10 ms·

IPad: an Apple for Mom - The uncomputer for the people

197 points by swombat 17y ago

gamble 17y ago
It's not a good sign that the best people can say about the iPad is that their mom could probably get by with one, even though they would never use it. We've been hearing that refrain for decades, and it's never worked out in the marketplace. People who don't care about technology want to spend the least possible to get a fully-capable product. They want one computer that does everything and lasts forever - not a niche device that has to be tethered to a real PC anyway. The Wii is a poor example because it didn't succeed by being simpler - it sold by offering a compelling gimmick and content that was not available on other platforms, for an underserved market of children and baby-boomers. The iPad doesn't offer any content you can't find elsewhere, and the 'touch' interface is one that's failed to find a significant market in full-sized computers for over twenty years.
- frossie 17y ago
  They want one computer that does everything and lasts forever - not a niche device that has to be tethered to a real PC anyway. Yeah, that's a lot closer to describing my mom - housewive all her life, approaching 70 - but since the kids left home she has gotten one laptop after another, and her use is actually quite sophisticated by now - certainly beyond "browser only". I did give her an iPod touch but her only interest in it is inflicting pictures of her grandchildren on innocent civilians while she's out on the town - she uses her laptop for everything else. She has no particular interest in spending money on something like a tablet. And don't forget the generational thing too - I'm going to be the mythical "grandma" one day, and when I retire and have an empty nest I am going to tweak my gentoo box all day long :-)
poutine 17y ago
I'm a hardcore geek and I want to add an iPad to my toolchest. It'd join an array of devices and be used for web browsing on the couch and in bed. Touch based web browsing is superior to a mouse IMO. Seems like an amazing device for that.
Tichy 17y ago
While I agree, what bothers me a little is that all this time Apple had already claimed that Macs are so easy to use etc. So I guess they finally admit that it's not really true. At the same time I hope it will be at least more true for the iPad. Until mom asks why her favorite flash game doesn't work. Things I have recently helped relatives with: installing software for their navigation system, so that they could update the maps Getting their internet radio connected scanning, printing installing a webcam and skype In fact my impression is that "non-power" users often try to do even more hardcore stuff with their computers than I do, simply because they don't know which technologies are just hype and which ones are ready for prime time. For example my father tried speech recognition and used on of those horrible fax/scanner/printer units that hijacks your computer.
djcjr 17y ago
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (Clarke's Third Law) In my opinion, Apple is one of few companies that works on their product design until it appears magical, and their meteoric rise is the result. The standards for "Mom" are Star-Trek-high.
moron4hire 17y ago
If the iPad is the "apple for mom", then what was the iMac all this time? Whatever happened to OS X and "it just works"?
- roc 17y ago
  OS X is easy to use ... compared to other PCs. But this thing is easy to use the way your car is easy to use.
  - moron4hire 17y ago
    My mother and grandmother would be insulted to be told that they need a "simpler" computer. This idea that regular computers are "too difficult" for "normal users" is nothing but pure condescension. Why should we believe that now, after all of the other "simplified computer for 'normal users'/internet appliance" devices to ever hit the market (including Apple's own AppleTV) that this one is going to make it?
    - roc 17y ago
      It's not about needing a simpler computer. It's about wanting one. Not all people; not even all mothers or grandmothers. And not all the time. The iPad has, in a sense, already made it. It, despite some people's protestations, is just a big iPod touch. Whether this form factor works or not, people have responded extremely well to its abstractions and simplifications, despite the limitations.
chrischen 17y ago
Most people do need computers. I'd say the majority of computer users are younger people and there's not one young person I know that uses their computer only to read new York times. Most computer users use it for work, and that's something the iPad is not optimized for. It's an entertainment casual device, but it's not mobile. I think there's a nice use for it because it let's you walk around your house with some of the information you used to have to sit down for. But to think it's really for the people who use 10 year old computers is naive.
grellas 17y ago
Entrepreneurial genius consists of a knack for acing your competitors out of key markets through innovative means. John D. Rockefeller did this by taking a nascent and highly localized oil industry (originally only in Pennsylvania and then Ohio) dominated by wildcatters and other independents and transforming it into a highly integrated and even ruthless competitive machine by which he could always beat his competitors on price while serving major emerging new markets. This was not based on any genius he had about the oil products themselves. He was not technically trained concerning such products. What he understood was business and innovation in emerging markets for these products. Hire the best talent. Gain control of the railroads that were vital to ship the products cheaply and efficiently, first by pressuring them through building a system of pipelines that threatened to undercut their business and then by entering into deals with them involving secret rebates so as to incentive them to deal with Rockefeller either alone or on highly preferential terms. Use legal innovations to set up trusts and partnerships that allowed a series of corporations, one in each state, to function as an integrated whole at a time when it was (people forget this) illegal for a corporation to do business across state lines, thereby gaining hegemony in the U.S. oil market that no other competitor could come even close to matching and eventually using this as a springboard for international dominance as well. The result (setting aside the illegalities involved): the building of an empire that grew exponentially in relation to anything else around it owing to its ability to offer quality and cheap pricing to consumers. It is not too far-fetched, I think, to say that Steve Jobs is doing something similar in taking on the wildcatters of today in a quest to win the major markets of the information age. He has so managed to unite amazing product development with tightly integrated and company-dominated distribution channels with ground-breaking arrangements with the telcos (who are the vital connecting links, or "railroads," of our day) as to build a formidable empire that threatens to crush any direct competitors in its field. The genius is undeniable, even down to having set up retail outlets of a type that everyone would have laughed at just 20 years ago. Who can tell where this quest for hegemony in today's open-systems world will go but the implications are both intriguing and frightening at the same time.
