Well said. The fact that Apple went through so many prototypes of this product before it was put on the market is indicative of the thought that went into it. People love complaining about Apple’s newest products right up until the moment they get their hands on it.

There will always be technology specialists and developers and inventors. Technology’s progress isn’t going to slow down or halt because of the introduction of a new kind of computing paradigm (multitouch, iPad, etc.). This is the argument you making (if I’m comprehending your post correctly) and it’s a shortsighted view of the future.

Replace “Apple” with “the government”, “users” with “citizens” and “features” with “freedoms” and you sound exactly like a tyrant.

“In ten years, we won’t even recognize the computers that we’ll be using.”

WRONG.

In the future, computing devices will be more general purpose, infinitely customizable, and people will be smarter and know how to use those many “features” you claim to so be in the way of “average” users. Unless, of course, you are comfortable with the idea of splitting society into Eloi and Morlock…

“My mother, who can barely manage to turn on her iMac to compose an email is able to use my iPhone with little guidance.”

That has everything to do with interface, not simply having fewer choices. A child can very easily learn to use a desktop interface. So what if they don’t dive into a terminal and write a script off the bat? The iPhone interface is essentially one flat “desktop” of icons. The idea for that came from users using their desktop as their scratch space AND dock AND menu, full of icons.

I will say that we should continue to make computers more natural to use, but I strongly oppose dumbing down computing for anyone. If it were right to do that, it would be all right to deny people electricity service because they don’t understand it. “Here are some batteries. It’s easier. Oh, you need to run a leaf blower? Sorry, we don’t support batteries of that size.” Or what about math? High level math isn’t intuitive, it takes effort and gradual learning. With your reasoning, we should delegate math to a small few and let everyone enjoy the benefits yet be at our mercy.

I catch your wording “lower barrier to entry”. That I understand. Recently, the FCC eliminated a morse code test for achieving amateur radio licenses. Instead of new licensees “forgetting about obsolete morse code”, it allowed more people in the door, and morse code, a difficult skill to master, is on the rise.

So, this is NOT *THE* future of computing. If all devices became as simple as this, we could never develop anything new. It’s just a small transition. Once younger generations grow up with computers, appliances will hopefully disappear. It’s as computers become more powerful and complex will technology improve and therefore, hopefully, the general public’s knowledge of how to use it.

But it’s moot, because it’s impossible to ignore his successes. After practically inventing the personal computer, actually inventing the notebook computer, re-inventing the Mac in 1997, the iPod, the iTunes Music Store with all record labels signing on simultaneously, the iPhone, the App Store, and taking Apple from a $5B annual rev, to a $50B annual rev in 10 years, he says the iPad is the most important thing he has ever done.

Yes, he could be wrong. It wouldn’t be unprecedented. But he could be right. And he usually is.

Good article, Damien.