I recently got my brother’s old iPad when he upgraded to the iPad 2. As someone who’s built my own computers for 35 years, used Windows (at home and work), Mac and things earlier, used to be a programmer who knows how to tinker with it all, there are times I just want to get things done which is why I love the iPad, and the Mac for that matter.
Ever since the first Mac rolled off the assembly line, Apple’s philosophy has been to tailor the user experience to the everyman. Whether it was Apple’s unique take on the desktop interface or the popular introduction of the mouse, Apple went out of its way to make the personal computer approachable to a general audience.
Of course, part of this tailoring involves hiding or disguising almost everything that makes a computer a computer. System files are concealed. Command-line terminals are buried in a Utilities folder. The guts are all tucked out of sight. In a pre-Internet era when people bought computers to understand them, or as a means to a specific end, the pretty metaphors of Apple’s OS were often seen as an unwelcome and unnecessary illusion.
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Today, the iPad succeeds for exactly the same reasons that early Macs were criticized. It is an exceptionally disguised computer. The formula works now because we have changed.The audience for computers now is the audience for the Internet, the audience for e-mail, the audience for…being a modern human being. To make a computer for this new audience, you can’t presume that people have the patience or capacity to understand a printer driver or a kernel exception. The number of people concerned about not having root access to their iPads pales in comparison with the number of people who would freak out if Angry Birds suddenly disappeared.
Like it or not, the iPad is arguably the most popular personal computer ever made. And as much as I’d like to credit our nation’s educational efforts in computer literacy and ’80s grade schools filled with computers running Oregon Trail, the reality is that the iPad is the first computer that successfully stoops to our level. Apple’s people could explain it to us, but instead they call it “magic,” and we’re seemingly OK with that.
Thats an interesting conceit, that “tools” are only useful once their inward workings are dumbed down enough for fungible consumer use.
But aren’t all tools appreciated in only that manner?
Lets take a hammer. Simple tool. Anyone care about how to harden the steel? The head to shaft weight ratio? The curve of the face? The angle of the tail?
No?
Gee, looks like the hammer came off the line just dumb enough for everyone to use too.
Same as it ever is.
Dallas–I need your help. Which homo was the tool maker? or was in user? Homo Habalus? But I don’t think that was it.
KISS will always control.
Article overestimates usefulness of iPad and real need for it. Good part of Apple success is marketing, similar to SUV buying craze for people who could not need something like that less – but still craved to buy. Same as with SUV – crash will come. iPads are still expensive for what they are. Also, there is common sense competition (fully working USB?!). So, soon there will be erosion both in need for it (ex. netbooks slump) and Apple share in the bounty (iPhone – after few uncontested years they are NOT dominant platform nor growing at close to dominant platform speed). Tablets will take their rightful place as appropriate option for appropriate group of people whose life/work-style calls for such device. Which is not everyone. Than we can discuss how revolutionary tablets are.
I have a friend (a lawyer) who recently bought a pad computer. He has mixed feelings about it. It’s nice and compact, but he misses the feedback from the click.
lol about the magic. I was one of those kids in the 80s with the TRS-80s. 2 out of 30 bothered to use them. Needed more angry birds, I guess.
As someone who has written code on all sorts of platforms I want a unix command line, git, rake and other goodies that I’m used to. I know so many people who are not computer geeks (like many people on this board) but love their iPads.
It’s not a computer and it’s not a cell phone – it’s a something else. A ton of people dismiss it as nothing but marketing but it’s a different computing experience which is highly personal and geared mainly for consumption.
I’d rather cruise the web, watch the Tour de France or MLB, use apps like FlipBoard, read the New Yorker or play games on my iPad. I haven’t seen an Android tablet that comes close yet (I bet Amazon will change this) but I’d like to get my hands on an HP TouchPad.
The other device I like this much is my Kindle.
I know why the iPad is so popular. I have a brother who can barely spell “computer”, and yet he’s bought an iPad.
Because, as far as he’s concerned, it’s not a computer. It’s a machine that can go on Facebook/Web-pages and do e-mail and watch videos.
I’ve explained that there are more powerful laptops that can do more, have a keyboard and cost half as much. But he doesn’t want a computer. So he bought an iPad.
