Casual Computing

I remember when Apple released the iPod Mini. I wrote about it. At the time, people complained that it was underpowered and overpriced. The iPod Mini became Apple’s bestselling iPod.

Yesterday, Apple announced a new product, the iPad. Already the whining has begun about how no one will use it and they can’t possibly see how this device will fit into their lives. And I understand completely the thinking. I have a smartphone. I have a laptop. I don’t need another device. Nope, I don’t. But it’s not about need.

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Just like with the lower capacity iPod Mini (it had 4GB of storage for $249; normal iPods had 40 times that amount for an extra $150), people are only looking at bullet points. I am willing to bet that people will find a place for the iPad in their lives once they walk into an Apple store and touch one.

I do a lot of reading on my iPhone and my Kindle. The problem with each is that one is better at one kind of thing than the other. An iPad, theoretically, removes the Kindle as a need as a reader. That I can browse the web or use a dedicated app of some kind? Gravy. I like the Kindle. I like it. I do not LOVE it. I liked cell phones in my past. I LOVE my iPhone. This is what Apple does. They build devices you love.

I hate to mention gender here, but I think it’s important in Apple’s history. The first iBooks were routinely loved by women. The orange, blue and gray models were funky, fun and unusual. They looked out of place in your office. But they sold. Heather’s first Mac purchase was a 2002 iBook. The iPad is not something that is a “serious” computing device in the sense that I strap in and “get busy” for hours on end. The use case I see is that an iPad (or two, especially at the lowest price point) becomes something that sits around the house and you pick it up and use it for 10–30 minutes at a time. Might be used as a reader, photo browser, web browser but only for short bursts. I do see it as a better way to read websites in bed. I do this now with my laptop (and I imagine I’m not alone) and I hate that I can’t slouch or lay on my side and surf the web easily. I try to do this with the iPhone, but it’s so small I have to hold it up to my face to read stuff. After more than a few minutes, it’s not too comfortable. While the iPhone has saved me and paid for itself many times over in productivity gains and in bailing me out when I need to do something remotely and can’t use a laptop or desktop machine, it’s not the best reader in the world. However, it does have a touch interface and that’s very nice when reading. The iPad is a couch/bed/slouch device. It’s a sit back and relax device. It’s not a productivity enhancer or new way to take your office on the road. It’s just a device to hit a couple of sites, play a round of a game or two and then go make dinner. One commenter said something similar on my post yesterday.

When I travel and use my iPhone on the plane extensively (and even if I don’t), I have to do so with an external battery pack, because using the iPhone as a reader/gaming device/iPod on a plane often means having little battery power when I land. Given the nature of our recent business moves, this has become critical. It would be more comfortable to replace the Kindle with an iPad and be able to read from that, saving my phone for actual phone usage when I land. You might think I’m nuts, but it’s just how I travel. The other thing is that opening a laptop in a coach seat on an airliner is next to impossible these days, especially with anything larger than a netbook.

Which reminds me that people who do serious computing with a netbook are not the target for this device. I really think that the iPad may have a similar attraction to women looking to buy a Kindle or a laptop for more casual use. It’s nutty to think about “casual” and “computing” in the same sentence, but gamers said the same thing about Nintendo’s Wii. Pros looking for a new form factor portable tool are likely not the target. Nerds are not the target. People who read or want a less formal computing experience are totally the target.

One side note: I’ve loved being able to take photos on my iPhone, edit them in different apps on the phone and then upload them from the phone to flickr. In particular, I love TiltShift Generator for it’s interface use of applying blurs. I imagine that apps like TiltShift on the iPad will open up new, fun ways to use the device that we can’t see yet. Whether those will compel fence sitters to buy an iPad remains to be seen.

Finally, another thing that separates Apple from a lot of companies is that Apple isn’t afraid to kill a product and replace it with something it thinks is better. 18 months after announcing the iPod Mini, Apple killed it and replaced it with the iPod Nano. Since 2005 there have been five product revisions to the iPod Nano, almost all of them changing the form factor and feature sets. The iPad is the first generation of hopefully an interesting and increasingly more useful product line.

Will I buy one? Yes. When? Soon.

  • alycebh

    Nice to see you come out of the woodwork and post again. I miss your geekery (and your thoughts on healthcare).

    I’m in b-school. I needed a new laptop so Santa brought me a netbook, in an effort to save some cash. It’s amazing. I use MS Office Professional and MS Project with no problems. I also use Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature. I occasionally use Kindle on it.

    I still use my iPhone all the time, especially when I’m at home and/or in bed.

    I love the idea of the iPad, and if I didn’t have a netbook, it’d probably be next on my list. I have a feeling I’ll be waiting until school’s out (graduation in October!) and the netbook’s keyboard ceases being my main input need. After that, it’s on like 80s video game of your choice.

