Stark Bloggin' Mad!

By Emeka Nwafor

Wow!!! OK, so how is it that a few innocent tweets about the iPad gets me embroiled in a little Twitter / blogosphere skirmish with a colleague? Who would have thunk it? It's not just Schaefer, almost everyone seems to have formulated an opinion or a prediction about the future of mobile computing. Following last week's announcement of the Apple iPad there has been an impressive flood of blogs, microblogs, and YouTube from pundits and pranksters, alike.  I don't recall a technology preview that had as much publicly generated hype and excitement as the iPad announcement.

So how is it that the company that is focused on bringing us the best possible personal computing experience has generated so much emotion and excitement? iSchmad? Please...

I think that much of the excitement has to deal with the fact that many of us are not fully satisfied with the current state of mobile computing experience and we were looking to Apple - or anyone else - to show us a better way. I have to admit that when I first saw the iPad launch on Wednesday, I wasn't blown away. A few days later, I'm still not sure I completely get it, but I think it is a Good Thing for the industry for a couple of reasons:

1. The tablet form factor is well suited for rendering digital media. There have been several attempts over the years to tabletize the PC. The iPad is taking a different approach that just might work. Chip vendors, hardware vendors, software stacks - commercial and open source - will all optimize their offerings to follow Apple's lead and participate in the new market created by the iPad. I see this as a Good Thing. Within the next 18 months, we can expect both product choice and downward cost pressures which will make the technology broadly accessible and help bridge the digital divide.
2. Digital living is here. Wind River participates in the market of device vendors that are trying to connect all the devices in our homes - allowing you to get access to internet content anywhere. In his blog, Schaefer makes allusions to yours truly being an "Apple Fanboy". Yes, I have some of their gear and I like it very much because it works well and delivers on a great usage experience for listening to music, watching videos, sharing pictures, and surfing the web. And, oh yeah... the Apple stuff looks great, too. If the iPad is successful - and I predict it will be - then we will all benefit from the new standard for content sharing and device connectivity that will be set by Apple's innovation and the momentum it has built from the iPhone and iTunes.

Fascinating.

Comments

[Doug Schaefer]

There is not doubt that Apple started all this with iPhone and their app store. For that we must be grateful. I certainly am.

At the end of the day, it's just a great day to be a software developer with all these cool platforms to write code for including the Wind River supported Android and the upcoming Intel supported Moblin.

[Mark Hermeling]

Oh and don't forget, they look much better than a silly piece of paper when announcing winners at the Grammys:

http://www.cultofmac.com/stephen-colbert-whips-out-ipad-at-grammys/28602?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cultofmac%2FbFow+%28Cult+of+Mac%29

[WindRiver Fan]

Sir – I am a great fan of your too infrequent blog postings. I cannot agree with you more about Apple and how they will define the future of personal computing. That Scafer person does not know what he is talking about. Calling you Apple fanboy seems a little childish. What is he, Microsoft fanboy? You seem to have a real talent for clearly identifying the trends, direction and dare I say, Zeitgest of the industry. Keep up the great work and please keep the comments open longer. I have wanted to post before, but by the time I worked up the courage to comment on such an eminent blog, the comments have been closed.

[Charles Rivet]

I'm a bit torn about the iPad. It's a nice looking device and it wants to carve a new niche for itself. SWMBO absolutely wants one because it fits her usage pattern. I can't wait to see it in the stores to decide.

Now that this is bigger than an iPhone (which I continually use), I think Apple needs to think a bit more about the capabilities. I would really like to see it "split" the capability to keep the core, stable, protected side that is similar to the iPhone and introduce a properly partitioned, independant, and protected second "side" that would allow more leniency in development of applications with less restrictions.

Wait...would some sort of hypervisor help?!?

;-)