Apple’s stuff is expensive – and proprietary
It’s amazing how counterculture types via Apple products as “trendy” and even more “open source” and open minded than big bad Microsoft’s
Yet its the Microsoft option that allowed for all type of 3rd party computer hardware makers and manufacturers to be in the mix whereas Apple ruled rigidly with a heavy hand – like a city traffic cop of a government bureaucrat or tax collector behind the counter
All very heavy handed
Yet you will never ever hear anyone say that they made a mistake in buying Apple
Yet Apple is viewed as the trendy one
You lot are hilarious. Some of you, anyway, who are never willing to believe the marketplace is larger than any advertising or marketing, willing to decide on utility over hype.
Stick with the command line, folks. It’s bound to come back.
USB destroys the illusion of no file system.
That’s why it is out, not not there for your inconvenience.
And this is only the start. The next phase is beyond the early adopters.
Ipad is the new PC, users are what? 99 per cent content consumers, tweets and comments excluded.
god. In the beginning was the command line.
(As a favour, could you bless Neal Stephenson?)
An interesting post and comments. Of course the iPad is not new, pads have been around doing “That pad thing” for some time now. Archos are well established. Appletude, is in American know how. Doing what is done best. Packaging, marketing, commoditising and externalising. The tech has been done by others, the “magic” is in illiciting enthusiasm and directing it into Apple’s tent.
they don’t loose your data when they crash.. noobs
don’t cplus flavor me unless you have a motive
I don’t like dumbed down devices.
My iPhone can’t view 2/3 of the videos posted here, for example.
My RPN calculator seemed odd at first, unnecessary. After I trained myself to think that way, I saw that it was more efficient and fun.
Some things seem overly complicated. Maybe VMS vs. Unix is a good thing to study.
However, the advantage of a computer vs. a hammer, is that, with a little work, a computer can be changed to do something new – while retaining old functions too. Computers can nondestructively morph. However, most people will never experience the joy of solving something with their own morphic creations. Which is why the ipad gulf exists, some people don’t want to be dumbed down.
Ipad is to computing as a wall switch is to electricity.
The other things going on here is mobility, more ubiquitous connectivity and interesting backend services. The iPad is just one device of many that will come out over the next few years that will take advantage of the newer technology landscape.
“Like it or not, the iPad is arguably the most popular personal computer ever made.”
What argument would make the number of ipads even higher than the number of iphones?
#2 Dusanmal: you always write with such authority – most of all when you don’ know what you’re talking about. I’d be willing to bet Bobbo a coffee and a half you’ve never used a tablet for more than a couple of minutes.
I do not buy into the Apple “experience” so I waited until I could buy an alternative. For me, that was the Galaxy Tab. It has replaced the Nook in my cargo pants pocket. It has even replaced much of what I used to use my smart phone (Nexus one) for. This device has become my constant companion – and not just for Angry Birds.
I was surprised when I was out with my young Thai lady friend the other night and she asked to borrow my pad. It took her all of about three minutes to access and enter a comment on her Facebook page!
I have only two complaints.
One) the battery life is very good. I just wish it were a little better.
Two) in the You Can’t Please Me Department – I find the iPad just a little too big and I find the Tab just a little too small.
I have a iPad, but don’t even for a moment consider it a computer replacement. You cannot run multiple programs at once, you can only print to certain printer models easily, you cannot install any software other then what Apple allows, it has no card reader, it has a small screen. I have to constantly clean the screen of smudges. It has to be connected to a PC or Mac to get updates for its OS. No, its not a computer replacement for just that last reason alone.
Can you imagine the two people in the U.S. who actually purchased a Samsung Galaxy Tab both responding to the same article?
Of course we all like dumbed-down devices. I’m willing to bet you all use porcelain toilets (animby…I don’t want to know) and stoves with knobs.
This is just another step in the evolution of computers. For many, they’ll become communications and information devices. For the likes of us who come this blog, we’re not the average tech consumer.
@jescott418
“You cannot run multiple programs at once”
Depends on what you mean. The iPad software from 4.x on allows multiple applications to run in the background for certain tasks. For most people, those tasks are sufficient. For example, downloading something or playing audio continues after you switch to another application.
“you can only print to certain printer models easily”
This is true. Other printer manufacturers will need to update their software for iPad support like HP did. The support is a standard I believe.
“you cannot install any software other then what Apple allows”
Yes. And for this reason, the iPad/iPhone have had no malware issues unlike Android for example. There are tradeoffs to everything in life. Apple chose to curate their app store to make sure bad or unreliable software will not screw up your device.
“it has no card reader”
It’s a $29 add on. Go to the Apple store site and look for “Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit”.
“it has a small screen”
It’s a portable device. The newest iPad will allow you to use a 1080p HD screen if you want. You can even display on it wirelessly.
