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_____.
Projections 