By Michael Malone
What is it about tablets?
Apple’s introduction Wednesday of its new iPad — the jokes have already begun about the name and feminine hygiene — was just the latest in what has been one of the most enduring obsessions in high tech history.
I’m not sure exactly why tablets are so appealing. Perhaps it’s because they harken back to the natural human tendency to write and draw on the nearest flat wall or stone or scrap of wood. Or maybe it’s a kind of cultural memory from the days of cuneiform writing on slabs of drying mud, or marking with chalk on a piece of slate in a one room schoolhouse. Whatever the reason, the dream of a smart, interactive tablet is almost as old as electronics itself.
The first time most of us encountered such a smart pad was, as is often the case, in science fiction — in particular, Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But even then, some very smart dreamers were already at work on developing the real thing. The best known of these was Alan Kay, who, Zelig-like, seemed to always find himself at the hottest places in tech during the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. First he was at MIT studying under the legendary Marvin Minsky; then at ARPA at the time it was creating the Internet; then at Xerox PARC when it was creating the operating system that would eventually become both the Apple OS and Microsoft Windows; then at Apple under John Sculley as a company Fellow.
Along the way, Kay first devised, then became obsessed with, and finally became the leading missionary (some would say Pied Piper) for a kind of smart tablet he called the “Dynabook.” Why the Dynabook proved to be such a beguiling notion that it haunted, and still haunts, the electronics industry would be the subject of a great sociology dissertation. Again, I think it has to do with it sitting right at the nexus of what is technologically possible and something deep and elemental in human nature.
Whatever the reason, the Dynabook became a kind of Grail object for the tech world — and it has spent billions of dollars of the last quarter-century in its pursuit . . .with little to show for it.
The first person to wholly surrender to the Dynabook dream was John Sculley, then CEO of Apple Computer after Steve Jobs’ first departure. Sculley was a veteran businessman, but a neophyte to high technology –and was deeply self-conscious about that fact, always feeling that his fellow Silicon Valley executives weren’t taking him seriously. For Sculley, the Dynabook was to be both his homerun product and his legitimization. It would earn for him respect from his peers, earn him at last a reputation for being a tech innovator, and in the process, be his own personal Macintosh — that is, would make the world forget Steve Jobs.
Sculley even paid for the creation of an expensive, Spielbergesque promotional film that offered a vision of what the ultimate Dynabook would be like. It was damn impressive movie — in retrospect, it was an early glimpse of both laptop computers and on-line avatars — but the technology was beyond anything that Apple, or any company of that era, could execute.
Apple really makes it hard on users by failing to engineer removable batteries in the entire iPod family. I’ll probably still buy one of the dang things…
Nice overview of history, but you need a scale and data entry practice. 1.5 lbs is the weight of a large can of soup, that milk quart is more like five pounds – my laptop. I cheered when I saw the keypad and the size, I’ll be typing at 60 wpm within a day on it. As many programs as my laptop will run, real multitasking is for real work and I don’t need that most of the time. Travel, readability and convenience suit the iPad and it will be in my purse soon. What it will kill is the MacBook Air.
I think you left out the omission of Flash in order to protect the iTunes video revenue stream (Hulu anyone?) at the expense of cripplng many modern websites (also killing free web games to compete with App Store games).
No SD cards for expansion is a big minus. Surely Apple could have their cake and eat it too by having the OS refuse to store any DRM’ed iTunes offerings on it, while letting you have the extra memory for your photos and MP3s. The external dongle reader is an abomination for the benefit of the form factor as well as overpriced.
Skipping two USB ports to let you plug in off the shelf keyboard, mouse etc to make it practical for more extended bouts of real work is a needless screwing (bluetooth versions never took off and are $$$)
The refusal to include a stylus is also needlessly iritating — even if they were deadset against something like Palm’s Graffiti — being able to annotate with digital ink is incedibly useful and for many uses fingers dont quite cut it. Why not give the user options when the hardest part, the base h/w, is up to the task.
USB ports, an SD slot (full or micro) and a slot for a stylus would have added less than $10 to the cost and made for a much more functional product if you want people to ditch their netbooks en masse (which *do* have cheap cams for videochat)
This is more like just a nicer tool for browsing the news and blogs (just don’t try to leave any non trivial comments!) plus iTouch.