  • crazycoltrane

    I’m getting one (with the 3G option) as soon as they’re out… I’m glad that I resisted the urge to buy a Kindle DX over Christmas, ironically I did so waiting for the Skiff Reader or the Plastic Logic Que to be out and have a balanced comparison. In comes the Jesus Tablet and it’s Game-Set-Match APPLE!!!, I totally agree with you this will be a causal use device, eReader, Fantasy Scores Updater, Couch & Bed “Toy”, but if they were to say build an App that gave you “reader” capability of MS Office Files & PDF’s I can see it becoming a tool for traveling sales people that need quick access to sales docs etc… You know?

  • makfan

    I am very tempted. I carry around my 17″ MacBook Pro, mostly so I can read stuff when I have 10–15 spare minutes. I’d love to leave it home more often.

  • Kymmi

    When the iPod came out, I had my husband get me one for xmas. He thought it was silly, and it was true that I didn’t always listen to a ton of music. But what it did was change how I listened to music. I think the same thing will be said of the iPad. When it was the iPhone, I never used my cell phone and people wondered why I was going to stand in line after work for one. Because the idea of my phone containing the internet, the full internet and so much more would change the way I communicated with people. The iPad I’m hoping will take the next leap. I like to say that I will only get one if I can get textbooks on it, as I recently returned to school. But it’s not. I’ll get one for looking up recipes without having to print them out. I’ll get one for reading on the plane, rather than carry 5 books on vacation. I’ll get one for jotting down notes, browsing.

    I don’t know yet how it will change how I live, I only know that it will.

  • christiandersen

    I’ll tell you anecdotally that you’re right on the gender issue. I was a computer programmer, so I like power, but I’m a very pragmatic computer user. Now I mostly surf the web and do some work in Word/Excel. After having an iPod Touch for 2 hours, I turned to my husband and said that it could replace my laptop (which he could have) if only it was the size of a Kindle. I think Apple must have been ease dropping because the iPad has filled exactly that niche!

  • Grover Dill

    I appreciate this post. It’s startling to me how many people expected this device to do EVERYTHING for them once it was announced. That is not the way Apple operates. I remember when the first iMacs came out and people were horrified that they got rid of parallel and serial ports in favor of some newfangled thing called USB. People bitched about it at the time, but its hard to believe it was ever actually an issue now.

    It’s funny because I totally get this device, but I did not WANT one. I have an iPhone and a Kindle DX and spend 90% of my time in front of a desktop computer anyway. But when my wife, who is a teacher, got home from work and we started talking about this thing, she decided she NEEDED ONE, STAT, OMFG. Her reasoning is that this form factor is perfect for being able to hold like a clipboard and walk around the class entering grades in the school grade system in real time, ie. she won’t have to offload all that data entry to a big batch at the end of the day. She has tried to use use an iPod touch for that purpose in the past, but has been stymied by small screen size and poor wifi performance at her school.

    The iPad form factor is going to save her a ton of time at a relatively low cost, and I can’t help but think that there are MANY other use cases where this will be true once people wrap their heads around the implications of this device.

  • http://badlydrawnmonsters.blogspot.com badmonsters

    I still don’t really get it, to be honest. This device could have been so much more, but it just seems like they made a big iPod (which granted is still cool, but its nothing new).
    The only thing I liked about kindle/nook readers was the e-ink because reading glowing computer screens and small text drives me crazy after awhile.
    The only niche it seems to fill is the void the “look at my new toy” that some folks need so they can revel in the stares from strangers on the subway or bus.
    I guess I’m just disappointed that this product could have so easily been so much more, but it just seems like Apple barely tried.

  • steve-o
  • http://teezecrost.myopenid.com/ Rob Bond

    Apple depends on people willing to shell out top dollar for shiny sub-par devices.

  • Andrew

    People were right about the iPod mini. It was overpriced when you strictly compared price to storage capacity. The iPod mini was a success though because it cost less than the standard iPod; not because Apple had extra special insight into the user experience, but because Apple is usually a smart company and knows that it needs to expand its consumer base in order to make more money. The $150 price difference was huge for the less-affluent consumer base.

    In that regard the iPad is the opposite of the iPod mini. Like the iPod mini the size makes it better for certain tasks, even though it doesn’t offer a major change in features. However, the iPad ultimately costs more than other devices running the iPhone OS. This move expands the consumer base toward the affluent consumer, but that group of consumers is much smaller than the opposite consumer group that the iPod mini attracted.

    • http://blurbomat.com blurb

      $999-$1499 MacBook to surf and read email and maybe do some photos or a $499 device to do the same? Also, the $499 device is lighter and has better battery life.

      Apple is gonna win big on this device.

      • http://badlydrawnmonsters.blogspot.com badmonsters

        or $299 for a netbook.

        • Andrew

          …that does more.

          • Grover Dill

            More is not always better from a user standpoint. There are a lot of casual computer users who find conventional desktop operating systems intimidating both to use and correctly maintain. The iPad gives consumers a means of opting out of having to use a much more complicated desktop OS if all they need to do is mess around on the web and use some relatively simple apps. I believe that lots of people will be willing to pay what amounts to a pretty slight markup over netbooks for the added simplicity.