hrabago 17y ago
Before the iPhone came out, I was itching for a powerful phone that came close to being a browser-enabled computer in my pocket. The only devices I could get at the time was WEP browsers with very high data fees. The iPhone brought us a full browser with a $20 unlimited data plan. I bought it the first day it became available. It was a big leap forward compared with its peers. It allowed me to do things I wanted to do, and not just the things my telco allowed. The iPad has a different set of peers. We're not living in a world where the only tablet devices are the Kindle and Nook. There are actual fully functioning tablet PCs that can run the things normal PCs can. Apple is trying to move us from open devices to a closed one.
simonw 17y ago
I've been thinking much the same thing - I'd love it if the non-technical people in my life were using an iPad. They'd get in to much less trouble (of course, the same is true for Chrome OS). The question posed at the end is an interesting one: at the moment, the iPad appears to require a regular computer (just like an iPod touch does). Presumably a future version - or even a software update for the existing model - will get rid of this dependency.
- ZachPruckowski 17y ago
  >>The question posed at the end is an interesting one: at the moment, the iPad appears to require a regular computer (just like an iPod touch does). Presumably a future version - or even a software update for the existing model - will get rid of this dependency. Apple's paradigm is that the devices revolve around the main computer, and I don't see that changing. However, it could be that the "main computer" evolves into a headless thing (like the new Mac Mini Server) that auto-magically handles the Ethernet, USB devices, and mass storage for the iPad(s). Plug it into the wall, the router, and the printer, and it finds the iPad(s) via Bonjour on your wireless network. Your Mac Mini Server (MMS) downloads your upgrades for you, stores your media, and backs up your contacts and files. It works like a remote harddrive. Just drag files you don't need any more over to its home screen icon, and they're kept on the server now. It's also your hub to access your digital camera or other USB device, and shares them over 802.11n to the iPad(s). Then, a few years later, when our Mobile Me accounts have like 5 TB limits and enough people have HD-streaming broadband, that computer can be replaced by a simple dock with an Ethernet port and USB for the printers and cameras. Apple's getting $99/year instead of $500 for the server, but still making bank. You buy stuff on iTunes and it automatically appears on your iDisk. You download it when you sync your iPad with your iDisk and put it in your iPad's library. Tired of that song? Throw it out on the iPad and download it again later.
- icefox 17y ago
  So the question is how would things go if you have an single mac (when you really need it) and several pad's. What cool things would you do if everyone had a few lying around. While it might be able to replace a desktop several years from now I think it can only be thought of as an accessory to a desktop at this point. Edit: Also hearing so many people saying: "My mom should get one of these" is really them saying "I wont buy it, but someone else should". Really makes me ponder just how successful it really will be.
deleted 17y ago
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mattjung 17y ago
I totally agree that this device could replace the PC for many many people. I see the iPad as the universal remote-commander for all kind of media and entertainment. Imagine you could buy a film on iTunes and beam it into your television screen...
- stcredzero 17y ago
  Apple should sell such kits with an Apple TV bundled with an iPad. (Flatscreen and sound system optional.)
rriepe 17y ago
Another similarity between iPad and Wii: People ruthlessly made fun of the name when it was first announced.
- icefox 17y ago
  People only stopped making fun of the Wii name when it was successful. If the iPad isn't a success then it will be laughed at forever.
  - swombat 17y ago
    Nowhere near as much as if it had ended up being called iSlate, though!
    - nishantmodak 17y ago
      iSlate = is Late!
wallflower 17y ago
Steve Jobs foreshadowed in an October 2008 conference call that they are creating the $500 iPad and not going after those people who want multi-tasking (even if its just: "I want IM/irc running in the background, listening to pandora and browsing at once"). And those who want shell access and total admin control. All of which probably requires Mac OS X - which the PA Semi A4 chip presumably does not yet support. "What we want to do is deliver an increasing level of value to these customers, but there are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk; our DNA will not let us do that. We've seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody, and you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy." -Steve Jobs, 2008 October http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10072393-37.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10072393-37.html
- cpr 17y ago
  Make no mistake about it--they could run Mac OS X on the iPad a year ago, if they wanted to. The iPhone OS (3.2) that supports the iPad is a full-fledged Mach/BSD kernel, as much as 10.6, and it's just a matter of which kernel extensions and system and user applications you include in the total build.
  - wallflower 17y ago
    As I sit here on my Windows machine, looking at Process Lasso Pro - I'm fascinated by the background processes eating up my performance. Virus scanner to Outlook to winlogon.exe. Even if Mac OS X could run on the new A4 chip, I think Apple is concerned about 3rd party apps that are multi-tasking degrading the performance/overall experience.
    - stcredzero 17y ago
      I predict that Apple will come out with a background-task API that puts hard realtime constraints on the work a background thread does. Basically, you register a block of code as a background task, and select an Apple defined "level of service." If your code block doesn't complete during the time interval allotted to it, then the dev is SOL. If they did this, they could have background tasks that would satisfy 80 to 90% of what devs want to do, but preserve battery life.
mcav 17y ago
Even a technophile like me wants to just sit back and be a "regular person" once in a while; to sit back with a book, do some reading on the web, or watch a movie on the couch. The iPad doesn't have to have shell access to be an incredibly useful device for technophiles either. There are SSH programs for the iPhone; there will be similarly useful utilities built for the iPad too.
- MrFoof 17y ago
