Apple is simply crushing it with the iPad.
In the first 3 months, the iPad has sold 3.27 million units. The Wall Street Journal has predicted that the iPad will hit 28 million devices sold in 2011. I realize that this device is not for everyone. Some will claim that the “soon-to-be-released” Android tablets or the Blackberry Playbook will kill the iPad; put Apple out of business, right? Wrong. The iPad isn’t going anywhere. All Apple has done with the release of the iPad is legitimize a form factor that has struggled for nearly a decade to catch on. There’s a reason Windows tablets didn’t catch on.
All of that being said however there is one thing that Apple could do to improve sales of the iPad at this time.
Allow Flash
What’s the one thing that each of these new tablets boasts as a killer feature? Flash.
Allowing Flash on the iPad is different than supporting it or including it or even liking it. None of that matters to the customer except that they can’t watch Flash video or play Farmville. Flash may crash the iPad, it may sap battery life…all of these are reasons to say “I told you so”…to the entirely new base of customers that have now purchased the device.
The key here is that if Apple was listening to the customer, they’d have Flash on the iPad by now. This is an example of a company needing to listen.
Ways to Implement it
Allow other iPad web browsers to support it but don’t allow it on Safari. Opera would happily allow Flash. The benefit of this approach is that the core experience is still preserved. This makes Flash usage opt in.
It’s one thing to “protect people from porn” in the app store, it’s another thing to protect people from using a plug-in that they clearly want.
I “Get” It
I want to be clear, I GET IT why Apple has chosen to prohibit Flash on the iPad. I do. I think HTML5 is the future and I don’t like Flash. It crashes my browser fairly often. My personal iPad browsing experience has not been altered by the absence of Flash. But I know that Steve Job’s ultimate goal is to provide a stable, easy-to-use and well designed user experience. So I get it. BUT not everyone does, in fact many potential customers for the iPad don’t get it. They’ve been using Flash forever.
Why this is THE thing to do.
Currently the only thing that competing tablets have to their credit is Flash support. Apple can add a front-facing and rear mounted HD camera anytime they want. Apple can add more storage, more RAM; I bet they even could put a projector, a USB port and a stylus if they wanted to. All of that is hardware, and hardware is a losing battle to wage for any side. The differentiating factor is the user experience and even though Flash would likely diminish that experience overall, making it an opt-in experience would satisfy both parties and likely boost sales by removing one crucial feature for some people. Give people the FULL web, as promised.