The iPad has just been released and has only been in consumer’s hands for 3 days. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more and more articles about what the iPad means to the future – the future of computers, the future of the magazine and newspaper industry, the future of books, and the future of learning (to name a few).
Here’s another article, written before the iPad was released, that articulates how the iPad is the future – and changes everything. Here’s a brief excerpt from the article:
The entire world is not going to run just on tablets, just like the world doesn’t run only on smartphones and personal computers now. But Steve Jobs’ Next Big Thing is the first computer that requires no training whatsoever, one that is truly accessible and useful for everyone. Just like the iPhone changed the idea of what a phone should be without anyone truly realizing it, Apple’s new computer will completely and permanently change our idea of what a computer is and how it should behave.
The article goes on to discuss how the current computer has possibly run it’s course. The operating systems, applications, the desktop metaphor, etc. have all been developed over decades of evolution.
Here’s another excerpt from the article:
Even myself—a tech-oriented person who depends on keyboards and specialized software like Photoshop—will do it. I will because I find myself doing more and more things on my iPhone, and less in my computer, even while I’m in front of my notebook or desktop. I use my phone to update Twitter or Facebook, to check eBay, consult bank accounts, tune a ukulele, play quick games with friends, play music, check the weather, pick up a movie and buy tickets, plan my trip across the city using public transportation, select a bar or a restaurant after the movie, and, when I arrive at the bar, name the tune that is playing. I can keep a schedule, quickly contact anyone, take a photo and sort through old ones, play any song at hand, store travel itineraries, bring up information about tides and waves for surfing, quickly pick a recipe and make a shopping list, or record a voice memo.
The list of tasks is endless. Even while smartphones are limited by small screens, they have become the absolute center of the digital lives of many normal people. Unknowingly, the iPhone invasion started the transition to this new computing era.
http://gizmodo.com/5506692/ipad-is-the-future
I apologize in advance if the graphic at the top if offensive to anyone. I took it from the article mentioned above.
