Is iPad Built for Two?

29 January 2010 by Michael Leis, View Comments

I do know this is the cheesyest image to describe the article, which is why I chose it

Today, the radio industry publication Music Week published Dan Thornton‘s thoughts on the iPad’s impact on commercial radio. As Absolute Radio Digital Marketing Manager, he brought up a lot of good thought-starters on the potential. What I found most interesting was him setting the interaction environment of use.

iPad replaces all those heavy textbooks

While those like me don’t see a fit for the iPad in an already computer-saturated home environment, the iPad literally takes twenty pounds off the backs of high school and college kids if their textbooks are all available through the app store. And why wouldn’t publishers put their books in the App store? The audience is already there and ready to one-click all the bookstore hassle away.

iPad is for small group sharing

As I’ve been talking about for the past year or so, I believe the next wave in social computing is small groups. I see today’s kids in the US behaving a lot like young adults in Korea, finding a lot of enjoyment and social currency in using a single computer together. This concept also extends to networked publics, and being able to create a small social conversation about a topic or item not among all 120 of your Facebook friends, but maybe 2-8 of them.

Where the iPod is really good for personal consumption, the iPad is really interesting when you put it in the setting of two or three people. The screen is large enough that a few people sitting close together in a cafeteria or dorm room can see the screen or hear the audio clearly, and small enough that it can be easily shared.

Even radio now needs group game mechanics

Bringing this back to radio, the iPad, its screen, and multi-touch now invite a few people to engage in applications: a bridge no other tablet has yet to cross. Trying something as simple as allowing two people to tap and name the song first would be a breakthrough for some lucky radio station. This environment also seems well suited for apps made for kids with laptops, like MTVs Backchannel: which ties together the discourse of kids social groups and television programming.

While the iPad may have another version or two to go, it’s clearly opening a path to own the context economy for millenials and younger.

Tags: apple, brand, context, iPad, iPhone, millenials, strategy

Elizabeth

It occurred to me this morning, as I was squinting at my phone, that an ipad could be like a large text ipod for those who resist bringing out the reading glasses. Just sayin.
kirklove

I'm probably in the same boat as you (own a G5, two MacBook Pros, and two iPhones) so I really, really don't need an iPad at all. Still, I want one oddly and the sharing aspect was one of the reasons. Mine was a bit more personal, but I liked the idea of sharing one on say a long flight to watch a movie, or even if I come back from a trip and get together with friends I could show the small group a series of quick photos... Yes, of course this can be done with the iPhone or a laptop, but it "feels" like it would be easier with something like the iPad. Think of it as the Flip video mentality. They made the same basic premise as a small camcorder easy and it took off the iPad can do the same thing.

Also, I really like the text book angle. If I was in 9th grade say, I'd kill for this device instead of hauling 8 books to school and home. And it can do YouTube and the web. Killer.

All in all the iPad for me was a nice product headed (but not there yet) in the right direction. I know a lot of peeps have been saying the same thing, but version 2 and 3 is where you are going to see it become much, much more ubiquitous and the social aspect of it take off.
mleis

You, Kirk Love, will give serious consideration to any wireless electronic device.

Having said that, you'll like Victor Lombardi's article about how the device changes your posture around it -- it feels like this is what you're talking about:
http://noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/?p=2500
Elizabeth

I really really like this idea of an ipad being large enough for a shared experience. My mind had not gone there, yet.

I've been following conversations between web nerds who don't see the sense of paying more money for less control - the ipad's price is comparative with a cheap laptop. I dunno. I think it will catch on w/ the demographic that doesn't blog in code view, ya know? ;-)
mleis

1) Yes, I think a lot of talk has focused on what the iPad isn't good for, from the first person perspective of the 1% of the population who take the time to create such content. How the mainstream uses it will be interesting to watch.

2) NERRRRRRRRDDDDDDDSSSS
Dan Thornton

Nice post as always Michael - and I'm flattered that I inspired you!

On the subject of replacing books and laptops, I'm a big fan of Corey Doctorow's reasoning in Content - ereaders and tablets aren't a direct replacement for print, and they aren't a direct replacement for reading on a laptop. The benefit of a dedicated ereader, and potentially a tablet is that they focus your mind on reading more longform content without getting distracted by emails, tweets, RSS updates etc, and everything else which interferes on a connected communication device...

So in fact, in that regard, the iPad probably does too much!
mleis

Thanks for the kind comment @badgergravling, and for sharing your thoughts in the first place. It's funny to think that we need a device to keep us from being distracted by other devices.
itemforty

Replace heavy books? That's what a laptop could do too. The iPad doesn't do anything differently... just the same things a little faster without a keyboard.
mleis

Agreed, a laptop could do it, but it seems to me like the way people treat books on a laptop is fundamentally different than they would treat this object. I think you would just approach the device differently, no?

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