I get the utility of hype. If you can work people into a frenzy about a given brand in a crowded marketplace, you sell more of that product. Fair enough.
But after you’ve got that spanking new Ferrari parked in the garage you’ve still got to take your three kids to school, including their sports equipment. After you’ve had that delicious pedicure or manicure, you still need to plant your garden or rake your leaves. And of course there’s all that gizmo-driven exercise equipment in your basement, which you used exactly twice.
Point being: it’s one thing to buy yourself something cool and another thing to use it in your day-to-day existence. Products that require a lot of care and maintenance generally get neither, meaning we tend to avoid those products or destroy them in short order.
Now that all of those how-the-iPad-will-change-the-fabric-of-the-universe-twice posts have faded into the coffers of Steve Jobs, I find myself confronted with a deafening silence on more banal points like utility and usability. If you’ve had an iPad for a while, and you’re using it regularly — or, alternatively, not using it regularly — I think you could corner the market on iPad news by answering any or all of the following:
- What’s it like to lug an iPad around?
It weighs 1.5 pounds. You can talk all you want about how that’s super-light for a laptop, but it’s still 1.5 pounds. The average person is not built to carry a weight like that, let alone manipulate it in one or both hands. (If you think I’m kidding, grab yourself a much-easier-to-carry 1.5 pound barbell and lug it around for a day.)
- Can you use it while you’re holding it?
I’m not saying a paid shill can’t make it look easy. I’m asking about real-world use by real-world people. You’ve got your latte in one hand and your iPad in the other — what gives? Do you find yourself putting the iPad down or resting it on something to use it? Are you constantly scanning your environment for iPad-ready real estate?
- Do you worry about damaging your iPad?
It’s so Apple-cool that keeping it spiffy has to be a top priority for a lot of people. Sure, some ultra-hipster has already scuffed the bezel beyond recognition, but for most people that shine is going to matter for a long time. How careful are you with your iPad? Do you find yourself limiting your iPad’s exposure to beverages, blown debris, direct sunlight or sharp objects? Would you use one on a construction site? (I would think they’d be killer in that setting — particularly as regards 3D plans/specs.)
- Do you ever leave your iPad behind?
What are the criteria by which you decide to lug or not to lug? How often do you leave your iPad parked? Where do you leave it parked? Work? Home? Does the fear that it might be stolen impact your decision to take it with your or to leave it behind?
- Are you dreading having your iPad repaired?
I have no idea what it costs to fix an iPad. What I do know is that Apple doesn’t like people monkeying around with the guts of Apple devices, even when customers own those devices outright (as opposed to licensing them). What will it cost to replace the battery? Is that an easy fix, of do you have to ship it somewhere? Do you even know what the required maintenance is? Do you want to know, or would you prefer not to know?
- Do you find yourself using your iPad less so you can put off any repairs?
We all have clothes we wear sparingly because we want those items to look better longer — even if we get the same total hours of use out of them. Is the iPad like your favorite shirt? Or is it like that one sweatshirt you put on any time you have to crawl under your car or paint a wall?
- What do you actually use your iPad for on a daily basis?
Is there one task that your iPad is better at than any other task? Is your iPad better at something you do every day than any other device? Is there anything you use your iPad for that you couldn’t do using another tool/app? Are there things you could do on the iPad that you still use other tools/apps for? Is that habit, or is there a barrier to the iPad’s utility?
After all the bluster about the iPad, and about how the device itself would reshape every aspect of modern society, the absence of longer-term, real-world reviews only seems to validate the idea that the iPad was brand-driven hype. Unlike the iPod, which suddenly sprouted from everyone’s anatomy when it was released, I don’t see people using the iPad when I venture forth in the world. Not only are they not everywhere, they’re not anywhere.
As to the reason for this deafening silence, I don’t think it’s that hard to explain. If you shell out hundreds of dollars for what, in the end, becomes a fancy conversation piece (or doorstop), you’re probably not going to want to talk about that much.
Instant update: Forgot to mention that I ran across this extensive review last night, after writing the first draft of this post. It’s interesting, but doesn’t seem to answer the above questions. The questions it does answer, however, tend to make me think the iPad is still looking for a reason to be.
— Mark Barrett
Good design always begins with a problem. The fanciest design on Earth has no value if the widget doesn’t solve a problem. Like the iPhone, the iBot, and the Segway, the iPad seems to have no particular problem in mind. Products like this are exercises in technoflash, intended simply to bedazzle would-be buyers, hoping to blind them to the fact that, although flashy, they’re really not very useful.
I remember when Rubik’s cube came out. I got it in five seconds.
I tried the iPod.. The sound quality left me cold — even with upgraded earbuds — but I still got it. (What changed after the iPod?
