iPad Musings

So, the Apple iPad is out- the iPhone augmentation device. The small print and graphics of the iPhone can now be seen on this larger screen.

I can’t help but think that this device cements Apple’s primary focus and movement from a creative device to a media consumption device – which represents a much larger market than original concept of personal computers. However, it also does not carry the promise of catalyzing self-expression as personal computers from Apple had done so beautifully in the past. The iPad appears more like a fashion statement or ‘lifestyle’ product than a workhorse for creativity – I am disappointed with it conceptually, and I think that we are just at the very beginning of what is and should be possible to do with portable compute devices. I think that portable computer/media computers (or ‘Pads’) can be a lot more important to our lives than what the current generation of iPad offers– that is why I wanted to shed some light on the history and evolution of the iPad and the revolution offered by concepts like the Microsoft Courier (see link and video below) in terms of facilitating productivity/creativity.

Apple’s Roots as a Media Creation Solution

Looking at Apple’s roots, the key computer ‘trunk’ of the evolutionary tree was the original Macintosh computer, a creative device, ‘the computer for the rest of us’ (as Steve Jobs liked to say) which gave us the ability to do desktop publishing with it’s unique (at the time) combination of a mouse, a graphical user interface, graphical software (MacWrite, MacDraw), PostScript and then the LaserWriter– enabling a revolution in desktop publishing. Over the years Apple continued to innovate with advances such as:

• QuickTime (providing great digital video in the early years of digital media with support for multiple codecs and continued ongoing development)
• HyperCard (an authoring system for self creating applications ‘for the rest of us’). Although this is a dead-end- part of the evolutionary tree of Apple – it shed light on the need for great development tools which inspired the NeXT Step development environment- which inspired the development environment for the Apple computer and the iPhone/iPad…
• iLife Suite (MS Office replacements- iPhoto, Keynote, Numbers, and Pages)
• FinalCutPro (and iMovie- for creating digital movies)
• GarageBand- a simple/powerful tool for music creation
• Continued development of a robust Unix-based OS that has 64-bit and multi-processor integration.

And many other great tools from Apple and third parties for facilitating creativity. However, with the saturation of the PC markets- Apple’s growth has moved from the personal computer to the smart phone and consumer electronics and I see the primary innovation and investment moving in that direction as well. Cell phones have a much more competitive environment and faster replacement cycles than personal computers- as well as a much bigger market.

Beginning of Media Consumption Devices

Post Pixar, Steve Jobs/Apple had built the confidence in mass consumer media creation/consumption. The success of the iPod and later iPhone led to a movement to greatly increased digital media consumption.

Like Microsoft, Apple has often come into markets after others have failed. The iPod was a case in point- as there were many MP3 players prior to the iPod; but the combination of the media library (iTunes), hardware and music selection made for a winning combination.

The idea that music could be unbundled from buying the entire album/CD- and instead by the song. Combining this freedom of choice with sexy hardware which featured the really cool interface designs which are inspired by the high-end Bang and Olufsen ‘for the rest of us.’ The transformation of the devices to the use of elegant multi-touch screens offered by the iPhone/iTouch/iPad is also brilliant- providing more ‘critical screen real-estate’ than prior smart phones while also enabling interaction through finger gestures as well as the virtual keyboard with predictive/corrective spelling.

With the advent and evolution of these devices, Apple is leveraging the Unix OS that it has built a unique and elegant graphic user interface that it had developed for the personal computer- with its rich development environment. The comprehensive roots of this OS helps to make using an iTouch or iPhone as a more versatile device and a pleasure to configure and work with — as well as creating the developer’s ease to rapidly build applications.

The Mac OS for the portable devices provides a balance of productivity (email primarily as well as web-browsing) and media consumption. Although not as good with email handling as the more austere Blackberry, the iPhone shines as a great combination of utility and media consumption. An of course, your iPhone/Touch and iPad have the capability to share in your music libraries.

