When the iPad was first announced, I felt a sense of deja vu, I’ve seen this somewhere before. Then it hit me; I did see something like this before. On a TV show. About two decades ago.
Once again something from a far in the future science fiction world has become a reality in our world. And the devices look a lot better than the ones on Star Trek The Next Generation ever did! (Obviously Star Trek‘s PADDs weren’t designed by Apple). Five years after the iPad was first unveiled on January 27 2010, Apple has revealed they sold over 250 million iPads worldwide, making the iPad the fastest selling product in the company’s history. Who knew that when Steve Jobs first showed the device off to the world that the iPad would take off so quickly? And the impact it would have on the world?
Remember the days before 2010 when rumours of Apple coming out with a tablet began circulating? Was it going to be called the iSlate? The iTablet? The iSlab maybe? iTab? Nope, nope, nope and nope; they called it the iPad. Critics were quick to jump on the name as well as the notion of a tablet, questioning reasons behind even wanting to buy “an oversized iPhone”. “What’s the point of such a device?”, many have asked. Sales figures and the iPad’s rise to popularity has proven the critics wrong as consumers spoke with their wallets and said just one thing:
And boy, did they ever speak loudly! Over two million iPads have been sold in the first 60 days, with 300,000 devices sold on the first day alone and a whopping million in the first 30 days. The same year, TIME named it the ‘Gadget of the Year’; clearly Apple’s tablet has redefined what makes a tablet, they’ve also essentially created a new product category as competitors began jumping into the market with their own versions of tablets. iPad’s launch in 2010 also opened up a way for app developers to show their skills and push the limits of a tablet device and show people just what these tables are actually capable of over the next five years.
2011 ushered in the iPad 2, with front and rear cameras and a thinner design; a year later iPad 3 came along with a high-resolution retina display. Then came the iPad 4 and a smaller 7.9-inch iPad mini, announced in October 2012, available in November. 2013 saw a re-designed, slimmer, lighter iPad Air as well as the iPad mini with the high-rest Retina display and updated processors. The iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, both with Touch ID, and a new processor for Air 2 were unveiled just last year. Where to next? iPad Pro? Perhaps, but let’s pause here for a moment and think about what the last five years have been like with the iPad in our lives.
At first I felt like a crew member of the Enterprise with my iPad in hand as I went about my business, taking notes in my master’s program at the university or just chilling at home with the device as I watched a few YouTube videos whenever there’s nothing interesting on TV, browsed the net, Tweeted or read something. Nowadays, my first generation iPad sits by my bed, filled with audio books and books for me to listen to or read when I want to chill a bit. The second iPad I have is encased in military-grade protection (it gives me peace of mind knowing that if I drop it, it won’t be damaged) and is my versatile travel companion. Here’s just a few ways I use my iPad today outside of usual browsing, Tweeting, and yadda yadda yadda.
The iPad is a perfect companion to brainstorm, take notes, put together ideas and slides that get saved to the iCloud automatically, so when I come back home and fire up my Mac, the info is all there, right were I left off. The iPad can also be used as a second screen in a pinch. All that’s needed is a computer, an app such as AirDisplay 2, and you can send the video signal to the iPad over WiFi. Sure it’s not the same as having an actual second monitor, but when I’m on the move, my 11-inch MacBook Air and my iPad work well together to provide a great working environment that stands in for my home office just fine. Other apps, such as Whiteboard Projector offer a wireless way to view and show presentations, documents, images and more as well as sketch things, highlight, draw, laser point whilst lecturing or presenting information in group meetings. All that’s needed is an HTML5-capable web browser on the local network, and you’re good to go, iPad in hand. There’s also a plethora of apps available to let users access their computer at home or at the office whilst you’re away. Forgot an important file at home and you’re halfway around the world (or even when you’re in the same city, but to get back home it’ll take you ages)? No problem, grab your iPad, connect to your home computer via iTeleport and e-mail the file to yourself within minutes.
iPad is where I read most of my comic books in digital format, whether via ComiXology or the official Marvel app. There’s also Zinio, the digital magazine subscription app that’s been my magazine library for years now. Not only does this save time (I don’t have to go to a physical store and purchase a copy), money (the digital subscriptions are usually cheaper), but it also saves on physical space and I have my entire magazine library at my fingertips, quite literally accessible anytime I want. Then there’s apps like Zite, which let me search my favourite topics, add them to a list of favourites and the app pulls up news stories from across the web featuring those topics. Reading ebooks is a dream, whether I’m using the native iBooks app, or if an app such as Amazon’s Kindle. Again, always plenty of reading material as I have my ebook library with me at all times, which is a bonus as I tend to read a lot, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction and academic material dealing with my research interests. I dread to be stuck anywhere with nothing to read, especially if the anywhere happens to be a foreign country with little reading material in English.