  ding Even for the non-technophiles, there's a tremendous amount of value in such a device. Last year my parents were moving out of their home into a smaller, elderly apartment. They found an old HP iPaq I apparently left behind in a box years ago. They called me asking if it would allow them to browse the web sort of like an iPhone, but from the couch. My response was "sort of, but not really". Their response was quite dejected. They really hoping it would've allowed them to browse on the couch. We've been down the netbook idea road before, and the laptop road, but the solution ended up being an iMac. My father (in his 60s) has terrible eyesight, so a large display was great. Time Machine was also the "killer app" for them -- they hated making backups before, but my father begrudgingly made some every few months (I used to do it for them during holiday visits). iPad though? Exactly what they want. Especially my Mom who is a bona-fide technophobe. She's still "afraid" of computers, fearing she'll "mess it up". The iPad is perfect for 95% of what she does. The only thing she still has to use the iMac for is a few games (which could be re-bought for the iPad or her Nintendo DS), and for scanning in the family photo albums. Instant on. On the couch. No keyboard. Nothing to "mess up". Access to all the computer's media (especially if there's AppleTV like streaming from their iTunes library). As articles have mentioned, this is the perfect computer for the family technophobe. Or for replacing that old laptop you had around that you were considering replacing with a netbook for casual-couch-computing -- so they can futz around on Facebook or do a quick email or look up a quick thing while they watch TV or have a spare moment.
  - bbgm 17y ago
    I need to use one before making up my mind, but today I use a Macbook Pro as my production device (code, music production, presentations, other high volume content creation) and an iPhone for mobile communication and very casual short bursts of consumption. What's missing is a pure casual consumption and occasional production device. This fits in quite well. Netbooks are just not the right form factor for many of those tasks.
david927 17y ago
No. The iPad is something new and products like this have to go through the diffusion of innovation from early adopters to get to the early majority -- and I personally know of no early adopter who is happy with it (all of whom had an iPhone when it launched, etc). The word among early adopters is "bullshit". I don't care who Apple is, or who they think they are, they can't beat the diffusion curve.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  I'm an early adopter, and I like it a lot.
  - david927 17y ago
    Yes, you're an early adopter, but you're one who drinks kool-aide. There are about 5% of you.
jkincaid 17y ago
Totally agreed. However, I think the iPad should come with a more robust photo app — something that lets you import and manage photos (all through fun drag and drop, of course). In my experience, many light computer users still take digital photos. It would also be nice if this thing could manage video importing, with maybe some very basic editing functionality similar to what's on the iPhone.
- boundlessdreamz 17y ago
  look at the bottom of http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ The Camera Connection Kit gives you two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera. The Camera Connector lets you import your photos and videos to iPad using the camera’s USB cable. Or you can use the SD Card Reader to import photos and videos directly from the camera’s SD card.
  - cpr 17y ago
    Right, it looks like this is a baby version of iPhoto, not just a viewing app, so you can import photos, etc. Presumably these photos would get sync'd back up with your "real" iPhoto when you plug it in to iTunes.
- MartinCron 17y ago
  I would be shocked if there isn't. You can import pictures from memory cards or digital cameras (with an attachment). I see myself using the iPad for this sort of quick-and-dirty post-shoot curation and showing off. Especially if I'm traveling and don't want to lug my full-on laptop with me.
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    I thought my HP slate would be the cat's meow for photo touchups in the field. Come up with a well designed way to connect cameras, Port Aperture to the iPad, and you'd have one kickass piece of kit for photo work. I wonder if someone could come up with a Bluetooth or WiFi enabled mini-USB micro-dongle you could just leave plugged into the camera behind its media-port panel?
stcredzero 17y ago
A better comparison is with the Nintendo Wii. While Sony and Microsoft competed in the cut-throat market of consoles for gamers, the Wii also created a new product category: consoles for everyone else. It worked pretty well for them – it turns out that there’s a lot more non-gamers than gamers, and making a device that appeals to 95% of the population sells better than making one that appeals to only 5%. Daniel hit the nail on the head. The industry has been tending towards making high-spec machines while often neglecting human interface issues. People complain that all of this email/booting up/installing/URL stuff was too complicated, and we techies blamed them and told them to RTFM. In the meantime, others directly address their concerns, and surprise -- people give them money.
- ZachPruckowski 17y ago
  Yes - the majority of people view computers as appliances. They don't want a computer, they want an email machine and a word processing machine and a "show me this website" machine and a music-playing machine. They don't need 2560x1600@120fps, and they don't care about having 16 processors. They want to sit down, bang out an email, and do something else, or sit down, type their paper, and be done. Apple actually had something like this in the mid-90s called "At Ease", designed as a child-safe file manager. You had programs on one tab and files on the other. I remember it from elementary school, and always felt that a more modern version of that would help less computer literate people.
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    Yes - the majority of people view computers as appliances. They don't want a computer, they want an email machine and a word processing machine and a "show me this website" machine and a music-playing machine. More precisely, they want a backplane into which they can effortlessly plug in various appliances. Press Buy, download it, plug it in, it just works.
    - ZachPruckowski 17y ago
      Users want to complete tasks. Each of these tasks should be as simple as a toaster. Push button, insert input, push button, win. Open Mail, type letter, hit send, hear "sent mail" swoosh. Open Safari, enter URL or search term, click Go, get webpage. Push lever, insert bread, wait 30 seconds, eat delicious toast. Open Word, type stuff, hit save/print/email, get happy boss. Open Youtube, enter search/URL, push Go, Laugh.
jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
This is probably the best post someone has put together on everything so far. My mom already wants this device. My roommate who had a macbook then decided to drop having a computer all together for 6 months is going to get this. It's kind of what Litl was trying to do with the web-book. It's about making computers simple and easy to use again. Less headaches, less complexity, and robust functionality. I think the iPad is something special, because it's going to open the door for us to rethink what a computer should be. Maybe this is the chance we have to rewrite everything.
