Today, our creative newsroom gave the story the simple, but quite accurate title: “iPad-demonium”
For the technology driven obsessives, like myself, it was pretty much the case. After months of speculation, leaks, tidbits, teases, and plain old anticipation–run up to a fever pitch–Apple CEO Steve Jobs strolled on the stage of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco today.
He was there to show the invitation-only crowd “the next big thing.”
Though for once in the now storied series of these Steve Jobs presentations, there was no big surprise. Except maybe for what the thing was going to be called.
Because the thing, you see, was pretty much well-known ahead of time. Apple’s latest creation was going to be a “tablet” style device. A blank slate, if you will. An electronic pad with a screen.
This was widely known–or at least, widely expected.
Jobs acknowledged this by showing a quote from The Wall Street Journal that quipped, “the last time there was this much excitement for a tablet…it had commandments on it.” The Journal, not known for the same penchant of bombastic headlines as The New York Post, wasn’t being all that cute. The pitch for this thing was way past the fever stage.
So when he, of ever consistent black mock turtleneck and jeans wardrobe, whipped out the new “iPad”, there wasn’t a loud gasp in the room. Enthusiastic applause broke out, to be sure. Even a solitary wolf whistle.
The gasp would come later.
In his lead up to this moment, Jobs said something that would stick with this observer as the whole definition of why the iPad was created and–in the same thought–why it is likely to be as notable and revolutionary as it older siblings, the iPod and iPhone.
He said that a device that exists somewhere between the nearly ubiquitous “smartphone” (a category of product that Apple’s iPhone certainly redefined, if not completely re-invented) and the essential modern tool, the laptop (which Apple also had a major hand in defining–if not inventing, as Jobs claimed.)
Going on, he added that a device that filled this gap between these two “classes” of devices, needed to be, in his words, “Far Better at Some Key Things.”
There it was. Call it the commandment that defined this new device:
“Thou shalt not attempt to be all things to all people, but rather thou shalt be far better at some key things.”
And the key things, it turns out, are the ones that most people need most of the time from “an electronic gizmo” that is neither the one that goes in your pocket to make calls on, nor the one that goes in your backpack to do your homework on.
No, this new, new thing was to be in between those two digital tools that exist now in so many lives. And so, as Jobs put it, it had to be far better at some key things.
Those things include, browsing the web, doing email, viewing photographs, watching videos, listening to music, playing games and reading electronic versions of books (“eBooks”). The seven things that most people, probably do most often via the internet.
Thinking about my use of my laptop or my smartphone (both of which are from Apple), it certainly is the way I use those two devices and the internet. And I’d likely speculate that would be the case for you as well.
Unless your religious beliefs cause you to shun electricity for whatever reason.
So even as the internet began to crackle with people pointing out that the name “iPad” sounded unfortunately like an Apple-made line of feminine “personal products”, if you’ll allow, it was becoming clear that the device was going to be very specifically focused on doing these key functions and would not attempt to be all things to all people–despite the inopportune comparison to the stone pads…er, tablets that Moses carried down from the mountain with those ten commandments.
Like anything Apple has made since….well, since Apple came into being, the iPad is designed within an inch of its life. Actually, it’s only 0.5 inches thick, so that would be within a half-inch of its life. I haven’t actually seen or touched one in person yet (my invite to this shindig was apparently lost in the mail, I suppose.)
But damn, I can’t wait to get my hands on one. Much like the first images of the iPhone when it was presented for the first time by Steve Jobs about three years ago, the design of this new thing just begs to be seen in person and touched.
Because that is when I, and probably you too, will decide if we have to have one.
Because my friends, that is exactly what happened with the iPhone. The pictures, the videos, the details were all quite intriguing. But when you actually held an iPhone in your hands, you were pretty much sold. In this case, the tactile–both how the device feels in your grubby mitts and how it feels to touch the screen and interact with the device–will be the ultimate pull here.
And then your mind will snap to reality and you’ll begin to process the next important question: Can I afford to get one of these? Because that has been the biggest single knock on Apple since…well, again since Apple moved into being. The company’s un-stated, but obvious position is that it makes great stuff that is priced at the premium price point.
So everyone, including myself, was prepared for the sticker shock to come. As the presentation ground on, well over an hour…Steve Jobs threw out the detail that drew some audible gasps in the auditorium that turned into loud applause.
That the iPad’s starting price would not be the $999 that many people had feared. Not even the $799 that I had speculated might be an aggressive pricing to jump start this new, new thing that not everyone might instantly recognize that they would have to have. Not even the $699 that it might be priced if this were a late night Ron Popeil informercial.
But only $499 for the base model with the smallest amount of storage inside (16 GB).
Adding a cellular 3G data radio to the unit, so you will be able to access the internet almost anywhere will add another $130 to the price. Additional storage (memory) goes up to 64 GB and pushes the price up for top end model with all the features to a more sobering, yet still relatively reasonable $829 price tag. (Reasonable considering the technology and the cost of the hardware.)
Will you have to have one? Possibly. Will you want to have one? Probably. Before you scoff at that notion, consider whether three years ago you would have had to have a cell phone with no buttons on it, that could go on the internet or play your music collection? Because nobody thought the iPhone was going to be a must have.
And earlier this week, Apple reported that it sold some 8.7 million iPhones.
In the last quarter.
So that brings us to me answering the question I have been asked about a hundred times since 2:30pm yesterday–and that I have been pondering pretty much non-stop for the twelve hours since. Am I going to get one?
The answer? If the iPad is far better at doing some key things that I do everyday of my digital-centric life now, then the answer is probably.
But if this iPad is, as Senior VP of Design at Apple Jony Ive put it in Apple’s promotion video: “when something exceeds your ability to understand how it works…it sort of becomes magical”, the the answer is definitely.
Because I saw this exact reaction happen last year when I showed my Mom an Amazon Kindle for the first time. As a life long lover of books and reading, she was delighted and amazed by what the Kindle could do. So given that reading eBooks is just one of the seven “key things” that the iPad can do. And it does it in full color, with video and music available too?
I’d tell Mom–and anyone else who asks–that they probably should hold onto to their hats…or their hair for that matter. Once it gets into our hands and we have a chance to experience the magic for ourselves, the iPad could blow us all away.
