Newton 2.0

Speaking of John Battelle’s Apple predictions, here’s one from last year:

Apple’s “iTablet” will disappoint. Sorry Apple fanboys, but the use case is missing, even if the thing is gorgeous and kicks ass for so many other reasons. Until the computing UI includes culturally integrated voice recognition and a new approach to browsing (see #4), the “iTablet” is just Newton 2.0.

In hindsight, I think the use cases for the original iPad are simplicity and delight.

“Newton 2.0” was intended as a disparagement, in the sense that the Newton never sold well. But I still say that Apple’s competitors could do a lot worse than copying UI ideas from the Newton.

★ Wednesday, 5 January 2011