This morning, as I sat in bed with my 15-inch Macbook Pro on my lap and my fiancee read the news on her tiny iPhone screen, I had this thought:
“The iPad is going to be huge.”
Why? Because computers aren’t built for what most people need them for. Think about what a computer’s interface was designed for: everything. Controlling mainframes, writing software, editing photos, cutting video for a feature length film, writing e-mail, writing documents, making power point slides, chatting with friends, playing 3-D games, surfing the internet.
I have a powerful, flexible machine that does everything in the world, but all I want to do is wake up and read the damn Wall Street Journal before the paywall goes up. That’s why there is room for a new category. That’s why my PC usage dropped by hours a day when I got my iPhone. I don’t need all those extra things.
The iPad will let people do computing things, but leave the computer behind.
At home, most users surf the internet, e-mail, organize photos, and listen to music. Optimize around these things and you end up with the iPad. Goodbye folders, windows, and mice. Hello touching what you want and making it work.
People cry out, “But what about the keyboard? There’s no keyboard!” That’s the point. Touch will free us of the extra clutter of keys and track pads. Entering text only needs to be good enough, not half the surface area of my device. Tablet PCs aren’t huge because they don’t make trade-offs. They use the old Windows interface and keep the keyboard. You are left with a really heavy PC, a stylus, and shabby touch screen. Tablets are optimized for nothing. On the other hand, eliminating the keyboard is a trade-off that lets you do other things better.
Will the iPad kill laptops? No, and they aren’t meant to. I will still use my Macbook for all sorts of work type things. But what do I really need when I wake up on a lazy sunday morning? An iPad.
