I’ve been considering which devices to take on vacation this year, and strongly considering leaving the laptop at home. We will be traveling in Europe in Switzerland and northern Italy, and also a few days in Amsterdam. The coach and the hotels are all supposed to have WiFi, but the laptop for me is only really necessary for work stuff – which I hope to avoid (since, you know, I’ll be on vacation).
It got me thinking about Steve Jobs’ introduction of the iPad, where he noted that “we all have a smartphone and/or a laptop” and wondered if there was room for a third category device. That device in the middle turned out to be the iPad. After Jobs’ keynote, I didn’t think I’d want/need an iPad. But for those couple months every time I was on the couch and wanted to look something up on the internet, I sure felt like a 9.7 inch screen would be better than a 3.5 inch one. So, I got one on day one.
The vacation packing list made me think about the three devices, and if I had to give one up which one would it be? The laptop, the tablet, or the smartphone. And, really, it wasn’t much of a debate. If I had to give up one it most definitely would be the tablet. I just can’t imagine giving up a “full desktop operating system” experience all the time, nor can I imagine not having an iPhone for staying connected away from home.
But what if you had to give up two? Which one device would I keep. Now that’s a much more difficult decision. And, based on my last decision you’d think it would be either the smartphone or the laptop. But, in fact, if I could keep only one it’d be the tablet! Very capable for “productivity” but still the kind of device that isn’t a pain to carry.
In other words, the iPad is at once the most expendable … and the least expendable.