Even in this downtrodden economy, Americans love to consume. And with incredible new trinkets on the market, why not? If you’ve got it, flaunt it. All you need to do is fork over that $500 you have lying around to get the latest innovation from Steve Jobs: the iPad. People may make fun of you for holding an enlarged iPod touch. People may question the necessity of possessing a 9″ Multi-Touch Screen. But, ignore these nay-sayers. After getting the chance to play with Apple’s latest product, all I could muster to say mirrored the exclamation of David Carr of the New York Times: an extended shriek of “Yeeeeeee!” Yes, the iPad is a shiny new toy, but it is also a beacon for the future of how society can function. Get excited.
Even in this first edition, the iPad provides a wonder of services in its highly portable tablet form. Although the iPad possesses many of the same applications as the iPod Touch, the iPad improves the functions of many of those applications, especially the Mail, Notes, Calendar, and Safari capabilities. As Jobs merrily claims, the iPad lets you hold the Internet in your hands. You surf the web by gliding your fingers back and forth across the screen. The iPad makes the fictional style of newspapers from Harry Potter come to life. Users can read what looks like a hard-paper copy of The Wall Street Journal, but if the page has a video, users can watch the video amidst the screen of text. Yes, this technology piggy-backs off what many users can accomplish with a computer, but the iPad makes it mobile.
Technological advancements that amplify mobility still take a bit of time to gain adherence within society, despite the reality of the world becoming more mobile everyday. The idea of a mobile phone frightened members of society at its initial introduction.”Why would I want to bring a phone around with me when I leave the house? I leave so no one can reach me.” Today, the idea of not being able to get a hold of someone ushers in panic. Only the accident of forgetting a charger or keeping a phone hidden on silent would explain any break in constant communication. Skeptics denied the practicality of smart-phones, trusting the new emphasis on lap-top computers could surely sustain any businessperson’s needs. Oh, how wrong again.
The two features of the iPad that will revolutionize the lifestyle of society come from the applications for iWork and iBooks. Apple redesigned its version of the Microsoft Office Suite, iWork, for the iPad. Creating professional looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations can be done at the swipe of a finger. Apple has long provided a user-friendly operating system, but the technological advancements of controlling and creating such polished products seems like a fantasy item of ease from some Sci-Fi flick. The handling of business and production of products will ironically return to being incredibly hands on through the use of this technological tool.
Now for the future of books. The iBooks app essentially takes the concept of Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Nobles’s Nook and amplifies the capabilities many times over. Similar to iTunes, users can preview books, and read reviews. Once you download a book, you can easily flip through it and rotate the screen depending on your preferred viewing style. The one function it seems to miss – and will surely attain in the next version, given the iPad’s current ability to pop up a key board in any direction – is the ability to take notes to accompany one’s reading. Once this emerges, it will cause a major leap in the how people interact with texts.
Already, a major push to digitize books has begun. The ability to carry around a 9 inch long, 1/2 inch deep, 1.5 lb screen to encompass an entire interactive library is a logical progression forward. As the environmentalist movement continues to reign over society, the prospect of avoiding the stripping of countless trees becomes very appealing.
The iPad may be a bit pricy for now, but that will quickly change. When the iPhone first entered the market in 2007, a simple 8GB model cost $599. Today, the 8GB model costs $99. Although the iPad may never go below the hundred dollar mark, it will become affordable to broader branches of society, making the implications of the technology that much more resonant.
Upon first appearance, the iPad seems like yet another easily portable product. But given its breadth of applications, the iPad converges important functions together into a simple tablet form. Steve Jobs, you did it again. You changed how society can interact with its surroundings and the very mentality for accomplishing tasks. I await the next i_____.
arieljadler Said:
on April 12, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Personally, I think the iPad is a bit overrated and will not have as big of an impact as some are expecting, especially given the high price point.
It is not a product people need, and it can’t do anything that a cell phone or computer (what I consider to be necessities in 21st century society) cannot do.
While it may be cool to play with and has certain features, I don’t see the iPad making as much of an impact on the technology sector as the iPhone or Mac Book Pro. I had the chance to see the product this past weekend, and I was not particularly impressed… to me it seemed like a giant iPhone.
You mention that the price point may go down a bit. While this may be the case, people won’t be willing to shell out a $300-$400 on a product that does things they can do on their phone or laptop, particularly given the economy.
What Apple is great at doing is finding products and adapting them to make them 10 times better. Steve Jobs did it with the MP3 player, the computer, and the cell phone, but I don’t see this NEW product doing very well.
cagutos Said:
on April 14, 2010 at 10:07 pm
It’s interesting how you opened with the idea that despite the economy, a company like Apple still prevails. What does that say about our society/ culture? The commentary behind this phenomenon is that companies create such a cult-like following, particular brand loyalty is more powerful even in bad economic conditions. I’m curious to see if Apple is really on the forefront of technological change or if they are just a trendy company in recent history. What comes to mind is Starbucks and how they created a culture revolution with coffee but went off the deep end once the economy went down. With arguably “unncessary” products like iPads, will one day Apple lose its relevance or are they here to say?
Stephanie Vazquez Said:
on April 20, 2010 at 4:01 pm
It will be interesting to see the day when Apple doesn’t command the top spot in revolutionizing technology, but I don’t think it is going to come any time soon. Apple and the iPad is everywhere, everyone wants to have one. Even an entire episode of Modern Family highlighted the excitement of iPad’s release. Apple is doing a great job of maintaining its popularity.
However, there are definitely flaws with this first edition of the device. There is no USB port and it is interfering with College wireless networks. I am going to wait until Apple improves its quality to buy one.
Ryan Ferguson Said:
on April 25, 2010 at 3:04 pm
I had an opportunity to play around with a friend’s iPad recently. It is undeniably entertaining and a fun thing to play around with.
However, it concerns me in two ways.
First, as you lightly acknowledge, our dependence on technology is growing. While technology has some incredible and vast benefits, it worries me when people can’t imagine going a day without a cell phone or computer. I don’t think the iPad will drastically increase this dependence but every time a new multi-tasking technology aid is developed it cripples us just a little bit more.
My larger concern is over what you reference in the latter part of your post: the future of books. Yes, the iPad’s books are the most “realistic” to date and are likely the closest you can come to reading the real thing. Yet there has to be something said for an actual tangible book. There is a physical connection that a digital version just cannot provide. I cannot imagine in the future reading books like “Goodnight Moon” to my children off of a screen.
Recently, a high school near mine got rid of its book collection in favor of a new digitized approach to libraries. I was stunned to hear this. And while I cannot dispute the value of the amount of information available at the click of a mouse, I will always appreciate the turning of each page I read and the newsprint on my fingers after flipping through a morning newspaper.
The iPad is undoubtedly cool and another success for Apple. But let’s not give up on books or forget what we would do without internet access.