As a fan of television shows (I watch around 30 currently airing shows, it’s for research, honest!) how on Earth do I keep track of all of these TV shows? What airs when? When there’s a new episode coming up? Before the iPad, I used to write it all down, and read the online schedule every day to ensure I have the latest information so I won’t miss one of my shows coming off a break. With the iPad, there’s an app for that sort of thing which is automated once a show’s been added to iTV Shows. I can take a look at the calendar and see what’s airing when, what’s already aired, what the episode title is and even watch an ad for an episode. The app also shows stats such as how many shows and individual episodes I’ve seen so far, and how much time I’ve spent on watching said television shows.
Of course there’s more, but these are just the highlights of how the iPad has made my life a bit easier over the last five years. So yes, we’ve certainly come a long way since the first-generation iPad. Those of us who still have one or remember using it can probably recall the annoying quirks of the device such as inability to multi task (I just want to listen to my music whilst I’m browsing the Internet, dang it!) with the latest iPad and retina display along with the dual facing cameras you can FaceTime with your friends and family right off the iPad. No longer are you stuck awkwardly holding your laptop as you wander around the house showing off this or that whilst you FaceTime, nope, now you’re wandering around with an iPad in hands. I know my arms have breathed a sigh of relief at that alone.
Portability is the key when it comes to tablets; especially in the modern professional environment. Last year Apple partnered up with IBM to shift mobility in the enterprise. Specifically, they want to develop over a hundred industry-specific applications allowing companies to increase levels of efficiency, effectiveness as well as satisfy their customers faster and easier than before. That’s easier to do with an iPad so you’re not tied to a single station. That’s truly the future: a mix of versatility, portability of the gadget and mobility of the human with the gadget.
iPads aren’t a gimmick, they’re here to stay and they’re already becoming a staple of many organisations around the world. These days you’ll be stumped to name an industry or two where a tablet wouldn’t be handy or can’t be used in some form. The devices are used by people from many walks of life and of all ages; from government officials and entities, to doctors, teachers, students, housewives, parents and the list goes on and on and on. Bands have used the iPad to record tracks and albums on the device whilst on tour. Airlines such as Alaska Airlines, British Airways and Ryanair have replaced their pilot manuals with iPads. There’s even a series of apps that aid autistic children in learning, a feat that was difficult at best without an iPad. The iPad’s also been to space when Astronaut Chris Hadfield took his iPad to the International Space Station in May 2013 and recorded a cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity.
And then there’s other uses of an iPad that one doesn’t necessarily think of right off the bat. Such as the iPad Magician, as Simon Pierro demonstrated on the Ellen show recently when he showed Ellen DeGeneres and her studio audience the tricks he can do with an iPad. The YouTube video has been seen over nine million times since it was first published on Feb 18th this year.
This versatility and adaptability to many industries and people is a success in large part due to the apps available via the AppStore. We’re all familiar with the “There’s an App for that” comment; whatever your problem is, there’s probably an app for that. Can’t sleep? No problem, search for ‘Insomnia’ in the AppStore and you’re likely to find an app that may help you with that. With 725,000 apps designed specifically for the iPad, we’ve come a long way since 2010 when only 65,000 apps carried by the AppStore were designed for the iPad. For sure, there’s more where that came from in the coming years.
Really, science-fiction is slowly becoming science-fact, just any crew member of the Enterprise could tap a few keys on the PADD and interact with the ship’s systems or communicate with someone on the ship or off the ship; today with an iPad in hand we can control devices, present our work, talk to each other, browse the web, watch something, take pictures, and a lot more. And that’s only after the iPad’s been around for 5 years, what will the next 5 years bring? Oh I’m looking forward to seeing the kinds of innovations the iPad will have; maybe in a few years we’ll all be FaceTiming with a 3-D holographic version of our friends and relatives much like Star Wars did.