ZachPruckowski 17y ago
In the MMO genre, this divide is called "themepark vs sandbox". A game like World of Warcraft is a themepark - you're given a lot of direction in terms of where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do. EVE Online is a sandbox - you do whatever you want and you get fewer roadsigns that say "go this way" or "beating this means you win". Current computers are sandboxes - you can do with them whatever you want, run arbitrary code, create your own workflow, and operate without rules. The iPad is a themepark - it has specific programs that do specific things, and then it's got little roped off paths between them. For many users (the proverbial Mom), a well-developed theme park is more attractive, because all they really wanted to do anyhow is ride the roller-coaster or the Ferris wheel. People like the average Hacker News reader (or even the average reddit or digg reader) can't stand the roped off paths, but for Mom, those laid out sidewalks are a relief.
- dtegart 17y ago
  This is a similar path to what has happened with cars. Most people used to know how to maintain their own car. Now you barely have to know how to pop the hood.
  - DannoHung 17y ago
    Actually, that's pretty much because cars got computers. No one person knows how to completely fix a computer.
    - dtegart 17y ago
      That's a good point, but cars are also much more reliable now so you don't have to know how to fix them. The same could be said for operating systems and computers in general.
  - pyre 17y ago
    The point is that you still can pop the hood and make modifications. (Though a lot of manufacturers have tried to prevent some of this with locked-down computers under the hood)
snewe 17y ago
Why must a lack of a camera be in every article on the iPad? Am I the only longtime MacBook owner that never uses that little camera above my screen?
- swombat 17y ago
  Probably, yes. Many people use their computer for Skype calls with family. Having video is a really nice bonus there.
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    This sort of device has the potential to really disrupt the telecoms industry. I think huge swathes of the populace would be just fine with spending $15 a month, and having their friends and family IM them as a form of paging and calling back with Skype.
    - sukuriant 17y ago
      If it's through ATT, if it's anything like the iPhone, that's $30 a month, and there's a restriction of < 10MB downloads. It won't be $15 a month. I do feel sorry for ATT's network, though. Think of the strain that the iPhone put on their network, and now they're accepting a computer!? makes me happy I switched to Verizon.
      - stcredzero 17y ago
        If it's through ATT, if it's anything like the iPhone, that's $30 a month, and there's a restriction of < 10MB downloads. It won't be $15 a month. You didn't watch the presentation, did you? It's indeed under $15 a month for 250 MB a month. Plenty for IMs, emails, and the occasional Skype call.
doronba 17y ago
I am not sure. Many of my technophobe relations are Multitaskers (messy ones to be sure but multitasking nonetheless) and have a problem abandoning the nested folder system they hold so dear (and Itunes will not help there) They are familiar with office applications (by which they send jokes etc) and will resist unfamiliar tools) many older people rely on their computer to keep contact with their relations through skype etc.., and it does not offer it. If it was a little more robust, did not require a persistent connection to a desktop (to manage files) and had Flash then maybe so, as it stands i just don't know, im fairly confident my mom wouldn't like it.
oozcitak 17y ago
That was the best iPad review I read since the launch. What makes us say "meh" is exactly what mom needed since she first laid her hands on a computer. I could remove all functionality from her computer, leaving just the browser and she would be perfectly happy with it. In that sense one could argue that Chrome OS' hardest competitor will be the iPad. I wonder if they saw that coming.
cpr 17y ago
The one fly in the ointment is that the iPad does require an external computer somewhere to keep its system software updated, backed up, etc. Perhaps we family-support geeks will now have to have a Mac dedicated to keeping all the iPads in our extended families up to date. ;-)
- stevejohnson 17y ago
  Unfortunately, your media libraries will all be identical as well. I really don't want that much Billy Joel sitting on my local hard drive all the time.
  - CrazedGeek 17y ago
    There are numerous ways built-in to iTunes that allow you to not sync Billy Joel.
  - elai 17y ago
    Not necessarily, it would just be the union of all of your media libraries on your computer, and a subset (sync play lists [Billy's iPad, Martha's iPad] ) for each iPad. With todays 1TB $100 hard drives, how much will it matter to have everyone's iPad library on your computer?
- Splines 17y ago
  Definitely. This requirement made sense for the iPod/iPhone, since it was an extension of your PC. For the iPad to really take hold as a standalone device, it should be able to update over the air. Then again, they could always offer some sort of update program at Apple stores. They could even charge for it.
cookiecaper 17y ago
My grandma uses her printer all the time, to print photos and greeting cards. She has a program that makes greeting cards for her, not web-based. She does family history research with a separate program. She uses video chat. She doesn't really like computers, but she's determined so she knows how to use them. I think that the group that just wants Facebook will start to want something else once they're used to Facebook.
deleted 17y ago
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enduser 17y ago
The iPhone has been successful as a platform because programmers want to use it. Programmers carry phones and take pleasure in improving their gadget-environment. Good software is written by people who use it. The iPad is not for developers, so applications developed for the iPad are going to be applications written to make money. The developers will test the applications, but they will not write applications for their own use unless they really need the hardware UI provided by the iPad. This is a console with a web browser, not a computer.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  I can immediately think of a multitouch stats application. And yes, I am a programmer.
cubix 17y ago
I thought it was meant to be a netbook replacement? I would be surprised to see it attract that segment of users. I'm wandering around a university campus now, where netbooks are quite popular. When I look at people's screens, the most common activities seem to be IM, facebook and email. Would these users rather be thumb typing their messages? I doubt it. I love my iPhone, and I can type reasonably fast on it, but I don't think I've used it to send an email longer than 3 sentences in the 18 months I've had it. I do agree it has a place in living rooms, though.
mooted 17y ago
Except nothing moms consider cool work on this thing..
lurkinggrue 17y ago
Probably iPad 3.0 will be widescreen and they will call it an inovation.

