THE IPAD was quite controversial before and during its launch, and it continues to be the year after its launch. People say that it is neither a laptop nor a pocket device, therefore it is doomed to have no functional slot in society. People say it is 'locked up tight' with Apple's OS and iStore, unable to be a user-open 'general computing device.' Among other thoughts and critiques.

Time will tell out. I have found the iPad to be a media device rather than a computing device. I can read the morning's news, view my new videos in my YouTube subscriptions, read a book, play a game, read a new issue of WIRED magazine, all while listening to the play list of my choice. Podcasts, free courses online, and the battery just keeps going. This is definitely a "lifestyle" device.

I see something interesting happening as I look at how the iPad is being received and who appreciates it most. While general computing devices are great for those that know how to tweak and customize them, and while complex software like Windows is fit for many professional computing tasks, neither of those are benefits at all for our seniors or children. Placing an complex OS and fully-featured browser between seniors and the Internet is really much more of a confusing burden, adding layers of tracking and complexity, to people who don't want it. They just want to read some news, visit some sites, watch some video, and do some reading. Maybe play a game or use some specific application for their church, health, sports or other interest.

They want it as simple as possible, as easy as possible. It's like a car: they don't want to tinker with the engine or build out their own interior, they just want to drive it somewhere. In comfort, with simplicity. They want it to just work, without having to learn how it works, how to fix it, or how to change it from one thing to another.

Turns out, young children like the simplicity of the iPad as well. The benefits of the apparently very intuitive (see anecdotal reports in the links below) user interface in the iPad must be invisible to those who muck about in the depths of the Linux command line or Windows registry. But to kids and seniors, the iPad is finally making the Internet and digital media accessible without have to learn the complexity of an OS.

Steve Jobs said, "The iPad is the most important thing I have done in my life," and we have just begun to see why. The iPad, functioning as an instant-use portal to the Internet and to education, will be a big part of getting many Americans educated and mapped into the 21st Century. It'll be a much needed tool at a critical time in our history.

People still don't understand how much they will have to learn or how fast they will have to learn it to be successful in the 2020 job market and economy, and it has made me more than nervous to contemplate the pressures and problems ahead for America. The iPad is one of the biggest solutions to access, learning and connection that we have, and I'm very glad we have it.

Thanks, Steve and everyone at Apple.

Please enjoy these articles, links and stories about the iPad.

SF Weekly Article: iHelp for Autism - "For autistic children, the new iPad is an effective, portable device for teaching communication and social skills. It’s also way cool."