sheridan - Nosillacast

With Bart still out of the picture, Allison asked me to step into the "Chit Chat Across The Pond" spot. She was curious about Mac Mania and just what was involved in a Geek cruise. So we had a good 30 minute discussion about what the cruise was all about, what it's like to both present and attend one these cruises and what life was like in general with a bunch of Mac geeks on the high seas with limited Internet access. 

You can stream all these shows directly from the pages linked above, or subscibe to the shows in iTunes.

Thanks to Allison, Ewan and Frank for inviting me on.

Well I've only gone and done it!

I've been mulling over if I should wait for the iPad 2 to hit these shores two weeks after the US, get one shipped out, or go and get one myself.

Well, I priced up the trip to the US based on the assumption I'd need to fly out on the Wednesday, spend the Thursday mulling about and then start queuing nice and early for the launch on the Friday. Then fly back on the Saturday or Sunday.

Eek!

That would be a 4 or 5 night stay. Plus, to keep the costs down, I'd need to fly with a stop on the way to New York, as the direct flights were expensive. The thought of flying through Philly again filled me with dread (No offence to the City, but the airport transfer is horrible)

So I'd sort of dismissed the idea.

Next option would be to get one shipped out. I checked out the US Apple website to get pricing on the model I wanted, and discovered that the actual launch isn't until 5pm on Friday afternoon.

Really!

So that means I could fly in Thursday night, have a kip, and then into the City first thing on Friday to get my place inline, then fly back out Saturday and home for Sunday afternoon.

Simples!

A quick check on Expedia followed, and although I couldn't get a direct flight from Manchester, I was able to get a shuttle to Heathrow, and then a direct Virgin flight to New York. Never flown Virgin before! A two night stay in a cheap hotel near the Airport and sorted!

So hopefully, I'll be arriving back in the UK with two iPad 2s on Sunday.

One for me, and one for a lucky ScreenCastsOnline member.

I'll be giving away a 16GB WiFi iPad 2 on the show at the end of April.

So I'd better get working and prepare for next week's extended show as I'll have to have it finished and uploaded before I go on Thursday.

Although it might seem a bit crazy to go all that way, I'll actually use the travel time to do some work, heck I may even record the following weeks show on the iPad 2 on the Sunday in my hotel room!

PS: It looks like there will be a limit of just 2 iPads per customer on the day, so I won't be able to take any requests for additional iPads to bring back with me - Sorry!

So How Did I Do....

The iPad 2 event has come and gone. So how did I do....

• Faster - Check
• Thinner - Check
• Lighter - Check
• Dual Cameras - Check
• No Retina Display - Check
• More internal memory - TBA but I'm pretty confident they will have upped the internal RAM to at least 512MB to cope with the faster processor and HD video editing, etc.
• Subtle changes in styling to make the original iPad look outdated - Check

So on the iPad 2 itself, I think I can claim 100%

The other items I mentioned didn't make an appearance, but I did qualify myself by saying that Apple may just concentrate on the iPad.

Surprised that iOS 5 preview didn't happen though!

Some thoughts following the event...

I won't go into detail about all the announcements, the interwebs are awash with people regurgitating the specs, so I'll leave that to them!

Form Factor

Wow! That's thin! Thinner than an iPhone 4. Have you seen how thin an iPhone 4 is? A lot of the iPad 1's appeal is how it feels in the hand, albeit slightly heavy for some people. Couple the thinness of the iPad2 with the slight reduction in weight, it should make it easier to hold for prolonged periods.

Performance

I never really had an issue with the performance of the iPad 1. The boost in performance of both the CPU and the graphics will just mean that it will support more sophisticated apps.

Cameras

Seeing FaceTime demo'd made me realise just how much better it would be on the iPad rather than the iPhone. Hey, it's lighter so you can hold it up further. The inclusion of HD video is a bonus but we'll need to see how that looks when the device hits the streets. I have my doubts, especially if they've not used the same camera as in the iPhone 4.

Oh, and PhotoBooth will sell a shed load more of iPads on it's own.

iOS 4.3

The updates to AirPlay look fantastic and will transform how the iPad is used in the home to consume media. Stream from Mac to the TV and control via iPad/iPhone4, stream from iOS device to the TV and stream from the Mac to the iPad/iPhone 4 - all bases covered.

The personal hotspot for the iPhone 4 will probably make me go for the Wifi model of iPad, unless the carriers screw us over on the pricing or availability.

Smart Covers

Very smart! I saw one tweet saying that Apple probably spent more time designing Smart Covers that some of it's competitors spent designing competing tablets. I currently use the Apple case on my original iPad and while it's functional, it's pig ugly. Nice to see Apple give us an option to actually see the iPad whilst giving it some protection.

The magnets are a stroke of genius and building them into the case of the iPad itself, shows the attention to detail and innovation Apple are renowned for. Not forgetting including software to detect if the cover is closed or not.

