Flickr CC Credit: James Jordan

Flickr CC Credit: James Jordan

No matter which side of the argument you fall on when it comes to the iPad, you have to admit it’s got people pretty wound up.

Update: Ben Fry has a fantastically reasoned and sober account of the pros and cons of the iPad on his blog, well worth the read.

I could have predicted the reaction amongst my friends well in advance; those that are in the Anti-Apple camp are using it as an opportunity to make a claim that the emperor has no clothes. Those of a Pro-Apple persuasion are trying to justify the shiny, shiny purchase. I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring and tell you why I think the iPad is not the all-encompassing saviour it was made out to be but a positive sign of things to come.

First, let’s get the inevitable out of the way; If your reading this, it’s a safe bet you know me. And to know me is to know my love of Apple. I’m vocal about the thrill I still get from my MacBook Pro, I have an iPhone glued to the palm of my hand and recently was gifted with an Apple TV which despite an awkward courtship I have grown to love (more on that in a future post).
When Steve Jobs is in the house, I get excited. I hang on his every word and for a good hour after one of his dog and pony shows, I’m giddy like a Gran on gin.

Here’s a myth I’d like to disperse with straight away. Us, so-called Fan-boys aren’t in the gripe of some magical force that renders us completely unable to think. On the contrary; the come down is rough. When the shows over and the scorn and derision starts to come poring in, it’s hard not to feel like you have been cheated, and begin to question everything you have been told.

This is the source of the conflict; the vast majority of people who have been waiting in the wings can now now justify their hatred of Apple using concrete facts and inherent shortcomings in the product. The gut reaction then, for the Apple fan, is to take the defensive until you have two groups of people, each getting more melodramatic than the last.

The backlash that Apple provokes can be a good thing. We as humans are free thinkers and logical, if we didn’t question everything before us then we wouldn’t have made it out of the caves. Apple products are things of such beauty that we need the reality check of debate and point, counter-point to remind us that companies like to manufacture the myth of perfection. The reality is often far removed from hype.

The most common problem one finds in an Apple “debate”, is that the people on the Anti-Apple side have rarely used one of their devices. Yes, there are big problems with being locked down to a property format that comes from buying into a closed, profit driven eco-system, but the sheer beauty and ease of use makes that fact easier to live with.

And that’s where I want to come to the main thrust of this post (at last, you say!)

Forgive me an anecdote; my girlfriend’s niece got hold of my iPhone and without any prompting what-so-ever, she opened up the photos app and started to paw through my snaps, looking for and identifying friends and family.

She is two years old.

When a user interface is so instinctual that a two year old that carries no preconceptions about how a computing device should function, can operate an advanced device like a “smart phone”, then surely even the most stanch hater of anything shipped out from Cupertino, California, has to admit that something significant is happening here.

This is were the Apple iPad will succeed and why, understandably, the critics have been so savage. It is the first major product to represent a sea change that has been happening in human computer interactions for the last few years, for better or worse.

I’d argue for the better; every human’s life would be positively transformed with the adoption of a constantly net-connected, always-on computing device. Just look at the effort being expended to develop the world’s first $100 PC.  The problem is that up until recently, the things that you and I take for granted are intimidating to the novice and require a steep learning curve. It’s easy to scoff at the relative that doesn’t know what a desktop is, or thinks that Google is the internet but it’s not obvious till you know.

Why did the Wii become the biggest selling console of this generation when it’s tech specs are so laughable when compared to it’s rivals? Because despite it’s shortcomings (and stupid name) it did away with the first intimidating, stumbling block for the beginner; the joypad and relied instead on something as natural as making gestures to afford control.

Start with a computer and take away all the clutter, the mouse, the keyboard, the space it occupies on your desk. Make it thin, light as book, make it feel right in your hand, familiar. Rely on instinct, no preconceptions and stimulate the simple pleasures gained from a highly visual, physical interaction. Hyperbole is easy, but surely this is significant.

Does this mean things have to be dumbed down for your Gran (the one on the gin)? No, it cuts out the wasted mental effort for all of us. If the task at hand is to send a photo to a friend, then the method used to achieve that goal should be so natural as to be almost invisible or at least, a pleasure and that’s what Apple are striving for. That and admittedly a massive money making machine, but come on, they are a company after all and exist in a free marketplace that will judge them accordingly.

I’m not saying that the iPad is some kind of miracle, utopian device or that it will sell well (at 50% mark up, it doesn’t need to). Heck, it’s not even an original concept but the sheer volume of press coverage alone guarantees it will be the loudest argument for this kind of device. The locked down nature of the app store / formats and it’s lack of common interfaces (USB, HDMI out etc) is lamentable. But it is an important step towards that holly mecca of user interface design – no required pre-knowledge, just instinct, and that’s got to be a good thing.