Notion Ink’s working on Adam, Apple’s bring out iPad, so who’s bringing out Eve? Gender discrimination I say.. sorry jus kidding I say. With the number of tablets that’s coming out this year, I won’t be surprised even if someone brings out a tablet named Eve 
…it’s for them. In case you haven’t heard yet, hundreds of angry comments were posted by people who landed on a ReadWriteWeb post, after searching for ‘facebook login’ on google. They thought RWW was the redesigned Facebook, scrolled down, saw facebook-connect, logged in using it and posted their protest. These people did not check the URL, nor the header and even ignored the message posted by RWW team stating that the site wasn’t facebook.
This bunch of users is not a rarity; there are tons of people — a few I know — who do this. The way they browse the web might sound hilarious — open a search engine, type the sites name (ex:yahoo.com in google search mind you) click the first result and browse. As convoluted as it sounds, that’s the only way these people know how to browse the web. Explaining or trying to educate these users might not be a solution, because for one, they just don’t care; two, they know one ‘method’ and don’t want to learn another. What’s required is a reinventing of the way information is consumed and web is accessed.
Devices like iPad just might be the way to go. Want to go to Facebook? No need to open a browser, then google, then search and then land on facebook. On iPad, iPod or on most modern mobile devices, all one has to do is press on an app. It doesn’t have multi tasking, but so what? Does it really matter for ‘people’.
Let me give a more personal example. My father is familiar with computers, because he uses them in office. But he is still not too savvy with it. So he bought a new laptop recently and he for one, is enthusiastic about using it and experimenting with things. Open settings, look around etc etc. I like that about him, because that’s just what I myself. Experiment. He’ll get the hang of internet after a while, but I can’t say the same about my mother.
She is also very smart woman and very enthusiastic about learning new things. But she is more by-the-book kind with technology. So make a mistake in one of the steps and she wouldn’t know what to do. But what if she was using a simpler one-click access device like an iPad? There wouldn’t be any ’steps to follow’ would there? No chance of being confused between email address and websites address would there? No I don’t think so.
iPad’s for them, sure media houses and music industry can call it their savior, but the only bunch iPad will save for sure are the less tech-savvy crowd who use internet. They need this device more than you and me. It may not have a lot of things but whatever it has it does really good.
Personally I like Notion Ink’s Adam (going by the videos that is)
Also read: Why I am Excited About the iPad
A reader send in this sketch wishing happy birthday to DNA Bangalore. We had carried reporter's diary on our Saturday edition check out pages 7-14 and he made the sketches looking at the pics used in the entries =) What do you think?
