Stop Your Whining

OK, that's enough. I'm sick and tired of all the arguments about the new iPad and I'm sick and tired of people arguing about the hardware and telling us that a Windows Tablet or Google Android machine wth a touch interface or a Netbook will be just as good and no one will want an iPad.

In the design world when looking at redesigning such things as web sites they talk about "use cases" or "user stories." So here's one for the iPad skeptics.

My mother died two years ago having spent only a few hours using a computer. They were too complicated for her and she never saw a huge need when she had a son ready to do her typing for her. This in a woman with an honours BA and three postgraduate qualitifications in psychotherapy and teaching. Over the years her two sons, one with a Phd in computer science and the other with many years experience as a programmer and support technician, tried hard. She did want to learn, she was envious that I could dash off an email to my brother and his three kids. She had to wait for me to bring over my laptop to see the latest pictures. She had a Mac but was never comfortable using it and it was breaking and the software was constantly out of date, supporting her was not an easy task. She was also constantly asking things like "can I use this software that Betty uses?" or "the thing is always telling me a new version is available" when she would download an update but not know how to apply it. She found it hard to know when she had a new email. She even had trouble getting used to a mouse.

Now imagine I go out and buy her an iPad. "How do I install this new software, Tony?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I know I've got the latest version?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How can I be sure the software runs on my iPad?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I find new software?" Go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I know I've got an email?" See the picture of the envelope, if it has a number on it, that's how many unread emails you have. "How do I keep all my writing safe?" Plug the iPad into the Mac, Mum. I'll come and do it for you once a week or so. "How do I keep these photos of the grandkids your brother sent in an email?" Just touch them Mum and it will ask if you want to save them.

My Mum would use her iPad at home, but take it to the office she shared with several psychotherapists, even if only to show the latest pictures of the grandkids. She would write a few emails, some teaching notes. She might play a game and perhaps extend herself to looking at a few websites.

Now do you think my Mum would be happy doing that on an iPhone? No way on that tiny screen. So there goes the argument that the iPad is just a big iPhone. Do you think she could handle keeping the software up to date on a Linux Netbook or Windows Tablet? No, that's one of the things that had her confused with a Mac. So they can go out the window, too. Could she be sure the software someone was telling her about would run? She'd need to know the brand and model of her device, the version of operating system, all sorts of of inconsequential details. Does she want to deal with viruses, file formats, crashes and programs that don't work together? Does she want to know that if she saves a photo in an email to the wrong place she can't display it in her sideshows?

No, doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

So all you naysayers, realise what Apple has done. Apple have given us an entire hardware, software and back end system that tries very hard to get out of your way and let you get on with it. It's not the hardware, not the App Store, not the easy to use multi-touch interface, it's not the tightly integrated Apple apps, not the ideal size and weight, not the hardware keyboard that's there when you want it and not dragging you down when you don't. It's all these things incredibly tightly integrated together into one package that Apple has spent several years developing and delivering.

How many people do you know that don't really care about computers, they just like what they can do? Yeah, I know dozens, too.

Stop your whining and go buy an iPad for your mother.