I’ll probably buy an Apple iPad, but not because I’m an early adopter.
I used to be one. I prided myself on getting and using all kinds of gadgets.
But those days are gone. Eventually I realized that more gadgets didn’t necessarily make life any easier or more productive. Also, the software I could download or run on the Web increasingly satisfied my need for newness and variety.
I’m not looking to spend more time in front of a screen. I already use the public library a lot and regularly read printed books. I don’t see that changing. But a lot of my computer interaction doesn’t necessarily need a full-up computer and keyboard. As long as I’m within range of a wireless signal I’m good to go. The same seems to be true of the other members of my family. I think that Apple realizes that.
I certainly don’t see the iPad “saving” the publishing industry. I’m happy to keep on reading books and the occasional paper edition of the New Yorker, the Economist, or the Washington Post. Instead, I think we’ll see something different evolving, something like semi-portable mobile communication interaction that, on the one hand, can’t be supported by phone-size screens or, on the other, by bulky laptops and netbooks.
After all, how many people realized the gorilla that the iPod would evolve into when it first emerged? I think something similar will be true of the iPad or its descendants.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Dennis D. McDonald. Please comment below or email Dennis at ddmcd@yahoo.com.