197 points by swombat 17y ago

It's not a good sign that the best people can say about the iPad is that their mom could probably get by with one, even though they would never use it. We've been hearing that refrain for decades, and it's never worked out in the marketplace. People who don't care about technology want to spend the least possible to get a fully-capable product. They want one computer that does everything and lasts forever - not a niche device that has to be tethered to a real PC anyway. The Wii is a poor example because it didn't succeed by being simpler - it sold by offering a compelling gimmick and content that was not available on other platforms, for an underserved market of children and baby-boomers. The iPad doesn't offer any content you can't find elsewhere, and the 'touch' interface is one that's failed to find a significant market in full-sized computers for over twenty years.

frossie 17y ago
They want one computer that does everything and lasts forever - not a niche device that has to be tethered to a real PC anyway. Yeah, that's a lot closer to describing my mom - housewive all her life, approaching 70 - but since the kids left home she has gotten one laptop after another, and her use is actually quite sophisticated by now - certainly beyond "browser only". I did give her an iPod touch but her only interest in it is inflicting pictures of her grandchildren on innocent civilians while she's out on the town - she uses her laptop for everything else. She has no particular interest in spending money on something like a tablet. And don't forget the generational thing too - I'm going to be the mythical "grandma" one day, and when I retire and have an empty nest I am going to tweak my gentoo box all day long :-)

poutine 17y ago

I'm a hardcore geek and I want to add an iPad to my toolchest. It'd join an array of devices and be used for web browsing on the couch and in bed. Touch based web browsing is superior to a mouse IMO. Seems like an amazing device for that.

Tichy 17y ago

While I agree, what bothers me a little is that all this time Apple had already claimed that Macs are so easy to use etc. So I guess they finally admit that it's not really true. At the same time I hope it will be at least more true for the iPad. Until mom asks why her favorite flash game doesn't work. Things I have recently helped relatives with: installing software for their navigation system, so that they could update the maps Getting their internet radio connected scanning, printing installing a webcam and skype In fact my impression is that "non-power" users often try to do even more hardcore stuff with their computers than I do, simply because they don't know which technologies are just hype and which ones are ready for prime time. For example my father tried speech recognition and used on of those horrible fax/scanner/printer units that hijacks your computer.

djcjr 17y ago

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (Clarke's Third Law) In my opinion, Apple is one of few companies that works on their product design until it appears magical, and their meteoric rise is the result. The standards for "Mom" are Star-Trek-high.

moron4hire 17y ago

If the iPad is the "apple for mom", then what was the iMac all this time? Whatever happened to OS X and "it just works"?

roc 17y ago
OS X is easy to use ... compared to other PCs. But this thing is easy to use the way your car is easy to use.
- moron4hire 17y ago
  My mother and grandmother would be insulted to be told that they need a "simpler" computer. This idea that regular computers are "too difficult" for "normal users" is nothing but pure condescension. Why should we believe that now, after all of the other "simplified computer for 'normal users'/internet appliance" devices to ever hit the market (including Apple's own AppleTV) that this one is going to make it?
  - roc 17y ago
    It's not about needing a simpler computer. It's about wanting one. Not all people; not even all mothers or grandmothers. And not all the time. The iPad has, in a sense, already made it. It, despite some people's protestations, is just a big iPod touch. Whether this form factor works or not, people have responded extremely well to its abstractions and simplifications, despite the limitations.

chrischen 17y ago

Most people do need computers. I'd say the majority of computer users are younger people and there's not one young person I know that uses their computer only to read new York times. Most computer users use it for work, and that's something the iPad is not optimized for. It's an entertainment casual device, but it's not mobile. I think there's a nice use for it because it let's you walk around your house with some of the information you used to have to sit down for. But to think it's really for the people who use 10 year old computers is naive.

grellas 17y ago

Entrepreneurial genius consists of a knack for acing your competitors out of key markets through innovative means. John D. Rockefeller did this by taking a nascent and highly localized oil industry (originally only in Pennsylvania and then Ohio) dominated by wildcatters and other independents and transforming it into a highly integrated and even ruthless competitive machine by which he could always beat his competitors on price while serving major emerging new markets. This was not based on any genius he had about the oil products themselves. He was not technically trained concerning such products. What he understood was business and innovation in emerging markets for these products. Hire the best talent. Gain control of the railroads that were vital to ship the products cheaply and efficiently, first by pressuring them through building a system of pipelines that threatened to undercut their business and then by entering into deals with them involving secret rebates so as to incentive them to deal with Rockefeller either alone or on highly preferential terms. Use legal innovations to set up trusts and partnerships that allowed a series of corporations, one in each state, to function as an integrated whole at a time when it was (people forget this) illegal for a corporation to do business across state lines, thereby gaining hegemony in the U.S. oil market that no other competitor could come even close to matching and eventually using this as a springboard for international dominance as well. The result (setting aside the illegalities involved): the building of an empire that grew exponentially in relation to anything else around it owing to its ability to offer quality and cheap pricing to consumers. It is not too far-fetched, I think, to say that Steve Jobs is doing something similar in taking on the wildcatters of today in a quest to win the major markets of the information age. He has so managed to unite amazing product development with tightly integrated and company-dominated distribution channels with ground-breaking arrangements with the telcos (who are the vital connecting links, or "railroads," of our day) as to build a formidable empire that threatens to crush any direct competitors in its field. The genius is undeniable, even down to having set up retail outlets of a type that everyone would have laughed at just 20 years ago. Who can tell where this quest for hegemony in today's open-systems world will go but the implications are both intriguing and frightening at the same time.

hrabago 17y ago

Before the iPhone came out, I was itching for a powerful phone that came close to being a browser-enabled computer in my pocket. The only devices I could get at the time was WEP browsers with very high data fees. The iPhone brought us a full browser with a $20 unlimited data plan. I bought it the first day it became available. It was a big leap forward compared with its peers. It allowed me to do things I wanted to do, and not just the things my telco allowed. The iPad has a different set of peers. We're not living in a world where the only tablet devices are the Kindle and Nook. There are actual fully functioning tablet PCs that can run the things normal PCs can. Apple is trying to move us from open devices to a closed one.

simonw 17y ago

I've been thinking much the same thing - I'd love it if the non-technical people in my life were using an iPad. They'd get in to much less trouble (of course, the same is true for Chrome OS). The question posed at the end is an interesting one: at the moment, the iPad appears to require a regular computer (just like an iPod touch does). Presumably a future version - or even a software update for the existing model - will get rid of this dependency.

ZachPruckowski 17y ago
>>The question posed at the end is an interesting one: at the moment, the iPad appears to require a regular computer (just like an iPod touch does). Presumably a future version - or even a software update for the existing model - will get rid of this dependency. Apple's paradigm is that the devices revolve around the main computer, and I don't see that changing. However, it could be that the "main computer" evolves into a headless thing (like the new Mac Mini Server) that auto-magically handles the Ethernet, USB devices, and mass storage for the iPad(s). Plug it into the wall, the router, and the printer, and it finds the iPad(s) via Bonjour on your wireless network. Your Mac Mini Server (MMS) downloads your upgrades for you, stores your media, and backs up your contacts and files. It works like a remote harddrive. Just drag files you don't need any more over to its home screen icon, and they're kept on the server now. It's also your hub to access your digital camera or other USB device, and shares them over 802.11n to the iPad(s). Then, a few years later, when our Mobile Me accounts have like 5 TB limits and enough people have HD-streaming broadband, that computer can be replaced by a simple dock with an Ethernet port and USB for the printers and cameras. Apple's getting $99/year instead of $500 for the server, but still making bank. You buy stuff on iTunes and it automatically appears on your iDisk. You download it when you sync your iPad with your iDisk and put it in your iPad's library. Tired of that song? Throw it out on the iPad and download it again later.
icefox 17y ago
So the question is how would things go if you have an single mac (when you really need it) and several pad's. What cool things would you do if everyone had a few lying around. While it might be able to replace a desktop several years from now I think it can only be thought of as an accessory to a desktop at this point. Edit: Also hearing so many people saying: "My mom should get one of these" is really them saying "I wont buy it, but someone else should". Really makes me ponder just how successful it really will be.

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mattjung 17y ago

I totally agree that this device could replace the PC for many many people. I see the iPad as the universal remote-commander for all kind of media and entertainment. Imagine you could buy a film on iTunes and beam it into your television screen...

stcredzero 17y ago
Apple should sell such kits with an Apple TV bundled with an iPad. (Flatscreen and sound system optional.)

rriepe 17y ago

Another similarity between iPad and Wii: People ruthlessly made fun of the name when it was first announced.

icefox 17y ago
People only stopped making fun of the Wii name when it was successful. If the iPad isn't a success then it will be laughed at forever.
- swombat 17y ago
  Nowhere near as much as if it had ended up being called iSlate, though!
  - nishantmodak 17y ago
    iSlate = is Late!

wallflower 17y ago

Steve Jobs foreshadowed in an October 2008 conference call that they are creating the $500 iPad and not going after those people who want multi-tasking (even if its just: "I want IM/irc running in the background, listening to pandora and browsing at once"). And those who want shell access and total admin control. All of which probably requires Mac OS X - which the PA Semi A4 chip presumably does not yet support. "What we want to do is deliver an increasing level of value to these customers, but there are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk; our DNA will not let us do that. We've seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody, and you can expect us to stick with that winning strategy." -Steve Jobs, 2008 October http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10072393-37.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10072393-37.html

cpr 17y ago
Make no mistake about it--they could run Mac OS X on the iPad a year ago, if they wanted to. The iPhone OS (3.2) that supports the iPad is a full-fledged Mach/BSD kernel, as much as 10.6, and it's just a matter of which kernel extensions and system and user applications you include in the total build.
- wallflower 17y ago
  As I sit here on my Windows machine, looking at Process Lasso Pro - I'm fascinated by the background processes eating up my performance. Virus scanner to Outlook to winlogon.exe. Even if Mac OS X could run on the new A4 chip, I think Apple is concerned about 3rd party apps that are multi-tasking degrading the performance/overall experience.
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    I predict that Apple will come out with a background-task API that puts hard realtime constraints on the work a background thread does. Basically, you register a block of code as a background task, and select an Apple defined "level of service." If your code block doesn't complete during the time interval allotted to it, then the dev is SOL. If they did this, they could have background tasks that would satisfy 80 to 90% of what devs want to do, but preserve battery life.

mcav 17y ago

Even a technophile like me wants to just sit back and be a "regular person" once in a while; to sit back with a book, do some reading on the web, or watch a movie on the couch. The iPad doesn't have to have shell access to be an incredibly useful device for technophiles either. There are SSH programs for the iPhone; there will be similarly useful utilities built for the iPad too.

