The launch is still going on, but I’ve already seen enough that I have stuff I want to say.
My first reaction was slightly underwhelmed; there’s been so much discussion and most of it appears to have been right, so I was looking at the feed and thinking… that’s it?
But it’s not “it”. I think it may be massive. Apple’s iPad is a device right out of 70s science fiction TV shows. It’s literally one part of your silver suit/raygun/talking house in space ensemble.
I won’t rehash its capabilities, because there’s going to be plenty of places you can find that. But basically, it does all the things you think it does – movies, iPhoto, newspapers, books, and apps.
The thing which has my attention right now – aside from the slightly cheeky nod Jobs has just given Amazon (thanks for doing a great job pioneering this technology, we’ll take it from here…) and the stunning comparison of B&W Kindle vs colour iPad, is the gesture system. At this scale, it’s something else. It’s tactile and therefore intuitive and friendly, and you can really do the thing Tom Cruise does in Minority Report.
I dunno why exactly, but that was the moment I started to think “wow” – when I realised that this was a computer which would interact with me on almost a primate level; it’s a tool which responds to my hands.
But just for additional yowza: the ebook reader software they’re showing right now is in the ePub format. Although it’s not clear whether this means you can import your own ebooks from other sources, you’d think so. In which case, what a kick in the head for proprietary formats.
I’ll hand you back to all the people who know stuff now. But the question in my mind was: have they done the Apple thing?
And right now I’m saying: yes.
