Over the last week after the Apple iPad was announced, I decided to conduct some totally unscientific but very informative ethnographic research project: I walked the full length of the train on my way to and from work, and looked at what sort of electronic devices other commuters were using and, more crucially, what they were using them for.
As you may have noticed if you’ve ever been on a peak-hour commuter train, there are lots of people using a laptop. All of the ones I noticed were engaged in one of the following tasks:
- Reading or writing email
- Reading or editing a document (Word or PDF), spreadsheet or presentation
- Watching a video
- Browsing or editing photographs
In fact, in a couple of years of commuting & randomly peeking at people’s screens, only a few times I saw people doing any other specialised tasks such as editing videos or using architectural design software. I’ve also seen over time a few people using more specialised devices such as eBook readers & portable DVD players.
If most of the above sounds like a list of things that the iPad is designed to do very well, I doubt it’s a coincidence. After all, commuters are an important demographic (according to a 2009 study, workers in the UK spend on average 52.6 minutes commuting every day) and I doubt Apple would want to ignore it.
And before you say “oh, but the iPad doesn’t multitask”, I’ve got another observation up my sleeve. One of these days I sat next to a couple of people using their laptops for the duration of my trip. All of them seemed to work on one document all the time, and were mostly reading or making minor edits. This is also why we shouldn’t worry too much about the ergonomics of the iPad. Sure, it’s probably not well suited to typing long documents (not without an external keyboard), but the seats and tables on a train, bus or plane aren’t really designed to accommodate long typing sessions on a laptop either.
As I’m typing this on the train, I have to keep my hands at an awkward angle in order to use my laptop keyboard. Maybe an iPad sitting in my lap would be better?
indicates required fields
David Cook commented on 10 February 2010 at 3:24 pm
The iPad (and other tablet devices) will be terrible for typing significant amounts of text on, on a train or otherwise. There is no tactile feedback for your fingers, and in order to type with any speed you have to have the screen at the wrong angle for viewing.
A relatively small number of people commute by train and are lucky enough to get a seat, at least in this country. The majority of London commuters spend most of their journey standing up and using one hand to hold on to some part of the train. This will make using a device as large as the iPad difficult. Most commuters in the UK drive to work, anyway.
Where I think the iPad (and similar devices) will excel is in the passenger seats of cars. In a car is is virtually impossible to read small text or to type on a laptop anyway due to the movement of the car. However, the iPad, with it’s chunky icons and sweeping finger gestures, will be quite usable. In countries such as the US, where you have to drive everywhere for everything, I suspect that there will be a lot of parents buying these to keep the kids in the back quiet.
Robert commented on 10 February 2010 at 4:58 pm
Its best selling feature is its cost which starts from $499.
Simon Peel Yates commented on 11 February 2010 at 4:49 pm
It seems like there is a recurring theme surrounding the latest apple products, the reliability has become second to developing the aesthetics and the battery-life problems still have not been solved, have Apple’s previous successes gone to their heads? Will the iPad be a slave to this?
I was just reading an interesting in-depth article on this topic here: http://bit.ly/bf2tXx which is certainly worth a browse. Personally I am a massive fan of apple products but I have been becoming increasingly more aware of the move towards style over substance.
Laureen commented on 21 May 2010 at 8:42 pm
Thanks, it was interesting to read about the results of your research. Well, you`re right, iPad can perfectly fit the needs of travelers or those who`s going to use this device on the go. But I think it can`t replace more specific devices, such as e-readers for example, and surely iPad won`t kill laptops.
Regards,
Laureen Carter, from blackberry development