Monday, January 25, 2010

Thinking Simple Isn't Easy!

Lots of people are speculating about what will happen at the "Apple-Event" on January 27th. I really don't know why they are speculating - here is what will happen and why:

Since the iPhone exists, it's quite clear that a similar device with a bigger screen would be really helpful (sometimes). Before the iPhone, it was also quite obvious, that it would be a good idea to marry the iPod with a cellular phone.

So they will simply built just that: An iPad.
Of course it will be named "iPad" - not "iSlate" and surely not "iTablet"!
Apple has the "iPod" and the "iPhone" - so "iPad" naturally fits.

And of course they will not present a new hardware without a new software. So if you have an "iPad" - what kind of software do you need? Well, that's also obvious:
When "iPad" is the only existing proper name, the analogous counterpart of the "iPad" is a "pad". Not a single sheet of "paper", a "tablet" or a "slate". So you only have to think about a pad. On a pad you can:
  • draw
  • paint
  • sketch
  • scribble

And of course you can use it for the same purpose as a "slate". So there are the already some names for the software you can build:

  • iDraw
  • iPaint
  • iSketch
  • iScribble
  • iSlate!

So if the name iSlate is used, it has to be the name of a software (Apple, please do not bungle this)! When we know the name of a software - we can imagine what the software will be useful for: In business you will use the iPad in meetings to make notes, scribbles, mindmaps etc. As a designer or a painter you will use the iPad as a sheet of paper to draw or sketch or paint. And that's all there is to say about it.

But let's go a little bit further:
Because the design of the product has to meet the needs of the software, the rest falls into place:

  • It has to be as light and thin as possible!
  • Will it have a stencil? Of course - and not only one: It has to support muliple tools: A pen, a pencil, a rubber, a brush, a text-marker etc. If they figure out how to do all those things with fingers only - that would be truly amazing!
  • What about a built-in keyboard? Well why should it? Remember it's a pad after all! So there will be no built-in keybord (but support for external bluetooth-devices may not harm).

Keeping that all in mind, you can easily imagine how it will look like!

It's all so simple - so please: Stop speculuating, enjoy the show (and let them surprise you, where the iPad-Stencils are stored)!

Regards
Steve

Hello World

Did you ever ask a question so that everyone looks as if you're one beer short of a sixpack? Or did you ever got an answer - and you instantly recognized: You never should have asked? Those are the right moments for very interessting facial expressions - moments for a blank-face!

Due to the fact, that i don't want to waste my time to tell anyone which gear to wear, what I'm doing right now or how I'm feeling, this here will certainly not become an online-diary!
Indeed i'm confident you will not find a lot of stuff here anyway.

Be warned: I like to knot the gyri of my brain, to mess around with mathematics all the day and i surly don't know anything about those things "average people" are interested in. So chances are high that you may leave this blog bank-faced.

"Thanks" to all those (5%) readers who after all enjoy the (few) things written here.

Stefan