Touching Apple

I observed my 3-year old nephew playing games on the iPhone the other day and a random thought occurred to me – Apple has won the next generation market. We now have an entire generation growing up with the touch interface, thinking that is how a computer is supposed to work instead of using a keyboard and mouse. Genius. Apple has a corner on the touch interface, which is protected by patents.

This got me thinking – a dangerous thing – we are set for a massive change in the world of UX design and computing usage in the next decade or so. These kids will fully expect everything to have a touch interface and will probably not even learn typing skills when they grow up.

This is where the iPad comes in. Like I mentioned before, I do not see it as an e-book reader but as a souped up tablet. As a tablet PC with a touch interface, it will find uses where there were none. It will open up markets that were previously untapped. Apple has the product that will carry them through the next decade.

I am quite excited by it all but I won’t be buying one as yet. I am still interested to see what other competing products will come out of their competitors before deciding on which tablet to bet my money on. For now, a single source of useful tablets is a dangerous thing to have. The market has enough room for several – maybe Apple, Nokia and Freescale – but who knows.

PS: I wonder what will happen to Apple after Jobs.