Tomorrow is a big day: Apple will announce a new product.
Of course, if you’re a tech geek you already know what’s happening. You’ve known for months. If you have been around me in the past two weeks you know I’ve been chanting the mantra: tablet… tablet… tablet…
This post is not meant for the technically saavy.
Rather, I have been exploring what this product means to (excuse the derogatory term) muggles, or mundanes, or what-have-you. The word that means “people whose lives do not depend on a computer the way mine does.” That segment of people is far larger than the segment I belong to, and I already know I am a step away from being outside the two standard deviations of normalcy. Well, maybe not: though I do not build my own computers anymore, I DO have some orders going in to Sparkfun.
So who are these muggles and mundanes who may not have heard of Apple’s new toy? And why is this product, which I have already gleaned more than enough information about before its release (though I am an Apple registered iPhone developer, I am in no way privileged to advance info — I would need to be the LARGEST, MOST RELEVANT developer for that to have happened, and then I couldn’t talk about it), why is it important to people like that?
Here’s an aside to set up my next question. I have been involved with computers nearly all my life. I just missed the punch-card era, and grew up with kit computers, followed by my sweet love, the Commodore 64. Suffice it to say I’ve seen our evolution.
Twenty-two years of computer and software engineering has taught me why Apple is in the right mindset: Computers are hard.
That is the single point one must always keep in mind when designing hardware or software. Computers are hard. And if you want to penetrate the market, remember you are dealing with a market segment that has yet to figure out how to program their VCRs. Computers, folks, are hard.
Somewhere in the 90s, between Motorola’s StarTAC, and Palm’s PalmPilot line, the social consciousness of America (I cannot speak for the rest of the world) changed. I am not ignoring the Crackberry fans out there; it has its place in this as well. But something changed back then. Suddenly it was all too important to carry around information. Email. Voice mail. Web access. Apple did not invent anything new with the iPhone; they just did it better than anyone else had at the time. And that time was maybe 10 years after I perceive the change? Remember, I am on the bleeding edge of most of this, and I am NOT talking about normal people. My peers and I were reading eBooks when eReader was called Peanut Press. I had the Diamond Rio PMP-300 MP3 player. It is one of the first — it held ONE ALBUM. Most people have no idea what that device is, and most people were not ripping MP3s in 1997.
That gives me an interesting perspective on my segment — the crazy people who are first adopters, who have to make good guesses (BluRAY vs HD-DVD — not one of my better ones) about which tech will survive. These are also the kind of people who put up with arcane instructions and weird designs, because the tech is just too cool.
But let’s talk about the rest of the people who are just not that interested in technology, or have no need for it like the tech worker does. These people never dealt with a smartphone prior to the iPhone. A key point — the iPhone did nothing new in terms of the base technology. Cellphones existed. They had MP3 players, even. Just remember that the iPhone came out in 2007 – a mere 2.5 years ago, when the Motorola RAZR was all the rage.
What I lacked until recently, and have not yet refined, is perspective on others who aren’t tech interested or tech saavy. Muggles. And I can’t even really count my parents, either: they are the ones who got me interested in computers in the first place. I’m talking about the people who didn’t buy into MP3s until almost a decade later, when the iPod made it so simple to listen to music on the go.
So, why was the iPhone important? And why is the tablet important?
I have a theory on this. Let’s look at the statements I made thus far: Computers are hard. Most of the population is not technically active, saavy (VCR programming) or even interested. And so when the iPhone came out, it stormed the cellphone industry. What’s so different about the convergence device that marries phone, internet (I DARE ANYONE to use internet on a RAZR), and an MP3 player?
I think it comes back to point one. Computers are HARD. Really hard. If you don’t have a good grasp of Boolean logic, yes, even today, you might not understand why a particular thing is happening. The metaphor we use to interact with a computer is old, sometimes incomprehensible, and very difficult to master. Apple sees this. And I think I can see why the iPhone, and also the tablet, is very, very important.
What is the iPhone? To me, it is a portable, general purpose computer with great phone software, great mp3 software, and the ability to morph into any other type of need. Granted – we didn’t have the ability to write native software on release day. It took a year and change for Apple to finally be comfortable enough to allow 3rd party developers to write software for this great computer. And that’s what it is — a computer. iPod touch fans, I am not leaving you out. You just don’t get 3G connectivity, and the phone software.
The tablet is the same thing. The big rumor is that it is a large iPhone — same App Store, same apps, and so on, with a 10 inch screen. Why would you want that? Bigger screen of course, but, if you’ve got an iPhone…
… and that is where you suddenly realize where all of this is going. Apple is not trying to sell you a device you don’t need. Tech workers: shut up. I am not talking or listening to you. Apple is addressing and talking to you people who hate computers because they don’t work right. Apple is trying to sell a device to you people who get on the Internet, use Facebook, read news, want to potentially read books, watch movies, and listen to music on a device. Apple wants to change the computing paradigm.
Computers are hard. The iPhone is not. The device changes into whatever application you happen to be using. The strict guidelines we have to follow on design enforce a certain continuity during the usage experience. With the iPhone, you just get it.
What better extension could there be but to make a new type of computer based on that paradigm that addresses most of the needs of the consumer public, who don’t run Photoshop, who don’t use Propellerhead Record/Reason, and don’t need the overheard that just ends up confusing them more than ever?
Don’t see why this is significant? Let me restate it: Apple is changing the way we interact with computers. They are bringing two things to the table: portability (your “computer” and your data come with you everywhere) and a new interaction mechanism (the iPhone design and manner of interaction, as opposed to Windows, or Mac OS X). And for most people, that means this is a computer you can use virtually instantly.
What finally convinced me of this is when I heard that there are people using their iPhone as a primary computer. Seriously, go and do a Google search and you’ll see there’s more than a few.
Ultimately this says a LOT about product design and about how society, as a whole, has been interacting with computers.
