I listened to Ben Thompsons’s painfully wrong iPad tirade on John Gruber’s talk show with great amusement. My main takeaway was that he believes Apple is trying to morph the iPad into something it was never intended to be. It should remain the pure simple device that Steve Jobs envisioned. And since it’s a tool being used for the wrong job, no one wants to work with an iPad.
Ben thinks that it’s too difficult to work on an iPad? Or that no one wants to work with an iPad? Those are fairly broad generalizations based on what? I felt like a sparrow listening to a news report that sparrows have gone extinct. Because I stopped using my MacBook Pro years ago in favor of using my lighter and more mobile iPad. And there are so many people like me, who’ve gone “all iPad” that it’s no longer a valid statement to make that “you can’t work on an iPad”. That statement makes who ever utters it look out of touch.
I had a few thoughts regarding Ben’s tirade here in no particular order.
The iPad Morphed Based On User Input Like the Apple Watch
I agree with Ben that Steve’s original vision was for a simple elegant device that did one thing at a time. However, like the Apple Watch, customers saw alternate use cases. After Apple launched the Apple Watch, Apple Watch designers took a hard left down Health and Fitness Street. This was due to how the buyers were using it. I think Ben may even have applauded Apple for making this course correction.
It’s the same situation with the iPad. Apple may have envisioned a simple device that was better for content consumption than an iPhone or a Mac. But users started it using it for more. Because they liked having a device with no keyboard. A device that they could get intimate with and hold like a magazine. A device that they could walk around with. A device with cellular capability that they could drive around the city with.
Some Work Will Always Require a Finer Tool
The argument that the Mac is the superior work tool because many people need fine mouse movements or keyboard commands is very thin. That’s because very few people need that level of precision. I’ve worked in the corporate environment for 25 years and most people do a lot of a very narrow band of duties. Lots of email. Lots of transaction input. Lots of reading. Very, very, few people are harnessing multiple apps to create things.
Those “creators” are analogous to photographers who need a DSLR camera. There are always going to be people who desire a more powerful tool and are willing to put up with the commensurate drawbacks. Just because a photographer can’t get his work done with an iPhone doesn’t mean that the iPhone camera is useless for work. Maybe your job entails photographing receipts. Insurance adjusters are using phone photos for car accident reports.
Discoverability Is a Mac Problem Too
John and Ben went on and on about how no one knows how to multi-task except for the few people who are doggedly determined to become iPad super users. I agree with them 100% on this front. Because that’s how it is for all things.
I listened to the Accidental Tech Podcast this weekend where John, Casey, and Marco were discussing Mac keyboard shortcuts that have existed for years. Even after all this time Casey and Marco were still learning how to use them. There is no way to “discover” these macOS keyboard shortcuts without researching them, memorizing them, and practicing them.
And yet, this is exactly the thing that John and Ben were griping about with iPad gestures. They were upset that you have to research, memorize, and practice. It seems that they have a double-standard when it comes to the iPad. I use my iPad for work every day. Do I think that there’s room for improvement? Yes. But am I pretty good at it by now? Also, yes. I’ve taken the time to memorize the gestures and practice them until I can multi-task fairly quickly.
I Don’t Like the “Let Them Eat Cake” Attitude
In John and Ben’s world, everyone can afford a $2,000 MacBook Pro and a $1,000 iPad Pro with FaceID for reading magazines. It seems Ben is stupefied at all the little people who would willingly work on an iPad. But the starting price for an iPad is $329 compared to the cheapest MacBook which starts at $1,099.
There is another segment of people who work on iPads besides those of us who prefer a light, portable device. There are also those who refuse to pay $1-$3,000 for a machine that has way more than they need. You can buy 3 iPads for less than the cost of the cheapest MacBook Air. The MacBook is more powerful but it should be when it dwarfs the price of an iPad by a factor of 3.
Ben would’ve made as much sense if he was incredulous at all the little people who willingly drive Honda Civics and Mazda 3s when they should all just buy larger more powerful cars like the BMW 5 Series or Cadillac Escalade.
Like it or not for Mac fans. The MacBook is fast becoming the equivalent of the DSLR camera. It’s still in wide use, but most people really don’t need it any more.
I had a few thoughts regarding Ben’s tirade here in no particular order.
The iPad Morphed Based On User Input Like the Apple Watch
I agree with Ben that Steve’s original vision was for a simple elegant device that did one thing at a time. However, like the Apple Watch, customers saw alternate use cases. After Apple launched the Apple Watch, Apple Watch designers took a hard left down Health and Fitness Street. This was due to how the buyers were using it. I think Ben may even have applauded Apple for making this course correction.
It’s the same situation with the iPad. Apple may have envisioned a simple device that was better for content consumption than an iPhone or a Mac. But users started it using it for more. Because they liked having a device with no keyboard. A device that they could get intimate with and hold like a magazine. A device that they could walk around with. A device with cellular capability that they could drive around the city with.
Some Work Will Always Require a Finer Tool
The argument that the Mac is the superior work tool because many people need fine mouse movements or keyboard commands is very thin. That’s because very few people need that level of precision. I’ve worked in the corporate environment for 25 years and most people do a lot of a very narrow band of duties. Lots of email. Lots of transaction input. Lots of reading. Very, very, few people are harnessing multiple apps to create things.
Those “creators” are analogous to photographers who need a DSLR camera. There are always going to be people who desire a more powerful tool and are willing to put up with the commensurate drawbacks. Just because a photographer can’t get his work done with an iPhone doesn’t mean that the iPhone camera is useless for work. Maybe your job entails photographing receipts. Insurance adjusters are using phone photos for car accident reports.
Discoverability Is a Mac Problem Too
John and Ben went on and on about how no one knows how to multi-task except for the few people who are doggedly determined to become iPad super users. I agree with them 100% on this front. Because that’s how it is for all things.
I listened to the Accidental Tech Podcast this weekend where John, Casey, and Marco were discussing Mac keyboard shortcuts that have existed for years. Even after all this time Casey and Marco were still learning how to use them. There is no way to “discover” these macOS keyboard shortcuts without researching them, memorizing them, and practicing them.
And yet, this is exactly the thing that John and Ben were griping about with iPad gestures. They were upset that you have to research, memorize, and practice. It seems that they have a double-standard when it comes to the iPad. I use my iPad for work every day. Do I think that there’s room for improvement? Yes. But am I pretty good at it by now? Also, yes. I’ve taken the time to memorize the gestures and practice them until I can multi-task fairly quickly.
I Don’t Like the “Let Them Eat Cake” Attitude
In John and Ben’s world, everyone can afford a $2,000 MacBook Pro and a $1,000 iPad Pro with FaceID for reading magazines. It seems Ben is stupefied at all the little people who would willingly work on an iPad. But the starting price for an iPad is $329 compared to the cheapest MacBook which starts at $1,099.
There is another segment of people who work on iPads besides those of us who prefer a light, portable device. There are also those who refuse to pay $1-$3,000 for a machine that has way more than they need. You can buy 3 iPads for less than the cost of the cheapest MacBook Air. The MacBook is more powerful but it should be when it dwarfs the price of an iPad by a factor of 3.
Ben would’ve made as much sense if he was incredulous at all the little people who willingly drive Honda Civics and Mazda 3s when they should all just buy larger more powerful cars like the BMW 5 Series or Cadillac Escalade.
Like it or not for Mac fans. The MacBook is fast becoming the equivalent of the DSLR camera. It’s still in wide use, but most people really don’t need it any more.
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