I also have doubts about the ergonomics at the margin wrt killing netbooks — bordering on too big to hold one-handed (w/o covering part of screen?) and operate with the other for long. Using it on a desk/table interactively longer is more neck strain.
A built-in, very minimalist integral picture frame ‘kickstand’ would have been nice – and I’m sure Apple’s designers could havr made it unobtrusive when closed, but the ‘sleekness’ purists won out.
The iPad is like a 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean.
A good start.
I note that the criticisms mostly seem to be that it’s not a very capable net book computer. I agree. But then I think the device is better described as an information appliance. Something that computer manufacturers have been trying to sell us for 15 years.
The critics seem to forget that the wonders of the tech world appeal to a variety of consumers. Apple has chosen a simple, cheaper approach that appears to deliver on the promise of information appliance (for the rest of us?). And they come to the party with lots of experience and a good deal of brand equity. All else equal, this device should inspire many other competitors to develop and introduce their own solutions. I think this will be a big market with lots of choices for consumers. And that’s a feature, not a bug.
The ‘appliance’ aspect is another step in the right direction but this
“Apple has chosen a simple, cheaper approach that appears to deliver on the promise of information appliance”
is flawed — for the missing functionality in question it is NOT cheaper — cheaper than what? Not a netbook.
I’m sorry, they cut corners where cost/price was not an issue in order to maintain control.
It’s one thing for the consumer to give up control in having a closed OS and ‘box’ — but its entirely another to hamstring the *content* so thoroughly (for $$$) or the usability (touch only – w/onscreen keypad as only resort – in a case of not-invented-here?)
For all the talk about digital magazines & competitor to the Kindle — will this thing support Acrobat Reader either as a standalone or web browser plugin? Or will it be more iTunes closed-shop?
If the iPAD had multi-tasking, a webcam, and phone connection (wouldn’t video phone be nice), then I would consider buying one. Until then, I’ll keep waiting and watching.
Looks like yet another worthless plastic time vampire to me. Now everyone will have to find another 200 ways to make life overly complicated playing with a toy with zero net benefits to the time wasted to learn or operate it. Pick up a real book or paintbrush some time.
Another toy for the cult of Apple and of course Government at all levels. Last of all, Academia.
Most of the advance hype I saw suggested the iPad would be an e book or e news reader. This was going to be the gadget that killed print.
From what I read of Apple’s new offering, nobody seems to know what it really is. Apple must be planning to base its marketing campaign on “you’re just not cool ifyou don’t own one.” But will the market fall for tht again?
Gutenberg’s reader technology looks like being abound for a long tiome to come.
I have a hard time reading text when it runs across the whole page. Would others prefer two columns too?
I would have loved it to have a camera so I could Skype. Until then I’ll stick with my iTouch
Back at CES, Lenovo showed a system named the “Ideapad U1″ – a tablet which docked to a laptop – thus a hybrid of both laptop and tablet.
Perhaps this is the tablet we’ve being waiting for?
The pundits pontificate …
When iTunes was introduced, there was no iPod. When the iPod was introduced, there was no Store in iTunes. When the Store came online, there was not video content. When the video content arrived in the store, there …
The staggering number of geniuses who weigh in with their “nice try, but…” missives is beyond tiresome. Let’s do a little math exercise here – estimate the multiple of your net worth the iPad will sell in the first five days, weeks, months, and finally years. If your reaction is to be angered by my quiz, please realize you are free to go and do better, we await your genius.
If I can put all my textbooks on one device that weighs less than two pounds, will I be happy at not having to lug around 30 pounds of dead trees instead? Damn straight.
And why do you need a phone in this device? Get a life people. I’m chuckling at the mental imagery of people walking around with a loose-leaf sized gadget mashed to the sides of their heads. “Oh boy! We’re really advanced now!” LOL
Point taken on multi-tasking though, especially with the announcement of Works apps for less than 10 bucks each. It would be nice to switch back a forth between them. I imagine Steve Jobs will be fixing that soon.
