The unveiling of Apple’s new product, the iPad, really embodies a lot of what Lister discusses in Ch. 1 of his book. Here is a “new” medium that attempts to transcend “traditional” internet communication and increase interactivity with the product. Now, not only do we have laptops and smartphones (some might put the iPhone in its own category), but we have an in-between product! The limitations of both the iPhone and the laptop have produced something that resembles a giant iPhone, but has much more expansive capabilities.
Lister discusses the difference between “extractive” and “immersive” interaction with a medium and the new iPad tries to break away from hypertextual navigation and become more immersive. Lister states “Instead of a text-based experience aimed at finding and connecting bits of information, the goals of the immersed user will include the visual and sensory pleasures of spatial exploration.” Like the iPhone, the iPad has multi-touch sensors (something like 1500 of them) which allow navigation to be more immersive because you are spatially interacting with the device instead of just “point and click”. One example of increased immersion that stood out to me was the new e-reader that is featured on the iPad. The iBooks app is a perfect example of how “old” media is being transformed into “new” media. A user can explore books by looking through digital shelves of books and tapping on a book to read some details on it. No longer do we have to sit on Amazon and scroll through a list of books and click each one to bring up a separate webpage for that book. Now we can browse through virtual shelves by swiping the screen and tapping on a book for a pop-up window of details. Apple has really tried to make their new product much more immersive than a traditional laptop and have expanded the capabilities of an iPhone so that it is bigger, more hi-def, and easier to navigate through digital newspapers, books, and magazines (not to mention increasing gaming usage with its HD display and interactive gesture controls). It also has a full QWERTY keyboard on a very thin, sleek, and portable device that connects to wifi and 3G. A blogger’s dream.
Apple attempts to transcend traditional boundaries in digital media. It has made connections from a GPS map to digital photos by allowing users to “geotag” their photos to not only share images, but maps of where the user has been. Again, instead of just flipping through photos of a person’s trip to Romania, an Apple user is able to spatially explore their friend’s trip in a map and have multi-touch gestures available to see exactly where that photo was taken and what preceded it. Apple has already presented this technology in their laptops, but now there is the ultra-portable iPad to do this anytime. The lines between traditional media and “new” media are continuing to blur and the Apple iPad moves us one step farther in that direction.
4 responses so far ↓
elee // 27 January 2010 at 1.57 pm
What I found interesting is that how hard Apple worked to have iBook content look like an actual book.
Is this their strategy to introduce an e-Reader without loosing that traditional look? Their way to provide reassurance that iPad users are getting the best of both worlds?
hmattie // 27 January 2010 at 2.24 pm
Thanks for posting that video! I have heard about the iPad but I didn’t know it would be unveiled so soon. I think it is such a cool and useful new technology from Apple, and I definitely agree that “the lines between traditional media and “new” media are continuing to blur”.
In response to the comment above, I don’t know why Apple wanted to introduce an e-Reader without losing the traditional look of an actual book, but I do know that technology from Apple is usually very visual. The MacBook and iPhones and iPods are extremely visual, especially to someone like me who was a PC user until almost a year ago. So, it could be that Apple is sticking to what they do best with making everything visual, or it could be for the users to, like stated above, get the best of both worlds. With any luck, we may find the reasons during an interview or article or another video.
rwhnewton // 27 January 2010 at 3.55 pm
I think Apple’s growing popularity partially has to do with their attention to aesthetics. In regards to hardware, there’s something nice about having a laptop, smart-phone, tablet, and adaptors with significant unity. Apple’s keyed into that feeling many Americans have about owning complete sets of furniture, baseball cards, dishes, and television shows on DVD.
For me at least, the mimicry of old media allows for a seemingly intuitive experience. Before Windows had a recycle bin, Macs had their trash can. Widgets like sticky notes offer something attractive that notepad never did for me. I’m pretty excited about the iPad. I know HP and others have had similar interface experiences, but I like the Apple package and can’t wait to give it a spin.
nlyonssmith // 2 February 2010 at 10.54 am
What I found disappointing about the iPad is that it doesn’t support the free avenues of new media that many designers and artists use to express themselves. I’m talking about Flash. There is an ongoing rivalry between Adobe (makers of Flash) and Apple because of Apple’s reluctance to implement Flash on the iPhone/iPad. Here’s a link to a Gizmodo part of the story – http://gizmodo.com/5458645/adobe-responds-to-the-ipads-lack-of-flash
As a consumer, I would love to have Flash on the iPad and iPhone because it would give me many more options. Apple’s claim is that Flash is insecure (somewhat true) but Apple is also interested in selling many cheap items to the masses, something that would be a lot harder if there were free Flash games and apps available on the iPad and iPhone.
The lack of Flash is a deal breaker for me. Thankfully there is technology on the horizon that will likely overtake Flash and be acceptable for Apple (at least I hope).