CognitiveCombine.com stylishly packed, cognitively underlined & followed by a strong dose of tomfoolery

iPad(lock) – Why you should think twice about buying an iPad

The iPad looks great. There is no denying this.

It's smooth and sexy, and while others have complained about the bezel, I don't mind it.

The iPad's hardware appears to be quick and operating seems very responsive. I would love to have an iPad. But I will probably think twice before buying one. Here's why.

As Adam Pash of Lifehacker pointed out, while the iPad does have many upsides, there is a worrying development lurking in the background.

If you are the type of user who just wants to surf the web, read their emails and enjoy some movies and music, the iPad is for you and this article will seem like a waste of your time.

But there is a dark cloud hanging above the IT and web community. It is not a new issue, but it is becoming more serious.

Thanks to clever marketing, sexy products and slick presentations, we are in the process of giving up freedom for good looks.

It's the issue of vendor lock-in.

Let us take the iPhone as an example. It's a sexy device. It performs well and there are around 140,000 applications to choose from in the App Store.

But what if you want to install an application that Apple has not allowed in to the App Store? You can't.

What if you want to make calls with Skype over 3G? You can't.

What if you want to allow some applications to run in the background? You can't.

What if you want to change background on your iPhone home screen? You can't.

You can't, you can't and you can't. There are so many things you can do with an iPhone, and yet there are so many things you can't. Not because the iPhone doesn't support them technically. Its because Apple does not allow it.

Apple controls your user experience on the iPhone. If it doesn't like an application or feature, you're screwed.

Yes, you are physically holding the iPhone in your hands, but you don't own the user experience, Apple does.

And this is the problem. It is called vendor lock-in. The customers are locked-in to the vendor. They have traded freedom for good looks. They are not able to install applications or use features that have not been sanctioned by the vendor, in this case Apple.

You still may be of the opinion that this is not so bad. But think of the following. Many applications in the App Store use a service called PinchMedia. It's an analytic and monitoring service.

PinchMedia allows a developer to track users and monitor how and when an application is used. It collects information about you, and sends it to the PinchMedia server where the developer can view log files, reports and nice charts.

But you were never asked if you wanted to be monitored. In fact you had no idea that this was happening. How did I find out?

First I jailbroke my iPhone. Then I installed a firewall application on it from an unofficial "app store" called Cydia. Only then did I notice that many applications I had purchased through Apple's App Store were trying to contact PinchMedia.

Now I have the freedom to block these outbound connections. But do you?

Because I jailbroke my iPhone I can make Skype calls through 3G. Can you?

I can now also change, not only the background image of the home screen, but completely theme the operating system. Can you?

It' 2010. Why do I have to jump over hurdles and obstacles and break the law. Just in order to be able to use a gadget I bought in the manner I choose to?

By buying an iPad you are sending out powerful messages. Not only are you declaring to the world how cool and stylish you are, you are also stating that you don't care about your privacy and that you are prepared to give up certain freedoms.

If more and more customers send out this message, other companies will follow this path and closed, locked-in applications and services will become the norm.

The days when you could install whatever application you liked on your laptop, phone or tablet pc will be over.

We will merely be able to dream of times long gone, when users could customize, hack and modify their gadgets in a manner that suits them.

If you have the choice between a product that looks great but robs you of your freedom, and a product that can do the same but looks a little less sexy, it is of course your choice, but think about the message you send out and the future you may be helping create, by going for looks only.