The Apple iPad was brought into my office by two friends in the past few weeks.
I admit, I’m slightly smitten – not in an “Apple-is-a-cult-waiting-to-happen-oh-wait-it-already-has” kind of way, but rather in a design, usability and future-trend kind of way.
Here’s why I think something big is shifting, and in doing so, agree with the last issue of Wired Magazine in their assessment of the shift Steve Jobs and the Apple Core (yes, I think I made that up, but I’m sure about 2 billion others already used that little phrase).
The following is from someone who doesn’t have an iPad, but played briefly with the first generation.
Why I Think The iPad And Its Progeny Will Win
1. The iPad says “sofa and book,” the laptop says “desk and office.”
2. The iPad is the portable presenter’s laptop. The apps run the programs you create on your laptop. Travel light.
3. In the proper case, the iPad feels book-ish. We like that feeling more than the cold laptop.
4. The iPad docs into a keyboard, with a stand, or just a bluetooth keyboard works.
5. The iPad is touchy-feely – the mouse is your finger(s).
6. The iPad has enough hard drive to carry the average person’s music and documents +; i.e. it is the blend of an iPod and a laptop.
7. The iPad is new and cool, AND works.
Fanboy? Maybe. Corporation-lover? Nah. Too much need to see justice done and mercy given in the world to embrace the psycho-pathology that often follows an empire.
But, as a TechLover, ArtsyGeek and Apprecianado of good design, functionality and dollar-for-value products, I think the iPad concept will win over a decade or two.
Have said all of that, on an anthropological level, it’s all quite curious. Using our fingers and feelers we enter a little glass, metal and microchip galaxy of 1s and 0s to get our work done. We can’t farm with this, but we can meet needs, build strategies and art, and fill landfills with it darn sure.
Children of our age, I like it and hate it.
Children of This and Another World, like the sacred ingenuity but not usually the application of revenues.