It’s been five months since Apple launched the iPad, the sleek and powerful tablet that has ushered in a new age of mobile computing. The Cupertino company has sold more than 3 million devices and is ramping up production to fend off a slew of new competitors ready to launch tablets for the holidays. Wayne MacPhail, an emerging media consultant who teaches online journalism at Western and Ryerson universities, reflects on how the device has changed his habits.
It's not unusual, I suppose, for a five-month-old to attract attention in a coffee shop. But, it never fails: I bring mine out, set it next to my latte and muffin and someone will double-take and ask, what’s that?
That is an iPad, a tablet computer from Apple. I've had it for a half year now. On April 3, I stood in line early in the morning at the Apple Store in the Buffalo Galleria along with hundreds of others -- many of them Canadian -- hoping to score one (or more) of the coveted devices.
Back then, the iPad was, according to Apple, magical and revolutionary. But has a half year rubbed the mystical patina off the bright and shiny slab of computing? Not judging from the over 3 million sold, the fact that it remains my go-to device each and every day and not from the furtive glances I still get from the caffeinated patrons of my hometown, Hamilton.
I had hoped it would change my life, or at least the good portion of it I spend online. I had imagined myself, my little iPad propped on my knees, leaning back on the sofa, ingesting tea, cookies, news and videos. In other words, I’d be just like the folks in the iPad commercials, minus the Banana Republic outfits and manicures. And, that’s happened alright, just about every night.
And, every morning, as the kettle boils, my iPad serves up news from the BBC, a host of RSS feeds, the Globe and Mail, the CBC and a dozen blogs. So, ironically, because it has also replaced most of my books, it bookends my day.
It has made my laptop jealous. The rugged Macbook Pro, almost always my previous companion on my commutes to Toronto, now rarely gets to leave my home office (where it does the heavy lifting of audio and video editing).
I have found I can write articles like this using the large virtual keyboard on the iPad’s screen. For longer work, I pair a physical Bluetooth keyboard to the tablet and write as comfortably as on a laptop. I’ve mined recipes on it, propping it up in a cookbook stand, listened to international radio, podcasts and music as I work, have played games where I pit flora against zombie hordes and put-upon, petulant birds against swine.
I have used it as an Etch-a-Sketch, a drum machine, a dulcimer, a guitar, an astrolabe, a hearing aid, a corkboard, a photo frame, and a potter’s wheel. It really is a shapeshifter that becomes whatever you wish it to be via whichever inexpensive app you suck into it.
It is impossible, unless you own one, to appreciate how engaging, immersive and addictive it can be. When you touch the news, pictures, games and characters the experience becomes as all-encompassing and joyful as finger painting.
Speaking of fun, it's a great comic reader. I've rediscovered a dozen Golden Age DC and Marvel comics that I remember from my youth. I'd forgotten how Atom got his powers and how skinny Thor's alter ego was. I've also motored my way through the first half of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, the panels zooming and sliding as I read. I've become a Dr. Who addict, watching the British time lord and his comely companions phone booth around the universe as I ride the GO Bus.
