Misunderstanding the ‘iPad Computer’

Pugnacious PC pundit John C. Dvorak is always fun to read. His opinions are often as outrageous as they are insightful. I’ve always been a huge fan, even when I disagree.

Dvorak’s latest post on PCMag.com, headlined “Understanding the iPad Computer,” is one of those I disagree with. In fact, I think his whole argument is exactly the opposite of reality.

(This isn’t the first time I’ve butted heads with PCMag.com over the iPad, by the way.)

In a nutshell, Dvorak attributes the overwhelming success of the Apple iPad not to the user interface, but to the design of the tablet as an output device, rather than input device. He writes:

“It was always assumed that the pad was going to be primarily an input device, like a paper and pen notepad. The successful machines of today are primarily output devices, not a notepad. It was this one simple paradigm shift that appears to be the difference maker.”

The column and conclusion are based on three key assertions, all of them false.

Dvorak’s false assertions are:

1. Tablets were supposed to be input devices.

No, not really. The tablets Dvorak references, including the Momenta, WinPad and Newton, used pen input as an alternative to keyboard and mouse. (John and I are probably the only living humans to remember the Momenta — I actually had one for years because the company went out of business while I was in possession of an eval unit.)

The vision for all these devices was to approach as closely as possible the basic range of PC applications, but with enhanced mobility.

No, you couldn’t surf the Web or watch YouTube videos with a Newton, nor could you download TV shows on iTunes or books from Audible.com — not because Newton was an input device, but because none of those things had been invented yet.

In other words, the transition on tablet devices from mostly input to mostly output is simply the result of a changing world. That same transition happened on PCs. For most people, PCs are mostly output devices as well. People mainly surf the web, watch videos and read brilliant blog posts like this one. Output outpaces input on all devices now, simply because there’s so much good stuff out there to enjoy and because most people don’t create content for a living.

2. The iPad is for output, a “content distribution device.”

The bizarre notion that the iPad is not a content creation tool was the erroneous first impression of a small number of pundits who didn’t think very deeply about it. Now it’s been repeated ad nauseum in the online opinion echo chamber. That doesn’t make it true.

No, the iPad is not as powerful at the chip level as a PC. But it’s far more powerful than the PCs Dvorak considered content creation tools just a few years ago.

And it’s superior for some kinds of content creation thanks to its interface. There are countless drawing, painting, image creation and editing tools available for iPad. YouTube is brimming over with incredible examples of people using these tools to make real art. The iPad has even become artist David Hockney’s favorite medium.

The app store is littered with innovative music-creation titles, including dozens of musical instruments and all manner of mixing boards, sound editors and DJ turntables. iPads are featured in concert halls.

I write most of my columns on an iPad — both my wireless and cradle keyboards are superior input devices than the keyboard on my $2,000 Sony VAIO laptop. The iPad is a fantastic tool for creating written content because the interface gets out of the way, and because the iPad’s long battery life lets me work anywhere all day.

The reality is that the iPad is a blank slate. It’s an input device or an output device depending on what apps developers choose to create, and which apps users choose. And there are more content-creation apps available than anyone could download and install in a lifetime.

Besides, you could plug a mouse into the iPad and use it along with your keyboard full-time without ever touching the screen. If you did that, it would have all the input devices of nearly every PC. Would that make it a better input device? Hardly. If you added a pen interface to an iPad, would that make it a better input device? Ha! Don’t make me laugh. Pen input wouldn’t make the iPad an input device, and pen input didn’t make the failed pen tablets better input devices, either.

The iPad not only has input, but it has the best input. And by best, I mean the most human-compatible input.

Our kids and grandkids will learn with shock and horror in history class about keyboards and mice, and these dated contraptions will look to them as, say, quill pens look to us — hopelessly clunky, awkward and old fashioned.

It’s time to bury the obviously false idea that the iPad is a content consumption device and not a content creation device.

3. The iOS interface isn’t the differentiator

I disagree completely. The MPG (multi-touch, physics and gestures) interface in general, and the iOS interface in particular, are the Mother of All Differentiators. Phones and tablets are now cleanly divided between those with MPG and those without, with the haves winning in the market and the have-nots losing.

Pundits who cover PC technology need to stop looking for USB ports and start getting in touch with their feelings.

People are buying iPads by the millions because they’re thrilling to use. The direct-touch and on-screen physics taps into our genetically programmed mental hard-wiring about how the world is supposed to work.

As babies, we all learned about the world by poking at things with our fingers. Before we could walk, we experienced what sliding a toy across the floor felt like. These are the skills we’re exercising, and these are the memories we’re conjuring, when we use iPads.

Using an iPad involves a “wheeeeee!” factor that cannot be explained in words. When people try it, they feel they’ve gotta have it, and that’s why Apple has sold millions.

That’s also why a coming wave of MPG operating systems is going to wash away WIMP (windows, icons, menus and pointing devices) interfaces in the coming decade on phones, tablets and desktop PCs.

The third-generation UI is here, and iPad was the first general-purpose MPG device (the first that’s not a casino coffee table or phone) and is still the best by far.

Within five years, the overwhelming majority of all digital content will be created using MPG interfaces, and I’ll be back to tell Dvorak: I told you so.

(Photo of John D. Dvorak courtesy of Randy Stewart. )

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