Apple iPad & Photographers: Why Apple Missed A Trick [iPad’s Lack of Integrated Card Reader & USB A Glaring Oversight]

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I would hardly term myself as anything other than an amateur photographer but it must be said that Apple appear to have overlooked another market segment that the iPad may (otherwise) have appealed to only if the iPad were to come with an onboard memory card reader.

Let’s be honest here, memory card readers really aren’t all that special (a great many notebooks have been sporting them for years) but one thing they most certainly are is extremely useful – and this is especially the case for (but not limited to) photographers.

Admittedly Apple are set to offer an add-on in the guise of an external card reader that’ll plug into your iPad (taking the form of a dongle) but, lets be honest here, why couldn’t Apple have built one in, after all the iPad could have been a great tool for photographers allowing them to upload their images directly from memory cards and show clients (say, as a fashion or wedding shoot) somewhat more enticing (or not) previews of their images in a manner far more accessible than merely asking clients to stare at a DSLR’s relatively tiny LCD.

Did it not occur to Apple that the iPad would, aside from making a great eBook reader, also make a great backup and preview device for photographers – if not whilst in the field then as a device with which to showcase their work elsewhere?

To have added an onboard car reader would hardly have been a major technical challenge and yet if you want to access material stored on memory cards you’ll need to carry around additional clutter (and this will undoubtedly put many people off from using the device in this fashion). A crying shame really as, what with WiFi and (more so) 3G connectivity, photographers could have not only used the iPad to showcase and backup images but could also have used the device to upload images to online galleries, email imagery directly to clients whilst on location, etc, etc.

There is, perhaps, one light at the end of the tunnel as thanks to the iPad sporting wireless connectivity Eye-Fi WiFi memory cards could (just could) ease the strain in allowing imagery to be sent to the iPad wirelessly. Quite whether the iPad will prove compatible with Eye-Fi WiFi touting memory cards is, however, open to question. That said, if your DSLR uses SD or SDHC cards this may be a possibility but the fact is most prosumer DSLRs don’t really cannot be glossed over. Add to that the fact that the iPad comes sans integrated USB port and, well…

It really doesn’t matter which way you look at it, Apple have missed an opportunity to give their iPad far wider appeal which is, all said and done, either a glaring oversight or, if you excuse me being somewhat direct, just plain daft.