Disclosure #1:
I am not an Apple fanboy – not even close.
Disclosure #2:
This is about what we can learn from the iPad, not so much about the iPad itself.
I finally carved out an hour and half of time to watch the iPad unveiling, conforming myself to the reclining love seat with my laptop. It was perched atop a lap desk that affords a comfortable typing position but very awkward access to the external mouse that I much prefer over the touch pad. My right arm was buttressed against a travel pillow that I use to provide support on that side. As I watched Steve Jobs settle into a similar couch on stage and stroll through a demonstration of various types of content on the iPad, a frustrating irony became clear: he was more comfortable and at ease on a stage in front of hundreds of people than I was sitting at home in my living room. For ninety minutes, I desperately wished I was watching the iPad keynote address on an iPad. This is when it became clear to me that Apple’s decision to create the iPad is proof that we are living in the Age of Content.
It’s the Experience, Stupid
The iPad is getting quite a bit of extreme reaction on both ends of the spectrum. From comparisons between the iPad and a rock, to declarations that it will single handedly save the newspaper industry, hyperbole is by no means in short supply. However, they all seem to be focusing on the wrong things – the features. The thing is, Apple doesn’t create new technology, they redefine user experiences. Let’s take a look at their major product lines over the last thirty years.
- The original Apple and McIntosh computers didn’t invent the personal computer; they made them a user-friendly experience by implementing a beautiful, easy to use interface when compared to other machines at the time.
- The PowerBook was not the first portable computer, but it was the first true laptop that provided a color, TFT screen with a hand rest for more comfortable typing.
- The Apple Newton was a tablet PC that failed because it did not redefine the user experience. Rather, it was focused on reinventing the personal computer platform and rewriting contemporary application programming. It’s probably worth mentioning that this project occurred during the absence of Steve Jobs.
- The iPod changed the user experience for listening to and purchasing music. It was the fusion of these two experiences that set it apart from other means of consuming music.
- The iPhone didn’t reinvent the cellular telephone; it redefined the user experience for a mobile device.
The iPad is a content consuming device. That is its mission. Music, movies, books, web pages, games, etc… Everything about the form and function of this device was conceived with the objective of making it the ultimate mobile content consuming experience.
What’s the Lesson?
I’m making the case that Steve Jobs, as the world’s leading authority on user experience and by deciding to create a mobile content consumption device, has provided prima facia evidence that we have entered the Age of Content. The fact that so much squabbling has erupted over its lack of certain features only underscores the argument because it’s not a device that is focused on accomplishing tasks. It is a device that is focused on an experience. And Jobs has concluded that the availability, quality, and desirability of this content warrants an entirely new class of device.
As I sat uncomfortably on my couch watching his presentation, reading news articles, checking email, and interacting on Facebook, I knew exactly what kind of content consuming experience I didn’t want. Once I have an iPad, I know I’ll become an even more voracious consumer of content than I already am. I expect that will be the case with millions of others before all is said and done.