Yesterday Apple finally unveiled their tablet PC called the iPad to the world and it was met with (mostly) negative feedback. After watching their conference it suddenly became clear who they were aiming the product at. Something I think the majority of people have missed. Read on…
I’ve got an iPhone
I use my iPhone everyday. It’s my device of choice for quickly checking on-line content, reading RSS feeds, listening to music and posting messages, links and pictures on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Yes, my iPhone is a gadget I could not live without. The iPad doesn’t do anything major that my iPhone can’t do except present me with a bigger screen. This is the thinking of almost all website writers who have posted their opinions on the new device. However, I think they may have all missed the point.
So come on then – Who is iPad for?
A few years ago Nintendo released the Wii. A console that is still outselling it’s competitors every single month. The Wii doesn’t do as much as the Xbox 360 or PS3, yet it still dominates sales. This is because Nintendo made a console that non-gamers could use and enjoy just as much as traditional gaming fans could. It was removing the barrier of entry (the controller and interface) that has made the Wii so simple to use and so popular as a mainstream device, not just as a gaming machine.
iPhone – Ok, so what about the iPad. Apple said it fits in somewhere between an iPhone and a Macbook laptop. iPhones have a small screen, and whilst you can browse the web on them in a much better way than on most other mobile devices it’s still only on a small screen. The browsing experience isn’t as good as viewing content on a laptop or desktop PC.
Laptops – A laptop such as the Macbook is an awesome piece of kit. However, it needs to be operated in a traditional way i.e. with a mouse/keyboard. Users need to learn how to use Mac OSx. They need to know how to apply updates, install software, manage their disk space, back up data and lots more. This presents a barrier of entry to non-technical users.
iPad and who it’s really for
This is the point where we finally begin to see who the iPad is for. It will be a more mainstream device than a dedicated PC or Phone. It will be for all those non-technical people that don’t know how to use a laptop/desktop, but want to carry videos, books and music around with them.
A real-world example
Recently my mother in-law had a play around with my wife’s iPod Touch. She loved it, she told me it was so simple to use because you just touched the screen to operate it. She’s not technical at all, she’s constantly asking us for help with things on her mobile phone, but she was able to pick up and operate the iPod Touch without having to provide instructions.
She also uses the internet on a desktop PC. She gets by surfing the sites she knows about, but doesn’t really venture further. With a device like iPad she would find browsing the web, viewing pictures and videos on-line a lot easier because all you have to do is touch the screen.
Apple have created a device that can be used by non-technical people just as well as it can by technical people. It’s true that it doesn’t provide any major new features that can’t already be done on other Apple devices. It’s also true that it’s lack of multi-tasking and a camera are omissions that have been highlighted by the technical writers online a lot. However, to the people this device is primarily aimed at that won’t matter. They won’t even know what multi-tasking is. They will simply have a device that just works and does what they want it to do.
It’s a brilliant move. I’ve read more than once from many ‘experts’ that the iPad will be a flop, that it has no place or no real use. That’s because they’re looking at it from their own point of view and not looking at everyone else in the world that doesn’t possess the technical knowledge they have.
Final Thoughts
I too was unconvinced at first about it’s place in the market, having thought about it though I was compelled to write this article. Mainstream is where the device is heading, and that, as we’ve seen from Nintendo, does not equal failure.
Article written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited