Gone are the days where Tablets were just cool little devices for playing flash games and almost but not quite checking your email; look around, everyone from teachers to civil servants and even Presidents have them and use them on a daily basis. Steve Jobs has called the Apple’s version of the Tablet, the iPad, ‘a magical device’, and although he’s paid to say so, add to this that these ‘magical’ devices are being used to do everything from controlling the lights in your house to helping children with autistic spectrum disorders deal and interact with the world, it’s hard to say he’s wrong.
One of the most magical and exciting things about Tablets is that they are leaving the realm of ‘specialised hardware’ and moving into the realm of everyday devices. The ease of developing of apps also means that the specialised software is only a few swipes of the finger away.
An old ‘Trekkie’ vision
The idea of a Tablet PC (a mobile computer with a touch screen) has been around for a long time. In the 1960’s tablets made an appearance in a Star Trek episode in the form of a wedge shaped electronic clip board. Since then, we’ve had pocket PCs, palm pilots and net books. Only now, however, are we getting close to the realisation of the electronic computer-clip-board that captured people’s imaginations 50 years ago.
But if the idea has been there for fifty years, why have we had to wait so long for it to become a reality? The answer is becasue only in recent years have a few key factors slotted into place which make such a device possible (and actually use-able without being cumbersome). Some of these factors are:
- The Cloud (The Internet) and the plethora of services now available on it means that the requirements for useful computing (CPU power, ram, storage) are moved from being located on the device to a server on the other end of an Internet connection. This has enabled portable devices like Tablets to have relatively low hardware requirements and still be as useful and flashy as their desktop counterparts.
- Mobile network technology - fast, mobile Internet connection (particularly 3G and up) appeared about 5 years ago and the speed and low cost of this network enables cloud services to be used on a Tablet quickly and without hassle.
- Unified platforms - There are now 3 or 4 major platforms that a Tablet could run on (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, MS Mobile, Palm Web OS), each accompanied by freely available development tools which make it easy for developers to extend the platform and for users to customise. This leads to all tablets having the same ‘look and feel’ and a similar user experience. There is now an expectation in the world of Tablets of how it should function and the availability of development tools to develop it.
- The evolution of input methods - from a keyboard and a mouse, Tablets have gone to capacity touch screens, tilting and rotating, microphones.
- Connectivity - GPS, Bluetooth, wi-fi, mobile networks and now Near Field Technology let you interact securely with other devices, allowing you to pay for your groceries or give you access to a venue to watch your favourite rock star.
With this infrastructure in place (and growing), things have come together in the past few years to create the Tablet as we know it at an affordable price; with it’s vast capabilities, slick interface, and ultimately the user experience one gets from it. The folks at Apple (and to some extent Google and Microsoft) have crystallised and made real the idea that was born on the USS Enterprise so many years ago (that’s a Star Trek reference for those who missed it).
The Next Generation... of computing?
Charles Arthur and Killian Fox say this: “We have lived with the PC paradigm for around 30 years now, since IBM introduced its first personal computers and pushed them into businesses in the early 80s. Until the launch of the iPad last year the only comparable change in the market had been the laptop, which led to the emergence of an army of travelling salespeople whose most urgent need was always to find a power point where they could charge their machine's fading battery.”
Horace Dediu, formerly an analyst at Nokia suggests that iPads (and therefore Tablets in general) are a shift away from this old paradigm towards a new paradigm in what some are calling a ‘Third Stage in computing’ or a ‘New Generation of computers’. Dediu defines a new generation of computer as one where “the new products rely on new input and output methods, and allow a new population of non-expert users to use the product more cheaply and simply". Tablets fit this bill from start to finish.
Up in the Cloud(s)
This ‘New Generation’ of Tablet computers is not only a product of years of technologies coming together and the existence (or realisation of its potential) of The Cloud, but is also a driver of the same process and development of The Cloud and Tablets from which they come. As Tablets (and to an extent small notebooks, laptops and netbooks) have become more prevalent on the market, the need for more easily accessible resource on The Cloud has become necessary [for further details on The Cloud, see post dated July 25, 2011 on this Blog], this supply and demand chain has created a self-fulfilling prophecy as more apps and capabilities are developed for Tablets thereby making Tablets more desired and user friendly, thereby prompting the need for more apps and capabilities.
The Good, The Bad and the Tablet?
Tablets are not being received with open arms in all spheres however, with this change in generation and paradigm comes yet another sensory stimuli into our world. Technically the stimuli isn’t new, just more portable - in the 60’s you would have needed an eighteen wheeler truck and an army of techs to carry your computer around, now with Tablets a ten year old can carry one around in her school bag (and probably use it better than the techs from the 60’s). But there are some who suggest all this tech is actually changing the way our brains work - although there’s no clear agreement if this is a good or a bad thing. Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield says this “At a microcellular level, the infinitely complex network of nerve cells that make up the constituent parts of the brain actually change in response to certain experiences and stimuli.” Greenfield suggests the continued use of technology and gadgets like Tablets are part of those ‘experience and stimuli’ that are changing our brains. She goes as far as to say that our notions of who we are, what we do, how we behave, how we interact with each other and what makes us happy - our basic human identity - are changing and will continue to change because of these kinds of technology.
On the flip side however, this very same technology is being used to improve, and even enhance the lives of many. Speech therapists use ‘Tablet like’ devices to assist people in relearning language after strokes and as communication aids. Special needs schools around the globe are finding that the use of tablets (particularly the iPad) in teaching children with autistic spectrum disorders is having a huge impact in helping them concentrate and interact with the world. Because the input and output areas of the tablet are the same, it helps these children to focus their attention on one place as many children with this disorder struggle with concentrating on more than one area at a time.
Whatever the outcome, Tablets are here and they are set to become more entrenched in our lives as the technology advances and their uses become more varied and helpful on a day to day level. From their beginnings in a Star Trek dream to their reality and use in hospitals and class rooms around the world, people everywhere are embracing them.
