I have never pre-ordered anything. Until now that is. There has been about as much hype for the iPad as you can get. Perhaps more than the hype we saw for MS Windows 95, 98 and XP combined. Of course, hype is growing at about the same rate of acceleration as technology. Much of the hype is always the same.
- This will change computing as we know it.
- This will change society as we know it.
- This represents a paradigm shift in the cosmos.
Yet there is a new flavor to this hype that we have not seen before. It has been brought to us by the quiet and almost humble sincerity of a man coming from his sickbed to make yet another product that seems to hit the "sweet spot". That is the difference here.
All the critics and reviewers will tell you the pros and cons of this new device. However, only a few (i.e. Leo Laporte) actually get it. After all of the analysis, it is not about the pros and cons. It is all about doing what it does, flawlessly, easily, intuitively and any other word that means anyone can do it. This is the device that will bring the power of computing to the masses. It certainly will up the ante for the likes of Microsoft, Google, HP and ???
Just as in life, it is all about choices and when you have to make choices you must aspire to having good balance. For now that is what Steve Jobs has succeeded in doing with the iPad. It is designed so that everyone from the most techie tech to the casual cell phone user will love it almost immediately.
I pre-ordered a 64GB 3G 2 weeks ago. No balance here.
This will be a pivotal moment for the tech world. I don't think the iPad will be as revolutionary as Gutenberg's printing press or television, but when all is said and done it might find itself in the same category as such game changers as the cellphone, the DVD, and GPS.
ReplyDeleteMuch like the iPhone, iTouch and all the various incarnations of the iPod, this device will appeal to a broad base of less technical people. Yet, it is very much a computer that will bring those users into the cyber world. I think that is a very good thing.
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