MrFoof 17y ago
ding Even for the non-technophiles, there's a tremendous amount of value in such a device. Last year my parents were moving out of their home into a smaller, elderly apartment. They found an old HP iPaq I apparently left behind in a box years ago. They called me asking if it would allow them to browse the web sort of like an iPhone, but from the couch. My response was "sort of, but not really". Their response was quite dejected. They really hoping it would've allowed them to browse on the couch. We've been down the netbook idea road before, and the laptop road, but the solution ended up being an iMac. My father (in his 60s) has terrible eyesight, so a large display was great. Time Machine was also the "killer app" for them -- they hated making backups before, but my father begrudgingly made some every few months (I used to do it for them during holiday visits). iPad though? Exactly what they want. Especially my Mom who is a bona-fide technophobe. She's still "afraid" of computers, fearing she'll "mess it up". The iPad is perfect for 95% of what she does. The only thing she still has to use the iMac for is a few games (which could be re-bought for the iPad or her Nintendo DS), and for scanning in the family photo albums. Instant on. On the couch. No keyboard. Nothing to "mess up". Access to all the computer's media (especially if there's AppleTV like streaming from their iTunes library). As articles have mentioned, this is the perfect computer for the family technophobe. Or for replacing that old laptop you had around that you were considering replacing with a netbook for casual-couch-computing -- so they can futz around on Facebook or do a quick email or look up a quick thing while they watch TV or have a spare moment.
- bbgm 17y ago
  I need to use one before making up my mind, but today I use a Macbook Pro as my production device (code, music production, presentations, other high volume content creation) and an iPhone for mobile communication and very casual short bursts of consumption. What's missing is a pure casual consumption and occasional production device. This fits in quite well. Netbooks are just not the right form factor for many of those tasks.

david927 17y ago

No. The iPad is something new and products like this have to go through the diffusion of innovation from early adopters to get to the early majority -- and I personally know of no early adopter who is happy with it (all of whom had an iPhone when it launched, etc). The word among early adopters is "bullshit". I don't care who Apple is, or who they think they are, they can't beat the diffusion curve.

stcredzero 17y ago
I'm an early adopter, and I like it a lot.
- david927 17y ago
  Yes, you're an early adopter, but you're one who drinks kool-aide. There are about 5% of you.

jkincaid 17y ago

Totally agreed. However, I think the iPad should come with a more robust photo app — something that lets you import and manage photos (all through fun drag and drop, of course). In my experience, many light computer users still take digital photos. It would also be nice if this thing could manage video importing, with maybe some very basic editing functionality similar to what's on the iPhone.

boundlessdreamz 17y ago
look at the bottom of http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/ The Camera Connection Kit gives you two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera. The Camera Connector lets you import your photos and videos to iPad using the camera’s USB cable. Or you can use the SD Card Reader to import photos and videos directly from the camera’s SD card.
- cpr 17y ago
  Right, it looks like this is a baby version of iPhoto, not just a viewing app, so you can import photos, etc. Presumably these photos would get sync'd back up with your "real" iPhoto when you plug it in to iTunes.
MartinCron 17y ago
I would be shocked if there isn't. You can import pictures from memory cards or digital cameras (with an attachment). I see myself using the iPad for this sort of quick-and-dirty post-shoot curation and showing off. Especially if I'm traveling and don't want to lug my full-on laptop with me.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  I thought my HP slate would be the cat's meow for photo touchups in the field. Come up with a well designed way to connect cameras, Port Aperture to the iPad, and you'd have one kickass piece of kit for photo work. I wonder if someone could come up with a Bluetooth or WiFi enabled mini-USB micro-dongle you could just leave plugged into the camera behind its media-port panel?

stcredzero 17y ago

A better comparison is with the Nintendo Wii. While Sony and Microsoft competed in the cut-throat market of consoles for gamers, the Wii also created a new product category: consoles for everyone else. It worked pretty well for them – it turns out that there’s a lot more non-gamers than gamers, and making a device that appeals to 95% of the population sells better than making one that appeals to only 5%. Daniel hit the nail on the head. The industry has been tending towards making high-spec machines while often neglecting human interface issues. People complain that all of this email/booting up/installing/URL stuff was too complicated, and we techies blamed them and told them to RTFM. In the meantime, others directly address their concerns, and surprise -- people give them money.

ZachPruckowski 17y ago
Yes - the majority of people view computers as appliances. They don't want a computer, they want an email machine and a word processing machine and a "show me this website" machine and a music-playing machine. They don't need 2560x1600@120fps, and they don't care about having 16 processors. They want to sit down, bang out an email, and do something else, or sit down, type their paper, and be done. Apple actually had something like this in the mid-90s called "At Ease", designed as a child-safe file manager. You had programs on one tab and files on the other. I remember it from elementary school, and always felt that a more modern version of that would help less computer literate people.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  Yes - the majority of people view computers as appliances. They don't want a computer, they want an email machine and a word processing machine and a "show me this website" machine and a music-playing machine. More precisely, they want a backplane into which they can effortlessly plug in various appliances. Press Buy, download it, plug it in, it just works.
  - ZachPruckowski 17y ago
    Users want to complete tasks. Each of these tasks should be as simple as a toaster. Push button, insert input, push button, win. Open Mail, type letter, hit send, hear "sent mail" swoosh. Open Safari, enter URL or search term, click Go, get webpage. Push lever, insert bread, wait 30 seconds, eat delicious toast. Open Word, type stuff, hit save/print/email, get happy boss. Open Youtube, enter search/URL, push Go, Laugh.

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

This is probably the best post someone has put together on everything so far. My mom already wants this device. My roommate who had a macbook then decided to drop having a computer all together for 6 months is going to get this. It's kind of what Litl was trying to do with the web-book. It's about making computers simple and easy to use again. Less headaches, less complexity, and robust functionality. I think the iPad is something special, because it's going to open the door for us to rethink what a computer should be. Maybe this is the chance we have to rewrite everything.

