Last night saw the launch of Apple's much-anticipated touchscreen tablet computer, the iPad. The gadget looks set to be the must have accessory of 2010, nestling itself in a self-created market halfway between the iphone and the Macbook.
Apple claim that the iPad will change the way we work, travel and view media. It looks like an instant icon, and within weeks I'm sure we'll be seeing a new range of man-purses popping up in cities across the world, acting as the proud flag of the iPad Early Adopter.
The iPad is, amongst other things, an e-reader, which at first glance looks way more appealing than the current frontrunner in that field, the Kindle. It's a web and email browser with software that looks set to make binning your SPAM an absolute pleasure. It's a music and video player, the Daddy of all iPods. And as with it's pocket media players, Apple are sure to build a whole culture around this monolith, with Apps and third-party accessories flooding the web as we speak.
But professional creatives, Apple's most loyal supporters, are wondering what's in it for us. We were hoping that when Apple finally made a tablet Mac, it would allow us to use creative tools for graphic design, intuitively and on-the-go. We'd been imagining doodling on a digital etch-a-sketch since Minority Report came out. It seems though, that pleasing the mac monkeys was never Apple's intention. The iPad seems to be designed as more of a lifestyle accessory than the creative digital multitool that designers and artists had been hoping for. It seems the apps it runs will be stunning to use, and Apple's iwork suite has been rewritten to work amazingly with the stunning new interface, great for business users, but you can't install any software like Indesign or Photoshop, unless Adobe create a 'lite'-version or Apple decide to enter the market of creative software. You can't plug anything into it (like a camera) as it has no USB ports and you can't multitask on it.
As a professional creative, the best use a can see for the iPad is a stunning new method for showing off a portfolio to clients. It would also be a very nice way to kill time on the journey to and from the meeting, watching a film or reading a paper on the train. I can see loads of great ways I'd use the iPad on holiday (providing I didn't go anywhere with sand, water or theives).
Don't get me wrong, right now, I'd love one. I'd probably pay through the nose for one, but as a personal user, not a professional. The iPad looks amazing, but it's not a tool for creating media, just a brilliant new way of consuming it.