5 ms·

The iPad is not a computer. The iPad is not a computer. Say it with me, Microsoft. Join in, half the tech industry. Nobody framed it better than Apple themselv

The iPad is not a computer. The iPad is not a computer. Say it with me, Microsoft. Join in, half the tech industry. Nobody framed it better than Apple themselves at the iPad launch. On the big screen was an iPhone, a MacBook, and in between them, an iPad. Steve called it a new category, and that wasn't just marketing speak. It really is a new kind of gadget, designed to make you do things that you previously did not do. This is why everybody says they have no use for it.. because they truly don't, until they have one in their hands. With that in mind, Microsoft and the rest of the tablet me-too wave, probably don't appreciate what they are up against. There is no tablet market, there is an iPad market. Microsoft's best shot would be an X-Pad. Everyone else should get behind Google. But really, I think Apple is going to own this category for a good decade.

TotlolRon 16y ago
The iPad IS a computer. It is at the time when the definition of a word changes that the greatest oppertunities present themselves. There is no iPad market, there is no tablet market - there is a computer market. This is what MS is up against... [Sent from my iPod touch]
- extension 16y ago
  We're going to need a new word because I don't think the computer is going anywhere, and neither does Apple. I think Steve was spot on with his car vs truck analogy: the iPad will be like a car, which everyone will have, and the computer will be like a truck, which people only have for special purposes. That's what computers used to be anyway, and I think it will be fantastic to have them back in their niche again, instead of trying to please everyone.
- Tamerlin 16y ago
  No, it isn't -- it's by design not capable of running enough applications to be a standalone computer. In terms of niches, it's more like the XTerms of yesteryear. The terminals weren't much for horsepower; they were basically UI's that allowed you to work more or less transparently with whatever machine you wanted to, like that Cray Y-MP or SP2 cluster in the data center next door, or the SGI Indigo down the hall. Snip the wires, shrink it down, modernize the internals and put a slick visual UI on it, and you have an iPad. Well, conceptually, that is. This is what the iPad was made to do, and IMO is one of the reasons that it's successful -- it isn't pretending to be something that it isn't.
DougBTX 16y ago
s/computer/desktop computer/g
felixmar 16y ago
One thing that surprised me after using an iPad for a while is that the web is starting to feel old. I now see bloated web pages everywhere. Unnecessary widgets, links, icons, useless side columns, actual content making up a quarter of the screen. Information overload. I am now regularly imagining how a site i visit would be better as an iPad app. Applications like Flipboard have created new expectations how content could be consumed.
- acon 16y ago
  I have also feel that the web has become bloated and overloaded. I don't see what this has to do with the iPad. What I would like to see is a revival of the web with structural markup, fluid layouts and a minimum of distractions. Is there anything about what you need to do which can only be done on an iPad? Such a revival is easier on a new platform where you don't know what to expect yet. However, I don't see anything which would prevent someone bold enough from cleaning up their part of the web.
  - msy 16y ago
    No, but the recent spate of apps that take user experience when accessing third party content very seriously shows how utterly painful most of the normal web is. I think with first-party content providers it's also that if they're getting paid, they at the very least cut the ads down from eye-gouge to simply irritating, which helps as well. I think maybe the point is that while there's nothing technically special about the platform, at the high end its developers are in a league of their own when it comes to UI. This is of course a distilled version of the entire Apple developer culture, which has always taken this stuff more seriously than Windows and certainly *nix.
- code_duck 16y ago
  A lot of websites are outdated and built with 2001 in mind, no doubt. But please don't turn the web into a console game.
code_duck 16y ago
Huh, that's odd. I could have sworn it was a computer with a touch screen and no keyboard.

TotlolRon 16y ago

The iPad IS a computer. It is at the time when the definition of a word changes that the greatest oppertunities present themselves. There is no iPad market, there is no tablet market - there is a computer market. This is what MS is up against... [Sent from my iPod touch]

extension 16y ago
We're going to need a new word because I don't think the computer is going anywhere, and neither does Apple. I think Steve was spot on with his car vs truck analogy: the iPad will be like a car, which everyone will have, and the computer will be like a truck, which people only have for special purposes. That's what computers used to be anyway, and I think it will be fantastic to have them back in their niche again, instead of trying to please everyone.
Tamerlin 16y ago
No, it isn't -- it's by design not capable of running enough applications to be a standalone computer. In terms of niches, it's more like the XTerms of yesteryear. The terminals weren't much for horsepower; they were basically UI's that allowed you to work more or less transparently with whatever machine you wanted to, like that Cray Y-MP or SP2 cluster in the data center next door, or the SGI Indigo down the hall. Snip the wires, shrink it down, modernize the internals and put a slick visual UI on it, and you have an iPad. Well, conceptually, that is. This is what the iPad was made to do, and IMO is one of the reasons that it's successful -- it isn't pretending to be something that it isn't.

DougBTX 16y ago

s/computer/desktop computer/g

felixmar 16y ago

One thing that surprised me after using an iPad for a while is that the web is starting to feel old. I now see bloated web pages everywhere. Unnecessary widgets, links, icons, useless side columns, actual content making up a quarter of the screen. Information overload. I am now regularly imagining how a site i visit would be better as an iPad app. Applications like Flipboard have created new expectations how content could be consumed.

acon 16y ago
I have also feel that the web has become bloated and overloaded. I don't see what this has to do with the iPad. What I would like to see is a revival of the web with structural markup, fluid layouts and a minimum of distractions. Is there anything about what you need to do which can only be done on an iPad? Such a revival is easier on a new platform where you don't know what to expect yet. However, I don't see anything which would prevent someone bold enough from cleaning up their part of the web.
- msy 16y ago
  No, but the recent spate of apps that take user experience when accessing third party content very seriously shows how utterly painful most of the normal web is. I think with first-party content providers it's also that if they're getting paid, they at the very least cut the ads down from eye-gouge to simply irritating, which helps as well. I think maybe the point is that while there's nothing technically special about the platform, at the high end its developers are in a league of their own when it comes to UI. This is of course a distilled version of the entire Apple developer culture, which has always taken this stuff more seriously than Windows and certainly *nix.
code_duck 16y ago
A lot of websites are outdated and built with 2001 in mind, no doubt. But please don't turn the web into a console game.

code_duck 16y ago

Huh, that's odd. I could have sworn it was a computer with a touch screen and no keyboard.