It’s the tenth anniversary of the iPad. Steve Jobs introduced the device on January 27, 2010. Nathan Ingraham writes about the iPad but insists Apple is still trying to kill laptops. But I think he disproves his own point when he shares what Mr. Jobs said:
Shortly after the iPad launch, Jobs nailed his famous metaphor, comparing iPads to cars and traditional laptops and PCs to trucks, saying he believed that for most people, a car met all their needs. That clearly has not come to pass for a majority of computer users, but that doesn’t mean Jobs was wrong.
The metaphor is correct. Apple isn’t trying to kill laptops, they’re saying that for many people iPads are a good alternative. Alternative, not replacement.
Check It Out: iPads Can’t Kill Laptops But They are a Viable Alternative
Andrew:
As you are no doubt aware, there is a great deal of increasing material online, including video presentations, on how to make the iPad Pro in particular a more capable, if not principal, component of one’s productivity. That the iPad is becoming an increasingly capable device is attested by the development of iPadOS, professional grade apps and the expanding supportive hardware, including hubs, keyboards including those with trackpads that continue to proliferate.
Context is key. We’ve had this discussion about ‘replacement’ before, when laptops became increasingly more capable and were debated as being a substitute for desktops. Today, that is a meaningless debate, in that it depends on the use case and user needs. The same applies to the iPad Pro. In the past year, I have begun to conduct most of my routine tasks to the iPad Pro, both because of its speed, but also its robustness and simplicity of use. I still require my MBP for specific tasks.
In short, it’s not about replacement, but about use case, which is decision and choice made by the user.
“iPads can’t kill laptops” => YET.
When the Mac was first introduced in 1984, it wasn’t a full-on replacement to the Apple II / Lisa, just an alternative. Until of course it wasn’t and then the rest is history. When Tim Cook unveiled the first iPad Pro, this is how he introduced it:
“iPad Pro is the clearest expression of our vision of the future of the personal computing”. That vision really begins with the introduction of iPadOS.