The iPad reminds me of the Apple Cube (another 100% Steve product): Great design, underpowered, overpriced. (Perhaps 3rd parties will devise cameras, SD readers, and USB dongles that plug into the dock connector, but that would ruin the asthetics). Why Steve didn’t make the MacBook Air in a 10-11 inch screen size is beyond me: He would have crippled the netbook market. Better still, make the screen rotate 360 degrees for an instant tablet…best of both worlds? Frankly, I’d wait for iPad v2.0, which better be quicker, more featured, and cheaper: Otherwise, netbooks with Nvidia ION may eat it up. Thanks for reading!
As a self confessed techno junkie I will say I see the shortcomings of the iPad but I have a iPhone and this device will fix the shortcomings of the iPhone. I love to read my books on the iPhone but the screen is to small. I believe the print medium will die due to electronic devices like the iPhone and now the ipad. I for one say good riddence. Authors can make more money per sale instead of the printing companies plus thank goodness maybe it will stop the cutting of trees for books.
I for one will buy an iPad asap and even if it’s a useless piece of junk after 6 months I will buy the next version. Apple as never let me down yet. They have the coolest most useful high quality gagets on the market and they deserve the rewards. I skimp on most lifes little joys like starbucks, drinking,etc so when apple has a new toy I buy and I am not the only one.
Go Apple!!!
Apple may not succeed here themselves, but they may help others succeed.
The smartq v5/v7 exists now, runs linux/android/ce(yuk), have usb, sd slot, hdmi out and are priced less than half the entry level ipad. what hey lack are software polish.
It does actually multitask at the OS level (it’s a little Unix), and Apple’s own apps multitask, just as they do on the iPod and iPhone. It would probably be pretty easy for Apple to turn on multitasking for other apps, they are just worried about performance – do you really want the increased complexity of window and/or process management that would be involved if apps didn’t just always suspend? It’s not such a cut and dried issue, I think Apple has a point there.
it’s an iphone/ipod for old people: extra big screen, extra big button, less capabilities
so I will get one secretly and keep it hidden at home.
I will buy one of these for my wife. She is continually frustrated at the poorly performing Win based laptop that she uses mostly for web browsing and email. If the iPad will make her happy and relieve me from having to jack around with her laptop to make it work for her then it’s money well spent.
I think that tablets will be useful to people on the go as a web browser/newspaper reader, book reader, email reader, even e-magazine reader in places where it isn’t practical or convenient to unpack a laptop or netbook. I think they will become an alternative to carrying around books, magazines, newspapers, and documents that need to be studied. Sure, they aren’t much good if you need to do much typing or mousing, but their strength is browsing information in a convenient manner, not transmitting information.
A Kindle DX has a 9.7″ display, so does the iPad. The Kindle DX weighs 1.18 pounds to the iPads 1.5 or 1.6 pounds (depending on whether it has 3G or not). The Kindle DX has 4GB (3.3 available for user storage), the iPad has 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB. The Kindle sells for $489. The iPad starts at $499.
Considering the responsiveness of the iPad compared to the Kindle or any E-Ink product, and how much more the iPad does than the Kindle – movies, email, web, apps, etc., I’d have to say that the iPad walks all over the Kindle.
As for iPad vs netbook or laptop, if I’m going to a meeting and need to be able to take notes, check my calendar, etc., I think I might be happier taking the iPad than my laptop. Yes, I can edit movies, pictures, and do other things on my Laptop that I can’t do on the iPad, but I’ll be using the iPad hours after the laptop’s battery has died.
And for all you folks that complain about the lack of a removable battery, you do realize that a removable battery is heavier, bigger, and less powerful than a built in one don’t you? And I already have to spend to much time managing batteries as it is. Nor do I want to have to haul around extra batteries for something like this. The little bitty charger and USB cable would fit in a pants or jacket pocket in a pinch and I’m covered. I’m not sure a removable battery the size one would need for the iPad would fit even in a jacket pocket. Until they come up with a tiny, portable methane/air fuel cell this is about as good as it gets.
And don’t forget – Skype is a possibility with this thing. So it may be able to be a phone too. (And the 3G version has GPS as well.)
I already own an awesome Mac tablet called the Modbook. A company called Axiotron makes them with Apple’s tacit approval. It has a stylus and pressure sensitive screen that allows me to work on digital paintings (I’m an illustrator and author) while on the go. As for the ipad, of course I’ll buy one. It will be fantastic for browsing ebay while sitting in my family room.
