You don’t know what you don’t know. 10 years ago, you didn’t know you needed a phone that would take pictures. 10 days ago you didn’t know you would pay money for an application that makes the pictures you take on your phone look like they’re from the 70s. Four years back it wasn’t exactly clear why you’d need to be connected online to people that you spend all your time with, because, you know, they are your friends (or “social network” as they are now referred to). And you never thought there was any need whatsoever to send messages of only 140 characters.
So you look at the iPad and think “What in God’s name do I need that for? - I already have a laptop, and that thing has no keyboard, it doesn’t sit up by itself, it doesn’t have a file system, it has no camera and, worst of all, it can’t do Flash”. “What the hell,” you say to yourself, “would I use it for?” Right now, you just don’t know.
Or at least, you think you don’t. But actually, you are already doing what this thing does. You already put your feet up at the end of the day and browse the net, you already read the latest news, play games, watch goofy videos on YouTube, catch up on the latest Doctor Who on iPlayer, watch movies in bed, tweet whatever nonsense enters your head, update your status on Facebook, and generally tootle about with digital doodads.
So you know you do all that, but you don’t know that you want a device that does just that. Well, you do. The iPad takes all of that digital tootling, and makes it all a graceful pleasure, on an expansive canvas. The interaction paradigm that made the iPhone such a revolution is here, but size surely does make a difference. You may have thought that TV on a flat screen was just bigger than on a CRT, but actually, it’s not just bigger, it feels better. So too with the iPad – the iPhone feels cramped and confined in comparison to all that glorious screen space. The size makes you feel more comfortable, and that feel makes the whole experience more ergonomic; you stroke the iPad, you poke it, you flick and caress it. The tactile nature of the device makes it less a functional experience and more an emotional one.
Adding new software on a PC is still a pretty intimidating experience for the average person – you have to “install” something, there are several complex “dialog boxes”, lots of funny bars that get more and more blue, none of which you really understand, and all of which make you vaguely uncomfortable. Taking the App Store from the iPhone onto the iPad changes the way you manage your machine. Adding Apps is a multi-touch breeze – making the average person much happier to add new software, and the machine itself appear much more flexible and useful.
These two facts make the iPad a perfect platform for brands; they now have an immersive, emotive, elastic, easy and engaging environment in which to connect with customers. Large scale imagery, integrated video and multi-touch interaction will revolutionise ecommerce experiences. Connected computing will change the way we manage and consume media in the home. “Instant on” makes it the first thing you reach for. Light, small and cool to the touch makes it perfect for resting on your lap as you put your feet up. All of this doesn’t just change the way we think about using computers, it changes what we think computers are. The iPad makes “computing” personal. It’s less a computer and more a companion.
Craig Walmsley
Managing Director, EHS 4D Digital