One canard to lay to rest though - it isn't a computer, or at least not as we have come to understand the word. The point of the iPad was made obvious to me in an eureka moment I experienced whilst messing about on my iPhone.
The coolest thing about the iPhone is the platform being exploited to run small bespoke applications, known as Apps. These apps, if executed well, have the ability to transport you into a novel computing paradigm, which when coupled with Apples vice like grip of the platform parameters and strict quality control (in a code sense, not in a usability sense) deliver a totally unique and engaging user experience.
In fact, it's almost like the computing interaction you see in science fiction movies. It's all about the interface and absolutely nothing to do with the computer. Of course, Apple have been practising this kind of thing for years in the desktop and laptop market. Say what you like about under specced and over priced, they work without any fettering. Having become a convert I wonder, frankly, what kind of lives people who still use PC's must lead.
Anyway, the experience is so good, you forget you're using a somewhat limited device, overpriced at the point of sale and within an Apple controlled walled garden. The fact is, you don't care because it's so well tailored and presented. Well, you might care if you're a "computer geek" but for the vast majority of us, the iPhone delivers.
As someone ought to have said, it's about the usability, stupid.
And the eureka moment ? Simply that the iPad is a device to further exploit this market and paradigm that Apple have created out of nothing. It's not there to replace your laptop. (That said, given the relatively cumbersome dimensions and weight of a laptop I can see the virtue of an iPad for virtually all mobile computing needs, and as more and more content is stored in the "cloud" and wi-fi etc becomes ubiquitous, why would you want to carry around a weighty brick of processor, screen and storage ? If I were a laptop manufacturer, I think I'd be feeling pretty scared).
On the face of it, functionality is again limited and as a device you certainly pay for it. But one touch is all you need to be utterly convinced of its brilliance and absolute mastery of form and function. If you need further convincing, go to one of those temples of tech called an Apple Store, fight your way through the hordes of schoolchildren and students (none of whom can afford the gear sold there), and have a play.
If you're lucky enough to bump into one of the store assistants, buy an iPad, go home and load up Google Earth and then tell me you're not smitten.
By way of a complete contrast, I am thinking about starting a campaign to rid our supermarkets of the horror of the self-service checkout. I can't pass one of these machines without it squawking "unexpected item in bagging area" at me. Alcohol needs clearance at MI5 levels, and DVD's and CD's need releasing from incarceration that would defeat Houdini.
Then there's the question it asks you if you try and buy some paracetamol, " You are allowed to buy 2 packets Yes/No?" to which, I am sure, either answer gives rise to the red light and a wait for the inevitably harassed assistant.
He's harassed because his boss told him that this would be much more fun than scanning 20 items a minute for hours on end. He thought he was onto a good thing; "Let the punters take the strain, so I can concentrate on pulling Sharon, the checkout Captain". It's the kind of job that an embittered assistant store manager gives to an over keen History Major who's joined the company on the fast-track graduate scheme.
If you want to save tomorrow's graduates from this fate, assuming they've climbed down from The Cenotaph by then, campaign to your local supermarket for the return of the traditional checkout. Even better, undertake a form of nonviolent protest by entering the shop, placing every "restricted" item you can find (and I guarantee you'll find loads, such is the trust they have for you) into your basket, and very slowly scan each item and then just leave the contents there and walk out.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Main Rd,,United Kingdom
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