Ben Thompson, in discussion with John Gruber:
It was mindblowing. It was absolutely incredible. The way that you could just do stuff that wasnāt really possible [on a computer]. Again, it was technically possible on a computer, but the user interface and experience was just transformative on the iPad. It was absolutely incredible.
And Jobs knew it. Itās one of my all-time favourites Jobs moments. Itās like fifteen seconds after the demo, and itās just like… heās used this. He was involved in the creation of it. They had run through the demo. He knew it. And even then, he was just astonished. Heās just like āI canāt believe [this]…ā
[…]
It was, to my mind, the culmination of his lifeās work. He comes on there, and heās like, āIsnāt it incredible? Now anyone can make music.ā
I almost want to transcribe this whole episode. John Gruber and Ben Thompson discuss the potential of the iPadāand its failure to reach it.
Ben uses the term ātransformativeā deliberately above. They discuss how, before the iPad, no computing experience could adapt to become wholly new tools and environments for whatever the user wanted to do. But the iPad can become a piano or a canvas or a television. In this sense, they argue that the iPad has (or had) the potential for disruptive innovation (RIP Clay Christensen)ābut itās not supposed to be a Mac.
These two think the iPadās lost the chance to fulfill that potential, mostly because Apple has missed the opportunity to build a vibrant developer ecosystem due to App Store policies. I hope that isnāt the case, though I think we have to look beyond the iPad to fully appreciate what might happen next. The introduction of tablets and transformative computing experiences continues to echo throughout a variety of industries. Graphic designers and illustrators have a new suite of tools to directly interact with their creations in the iPad Pro and the Surface. Similarly, tablet or hybrid devices have transformed schoolsāschoolchildren now have a āhomeworkā device for all kinds of assignments. Itās true that we still need developers to imagine ever-more revolutionary applications for these devices, but thereās no denying that disruption is taking root.
Either way, the episode is well worth a listen. Enjoy from 15:50 to ~31:22 and 1:26:59 to the end of the show if you want to focus on the iPad discussion.