Numbers

I love my iPad. Entering numbers, however, sucks. Will Apple swallow its pride and admit adding a slim row of numbers at the top of it's virtual keyboard will make typing on an HP tablet just a little less frustrating? By admission, I mean, add the feature.

I have a personal stake in getting this changed. I live in Canada. Our postal codes (zip codes in the U.S.) have letters in them, like: A1B 2C3. It was designed this way so Santa's postal code could be H0 H0 H0 (H-zero-H, zero-H-zero).

The problem is, to type my postal code in an online form using the virtual keyboard, I have to press the letter, press the numbers key, press the number, press the letters key, press the letter, press space, press the numbers key, press the number, press the letters key, press the letter, press the numbers key, and then press the number. It's more fun to type 'annoying'.

Apple must love getting copied. It's always hard to do so exactly, and this is why Apple will own a substantial portion of the tablet mineshaft, if not marketshare, for years to come. It takes vision to release a product into a brand new space. It takes guts to call it the iPad. Apple has done it.

But it strikes at your pride when a copy comes out that improves on your work. It's lose/lose. If Apple copies an HP idea, it will be seen as a weakness on Apple's part by many. "Apple copies HP, adds top number keys", the headlines will scream.

Please, Apple, don't worry. Make improvements, even if it means copying good ideas. In the '80s, kids would 'play Nintendo' even if they had a Sega Genesis. To regular people, Apple invented tablets. If you update iOS with a feature similar to your competitors, the vast majority of users will think, "What a great improvement." They will never know it was someone else's idea, and if they find, they won't care.

After making this change, we need to talk 2 button mouse.