This is an interesting video. It compares current uses (and desired uses) and capabilities of the iPad compared to the original vision for it. I think you’ll enjoy this video.
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I watched the whole video and I disagree with the statement. I think for many users, Steve Jobs was spot on. I believe I’ve told this story before, but before the iPad existed, my Dad had a MacBook. It was too complicated for him and I had to do lots of tech support over the phone. After the iPad came out and he was looking to get a new laptop, I convinced him to buy an iPad. The tech support calls have dropped to zero and he has a much easier time with the one app at a time paradigm that is the default mode of the iPad.
For people who spend time on the MPU forum, Steve Jobs might’ve been wrong, but I believe Apple’s consumer base is much larger than power users.
I’d also say for myself that I prefer to use the iPad for things like browsing the web, watching videos, answering emails, etc. Just the things that Steve Jobs talked about 15 years ago. But since my job involves writing software, the iPad cannot be used for that. But even there, I prefer reading documentation on my iPad. I will often have a tech book open on the iPad next to my laptop when I’m learning about a new API or language feature. I can highlight and take notes with the Apple Pencil as I’m reading.
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I agree and the person making the video makes exactly that point themselves. that the majority of people still use the iPad for the reasons and tasks Steve Jobs outlined.
The person making the video even lays out very early that it’s Power Users who are pushing for the iPad to be more Mac like. Apple are the ones restricting the software capabilities of the iPad despite the underlying tech in the iPad and MBA being very similar.
So despite the clickbait headline on the video, Steve Jobs didn’t get it wrong then, and what he said is still not wrong now, computers are generally more powerful and capable.
I still think that there’s space in the iPad lineup with simple pre 2022 ipadOS multi tasking.
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A few months after the iPad was introduced Steve Jobs spoke of the “post PC era” with Walt Mossberg.
“The transformation of the PC to new form factors like the tablet is going to make some people uneasy because the PC has taken us a long ways. The PC is brilliant… and we like to talk about the post-PC era, but it’s uncomfortable [when it really starts to happen].”
Based solely on past conversations on this forum, I’d say we are well into the beginning of the post-PC era. It is estimated that, in the US, fifteen+ percent percent of people now use a smartphone as their primary or only device. (I wonder how many people may use just their phone and an iPad?)
IMO, Steve may have had understood the iPad’s future better than the rest of Apple.
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Was that at the AllThingsD conference. It was there he made the Tablets as Cars and Macs as Trucks analogy. Some of that has transpired, but a heck of a lot of people still buy Macs.
A lot of people buy trucks too.
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Yes.
And that will probably continue for a while. AI is still a baby that has just begun to crawl.
I’ve recently started playing with Gemini and found it easy to get it to populate my calendar by having it look at a list of future events. Or create a list of tasks from my handwritten notes. I later found a YouTube video where someone used Gemini to create a list of tasks from an audio recording and add them to his task list.
I’m starting to understand how some people will be able to use much simpler tools to get their job done.
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I like that the iPad can still be used in a simple way, which is the way my wife uses it as her main compute platform.
As long as there continues to be a default “basic user” mode and all the fancy stuff is hidden behind options, mode switches, or “secret” keyboard shortcuts or gestures, I’m fine with it getting more and more power user features.
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Not having viewed the video, I’d wager only one thing not three. Mankind was scratching on just about anything around with sticks far before the iPad came to life. Why the initial offering of the iPad seemed so adamant to shun anyone who wanted to do more than just finger-paint on its screen still puzzles me (and was my reason for shunning the first iPad as nothing but a toy).
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JJW