I get the iPhone. It’s portable internet access with a phone attached. I get it.
I don’t get the iPad. The more I read about how it changes everything, the more I notice nothing changing.
But maybe I’m wrong. I still think it would be awesome at sporting events, where you could relive plays over and over, or make your own judgment call during instant replay. Then again, Bubba and his pals are sitting behind you with loaded beers, and they hate geeks…
Levi, I have to part ways with you on the iPhone. After wondering just what mental illness all those ga-ga iPhone owners had for most of a year, I started using one about 6 months ago. Now I know, and I think it does meet actual needs. It’s become the most-used appliance I own, after my Mac, and I’ve become (dangerously?) dependent on its amazing functionality. I’m sure other smartphones could also fill the same function, but I doubt any would do it as elegantly, or make it as much fun. You ought to try one.
The iPhone meets some needs, yes, but it doesn’t solve any problems. It does nothing that other smart phones (many of which were actually on the market first) don’t do as well, and in fact, it fails to perform some of the tasks that the others take for granted.
The little hairpin spring with sticky pads on the ends that peels one and only one coffee filter from the mass-cut and therefore edge-sealed stack of filters uniquely solves a specific problem. The iPhone does not, and that’s all I meant.
Meh!
(Now to avoid the “Your comment was a bit too short. Please go back and try again.” error message: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.)
First, thank you for your reply. I had begun to despair of anyone responding on the merits.
My faith now properly restored, I have to say that I didn’t anticipate this line of argument, and as such, I must concede the point. (Frankly, I think the Latin was overkill, but I can see why you went there.)
So: I amend my post. The iPad’s existence is proof of its own meaning.
iPad ergo sum.
Mark,
Okay, I’ll volunteer, if you can wait a few days. I’m waiting for my iPad to arrive, since they were sold out at the Apple Store when I went to purchase one last weekend.
I have very specific reasons to acquire an iPad, but I’m delighted that I have those reasons (rationales).
As I kept writing around the launch, i also wondered just why anyone would “need” an iPad, since it didn’t seem to meet fill an obvious need.
One of the things that influenced me was reading other people’s posts about iPad. In most cases, skeptics and people who started off pretty neutral seemed to be quickly won over by … what? Won’t know until I get one, at which time I plan to respond to your excellent questions on my blog.
Thanks for posing them!
Hi Joel,
I appreciate you stepping up. 🙂
I’m actually curious about these issues, in part because I don’t want to spend time on tech that simply doesn’t matter. Nothing has blotted out the sun like the release of the iPad, but that doesn’t mean it has any applicability to me as a writer, or even to publishing as a whole.
What caught my attention recently was simply the fact that nobody seemed to be viewing the iPad as a tool — except perhaps @DonLinn, who bought one, checked it out over a weekend, and sent it back. (I can clearly see why an iPad would be both useful and necessary to understand in your own line of work.)
.
Man. No one answered your question. I am disappointed.
I’m surprised you haven’t heard from Michael Marcus: http://bookmakingblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/after-two-weeks-what-i-like-and-dont.html
My wife cried when she saw the iPad demo video before it came out — technology so beautiful, etc. — but since then it’s been forgotten in our house because… we don’t need it.
The iPad is 2010’s WebTV.
The difference is that 2010 needs a WebTV. Computer users have become used to the internet being actively dangerous to you; we already know that there’s places you shouldn’t go, emails you shouldn’t reply to, stuff you shouldn’t type in. But–and I know that this is very difficult for geeks to accept, but just deal with it–there are lots and lots of people out there who ARE NOT computer users. These people–your grandma, your sister, your uncle–they need a way to get involved in the internet that won’t get them in trouble. They don’t want to worry about whether they’ve got the latest drivers; they want to push the button and make email happen, or push the button and have there be music and movies, or push the button and there’s Fox News. The fact that the iPad can’t do this or that or the other isn’t a failure to them; indeed, it’s a feature.
To switch analogies, the iPad is like the Wii. People talked about how the Wii was substandard; lower-resolution graphics, less 3D ability, lower-quality sound. They missed the point altogether: the Wii was not for them. The Wii was for your mom.
I think this is right.
Somewhere else (maybe Twitter) I said that I thought the iPad was really a portable television that would allow people to interact with data, etc. I keep thinking it’s going to start showing up at sporting events because it allows the fan to ‘participate’ even more — check fantasy league standings, watch disputed replays endlessly (with fellow seatmates leaning in), etc.
People want to take their TV with them. The iPad makes that possible in a format larger than anything else on the market. (And if I learned anything working in the interactive industry, it’s that eye candy beats the hell out of content when it comes to sales.)