The iPad: It’s here. So What?

Posted in Feature
Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 9:00 am

David Cochran, Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Matt Pendergraff, PDG+Creative
April 19, 2010

Is the Apple iPad just another gadget? Or will it make its mark on history?

The Apple iPad is loose in the world. More than 500,000 of them as of last report. Does it matter? Will it make a dent in the world? Or is this just another gadget: a new package, an iffy name, with lots of hype, soon to be overrun by the next media blitz?

No denying, this is another gadget. Some claim it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Others are sick of hearing about it. There are plenty of things it won’t do. Yet, as the hype settles, there may be reason to believe that the iPad is more than “just another gadget.” Having held the thing ourselves, we’re betting the iPad will make its mark on history. Here’s why.

The “Gadget”

It used to be said that books would never die; no one wants to curl up with a computer. The iPad changes that. The interface is so effortless, so natural, that it is book-like in simplicity — yet in some ways, better. Want books? iBooks and the Kindle app provide an enjoyable e-reading experience, complete with page flips and resizable text. Want something better? Try an animated book, such as Alice in Wonderland (see the video demo below).

The Alice in Wonderland book for iPad provides a glimpse into the creative possibilities of reading on the iPad.

Meanwhile, things once categorized under “computing” — surfing the Web, reading the news, viewing a movie, perusing Facebook, or tweeting your status — all become intimate in a new way. You can have all this while curled up in your favorite chair, and you can read your beautifully rendered (e)books, too.

We aren’t making this up. This recognition has been a common refrain among early users. Stephen Fry of TIME Magazine writes:

“I had been prepared for a smooth feel, for a bright screen and the “immersive” experience everyone had promised. I was not prepared, though, for how instant the relationship I formed with the device would be.”

Another reviewer comments:

“The iPad has a familiarity that it shouldn’t…. Nothing so artificial and synthetic should immediately seem so natural and organic.”

Designer, Craig Mod tweeted:

“I have never seen a piece of technology so instantly transform grown men into wide-eyed wonder boys.”

There’s a secret sauce working here: a rare combination of elegant hardware and exquisite user interface. “It’s about the software, stupid,” as Walt Mossberg has put it.

From the iPod’s scroll-wheel to the touch interaction of the iPhone, Apple has devoted itself to the enhancement of the user experience. Critics often complain about the lack of a keyboard or a camera on an Apple device. But Apple has concentrated relentlessly on the reduction of complexity. The result of that focus: Technology gets out of the way. Content comes to the fore. Users’ interaction with that content takes center stage. (See the iPad demo for WIRED Magazine, for example.)

This advanced peek at the upcoming WIRED Magazine for the iPad gives an indication of the kinds of interaction between user and content that the iPad makes possible.

Admittedly, the device is not for everyone, nor for every use. Content creation is easier done while seated at a computer. But when it comes to consuming and interacting with media, the iPad greatly humanizes the experience. As David Pogue puts it, “The haters [of the iPad] tend to be techies; the fans tend to be regular people.” We wager there’ll be a whole lot more regular people with iPads in their hands come Christmas.

But there is another reason why the iPad will make its mark on history. As effective as Apple has been at creating innovative hardware and software, the company has proven just as adept at realigning media industries.

The Market

The iPod could never have been what it became without iTunes. No matter how simple and elegant the device, it needed an equally simple and elegant purchasing-and-loading mechanism. By making music-shopping so easy and music-loading so effortless, one could argue that iTunes sold the iPod. It was no small feat to shift major music labels from selling CD’s through a variety of distribution chains to selling MP3′s through Apple’s online store. But Apple made it happen, transforming the music industry in the process.

Labyrinth 2 HD for the iPad provides an example of the kinds of creative interactive games the iPad platform makes possible.

With the iPad the story is similar, but bigger. Between the iPod and the iPad came the addition of movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audio books to the iTunes store. Hundreds of universities now offer more than 250,000 lectures, videos, and other resources through iTunes University. When the iPhone launched in 2008, the new App Store came to iTunes, opening new horizons for software developers. At the time of this writing, more than 150,000 mobile software applications are available for free or cheap through that store.

With the launch of the iPad, we have seen major news, magazine, book, and textbook publishers join the Apple bandwagon, all hoping that the new platform may help save their struggling industries. “The Elements,” an interactive introduction to the periodic table, brings enough interactive whimsy and hard information to the task that it could almost give one hope for the future of education.

The iPad application, The Elements, demonstrates the exciting potential of student textbooks on the iPad.

Whether the iPad can save book publishers remains to be seen. But salvation stories are already out there. Apparently, iTunes sales helped save NBC’s “The Office” from cancellation. Others, in the meanwhile, anticipate a new wave of creative destruction, suggesting that Apple’s new device may signal the end, not of books, but of cable television as we know it. (Here’s hoping.) Others point with fascination to a war for world domination shaping up between forces like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple.

Clearly, this will be something to watch.

With each new distribution agreement and each new app, the iPad is etching its mark on history. Two weeks after launch, the device is proving to be a game changer. Judging by the huge effort made by book, television, newspaper, and magazine companies to have their wares ready beforehand, the iPad had already changed the game on day one.

So … What?

What does the iPad mean to you? Two things, at a minimum.

First, this will shape your technological future for awhile. Not everyone will have iPads. But nearly every computer company is working to roll out their own similar devices. On one device or another, there’s going to be a lot more iPad-like stuff going on. As that happens, audiences will develop new expectations for interacting with content — whether books, magazines, movies, or video games. Be aware and be savvy.

Second, the demand for designers of interactive media is getting yet another boost. HTML, CSS, and Javascript — the core languages of the Web — now play an increasingly important role for design-in-general. Not everyone needs to know these languages, but the advantage will go to those who do — and in particular to those who know how to use them well.