It’s difficult to have a revolution directly after a revolution. It tends to look more like a gentle tweaking of the status quo. Mike Pullen investigates the iPad . . .

I remember seeing some of the first Croc ‘shoes’ to enter the country. I described them as poorly constructed, impractical, ugly as Hell and wildly overpriced. They seemed to me to be nothing but a low-rent fad. My opinion of them hasn’t really changed and yet the success of Crocs in the UK is hardly something that can be doubted. It is therefore with some trepidation (and an inkling that I will again be made to revisit my words) that I now suggest that the iPad is not as exciting as it first appeared.

The boating element

The iPad is being given the best chance of succeeding among boat users, courtesy of the ongoing development and expansion of the excellent (and very good value) Apps from Navionics. Basically, any Apps previously available for iPhone will be available for the iPad with an HD designation. That means you can get award-winning marine charts, with satellite image overlay and tides and currents. Your tracks, routes and markers can be shared on Facebook or via email and you can also view them on Google Earth. Route planning is also assisted by a huge database of Points of Interest, so as long as you have either the 3G model or reliable WiFi coverage, the iPad could be an ideal accessory for keen boaters, fishermen and watersports enthusiasts who enjoy planning their marine adventures.

Better still, it allows you to do all of this while sitting casually in a chic urban café, blowing the froth off a hot one and living the dream. In short then, as far as boating goes, you can do pretty much everything with the new iPad that you can do with your old iPhone - except make a call or take a picture.

So does the new iPad actually do anything to set it apart? Well the big screen is a major bonus and the Navionics App is of course as good as we have come to expect. It is also a product that inherits all the aesthetic loveliness of its predecessors but, as far as the Apple-savvy boater is concerned, that might not be enough.

The inescapable verdict

On the morning of the iPad launch, people queued around the block to get their hands on one - and that’s only natural. After all, it is a resoundingly desirable thing. But history is littered with objects that enjoy popularity way out of proportion to their merit. Do you remember how tennis fans used to queue overnight to watch Tim Henman? Enough said.

My criticism is of course irrelevant. The iPad will be a huge success (much like Crocs) and those who buy one will champion its excellence as though their lives depended on it. But as a keen boater with an iPhone and a MacBook, it doesn’t bring quite enough to the party. I want one of course. Who wouldn’t? But for now I will leave it alone and continue to enjoy my existing Navionics-equipped Apple gear as the versatile planning tools they so plainly are.

www.apple.com
www.navionics.com