You’re blind to the iPad’s value
Posted on | January 28, 2010 | 7 Comments
As everyone and their mother knows, yesterday Apple launched their ultrahyped tablet and called it the iPad. Your reactions are coming in hot and heavy and the majority make me mad. Here are the traps you fall into.
You don’t have a use case for it
Duh. Of course you don’t. For the last thirty years, we’ve developed uses for the classic freestanding screen, physical keyboard, tracking device, USB, ethernet, WiFi, disc drive layout. You’ve tailored your life to revolve around using that setup efficiently and done a pretty good job.
Now you have a piece of hardware that abandons all of those traditions and moves you outside your comfort zone because you can’t do everything you did on your laptop on the iPad. If you are slamming the iPad because you don’t have a use for it, come out of your hole and be a little more creative.
You’re stuck on categorization
And unfortunately, Apple is playing into this one by trying to create the category between a smartphone and a notebook. The more you categorize something, the harder it is to think outside of the box. When something new comes out, you spend more time looking at the finger than where it’s pointing, as Joseph Jaffe likes to say. Like with Twitter, you’re more fascinated about the tool than how you can get value of it. I think it’s completely ridiculous when people ask “how should I use Twitter?” Wouldn’t you be better of learning it’s capabilities and then deciding for yourself how it can add value to your life instead of thinking about it as email meets SMS meets whatever?
Imagine a big box. Let’s call it a tool box. Now inside that tool box there are a hundred small boxes, each containing a specific tool. You need to figure out how to carry the tool box. How are you going to do that when you put yourself in one of the small boxes.
You’re overcome by Apple’s clout
This is the stupidest one. On both hater and fanboi sides there’s a lot of focus on “can they be wrong?” Well, yes they can, but if you’re figuring out whether the iPad will help or hurt Apple’s reputation, you’re not figuring out how you can gain from their product. Unless you’ve got a significant chunk of your savings riding on their stock price, stop looking at if it’ll be adopted and start looking at how you can use it in your life.
You think everyone’s the same
So many reviewers (reviews? it hasn’t even hit shelves yet) of the iPad tell you how it won’t fit into their life. Maybe they’re right. Maybe they won’t use it. Maybe it would be a waste of their money. Are they seriously so arrogant to think that every one of their readers has placed themselves in the small box just as they have? Unfortunately, a quick glance at the comments on this Gizmodo article shows that the majority have. Even when the author has his eyes open, most people still can’t think for themselves. Instead of playing into this, why don’t you start teaching people how to open their minds?
So please, stop arguing about its future and start figuring out if it can add value to your life.
Image by Apple
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7 Responses to “You’re blind to the iPad’s value”
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January 28th, 2010 @ 9:58 am
So normally I would agree with you 100%, but I think in terms of the use case you’re referring to, peoples’ misgivings are not unfounded. At least for me, I have an iPod Touch (granted one that could do with a replacement) and a MacBook Pro. Why would I pay $500 for something that combines two things I already have, that can do it better?
January 28th, 2010 @ 10:04 am
I see your point, and I’m not arguing against it. If you’re doing well with what you have (or if you haven’t fully extracted everything from what you already own) then buying something that is expensive, takes figuring out, and might not be useful at first is a bad idea. I think the majority are in the same boat. Personally, I can think of a few ways I’d work better and have more fun if I could rearrange my computing situation. I think I’d do best with a powerful desktop, an iPhone, and an iPad. My laptop does everything I need it to, but that combo would be better than what I have now. Don’t think only about replacing what you have, but adding a new tool to your arsenal or changing it all together.
January 28th, 2010 @ 10:24 am
so i agree with you that the user should adapt to the tool, that’s normal if we’ve never seen anything like it, but the tool should also adapt to the user. in this case people are looking at their current collection of stuff and going “this doesn’t fit into my life.” that can’t entirely be ignored.
that said, i agree with the fact that sentimentality can keep us from embracing something new.
January 28th, 2010 @ 10:29 am
Is it possible as people find more uses for it, as new applications are imagined and developed, that in the end this tool will conform more to the user? I think over time, people’s eyes will be opened to how this can benefit them.
January 28th, 2010 @ 11:04 pm
I’ve been looking for this answer to my electronic needs for a long time. If the iPad has an internal printer I’d be in heaven, but if they don’t it won’t be long until there is an app for that. I can’t wait to see the technology we have ten years from now as a result of Apple providing vehicles for creativity.
January 29th, 2010 @ 11:01 am
Ben, I totally agree with most of what you said.
I have a few problems with the product itself though, not the implementation.
The first of which being, it is marketed as an internet device, 3G and Wi-Fi, but there is no Flash support. As Steve Jobs said, “The best web experience” is on the iPad. But honestly, it would limit a lot of the internet, not having Flash.
And for the type of person that the iPad is being marketed to, I just don’t think that lacking Flash support is okay. Because too much of the internet is Flash based now.
The second issue I have with the iPad, as a product, is the lack of running multiple applications. I mean, I can understand the iPhone not having that because it would slow it down. But there is no reason for a machine with the specs of the iPad to be so limited.
While I have complaints with the lack of an open os and a lot of other things, those are just personal issues I have as a power user.
I can see how the iPad, with Flash would be a great product.
I guess my biggest problem with the iPad is the same as my problems with most of Apple’s products. There is too much important things (Flash, multitasking, etc) that are lacking on the first generation. Things they can put into the first gen, but don’t.
January 29th, 2010 @ 11:06 am
I couldn’t agree more. Those two are major detractors.
I don’t think either is a deal breaker for me, but it does make me consider waiting for the next gen instead of jumping on this one as fast as I can.