iPad Dismissal

By The Angry Drunk

Fraser Speirs nails it yet again with a blog post titled iPad Fallacy #1: “It’s not for content creation”. In the post he poses the question:

I keep hearing this thing on the web that the iPad is “a consumption device, not a creation device”. I don’t know why people keep saying that. It’s fast enough, it has enough storage and it has some seriously powerful applications. If that’s your opinion, please enlighten me in the comments.

Fraser continues on to completely debunk this fallacy by showing screenshots from Apple’s iWork demonstrations during the introductory event. To me though, the really interesting thing is answering the question that Fraser poses: “Why do people keep saying that?” I think that, in many cases, the reason people keep making that claim is actually an off-shoot of the same “Future Shock” that Fraser himself described before. Or, to pimp my own work, I think that statements that the iPad is “just for content consumption” are further examples of nerd myopia.

Like most things in the real world, responses to the iPad are not a simple binary “love it” or “hate it” proposition. In between the people who dismiss the iPad as a “big iPod Touch” and those of us who see it as a potential revolution in consumer computing there is a middle ground of people who almost see the potential of the iPad, but still feel the need to dismiss it in some way. The two most common forms in which I’ve seen that sentiment expressed can be summed up as:

“The iPad will be the perfect device for media consumption.”

and

“The iPad will be the perfect device for my parents/children/retards/any group perceived as less ‘savvy’ than the person making the statement.”

The thing is, both statements are perfectly accurate, but by limiting the iPad’s potential to just being a “dumbed down” computer, they miss the point. It’s obvious that Apple intends the iPad to be the first in a new class of computing devices. Looking at the iPad and dismissing it as just a toy for certain less savvy users is as short-sighted as the people who dismissed the original Macintosh as a toy for graphic designers. Of course, seeing as I still hear people making that claim, 26 years later, I don’t hold out any hope that the iPad dismissers will stop any time soon.

mangochutney

I just don't see the point of pointing out limitations of a product, which, just like the iPhone before, will be defined by software.
The software will define how useful and powerful the device will be for certain groups of customers.
[exaggeration]The iPads capabilities are limitless, because imagination is limitless and the hardware is secondary[/exaggeration]

Last week Mr. Cohen said on Twitter that he'd love to have an actual text editor on the iPad.
It took me a moment get why: wow, I'd love to have something similar to Espresso on the iPad, where I can code/learn html5.

The iPad will not be for everybody — obviously — and I can think of many situations where it might not be perfect for my day to day work. On the other hand, maybe if I rethought the way I do certain things it might simplify and improve my workflow.

Example: Do I need a full fledged MS Word when I'm on the go, or will basic basic formatting be sufficient? I could concentrate on what I need to write and do the finishing touches and layout later, on a big screen.

ianf

Alexander, get this once for all: there are NO CASES, NONE, NADA, where anyone would ever need MS Word, no matter how "full fledged" it is. The vast majority of users never touch even the barest minimum of Word's native formatting functions... in effect use it in WYSIWYG mode simply because it is there as part of the ubiquitous MS Office. And, while there are some true power users/Word wizards that [know how to] make it jump through the hoops, this requires far steeper learning curve than most dedicated page-layout apps. In fact, for somewhat sophisticated use, it is faster to write the content in plaintext editor, import it into inDesign or similar, and format it there, than to do all that inside the MS Word, and live to tell the tale.

Back to reality. Regarding subject matter, common iPod Fallacies, here's what I just posted beneath Fraser Spiers' latest:

http://speirs.org/blog/2010/2/4/ipad-fallacy-1-...

[ ALT URL: http://speirs.org/blog/2010/2/4/ipad-fallacy-1-... ]

mangochutney

Maybe you're right (about Word and the design matters in the linked comment).
I'm a student, and I need to do a lot of writing and I like Word, even if it's slow and sometimes bitchy.

When I only need to write a short letter, I have Mariner Write (I hate the interface, though).
It's more than enough. I'm thinking about trying Bean, too.

ChurchHatesTucker

Even creators are consumers some times. The first thing reporters do in the morning is read the papers. Filmmakers see all the latest movies. Etc.

Sure, this is great for my Dad, et. al, but this is also a superior device for lounging in bed with on a Sunday, a quick trip to the coffee shop, The GF on her train commute, etc.

My only concern: syncing b/t my MacBook, iPhone, and this bad boy. That's where it'll get ugly.

unclerand

I enjoyed this article Angry B. Rather than reiterate what many others have written before, I found a link (dated in that it lacks anything directly dealing with smart phones [iPhones] or "smart mp3 players" [iPod Touch]) which you and others may enjoy.

Wax nostalgic and think how this might relate to the iPad and what it does:

http://www.willyhoops.com/microsoft_vs_apple_hi...

fergus1n

/nitpick
In the last paragraph above, it should be "I still hear".
/nitpick off

I truly believe the iPad represents an inflection point, much as the original Mac did, and that the future of computing/communicating "for the rest of us" (and I include most geeks/nerds in that 'us') lies much more along the path of the iPad than personal computers (as they have been defined to date).