Why the iPad is More Revolutionary Than You Think

A huge part of my job is to see what can be, not necessarily what is. I come alongside our teams at GiANT and help them dream outside the box and to introduce new ways of doing things, and innovations that will serve our clients/customers better. Perhaps that’s one reason why I’m so excited about the iPad.

I’m like most people interested in Apple’s ‘newest creation.’ I admit that when I first followed along with blog coverage of the release event back in January I was a bit disappointed. I, like others, still dream of a handheld touchscreen Mac that could effectively do away with my MacBook Pro - something powerful enough that I could do my regular day-to-day work on.

The iPad is not that device. Truthfully, it was never meant to be. But the hype machine that always churns before Apple’s product releases painted a picture that no device could live up to.

The difference for me came when I viewed the iPad video Apple posted on their website following the event. For me, seeing the iPad changed everything. This was even more the case when I actually watched the keynote online.

My prediction: the iPad will change the face of computing.

Here’s why ...

1. Developers
The key to the iPad’s success lies in the hands of developers. Just as the full potential of the iPhone wasn’t realized until developers were given the ability to offer their own apps that truly broadened the horizon of what you could do with it. The same will be true with the iPad. There will be a group of developers that will introduce iPad apps in a way that we will be left saying, “Wow - I never thought of it being used for that!”

2. Hint at What Lies Ahead
The truth is that the iPad is as much about the direction that Steve Jobs/Apple wants to take it’s next round of computing as it is about the present. That handheld, touchscreen, powerful-enough-to-do-all-my-work-on-it device is coming. So are iMacs & MacBooks/MacBook Pros that incorporate a touchscreen in addition to a physical keyboard/mouse. What a computer looks like for my kids as they enter college will be a far stretch from what one looks like today.

3. It’s an Incredible Device in It’s Own Right
Technology Blogger, Robert Scoble, said it best on Twitter shortly after the release event:

“On a scale of 1 to 10, did iPad meet your hype expectations? My expectations were 10. iPad showed up with a 8.7. My mind was not blown.” @Scobleizer [http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/8295516001]

If the iPad had been released a few years ago, people would have been utterly amazed. The iPhone ruined us. It introduced amazing innovation in a way that makes us look at a 10-inch touchscreen media device and say “ho-hum.”

The iPad is an amazing piece of technology that will get the credit it’s due once it is available in mass to consumers and people get their hands on it. I’ll be in line and am convinced I will look back one day and say “I remember when Apple, once again, shifted the future of computing.”

Posted 03.01.2010

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