Wow there is actually a media storm over the iPad. I’m not making that up, people are up in arms over this device. Half the people are declaring it the greatest thing since, well, the iphone the other half are not just saying the hype is overblown but that the device is totally worthless. The truth isn’t in the middle in fact the truth is they are both correct. This isn’t the safe bet I’m making. What I’m talking about is a spastic revolution.
History lesson
Apple is indeed a leader and one thing is clear they will make a killing with this product. The thing to remember though is AOL bought Time Warner. I bring this up to remind people that AOL was big, REAL big and now it’s barely even a website. Back in the 90’s AOL cut through all the techno babble and gave you the AOL internet. They showed you what they thought you wanted to see and tons of companies came to the party to make sure AOL had the content they thought you wanted. The thing was it was a closed and captive audience. Yes it was easy and so tons of people started using the web that never used it before in ways they couldn’t dream of if not for AOL. How many peoples first email address ended in aol.com? Sandboxes are great until you see the beach and as people saw more of what the web could do they began to move away from AOL
The iPad is AOL
Now I’m not saying Apple is going anywhere, hardly they’re a strong company with the experience to evolve and change course when they need to. The thing is one of the things the iPad represents is the same thing AOL did, that safe sandbox. Every year computers get easier to use but somehow they also get harder and more complex to use. I no longer need to run wires across and through my house and install a second phone line to get online, but at the exact same time now I have to understand what the hell the difference between TKIP, WPA, WEP wireless protocols. The iPad will cut through all of the techno babble and present a device that "simply just works."
People argue that those who scoff at the long term success of the iPad are the same people who scoffed at the iPhone. As one of the scoffers allow me to admit being wrong about the iPhone. The iPhone did in fact change the Smartphone world and for the better. However the change is a renewed interest in the mobile space and companies creating new revolutionary products in response. The iPhone spurred the industry and now we have new comers to the game like Google, as well as new ideas from the old dogs like RIM, Nokia, Palm, and Microsoft. Apple brought the Smartphone mainstream making it a viable industry to invest resources in just like AOL brought the internet to the mainstream. As the user base becomes more competent with their device and competition improves their experiences the restrictions presented by the iPhone will become less and less necessary and people will begin to explore alternatives. While the iPhone is bringing Smartphones to the mainstream the question remains what is the iPad bringing to the mainstream? Or put another way why would anyone want an iPad? Two reasons ebooks and internet everywhere. Forget everything else, sure there will be tons of fun apps, but most people are capable of installing software on their laptop or netbook. What they are not familiar with is the ebook world, nor does the average person have their netbook or laptop connected to the internet everywhere they go.
At the same time the iPad represents a revolution in the user interface. Touch does not work the same as point and click, and apple knows this. At a fundamental level the iPad is different then everything else on the market. This large screen device designed entirely around touching the screen is something new. It will make developers rethink how we interact with our devices and what comes down the pike in the future will be remarkably fresh and enjoyable as we engage our digital devices in ways we’ve never done before. This is where things will truly get interesting. Eventually this type of interface will have to migrate back to the world of real computing and content creation (if this last statement offends read The last apple bashing article ever…). The touch interface can’t yet replace the keyboard and mouse but somehow the three will exist together and this is where the spastic revolution will take place. There will be a ton of advances and missteps and very interesting ideas like this:
In the end things are going to get very interesting.
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