Why the iPad is Revolutionary
Tech January 31st, 2010Most people were underwhelmed by Apple’s announcement last week of the iPad, a new mobile computer device (I don’t think it’s a tablet, since what we know as a tablet computer usually requires writing or a penlike device as some sort of input). While I certainly agree that it’s basically a big iPhone, most people are missing the big picture impact of this device.
Go back to the early/mid 90s: all the movies we saw always showed us everyone in the future using small touchscreen computers. Prior to the iPhone, most touchscreens sucked. They were either inaccurate or very slow to respond. Have you ever used one of those touchscreens at like a grocery store when you check out? How many times has the place you touched on the screen either not worked or required you to click multiple times? I owned a Palm Treo 680 for a while. Either the buttons had to be really big or I couldn’t really be accurate without the stylus.
Along came the iPhone and suddenly you had the best touchscreen you had ever used. Three years to the month, Steve Jobs reveals an enlarged iPhone with an equally awesome performing touchscreen. From people who have used it, apparently it’s performance is off the charts as a whole. Its fast and speedy.
As a short term product, I am with everyone that the iPad isn’t going to turn the world upside down. Apple is saying that it belongs between the MacBook and the iPhone, and most people don’t need another device in that band. So most people won’t run out and buy one right away. But let me ask you this question, what do you use your computer for right now? 90% of what I do (at home) on my computer is browse the web, e-mail, watch video. Basically consume content and communicate. If you aren’t producing content, like video production, software development, etc., what can’t you do on the iPad that you can do on your laptop? I am fairly confident that my mom and sister could use the iPad for all their needs.
The reason the iPad is revolutionary is because five years from now, this will be what everyone will use it to do what they do now. Everyone will have a “futuristic” computer that is smaller than a piece of paper, weighs 2 pounds, works everywhere and does everything you need. The same way Steve Jobs changed the personal computer in the mid 80s, made digital music the standard in the 2000s with the iPod and iTunes and jumpstarted the smartphone market and took it to a new level with the iPhone, his final act will be changing the way communicate and consume content.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:01 pm
I agree with most of what you’ve said Nick, however, to answer your question – “What can’t you do on the iPad that you can on your laptop?” Several things: First and foremost, it appears that I won’t be able to print from the iPad. So while it has a word processor and spreadsheet available, if I want to print anything, I have to go to another device. Secondly, the lack of multitasking was very disappointing. If I’m going to use a device for kicking back on the couch, surfing the web, email and chat, I want it to be able to have a couple of chat windows open alongside my web browser and email. I know you’re probably going to point out that the iPhone doesn’t support that, and the startup time of each application is short enough that it maybe isn’t a dealbreaker for most people, but at the same time, on a device this size, I may want or need a browser window open next to an email I’m composing for reference. Third glaring omission for me: Flash. Yes, the iPhone can handle YouTube without Flash, but so many websites out there use Flash for their navigation or other content that I don’t think its realistic to use the iPad 100% for causal surfing. As soon as you click into a story on CNN that has a photo slideshow or video, you’re screwed. We saw that on the keynote presentation last week.
I’ll give Apple their due where touchscreen tech is concerned — they have taken consumer-grade touchscreens leaps and bounds into the future. And I’m keeping my iPhone. It’s the best smartphone I’ve had, and I’m looking forward to what the next version will have to offer. However, I think they’ve missed the mark on the iPad. They’re close, but not quite there.
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Printing is a good point. Definitely something I hadn’t thought about.
You made a good point about examples where multitasking could matter to me with chat windows and whatnot. I think there is an implementation of that Apple could use that they don’t.
Flash, flash, flash, I am SOOOOOO tired of people complaining about this. I will bet money that HTML5 will render flash obsolete within 3 years.
Overall I agree about the iPad missing the mark. But based on other people’s comments on my post, I think most people missed my point. I don’t think the iPad is a home run. It’s not the iPod or the iPhone. But to me, it’s the original Macintosh. It’s not that everyone will buy or want an iPad. It’s that I think this device is closer to what most people will use as their primary device 5-7 years from now, then what we know as personal computers. Don’t believe me? Go back 8 years ago and see how few people used laptops/notebooks. Nowadays, I bet most people don’t have desktops.