Despite the iPad, tablet adoption will be limited until we decide WHERE we’re going to use them — as we did LAPtops, DESKtops, and MOBILE phones
“I don’t know what I’d do with it.”
That is one of the big criticisms of the iPad. Some say that it’s still searching for its “killer app.” I totally agree with this sentiment. But here’s another way to look at it.
Desktop, laptop, and mobile all speak to where you use it. But what about tablet? That’s a form factor — and we don’t call a laptop a “hinged screen with keyboard.” The tablet doesn’t yet have a context of use baked in. What’s the use scenario? Where are you going to use it? How are you going to position it relative to your body? Until we resolve these questions, tablets, pads, slates — whatever — will just be a cool technology. It’s something app developers and would-be iPad slayers should keep in mind as they develop their products.
Now, it’s clear what Apple’s take is:
So, is it the “couch computer”? The “reclining PC”? Or my favorite, the “kneetop”? I guess time will tell. Remember, at some point we used the terms “laptop” and “notebook” computer interchangeably before we largely settled on “laptop.”
To be honest, I think things will turn out a bit differently. My take is that “tablets” as a term will hang around, but that they’ll usher in the era of “casual computing.” Put another way, to be successful, tablets will have to be a transition point when we stop thinking about “using a computer” when we grab one. To me, that’s what people havein mind when they talk of having several tablets just lying around.
There is an alternative worth considering. Tablets may turn out to be a meaningless category. We may decide that there are actually several distinct, more purpose-driven categories — think eBooks/eReaders. This would be akin to Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs).
But my heart still votes for the “kneetop.”
I had the same initial impression when the iPad first hit the scene- very cool, but what need does it fill better than existing products?
I totally agree with the BusinessInsider article you link to. The most interesting use I’ve observed so far is, in fact, a knee-top scenario, though with a social twist.
While at a friend’s house for Game 4 of the Celtics-Lakers NBA finals, the house iPad became a communal extension of the group’s rolling conversation. Some uses were more or less related to the game- “How tall *is* Big Baby?” or “What ever happened with Kobe’s legal issues?”. Others were more about the group’s common activities- “Here, get on Kayak and book your plane tickets to our weekend getaway NOW.”
Sometimes the host who owned the iPad drove the search, but just as often it was passed around with a “Let me see that…” Three advantages of the iPad as a communal device shined in this situation:
> It was a much easier to share and pass around than a heavier (and perceptibly more delicate) laptop or a tiny and more personal appendage like an iPhone/Blackberry. It also has a (now) easily recognizable and learnable interface
> It offered all the info and access promised in “interactive TV” without weird on-screen rollovers & awkward remote control navigation that would block the group’s ability to see/enjoy the “main event” on the giant TV
> It supported not just the activity on the screen, but the various topics of conversation and activities that a group might want to do online that come up over the course of an evening hanging out with friends
Notably, it did all this without trying to be an interactive piece of non-matching furniture like Microsoft Surface (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx).
I’m not running out to get a tablet anytime soon, but that evening I saw some great potential for the category as an untethered bridge on the way to fulfilling the promise of interactive TV. It has the flexibility to accommodate all the unpredictable behaviors people really have when they’re hanging out. I say we call it a group-top.
Awesome point Pete. Very much in alignment with discussions I’ve had in other contexts. I’ll leave it at that!
I remember calling Dell several years ago to complain that my “laptop’s” fan wasn’t working properly and the bottom was too hot to touch (much less leave on my lap). The response I got was “we know the computers get hot, so we don’t call them ‘laptops’, we call them ‘notebooks’.”
So that’s a cautionary note against hitching your wagon to the ‘kneetop’ term…unless you’re also signing up for velcro knee pads, a la http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTSDPKktbUk
Nice. Classic “CYA.”
My favourite iPad use is still the custom kitchen cabinet install: http://mashable.com/2010/05/04/ipad-kitchen-cabinet/
Marks the elegant end to recipe books (or, in my case, lugging my laptop into the kitchen to look up whether I’m supposed to add one or two teaspoons of vanilla).
I think the idea of using the iPad as a flat-screen alternative/ enhancement is one big thumbs-up.
Nice! I always worry about crumbs or sticky stuff getting into and onto my laptop. Maybe they’ll make “baking-friendly” cases.
It’s the iPad: you use it in and around your “Pad”, aka, Home, Living Space, Crib, Cave, Lion’s Den, Dragon’s Lair, Dungeon, Cabin, Nest, Hive…. you get the point.
The same way that Microsoft had the goal of getting a PC on every desk, Apple probably has the goal of an iPad in every in every Pad.
Nice turn of phrase. And I hope Apple never releases the iDungeon!