“I have to constantly clean the screen of smudges”
It’s a touch screen. There really is no choice here. The screen has a protective coating that allows for easy cleanup of oils from your hands.
“It has to be connected to a PC or Mac to get updates for its OS”
That is going to be fixed in iOS 5. Coming this fall to an iPad near you.
You repeatedly refer to “disguising” the computer. As if naked computation were the natural state of things. But that’s not the case. In you. In a dog. In the person you love the most…
We are not naked neuronal function, either. The Whole Thing that a computer exists to do is perform a helpful, desired task. What makes the iPad and Apples in general so appealing is that a great deal of attention has been paid to the ergonomics between person and computable result.
Apple’s driven by a mindset almost directly opposite that of Bill Gates. Gates has zero sense of art, typography, layout, composition, grace, design and ergonomics. Less so in Balmer. He wouldn’t know the difference between fonts if they were biting him in the butt. And he certainly wouldn’t know a good gui if it would save his life.
It’s cute but for me this would still be a toy. I’m using a blinking 30 inch monitor to surf the net, watch streaming video, do a lot of writing, and cruse the web. I know if I bought an ipad I’d lay it down and it would collect dust.
Of course the same thing happens to my knife collection but their batteries don’t go bad, and they don’t cost as much.
Apple expects you to toss your Ipad in two to three years tops. Don’t get confused here Ipads are built to be disposed off after brief use like a cheap lighter.
I TOTALLY agree with this blog entry. I’ve been harping on this for years.
The best OS is the one you never think about. (Like in a car, the best engine is the one where you never have to pop the hood.)
Some of us LIKE to pop the hood, but we are a minority. The vast majority of people want to get in their car and go somewhere, maybe with a little style.
Windows was a huge setback in this regard. (Linux was worse, Mac a little better.) For decades, the computing experience was all about Windows.
With the best OS, nobody would even know the the name of it.
>> # 16 What? said, on July 19th, 2011 at 4:07 am
>> Ipad is to computing as a wall switch is to electricity.
That’s a pretty bad analogy!
How about: The Ipad is to computing what the TV is to entertainment.
You turn it on and stuff happens that you like.
Everybody can figure it out, from children to grandparents.
# 22 Willard “imagine the two people in the U.S.”
Oooh! I must have missed someone. I live in Thailand. Know what that means? No mobile carrier subsidizes it so I had to pay full price. In fact, more than full price in the States. Higher import taxes on electronics here. And I do not regret a baht (Thai currency) of it. iPads are readily available and cheaper than the Tab. Oh, there are some interesting Chinese iPad knock-offs, too. Even cheaper. Most run on old Android releases and a couple even run on pirated Win XP.
# 23 Olo Baggins “animby…I don’t want to know”
What’s the problem, Olo. My stove has knobs…
The reason that the ipad has become so popular is that the state of real keyboards has become so dismal.
The last keyboards that came with my last two desktops (HP) were almost immediately trashed. Not because they stopped working, but because they were nearly unusable. I survive using old IBM and DELL keyboards discarded at work.
Oh, and as much as I dislike Bill Gates, I literally can’t stand Steve Jobs.
Now, if someone came up with a computer that folded small enough to EASILY fit in a pocket, unfolded to present a usable size screen and included a properly tactile keyboard, and booted up in less than 20 seconds from off to usable, had a screen that didn’t shatter when dropped or sat on, had a charger that wasn’t the size and weight of a mimifridge, could be read in daylight or at night, was waterproof, well, you get the idea. That machine would be worth the price of an Ipad.
The current models are the lip piercing and full body tattoo of the computer world. Trendy to be sure, but ultimately of very little usefulness.
In #7 Not a Tax Mistake said: Apple’s stuff is expensive – and proprietary
Uh, why is then that the iPad best feature is its value for the money and that everyone else’s tablets are more expensive for the equivalent device.
The iPad is much cheaper that a PC, less involved than a PC, more portable than even my MacBookPro (I’ve got external speakers/headphones, a couple of iPods, a microphone on its swing arm stand, a terabyte drive, a backup drive a second DVD reader/burner, a second monitor, a laser printer yaddah, yadah, all hooked up [I’ve only got 1 dang USB port left.])
I’m going to suggest to my friend who just bought an iMac that he buy a few iPads for the customers of his hair-cutting salon and “hook them up” through the WiFi port on the iMac.
He’s end up with blue-haired grannies playing Angry Birds rather than yawning over old issues of paper magazines that nobody cares about.