Freelancing With the Apple iPad

Transparency: Nobody at Freelance-Zone.com has gotten a hands-on with the new Apple iPad. The information we’re presenting here is based on other people’s hands-on experiences with the 10-inch tablet, not our own. But even secondhand information is most helpful in deciding whether to become an early adopter or to wait for the inevitable price cut and major upgrade of the next version.

Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad on Wednesday, showing off its web browsing, e-book and gaming potential. Rather than do a complete rehash of what’s already available at Wired.com, we’ll cut right to the chase and discuss the iPad’s impact on the freelance community.

The Ipad’s best performaning models are both 3G and wi-fi capable. For the uninitiated this means you can opt to get one with a subscription to a 3G data plan so you can literally connect anywhere. The wi-fi only version allows you to connect to your home network, Starbucks wireless, anywhere there’s a free wi-fi signal. Freelancers should seriously consider the 3G/wi-fi combo for ultimate mobility.

The unanswered questions about 4g (near as I can tell, I haven’t read everything so perhaps there is a 4G/3G version planned) mean a wait-and-see attitude may be needed since 4G is just now starting to hit the marketplace. Will the faster 4G render 3G wireless data plans obsolete? Will 3G get phased out? Hard to tell, but 3G iPad owners will be mightily pissed if they find themselves with a semi-obsolete model in 18 months.

Apple is launching a digital book store to go with the iPad. This could go one of two ways, but if the launch means more opportunities for self-publishers to reach a mass market, here are two idle speculations:

1. The book industry finally catches up with the music industry. The old model of landing a publishing deal and depending on the big boys to make or break you between the hardcovers starts looking exactly like the dino that it really is. The flip side is that the market is flooded with crap. Think Associated Content, but longer and more annoying stuff.

2. A portion of the content marketing game shifts to e-books. You’ve seen advertorials and infomercials, now shudder at the thought of the adverBook.

As far as moblie freelance work itself goes, I read that Apple plans to make iWork programs–including a word processor–available for the iPad at about $10 each. My biggest objection about the iPad is the form factor–how do you use this bloody thing at a coffee shop AND use the wireless keyboard option that comes with it?

In photos on Wired.com, I spotted a stand for the iPad that let the unit sit upright like a regular computer monitor. I hope this ships standard and is not an add-on purchase. The biggest drawback I see to the iPad currently in this department is with the accidents. It would be all to easy to knock the unit over. One clumsy coffee shop bozo jostling your table with his backpack (because he’s still toting around that 17-inch laptop behemoth) and your brand new iPad could be rechristened iCracked.

One thing notably missing from all Apple’s details on the iPad–can you use this bloody thing as a phone? The Apple site doesn’t say. It’s a glaring omission. Or is it?

Sources say the iPad is NOT a phone, but rather intended as a pure data device. That means that you’ve now got to deal with having a separate account for making calls instead of an all-in-one solution.

Yes, using the iPad for your cell calls would be clumsy and annoying. But it’s also a nice option. Leaving it out of the iPad makes me think twice about shelling out. I’m not totally turned off the idea of becoming an early adopter (for the first time ever) but I have a strange feeling that in 18 months or so we will see some major changes:

1. Could Apple be planning a 4G version of the iPad?
2. Is a phone-enabled version of the iPad coming at a later date?
3. Will Apple drop the price, ditch the lowest-storage model, etc like they did with the original?
4. Are early adopters going to get a rebate like the original iPhone customers?

Some things to ponder.