How the iPad will change life, the universe, and everything.
As is customary with Apple product launches, Steve Jobs presented the keynote introduction for the iPad amidst cheers and applause from the audience. Answering the question of where a tablet device fits, not in your pocket, he introduced it as a middle-ground category device, intended to bridge the gap between mobile and personal computers. He stated that in order to be that in-between bridge, you have to be better at some things, like web browsing, than with devices in either category. Jobs then sat down in a big chair and browsed the internet. Leaning back with a 10 inch screen just a couple of inches from his face, he smiled and proceeded to tell the audience that the best web browsing experience had arrived.
Personally, I love tablets. My current primary computer is a convertible-style tablet which I bought 2 years ago. I purchased it when I became a student at Tech, and it runs Windows. I take all my notes on it, because it uses a Wacom pen or a finger as input directly to the screen. Writing my notes on it is a digital revolution equivalent to that of going from a typewriter to a computer. When I write my cursive, hand-written notes in Microsoft’s OneNote program, all the physical drawbacks of using paper disappear. If, for example, I want to fit a word on the last line, I simply shrink my previous writing, and write it down. If I want to move my words around, or shift my paragraph order, it’s even easier than it would be in a typing program. Searching through my notes is the best feature though; everything written down is recognized and quietly stored as text where it’s always searchable. These nice features are great, but they represent something bigger: digital paper.
Digital paper is a neat concept since it brings input from the physical world to the digital one: a tablet computer with the required hardware. For writing, however, a digital pen is best, whereas finger input is better suited for manipulating buttons and interfaces. A slate tablet computer, an analogue to a pen and a pad of paper, would therefore need to have an interface designed for both finger and pen use cooperatively.
Apple decided to leave out the pen, the full operating system, and the digital notebook application. Apple pretty much made the decision to make the iPad a big iPod touch, which is problematic. Earlier, Jobs talked about two different categories of computers: mobile and regular. A mobile device, like an iPhone or iPod touch, is best at receiving content. Watching a podcast, checking email, listening to music, and playing small games are tasks well suited for mobile devices. A computer is best for creating content: writing documents, typing emails, and creating movies, music, and games. In order to be middle ground, you have to be good at both. The iPad, being only a big iPod touch with a restricted OS, seems to be made simply to receive content and not to create it.
For me, the excitement began during the part of the Apple keynote when the iWork suite and the iBooks apps were demoed. They demonstrated that by using only multitouch gestures, there is a possibility of creating and viewing content, and attested to the benefits of each. As a student, I want a tablet to be the only thing I bring to class, replacing all necessary books and paper notes; just a thin pad of glass and metal enclosing everything I need.
With digital paper, there can be apps to help the user organize their ideas. It’s hard for me to get my ideas written down on paper, but we can imagine a program where you only need to write or say fragments of sentences or words down about a topic. The computer, knowing the meaning of the words, then intelligently arranges the ideas into a structured outline. It can then find other similar ideas, from the internet, that were previously thought by others. The app can be adapted for many uses such as essay outlines and storyboards. This is how I want to write my essays; if I have the ideas in my head, why should I stress getting them written down correctly? Tablets will bring a revolution in computing and content creation; the way we get ideas onto paper won’t be so difficult if there’s no paper. It’s simple, just express the ideas however you can, and let the tablet do the work of piecing it all together.
While this seems like a futuristic dream, some aspects of it are being created present-day when designing tablets. The Microsoft Courier concept is a tablet device that merges some of these ideas. In the demo video, an artist writes in her “infinite journal” which works similarly to OneNote. Added, is the ability to merge ideas from different sources, kind of like a digital organizer for your thoughts and ideas. This is surely a step in the right direction, one that will get us to the ubiquitous tablet.
The mere fact that people are discussing the iPad is important because it’s generating ideas about what tablets should do. Where exactly does a tablet device fit into the computing paradigm? A tablet has to be best at both creating and receiving content. As a digital replacement for paper, the tablet can excel greatly at both. While the iPad’s future success as a single product is uncertain, the effect it has on the industry is clear. I’m already forming iPad ready multitouch apps for my CS 3750 design class. So, if you’re using an iPad to read this article of The FIREwall, or write one, you can be certain that you’re not going to be the only one with a tablet for very long.