Compromises and Strengths of the iPad

Netbooks have been successful Asus Eee PC, HP and others have developed strong contenders in this space- primarily as small, portable, low cost additions to our computer collections. Apple is leveraging this growing market by a producing the iPad, a combination device that provides the features of a ‘Netbook’ as well as providing, in the same package, a media consumption device which is attempting best in class experiences with a wide variety of media types:

• Newspapers:-see New York Times example
• Books (a ‘Kindle-killer’)
• Music (iTunes)
• Video (building on experience with the AppleTV platform)
• Potential for smart home control – leveraging the Apple Remote app, iTunes multi-zone sound control and Airport audio support — the iPad has much more potential as a control device than other smart home audiovisual companies are providing…

The lack of a great input device for anything other than browsing- makes the iPad more suited for reading and viewing media than authoring. I have no issue with the strengths of the device. However, I have a perspective that long term success of such devices is not just a media consumption device with some adapted personal computer apps; but rather a better integration of hardware and software which would enable a much better approach. This unique integration made the original Macintosh ‘insanely great.’ The iPad does not achieve this descriptor from me. It is an elegant device to be sure, but it is aimed squarely at consuming media. I fear that Apple, with it’s great and growing success will leave the creatives in the dust. A few years ago, you were a creative rebel to buy an Apple computer. Now, you are not in the mainstream if you do not have or desire to have an Apple logo on a device.

With the power of microprocessors, graphics multi-processors, large solid-state memory for RAM and storage, digital cameras, audio- there is so much more that is possible than what the iPad provides.

As I type this note on a MacBook Pro- and am watching a DVD at the same time, I am thankful about the presence of a physical keyboard, larger screen and multi-tasking capabilities– attributes not present on the iPad; I recognize that my laptop costs 2.5x more… but I can’t give it up for an iPad yet… and one would argue that it is not intended to replace a laptop… but at the price point- I think it will do just that particularly for college students where it is in the golden market space – combining the combination of music, productivity, portability and connectivity (wifi and G3) ….

Competition on the iPad frontier…

Incredible Prototype... MS Courier

Enter an unlikely force… Microsoft. Microsoft has developed great, reasonable development tools over the years and now is focused squarely on enhancing creativity… with the advances that it has made with the Silverlight platform, the creative Surface table, the powerful xbox as well as the next gen technology- project Natal, a really cool search engine (Bing – www.bing.com )… Microsoft is transforming from the company that made great biz by copying innovations (frequently with less quality) and making them available to the masses to a creative (at least from a developers perspective) Tour Du Force…. yes, Microsoft has made great in roads in video gaming but poor results with personal media devices such as the Zune or the PocketPC/Phone-based OS. However, non of these solutions have done well. ‘Courier’ is a potential ‘game changer’ — see http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet for more details.

As I stated and is evident throughout my blog, I am particularly interested in productivity machines– computers that enable us to create- to share ideas. Maybe I’m old fashion but I’m still in the ‘media creation’ is a key feature of the future in portable electronic devices… I like the capability of combining ‘multi-touch’ with a pressure sensitive stylus, the dual-screen approach (which makes the device more portable and rugged). The new ‘class’ of interactions with the device elevate it into an entirely new realm of interaction and productivity with a powerful and efficient combination of handwriting recognition, multi-touch and great system software – which likely is influenced by Microsoft Surface. I am very excited by the prospect of this device in inspiring creativity. As much as I like the concept of Apple iPhone/iPad Apps like ‘Brushes’ — using your fingers to draw is such a poor interface versus the use of a stylus – like you can use with the painterly pressure-sensitive, stylus and Wacom displays.

So, along these lines, I am very much hoping that Microsoft makes good on the conversion of the prototype for the ‘Courier’ project to a product. Instead of just taking an iPhone/iTouch and making it bigger, the Courier is a tool that, like the original Apple Macintosh combines unique approaches to hardware and software to enable new levels of personal expression…

I would love to work with a device like the Courier to help in the ‘muse’ process in the creation of ideas for videos, screenplays, comic books- a tool for translating and refining ideas into shareables.

Even with this said, there are some strong opportunities that we are looking into for making use of the iPad for elearning …

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