UM: Curious About…the iPad - Scott Laine - MediaBizBloggers

It39s been a few months now since the launch of the iPad a product Apple has been touting as quotmagicalquot and quotrevolutionaryquot since its keynote revealThe cultural impact of the iPad has certainly not been limited to gracing the world with the smuggest email signature ever quotSent from my iPadquot But has the device amp8212 not quite a laptop not quite an iPhone amp8212 fulfilled its quotmagicalquot and quotrevolutionaryquot promiseWell we39ve been keeping score Here39s our MagicalRevolutionary Tally for the iPad99 of its users have no idea how it works Magic 1We39ve forgotten about all naming associations with that other kind of pad 1The iPad hasn39t exactly penetrated the masses Wiredcom reports that iPad owners are six times more likely to be quotwealthy welleducated powerhungry overachieving sophisticated unkind and nonaltruistic 3050 year oldsquot That deserves a 1Everyone39s iPad predictions were wrong In the months approaching Jobs39 keynote most people were anticipating the release of a quottablet computerquot In fact no one39s really sure what the iPad is other than a category unto itself As hopkinsonreport addresses in a midairport tweet quotis the iPad more laptop or giant iPod touch They don39t make you remove it at airport security Verdict giant iPodquot And we think this is a plusamp8211 a big plus Apple understands what it means to be innovative Apple gives us products that we didn39t know we wanted that spur categories unto themselves that are incomparable to other products The iPad was supposed to be a tablet computer and it39s not and it39s not an iPod and it39s not an eReader The iPhone changed the way we interact with phones and we think the iPad will change the way we interact with digital media The iPad isn39t exactly transforming the way we interact with the digital space it39s just making it easier and more fun to do it better So not knowing exactly what the iPad is 3It39s kind of hard to hold for a long time 1If quotrevolutionaryquot means transforming the competition amp8212 forcing everyone else to keep up amp8212 we think Apple39s succeeded Since the launch of the iPad Amazon has sold more ebooks than hardcovers which speaks volumes pun about the growth of the ereader category They have also recently rolled out two lowerpriced Kindles an obvious attempt to differentiate themselves from the iPad and remain competitive Winwin for consumers 2In terms of the iPad39s potential to be truly revolutionary what has captured our attention from the beginning is the way that the iPad will manage to bring print media magazines newspapers books into a digital form in a way that is truly flawless and intuitive As the NY Review of Books explains the iPad is a device perfectly tuned to consume media a la a book as opposed to producing media like a laptop or blackberry Sure there will never be an experience that perfectly mimics the feeling of turning down the corner of a page but the iPad takes us a whole lot closer than the laptop did The iPad is a device for reading in bed for holding next to your morning bowl of cereal for flipping through blogs on the subway Subscribing to magazines just got a whole lot cooler We believe in print media and we love that it is eager to evolve and is being given the tools it requires 1 for newspapers 1 for magazines 1 for booksHow magical is the iPad Since no one seems to know exactly what it39s for we think this the biggest challenge in marketing the device to the masses it39s impressive how much it can do In our opinion the most magical thing about the iPad is its ability to transform The iPad is a blank slate which makes it a tool akin to a magic wandamp8212it can pretty much do whatever developers ask it to do Want some birthday candles Here they are You can even blow them out Want to play the piano Voila a keyboard Magic pretty close 3Magical means that it can do anything right Yes the iPad has the compelling ability to transform into just about anything you need it to be But if the iPad is Superman Flash is its Kryptoniteamp8230and Flash is everywhere Let39s get personal for a minute in the next month we39re moving to a new apartment and we39ve set aside a 500 entertainmenttechnology budget for our new digs It39s no secret that we39re techobsessed and for the past 3 months there39s no device that39s seemed more appealing than the iPad But now that it39s time to make the purchase it comes down to iPad vs television and we39re not sure whether the iPad as a primary entertainment device would be worth itamp8211 even though we39re used to watching movies and TV exclusively on our computer Almost all the websites that we use for video use Flash not to mention it39s a major website design tool Flash really is amazingamp8212take a look at our wwwumwwcom for proof The lack of Flash support is a big enough problem that it might be a dealbreaker 3Totals13 The iPad is as revolutionary as the iPhone and as magical as a wizard named Harry5 The iPad is as magic as Team Edward fans are vampires and as revolutionary as LOLcats are memeworthyWhat do you think Is the iPad as magical and revolutionary as it seemsMore on the iPadScott Laineamp160one of our experience architects read our previous post quotCurious about the iPadquot and had some thoughts We think his observations are so deadon we39re publishing them below Take a lookThe iPad is once again another ground breaking technology from the minds at Apple For those who see it simply as a quotlarge ipod touchquot are missing the bigger picture literally The iPad represents a new user interface None of us are about to start touching our computer monitors or swiping the screens of our laptops anytime soon so a tablet fulfills this destiny Even more important is that the App is the perfect portal into EXACTLY what we wantChris Anderson the editor in chief of WIRED just published a new cover story that quotthe web is dead long live the internetquot The simple graph he provides shows that traditional browser surfing is down and we are to blameIt would seem that WE all really want a direct link and don39t want any interference in getting to it Apps reignThis experience is exactly what the iPad provides along with all the technologies that look to follow in its pathNot only is the iPad a start of the evolution of computing but it might just change our lives permanently it will need a camera or the ability to link to an iPhone with a camera first The first time my 7 year old daughter picked up the device she knew what to do with it and she loved it When considering what to get her laptopdesktopiPad the decision is clear iPad Portable interactive multifunction long battery life and no accessories required it39s a handsdown winnerLastly with more and more cloud services coming to consumers who needs storage The notion that at one point in time we all relied on unstable fragile rotating storage disks that have the propensity to fail for our most precious data is clearly now outdatedScott Laine brings a dynamic creative and thoughtful approach to UM in his work with media partners and partner agencies alike As an Experience Architect Scott ensures that through a collaborative process UM is developing the best possible integrated media programs for its clients Scott can be reached at scottlaineumwwcomRead all Scott39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Curious Thoughts from Curious Minds MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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