As January 2010 came to a close, Apple introduced the iPad. Many tech pundits pronounced themselves "underwhelmed". The HUGE thing people are missing is that this is another step away from the mouse. The iPhone was only a baby step. This was obvious even back when that was announced January 2007.We are talking game-changing interface here. NO mouse. EVERYONE uses the mouse without even thinking, and so they aren't even noticing that it's gone. THAT's how good the interface is. It was amazing with the iPhone, but the screen was tiny so people didn't realize it was the beginning of the replacement of the computer as we know it. I did. Microsoft did, I'm sure. They just are years behind now, with Windows Mobile 7 not out yet, and the much-hyped "Surface" yet to, er, surface.
The point is that there is now an easier way to use the computer: with your hand. NOTHING has ever beaten the hand for interactivity. There ISN'T any way, other than with pure thought, to get ANY CLOSER to the device, to the experience. Others will/are copying it. But Apple is literally years ahead of them right now.
The same thing happened with the Macintosh. People looked at it and didn't understand the need. It didn't DO anything different from the IBM PC, it just seemed to make using a computer easy or something and so people called it a toy. 10 years later Microsoft copied the whole thing, right down to the trash can (oh, "recycle bin") and everyone thought it was genius.
The Mac unfortunately had to cost a lot more than a PC when it came out, and never was able to bring the price down. Apple now has such a HUGE installed user base and can anticipate record-breaking sales of this device; they are setting the price unbelievably low (cheaper than the original iPhone) at the starting gate.
The other thing 95% of the "reviewers" who have yet to even touch the thing are missing is that most people don't "use" their computers the same way they do. The tech-savvy world of internet-aholics, and of the media conglomerates reporting on this, actually DO things on their computers. But most people simply DO NOT. They launch their browser and surf the internet, read and write emails, watch and play stuff, all the things the iPad excels at. Now they're on Facebook and FB will be unbelievably fun on the iPad.
FB is designed to actually LIMIT the amount of typing you do. It's designed to force you to adapt to adding just the briefest little "quip" of your own when you interact. The iPad's virtual keyboard, like the iPhone's, will work just fine. No one's writing a novel with these things. They are playing games; they are shooting off emails; they're on FB; they're watching YouTube.
They are NOT using Photoshop, FinalCutPro, Excel, Word, and thousands of other programs. They're interacting with a living internet and they're not taking a lot of time worrying about how: they click on buttons and links, they don't "download" attachments in their emails they just look at them right there in the body of the email message. Tellingly, that's what Steve Jobs demonstrated onstage: he clicked on an attached PDF in an email message. He didn't "save" it to anyplace.
That's how the iPhone and iPad work: they do what the average person is ALREADY doing and they PUT IT CENTER STAGE, removing all that stuff that people don't understand about their computers and have found intimidating.
That's not to say this platform won't allow for the apps we're used to using on a full-size computer. Quite the contrary. Keynote, Pages and Numbers were demoed by Phil Schiller precisely to point out that ALL applications can eventually find themselves on an iPad. You can already edit videos on the iPhone, after all, no mean feat.
The first Macs came with MacWrite and MacPaint. Soon Bill Gates, one of the Mac's biggest boosters, offered Word and Excel. The door is opening, the way is clear. Microsoft may not be along for the ride this time. With Steve "I don't let my kids use Google or iPods" Ballmer in charge it's hardly likely, is it?
I could go on and on about it 'cause it is so true: this is what people have been waiting for.
Imagine when they put the camera and phone in (which they wisely are holding off on for many reasons, commercial and technical) and people will call each other, looking straight into the screen, looking RIGHT AT the person they're viewing, who's doing the exact same thing, talking face-to-face, holding it in their hand?
This is the future. It has just arrived.
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