Sheer brilliance.

I'm not too sure how the cover will behave when carrying the iPad, but kudos to Apple for coming up with the design.

Video Mirroring

At last. Full video mirroring for all applications. Long overdue and will be a boon to educators or anyone who needs to demo their iPad.

iMovie and GarageBand

Setting the quality bar high and the price point low. Both applications look very impressive and Apple are making huge strides in data manipulation using touch.

Live Feed

I'm sure there is more that I haven't touched on, but I'd like to comment on the absence of a live feed for the event.

Poor show Apple.

Not so much that there wasn't a live feed, despite the fact that they have provided a live feed for the past two events, but more so at the utter disregard for the Apple fans.

Would it have hurt to issue a note stating that the event would not be broadcast?

It's ridiculous that, in this day and age, that we have to cobble together information from live blogging, especially as they have proven that there is a robust and eminently usable live streaming capability.

Poor show that they don't treat their fans (and customers) with a bit more respect.

Rant over!

Availability

So will I be getting an iPad 2..... of course I will, it's my job.

When will I get one?

Well although the US launch is 11th March, the UK isn't scheduled for release until 25th March (assuming that the date doesn't slip). There is also no online ordering until the 11th March in the US.

So I have two options:

• Get one shipped over to the UK - I have a friend who has offered to get me one on launch day and ship it over. That will incur extra charges and a short delay.

• Take a mini break and fly over to the US for launch day! - Slightly more expensive (!) but I could get it on the day and bring it back.

Of course, if I did over to get one, I might as well get two and give one away in a ScreenCastsOnline members prize draw.

What would you do?

Obligatory Pre-Apple Event Blog Post

The new iPad....

• Faster
• Thinner
• Lighter
• Dual Cameras
• No Retina Display
• More internal memory
• Subtle changes in styling to make the original iPad look outdated

There, that should do it!

I'm really looking forward to the event later today, but prepared to be underwhelmed with the new iPad 2 specs. Most of the features above should make it into the new version, but I'm expecting more of an evolution than a revolution, sort of like the transition from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 3GS.

What else can we look forward to?

I'm pretty sure Apple will announce the release of iOS 4.3 with the new iPad and it's availability for existing iPads a day or so before the new device is released. I hope some of the new gesture based controls make it into the final release.

Another given is a preview of the roadmap for iOS 5.0. Today's keynote is pretty important for Apple as it will position them to respond to the onslaught of competing (?) tablet devices, due to be launched in the next 12 months. If they can come up with some whizz bang features for iOS 5, and some innovation in the new hardware platform, it should give the competitors a lot to think about, and more importantly, make it more even more difficult to catch up. As it stands, the existing iPad has given Apple at least 12 months head start over the opposition, even longer if you factor in the development time for the 1st gen ipad. The new device and iOS should extend that lead.

No matter what the iPad 2 looks like, Apple will most certainly have another runaway success with sales of the new device. There is certainly pent up demand from those who decided to wait (misguidedly, IMHO) for the next generation iPad. Honestly people, you've missed so much by hanging on for a camera!

Then there are the current iPad users looking to upgrade.

One of the criticisms of the original device was its lack of support for multiple users or family sharing.

It was never going to happen!

Apple wants the iPad to be a personal device, not a shared device. Strictly one iPad per person!

So for all the people sharing their iPads, whilst it would have been a stretch to buy a second 1st gen iPad, just to remove the pain of sharing, a new model gives them a great excuse to buy that much lusted after, second iPad. The only issue then is, who gets the new one.

I'd like to think that MobileMe and Apple TV might well figure in the keynote, but Apple have tended to have a laser focus on the main topic of the day and as such, they may wish to keep the message undiluted and just concentrate on the iPad.

It's possible that MobileMe is actually a significant part of iOS 5 so we may see something.

The only reason I mention Apple TV is that the BBC are holding an event scheduled for the same time in London. It may well be that this will just be a simulcast for the keynote, but why hold a special event if the stream is going to be broadcast live anyway? Rumours of Steven Fry hosting also give the impression of a joint announcement?

I'd love for it to be the opening of the AppleTV platform to more content delivered by "Apps". A BBC iPlayer app for the Apple TV would be fantastic and a huge boost to the Apple TV platform. What if they'd got the licensing sorted out for BBC Worldwide and could distribute the BBC iPlayer app to all Apple TVs. It would be a major boost to the currently "under utilised" platform.

OK, sorry, rampant speculation mode off.

Hopefully Apple will live stream the event, but as they seem to leave announcing the live stream until a few hours before, it's unconfirmed at the moment.

So now in the UK (9:36am at time of writing), there's a full working day ahead of us before we find out just what will be announced. It's alright for those in the US that can just roll out of bed and watch, some of us have to work a full day.

Distracted, me?

Nah!

PS I'll be on MacBreak Weekly live immediately following the event, so catch me there if you can.