ZachPruckowski 17y ago

In the MMO genre, this divide is called "themepark vs sandbox". A game like World of Warcraft is a themepark - you're given a lot of direction in terms of where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do. EVE Online is a sandbox - you do whatever you want and you get fewer roadsigns that say "go this way" or "beating this means you win". Current computers are sandboxes - you can do with them whatever you want, run arbitrary code, create your own workflow, and operate without rules. The iPad is a themepark - it has specific programs that do specific things, and then it's got little roped off paths between them. For many users (the proverbial Mom), a well-developed theme park is more attractive, because all they really wanted to do anyhow is ride the roller-coaster or the Ferris wheel. People like the average Hacker News reader (or even the average reddit or digg reader) can't stand the roped off paths, but for Mom, those laid out sidewalks are a relief.

dtegart 17y ago
This is a similar path to what has happened with cars. Most people used to know how to maintain their own car. Now you barely have to know how to pop the hood.
- DannoHung 17y ago
  Actually, that's pretty much because cars got computers. No one person knows how to completely fix a computer.
  - dtegart 17y ago
    That's a good point, but cars are also much more reliable now so you don't have to know how to fix them. The same could be said for operating systems and computers in general.
- pyre 17y ago
  The point is that you still can pop the hood and make modifications. (Though a lot of manufacturers have tried to prevent some of this with locked-down computers under the hood)

snewe 17y ago

Why must a lack of a camera be in every article on the iPad? Am I the only longtime MacBook owner that never uses that little camera above my screen?

swombat 17y ago
Probably, yes. Many people use their computer for Skype calls with family. Having video is a really nice bonus there.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  This sort of device has the potential to really disrupt the telecoms industry. I think huge swathes of the populace would be just fine with spending $15 a month, and having their friends and family IM them as a form of paging and calling back with Skype.
  - sukuriant 17y ago
    If it's through ATT, if it's anything like the iPhone, that's $30 a month, and there's a restriction of < 10MB downloads. It won't be $15 a month. I do feel sorry for ATT's network, though. Think of the strain that the iPhone put on their network, and now they're accepting a computer!? makes me happy I switched to Verizon.
    - stcredzero 17y ago
      If it's through ATT, if it's anything like the iPhone, that's $30 a month, and there's a restriction of < 10MB downloads. It won't be $15 a month. You didn't watch the presentation, did you? It's indeed under $15 a month for 250 MB a month. Plenty for IMs, emails, and the occasional Skype call.

doronba 17y ago

I am not sure. Many of my technophobe relations are Multitaskers (messy ones to be sure but multitasking nonetheless) and have a problem abandoning the nested folder system they hold so dear (and Itunes will not help there) They are familiar with office applications (by which they send jokes etc) and will resist unfamiliar tools) many older people rely on their computer to keep contact with their relations through skype etc.., and it does not offer it. If it was a little more robust, did not require a persistent connection to a desktop (to manage files) and had Flash then maybe so, as it stands i just don't know, im fairly confident my mom wouldn't like it.

oozcitak 17y ago

That was the best iPad review I read since the launch. What makes us say "meh" is exactly what mom needed since she first laid her hands on a computer. I could remove all functionality from her computer, leaving just the browser and she would be perfectly happy with it. In that sense one could argue that Chrome OS' hardest competitor will be the iPad. I wonder if they saw that coming.

cpr 17y ago

The one fly in the ointment is that the iPad does require an external computer somewhere to keep its system software updated, backed up, etc. Perhaps we family-support geeks will now have to have a Mac dedicated to keeping all the iPads in our extended families up to date. ;-)

stevejohnson 17y ago
Unfortunately, your media libraries will all be identical as well. I really don't want that much Billy Joel sitting on my local hard drive all the time.
- CrazedGeek 17y ago
  There are numerous ways built-in to iTunes that allow you to not sync Billy Joel.
- elai 17y ago
  Not necessarily, it would just be the union of all of your media libraries on your computer, and a subset (sync play lists [Billy's iPad, Martha's iPad] ) for each iPad. With todays 1TB $100 hard drives, how much will it matter to have everyone's iPad library on your computer?
Splines 17y ago
Definitely. This requirement made sense for the iPod/iPhone, since it was an extension of your PC. For the iPad to really take hold as a standalone device, it should be able to update over the air. Then again, they could always offer some sort of update program at Apple stores. They could even charge for it.

cookiecaper 17y ago

My grandma uses her printer all the time, to print photos and greeting cards. She has a program that makes greeting cards for her, not web-based. She does family history research with a separate program. She uses video chat. She doesn't really like computers, but she's determined so she knows how to use them. I think that the group that just wants Facebook will start to want something else once they're used to Facebook.

deleted 17y ago

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enduser 17y ago

The iPhone has been successful as a platform because programmers want to use it. Programmers carry phones and take pleasure in improving their gadget-environment. Good software is written by people who use it. The iPad is not for developers, so applications developed for the iPad are going to be applications written to make money. The developers will test the applications, but they will not write applications for their own use unless they really need the hardware UI provided by the iPad. This is a console with a web browser, not a computer.

stcredzero 17y ago
I can immediately think of a multitouch stats application. And yes, I am a programmer.

cubix 17y ago

I thought it was meant to be a netbook replacement? I would be surprised to see it attract that segment of users. I'm wandering around a university campus now, where netbooks are quite popular. When I look at people's screens, the most common activities seem to be IM, facebook and email. Would these users rather be thumb typing their messages? I doubt it. I love my iPhone, and I can type reasonably fast on it, but I don't think I've used it to send an email longer than 3 sentences in the 18 months I've had it. I do agree it has a place in living rooms, though.

mooted 17y ago

Except nothing moms consider cool work on this thing..

lurkinggrue 17y ago

Probably iPad 3.0 will be widescreen and they will call it an inovation.