Steve Jobs has the personality, temperament and behavior of a nine-year-old. I've suspected this for a while, and now I can prove it.
Don't get me wrong, he's a brilliant nine-year-old.
He's headstrong, opinionated and directly connected to his emotional and creative cortex.
I know this because I spent hours at the Apple store on launch day listening to adults moaning and groaning, and analyzing the iPad. And at the same time I watched kids, some older, some younger directly connected to the same emotions and energy that Jobs has.
The iPad won't make sense to folks who've grown up in a pre-digital world. It's a device built to herald in the post-digital era. In Jobs' mind, devices should be minimalist; beautiful, simple, elegant, clean. They should do less, not more, as data moves from the device to the cloud.
Don't get me wrong, this is a device that "time-traveled" to use from the future. For the time being it is going to have to live in the present. You know Jobs is pained by the issues that AT&T has caused iPhone users, and similarly the iPad is built for a world with ubiquitous wi-fi. Today it's a device that solves lots of media browsing problems, but it isn't the Swiss Army knife that critics like Jeff Jarvis are hungry for. In fact, the iPad is purposefully not lots of things. Which is problematic for adults hungry for a simple device that makes all their other digital ephemera obsolete.
The iPad is the future wrestling with the present. It's adults vs. kids. It's digital natives vs. digital carpet baggers. And the fault lines of the debate can be seen along these lines.
Which brings me back to the Apple store as folks touch, caress, poke and prod this new and unfamiliar device.
So, here's how adults wrestle with the iPad;
Then, watch the kids with the device;
Jobs knows this. He knows that the iPad will be a massive hit with children. Middle School. Even High School. But that's the dividing line. If you've got a bag full of devices, the iPad is a luxury. If you've got years of legacy ideas about keyboards, mice, hard drives, the processors, then you'll have to try hard to understand how the iPad is a device that comes in a time machine from the future.
But, it does. The world is a wireless world. The world is a wi-fi world. The world is a world where both your data and the computing power you need resides in the cloud. The iPad is built to run on services like Amazon's EC2, where you can spin up as many processers as you need to crunch data, and use the always-on wireless broadband connection to send data to, and pull results from the cloud.
We're not there yet but the pieces are all in place.
And the iPad brings it that much closer to reality.
Photo credits: Steve Rosenbaum
Follow Steve Rosenbaum on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magnify
Jose Antonio Vargas: WATCH: Not Everyone Has The iPad Spirit
Judging from the hype that preceded its arrival -- the cover of Time magazine! and Newsweek! endless chatter from media folks looking for a Messiah to technophiles anxious to get their hands on the latest gadget -- you'd think everyone was clamoring for an iPad. Well, not quite.
Craig Kanalley: iPad Review: It Has Only One Flaw
For millions of Americans right now, the unemployed, the hurting, and for those paying back college loans, the iPad's a tease. You're better off waiting.
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- No flash
- No USB or other direct interfacing
- Deeply Flawed WiFi
- Overheats above 95F (this will be a huge problem)
- No ability to upgrade
- No ability to replace broken parts yourself, add RAM, change the battery, etc.
- Cannot add programs to it without the approval of Apple
- Cannot load other OS's on it
- Apple gets a 30% cut of all software sales, and has total control over all software sales
These are not the features of computers, this is the feature set of a toy.
All I can think of when I see devices like this, especially ones which force people to use their thumbs, is Universal Carpel Tunnel For All!
Not to mention the wrecks caused by idiots who actually try writing on a tiny board with their somewhat opposable thumbs while maneuvering through downtown traffic!
Nobody would buy an SUV if they were grown-up.
While I'm not a full-blown Apple hater I am not sold on most of their products. Good products but not what they are made out to be. I also look at the specs of dang near any gadget that I want and the iPad is lacking for me. I still am considering getting one for the e-reader capability but this not an immediate need of mine.
What bothers me about iPad and most Apple products in general is that I don't want my interface into the cloud to be a "lifestyle appliance" derived from a single set of use-case scenarios and design aesthetics. I want it to be an open environment with a diverse ecosystem of hardware and software options where third-party developers are first-class citizens and end users benefit from a marketplace of ideas.
I'm not going to relinquish my data into the cloud if I also have to relinquish my freedom to interact with my data using the hardware and software of my choice. That's what is so great about the Internet (the cloud that started it all). It's a open environment. There are all sorts of ways to use it, with more and more products being created for it on a daily basis. The explosive force of innovation on the Internet contrasts starkly with closed environments such as phone and television services.
The future is open, and Apple is not. Apple believes they have all the right ideas, and that's great if you want to build a cult of personality, but not if you want to change the world.
talk about a future where people walk around holding their screens everywhere they go... phhht.
i timidly predict a flop after the initial hype wears off.
The iPad isn't for me .... unless my so far silent children gift me with one.
iPad meets Philip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi)
http://www
What if the iPad actually changed the world? I’m all for it trying.
Click the button and the world is your oyster.
Unfortunately it’s made in Flash so you won’t be able to view it on your iPad.
It's not about the device - it's about the APPS.
And we have NO IDEA what kind of apps may exist for this type of device 2 years from now.
Example:
A year or so ago I bought an iTouch. Just to play music and to show short film projects I work on.
NOW it's my Guitar Tuner, my second phone line, "gameboy" type device, my go-to calculator, and thanks to hot-spots - it's now actually my primary email device.
I never expected it would be any of those things when I bought it. And some were not even POSSIBLE when I bought it.
To quote Stephan Meyers - inventor and old-school computer pioneer:
"The iPhone OS will take over the computer world from the bottom up. What we now call the "desktop" will be only for professional apps. Usability wins."
Usability wins.
Yup.
As are you.
Let's not forget - With billions of people on this Earth - SOMEONE out there actually LIKES that lame app.
Go figure...