The Apple tablet, officially named the iPad, was announced with mixed reactions. Unlike the iPhone announcement, this product was something that people didn’t really need. Steve Jobs asked the audience if there was room for a third category of mobile devices, in between the iPhone and Macbook laptops. Visionary Jobs believes so. He believes that there is room in the consumer and business marketplace for a tablet computer that handles functionality better than a mobile phone and a laptop. Specifically, the iPad is better a browsing the web, reading email, watching movies, viewing photos, and reading books.
“Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments written on it” -Wall Street Journal
Most of the naysayers attacked the iPad for lack of a camera, being on the AT&T network, and most commonly, “I don’t need this.” It’s difficult to imagine using a product that has yet to truly exist in the market place. The iPad is a mix between an iPhone and a full MacBook. Can it function as a complete desktop replacement? Maybe not immediately, but possible in the next few versions. Remember that Apple is a for profit company and uses features to differentiate its product line and force its consumers to upgrade almost every year. Sure, the iPad could have all these features and yes the technology exists, but from a business perspective, it makes more sense to roll out functionality with each new version to maximize sales.
So how will the iPad change the world. I’m going to take a big leap of faith and call it out right now. The iPad will revolutionize the way to manage and process information.
Way before the iPhone made it out, a fellow by the name of Jef Raskin, came up with the idea of an information appliance that has just one function. The gadget would be so easy to use that it would require no user manual and so intuitive that a user can pick it up and perform the function. Of course, carrying around a device for every function wouldn’t be practical. Traditional devices like a BlackBerry has a fixed keyboard that doesn’t change. The iPhone’s touch interface changes depending on the application or function desired. It can be a keyboard, a number pad, or just a single button. By using a soft interface, the software changes to adapt to the user’s needs.
Computer users say that the iPad can’t accomplish the tasks that a desktop or laptop can perform, such as complex word processing, spreadsheets, or presentations. The traditional computer operating system relies on a menu system and task bar to access fixed functions. File -> Save As. Edit -> Copy -> Edit -> Paste. To learn the software requires memorizing where functions are and what order to process. It’s not intuitive. As the software deviates away from the traditional office applications and into applications such as Photoshop, video editing, sound editing, the menu system becomes more complex.
The iPad begins, but has not yet, addressed this issue. As Raskin envisioned, the software is so simple that you instantly know what to do. The future of software is not more functionality and features, but a smarter human interface, eliminating the tech geeks. Want to insert a picture into a document, just drag it and place it exactly where you want it. Want to make it bigger, just use your fingers to stretch it and position it.
My first reactions of the iPad software says it’s just an enhanced version of iPhone software. Sure, there’s plenty of room to go. However, how many iPhone applications require a manual to operate? Very few. This is a first step into a future where application experts are obsolete and the democratization of computing. How do we achieve this? We find the best and brightest interface engineers and ask them to build software from scratch, throwing away how software has been done in the past.
What do you think? Should software really be simple and easy to use? Or do we need all the functionality and features that currently exist?
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