Apple did the world over again with the announcement of the Apple iPad, claiming the device not only to be a bridge between the Laptop and the Smartphone, but in fact an altogether better device for doing the kinds of content browsing, gaming, and lite content creation the consumer market is demanding from computer/smartphone manufacturers the world over.

Apple, in its infinite ingenuity, has managed to pull the world into its cusp once again, truly creating and pioneering a new market for content consumption and digital interaction (capacitive multi-touch on a 9.7? screen!), however, it would be hard to claim that Apple hit the nail on the head, as we believe Apple has left some key features to truly capture, hold, and guarantee their place among what will inevitably be an explosion of cheap web-connected tablets and netbooks on the existing and new market.

We have compiled a list of what we feel to be the key missing features that Apple has left out of the iPad, both features we feel will either be in the next OS update and possibly hardware release, or features that we may never see but believe consumers are (or will be) crying for. Let’s start with what we feel is the most significant and glaring omission.

MultiTasking

Jobs claimed during his keynote reveal, that the iPad is not like a netbook, and in fact is much more of a mobile device with far greater capabilities than the netbooks can and do offer. However, most users these days are in fact purchasing devices so they can, in fact, multitask. I can purchase a new HP netbook for $299 with 4 hours of battery life, Windows 7, and enjoy talking to family on Skype while I am researching the iPad  , downloading music on iTunes, listening to a song on Media Player, and writing this article right now, all at the same time. The key to multitasking is allowing simultaneous processing of information that otherwise would take time on its own, like decoding a movie, or downloading an album, or even just listening to a good track while you write or surf the web (yes, I am sure the built in iPod will play music while doing other things). That’s also a reason why the dual-core processor was envisioned.

On the iPad, if I have my calendar open and decide I need to add a contacts phone number, I need to close calendar, open contacts, copy the number, close contacts, open calendar again, past the number, but wait, now I need to email that image off to the contact, so now I have to close the calendar, open safari, grab the image, save it to my iPad, close safari, open the email app again, search the image, attach to email, close that, then reopen calendar again. The time it takes to do just this may not be the time someone running around has, like a field representative attempting to talk to staff in a retail store during a busy day. He needs his info up ASAP and to be able to exchange information between applications quickly, without confusion. What about grandpa or grandma who want everything on the screen at the same time so they don’t get lost in all the apps and the icons and the copy/paste (rather than drag and drop)?

On the flip side, reducing applications to modal means the iPad maintains it lightning-fast processing, and it also means that 10 hour battery really will last you 10 hours. But why not just add an option to enable multi-tasking in the settings menu? Add a warning; Warning, this setting will decrease performance and battery life, do you want to enable?

Let’s move on…

Micro-SIM

By far the most puzzling announcement (with glee I might add) was the addition of a Micro-SIM port and an already unlocked iPad. The first moment I heard SIM come out of Jobs mouth I got very excited, see, here in Canada (where this homely writing is from), we do not get the luxury of unlimited data, in fact, like most countries, our data is capped, and there is no such thing as unlimited data anywhere. So why get all excited about SIM? Like most iPhone owners, the prospect of taking your SIM card out of your iPhone, popping it into the iPad, and surfing on 3G without having to sign another contract (or purchase a month’s worth of service) brought a few thousand heart-rates up more than a few BPM. However, this is not the case and is in fact not possible, and I must clarify, I do not mean to discredit the iPad because I had a hope based on misunderstanding, no, in fact I had expected the iPad to have SIM support, but not when it means cutting out a very obvious and awesome prospect.

I understand money must be earned, and if that is the case, why bother with Micro-SIM support? I am unsure if Apple assumes the carriers will adopt that format solely to support the iPad and Apple, and in fact is just the mishap other tablet manufacturers (the ones I said are going to attack the market Apple has introduced or rather ensnared) are going to exploit.

WebCam

Obviously we are all a little disheartened to learn the iPad will have no image capture device, whether a small 2MP camera on the back, or a webcam on the front bezel. The idea of using this device to visually communicate is very appealing to the majority of us, and for those who are willing to shell out $829 and use this device as their primary form of content browsing and communication are going to be very frustrated they must go elsewhere for their visual communication needs. My prediction is, naturally, a webcam will be available in the next iPad, or rather it better be.