walls.corpus

By Nathan L. Walls

  • Sunset, Jan. 2, 2021/Williams Township
  • On Bougher Hill/Williams Township
  • Sunrise, Dec. 19, 2020/Williams Township
  • Sunset, Dec. 27, 2020

Context is everything

Instapaper developer Marco Arment tries to articulate where Apple is going with the iPad by looking at where they’ve come with winding down internal modems (recent laptops, iMacs) and DVD drives (MacBook Air). By seeing how everyone has started using the iPad, Apple no longer needs to drive marketing the iPad to “productivity” concerns:

But, as often happens in technology, the iPad hasn’t “killed” the laptop at all — it has simply added a new role for itself. And that role doesn’t include office productivity for most of us.

Apple is now adapting to the market’s actual use by retreating somewhat from office productivity and pushing strongly into new territory — casual media creation — to see if that gets a stronger uptake in practice. I think it will be a lot more interesting than office productivity, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in iOS to make it practical (especially regarding file transfers with computers).

In my mind, it’s less about media consumption or generation as much as it is an offering of a context switch. I know a lot of folks who, after the work day is done, don’t want to look at a computer. That’s where the inbox lives. But a tablet is a different context altogether. Non-threatening, non-stressful.

Another way of coming at this is my brother-in-law’s experience as an architecture and food photographer. A big DSLR means work while a rangefinder is for himself. Is it possible to take on the personal art with a DSLR? Absolutely, just as it’s possible to work with a rangefinder. Apple’s showing just this sort of thing by showing the iPad in use in schools and hospital. But that’s not likely what the rest of us are going to use it for. Context is everything.