Does anybody know why in the world they put qwerty keyboards on devices that Tinkerbell couldn’t type on? The whole point of the qwerty keyboard was to slow down typists in the age of mechanical typewriter by placing the most used keys as far removed from the strongest fingers as possible in order to prevent the mechanical keys from jamming. Ever since IBM invented that rotating ball for the selectrics the qwerty keyboard has been unnecessary and is probably responsible for a lot of hand injuries. The stupid layout makes even less sense on a device on which at best you are going to be using two thumbs to type?
Anyway Jobs is right in leaving the USD ports off since the whole idea of a notepad is to be disconnected from wires.
Nice article.
One more notable tablet-that-almost-succeeded: the IBM 730T. Full-on 386sx PC with a stylus screen that ran the tablet version of Windows 98. PCMCIA slots for everything from extra drive space to early wireless LAN cards
Poor battery technology of the day and IBM’s usual schizophrenic marketing killed it.
I still have one. It still works. I was using DeLorme software and a GPS receiver with it before anyone dreamed of GPS phones.
The only future I see for the i-pad is being a large i-phone. If someone has a net book or Macbook Air, this is a rather pointless evolution, I think Apple just wanted to toss out a product to capitalize on the ‘new gadget’ response they would get. We all know they could do better.
I agree Kindle is a bit over priced if you compare capabilities, but those who value battery life, reduced glare and the ability to synch with their pc and read .pdf, as well as the new text to speech version for the visually impaired will prefer it.
The Kindle delivers on what it promises and does it well. It will appeal to those who simply want to read a book and keep a vast digital library. The i-pad was over-hyped and while it delivers what it says it will, I think it will appeal only to technophiles and fad purchasers. Apple customers , for the most part, have learned to expect more. Personally, I won’t be purchasing either.
This is what I’ve been looking for. A laptop isn’t half so comfortable to read as a book. An Ipad just might make the leap. Now, if you could only roll it up and stick it in your pocket like a magazine…
The history of computing is that nobody knows what it’s really good for until it’s out there and people make something for it that suddenly you can’t live without. The iPad is a great experiment in that direction, which you can be part of for the low, low price of $829.
Sweetbriar, if your milk weighs 5 pounds a quart, I think you might want to have it tested for lead.
As for the iPad, can we quit with the iNames already?
Having been in this product space since the launch of the IBM PC, we in the software biz respected Apple for innovation. This is not innovation, just repackaging. They took stuff out and added little – mostly accomplished through software. I think they’re self-absorbed with this one – the iPhone still has more features, but, all those iPhone apps should run on the iPad (what an awful name).
If the reader above liked the Lenovo intro at CES, I hope he found the SKIFF booth, as they are revolutionizing this product class and way ahead of Apple.
I’m still mad at Jobs for charging me $90 for a one-button mouse for the last Mac I owned — an SE.
A good article, but what is really important about the iPad is not so much another take on the tablet for consumers, but bringing New World Computing into a larger platform and really starting the transition into that realm from all form factors… what is New World Computing? Read this:
http://stevenf.tumblr.com/post/359224392/i-need-to-talk-to-you-about-computers-ive-been
Not having Flash cripples iPad as an internet device.
Lewk,
You don’t understand the battery complaint at all. It’s not about alkalines etc.
Once the built-in battery starts losing its ability to hold a full charge, the enduser CANNOT replace it (not like a cell phone or a camera with a rechargeable battery). Just another excuse for Jobs to screw you.
Flash is the bane of computers everywhere, hogging resources and causing crashes.
newscaper,
“the enduser CANNOT replace it” sort of ignores the fact of iPod/iPhone/Touch battery replacement services of various flavors that have been out there for several years.
I’ve replaced several myself, for family members, and could have had Apple or some third-party do it for me for a nominal cost.
thank you (:
Perhaps much ado about nothing, say I.
Again with the weight. The iPad is holdable in one hand. It also weighs less than books intended for children; e.g., most of the Harry Potter books.
Mike, haven’t heard from you in a while. What’s going on? Needless to say, miss your commentary.