Now that the iPad has been released and I don’t have on yet. (Yes. As you can imagine . . . very happy about it.) I’m wondering if the iPad will end up being a mobile device. At first I thought it was going to be a mobile device in the sense that a laptop; a computing device that can be used just as a desktop can be used. (Remember desktops?) But then, after testing one out, I concluded the physical nature of the device is too different. Of course you can buy the external keyboard and carry it around or the case that lets you use the virtual keyboard: not a great experience. When I think of a mobile device I think of smartphones and dumb-phones; something you can hold in your hand and use to send an SMS, forward a photo you’ve just taken, etc. I think of Dr. Suess:
Would you, could you, in a bar? Would you, should you, in a car?
The iPad is more than that and at the same time, less than that. It’s something different. The iPad or it’s smaller counterpart which is to be released early next year (no. not the iPad nano) will create new user behaviors, just as the iPhone did. Going to be interesting . . .
