SOMM Soapbox

The Apple iPad (3^rd Generation) was announced on March 7^th, 2012 and the tech media was buzzing, although not quite with the hysteria normally surrounding an iDevice announcement as in the past. The third iPad is better than its predecessors and arguably will be the best tablet on the market, but there is letdown. All of the hardware upgrades in the world don’t suffice if the operating system powering it hasn’t truly changed since 2007.

The success and popularity of iOS and Android powered mobile devices are having an impact on traditional computing. From Microsoft’s focus on making Windows 8 mobile friendly to Apple’s iOS-like makeover of its upcoming OS X Mountain Lion, the mobilization of computing is here to stay. The question is will the advantages of this mobilization outweigh its disadvantages?

How many features can someone put into a product before they come off as superfluous bullet points? In a new series I am dubbing the Superfluous Tech Top Five, I take a look at tech categories, single products and everything in between to find product “features” that are overwhelmingly superfluous fluff.

The product I am examining today is produced by a company that has a history of overzealously placing superfluous bullet points to “features” that are most of the time common in their competitors’ products. If you haven’t guessed the name of the company by now, it is no other than Apple Inc and the product is iOS 5.

Stop! Everyone about to purchase or thinking about purchasing a new PC, just STOP! A PC is so yesterday according to Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. Never mind that iDevices like the iPad will never offer the same precision control as a keyboard/mouse combo in most applications. Never mind that there are hundreds of millions of smartphone users who STILL purchase and rely on notebooks and desktop computers for their everyday computing needs. Yes, stop all of your purchases of PC’s because iOS 5 with all of its revolutionary features has finally cut the need of wired connections (never mind that most phones – even featured phones – already have most of what iOS 5 offers).