So much has been said about the new iPad. Many critics view it with their narrow geek technology glasses and point out how other computers match or beat what the iPad does. To see the whole picture, you have to step out of that world and see that this device will cause a new mass market of people to step into the computer age who were unwilling before because of the complexity and hassles involved. The iPad is poise to possibly propel Apple past other laptop brands.
I saw a comment on a pcmag article that best describes it:
Actually it will change the world. Like the iPhone, which didn’t even run applications at its launch, the iPad will be a lot more powerful a year from now than it is now. It, unlike the iPhone, has enough power and screen real estate to run many real applications – iWork, the OmniGroup apps, etc. It is obvious that it will multitask soon, probably by OS 4.0.
Why it matters a lot, though, is that it will be the first general purpose computer with an easy to use operating system. Those of use who have been around since command line OSs don’t realize it, but Windows/Mac OS/Linux are still FAR more difficult to use than they need to be. A computer should no more need tech support or a manual any more than a microwave oven does.
The iPad will be a computer that you can give to a six year old, or your technophobe grandparents, and they will be able to use it. That actually matters, despite what we geeks think. It will expand the number of people that can use computers the same way moving from DOS to Windows/Mac OS did.
The elegance, simplicity, and power of the iPad will open the way to a huge untapped market. Non-techies now have easy access to social networking, gaming, ebooks, videos, web surfing, … all sorts of media consumption their cable tv and newspaper can’t provide.
I saw a comment on a pcmag article that best describes it:
Actually it will change the world. Like the iPhone, which didn’t even run applications at its launch, the iPad will be a lot more powerful a year from now than it is now. It, unlike the iPhone, has enough power and screen real estate to run many real applications – iWork, the OmniGroup apps, etc. It is obvious that it will multitask soon, probably by OS 4.0.
Why it matters a lot, though, is that it will be the first general purpose computer with an easy to use operating system. Those of use who have been around since command line OSs don’t realize it, but Windows/Mac OS/Linux are still FAR more difficult to use than they need to be. A computer should no more need tech support or a manual any more than a microwave oven does.
The iPad will be a computer that you can give to a six year old, or your technophobe grandparents, and they will be able to use it. That actually matters, despite what we geeks think. It will expand the number of people that can use computers the same way moving from DOS to Windows/Mac OS did.
The elegance, simplicity, and power of the iPad will open the way to a huge untapped market. Non-techies now have easy access to social networking, gaming, ebooks, videos, web surfing, … all sorts of media consumption their cable tv and newspaper can’t provide.
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