The Classic Computing Blog

Why Apple Should Take a Look Back, though Steve Jobs Didn't

Fri, 6 Apr 2012 01:23:50 -0400

Update, Friday, April 6th, 4pm EST:

I think there is a misconception in what I propose, and the word "museum" wasn't the best choice. I wish I had not used it now, and found a better alternative. Plus, in this follow-up article, I use the Mercedes Museum as an example and that makes matters worse. It gives the impression that what I suggest is some large space with every device and computer that Apple has made represented in it.

What I primarily mean is a public visitor's center, with a space that tells Apple's story. A gallery for Apple's story, where the history of the people that started it, grew it, perhaps even failed it is told. Not a big collection to be managed. My two pictures show this well.

I think the Mercedes Museum is great, but that would not be right for Apple, instead it does demonstrate a healthy attitude by Mercedes-Benz in celebrating and embracing their past. Steve Jobs will soon only exist in Apple's past.

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I recently wrote an article wherein I proposed that Apple open a corporate museum, as well as a full public venue to include a store, lounge and cafe. I ran it here on the site, and it was also published on both forbes.com and cultofmac.com. That was last weekend and the story started trending by Sunday evening. Then somewhat amusingly, it got buried first thing Monday morning by the wall-to-wall coverage of Ashton Kutcher, who's to play Steve Jobs in an upcoming indie film. To be honest, I really wasn’t all that amused.

I have received a lot of feedback, and there are some additional comments at both forbes.com and cultofmac.com. Response in regard to an Apple Museum has been split, with about half being supportive, while the other half essentially says, "Apple would never do this, as they’re not about looking back." Here are some examples:

"Apple never lives in the past. Why would they create something that does?"

"I’d prefer to see Apple’s history embedded within a larger context at the Computer History Museum. Placing this museum at Apple’s corporate headquarters would probably be, as Jobs thought, a distraction – their eyes must be focused on their future, not the past."

"Apple had a museum. In 1996. When Steve returned, he trashed that crap (gave it to a university) because what the frick is the point of living in the past? The day Apple has another museum marks the beginning of the TRUE end, unless there's another Steve out there somewhere that can save them."

"I love the idea, but I don't think Apple would ever go for it. I think they have an institutional bias against looking backward." From an email by John Gruber, of daringfireball.net

“Only problem is Apple *never* seems to look backward. I was told by an Apple employee that they sent all of their old Macs over to Stanford.” From an email by David Sparks, of macsparky.com

"I have spoken to Apple and they are not interested . . ." From an email by Orrin Mahoney Vice Mayor, City of Cupertino, CA

Though I agree that Steve Jobs, and therefor Apple, were all about only looking towards the future, if Apple leadership continues to wholly embrace this sentiment, then a real irony is created.

At the company’s memorial to Steve on Wednesday, October 19th of last year, CEO Tim Cook shared a piece of advice that Steve gave him before his death on October 5th:

“Among his last advice he had for me, and for all of you, was to never ask what he would do. ‘Just do what’s right.’”

Steve Jobs wanted Apple to avoid the trap that he felt The Walt Disney Company fell into after the death of its iconic founder. He didn’t want any "What would Walt do" kind of thinking. Steve wanted Tim and the rest of the Apple leadership team to make their own best decisions. Decisions based on current events, on current information and perhaps even based on instinct.

Steve didn’t want Apple to blindly keep doing things exactly the same way, without ongoing reevaluation. “What Would Steve Do” (WWSD) thinking is not the way, and precisely why continuing to embrace a “never look back” policy is misguided for the new Apple leadership.

Apple’s new campus, (which will become a part of Steve Jobs’ legacy) is the perfect opportunity for Apple’s leadership to look back and celebrate the dent that it made in the universe. Steve Jobs left an indelible imprint on the company and his passing made him part of its history. Jobs’ legacy will live on forever, so why not create a space at Apple corporate headquarters to celebrate it?

The idea of not supporting a museum is in keeping with the old thinking. It’s like trying to behave as if Steve Jobs was still here. This one issue may be a sticking point for Apple’s leadership, but Tim Cook has already demonstrated that he does reevaluate past standard operating procedures, as evidenced with the recent dividend announcement. When he announced it, he emphasized that Apple's primary focus was on innovative products, and that he believed Apple's future is bright.

After I posted my article, I emailed the link to every board member at Apple. I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t hear back from any of them. It is possible one or a couple of them might have actually looked at it. Some of them may even be considering the idea, but I understand if they can’t publicly comment on it. I hope at least one member of the leadership team has read it. If just one member embraces new thinking, and could become an advocate for the idea, it might get realized.

One of the arguments that I make in the article is that:

“I know I’ll want to visit this campus one day and I’m sure even more fans would want to as well. People like architects, artists, students, tourists, and the just plain curious. The new campus will become a mainstream destination and Apple needs to realize this, and more importantly, embrace it.”

In the video where Steve Jobs presents the new campus to the Cupertino City Council, it's interesting when he responds at 14:40 with:

"Thank you, I think we do have a shot of building the best office building in the world, and I really do think architecture students will come here to see this. I think it could be that good."

This is why I believe it's very important for Apple leadership to embrace the idea that this new campus will also be an attraction in and of itself. They can react to that in the future, or own and control the experience now by planning and building for it.

I had a very nice email exchange with Orrin Mahoney, the Vice Mayor of the City of Cupertino. In one email he stated:

“I have spoken to Apple and they are not interested, but I am trying to put together a coalition of interested parties in Cupertino. They include the Rotary Club of Cupertino, the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, the Cupertino Historical Society, and the City of Cupertino. We have had preliminary discussions with the Computer History Museum, here in Silicon Valley.”

I think this idea is admirable, but with all respect to Mr. Mahoney, I can’t agree that this approach is the way to proceed. It's not really an issue for the City of Cupertino, it is something that Apple has to do internally. They can’t make Apple create a museum, and I wouldn’t want to visit the City of Cupertino's Apple museum. I want to go see that awesome new campus and visit the official Apple Museum. My little opinion pieces may not have a lot of power, but this is possibly the only way to spark the imaginations of Apple’s leadership team.

Lastly, here's a great example of a corporate museum, where the company is all about ongoing innovation, but yet honors it's great past. They are much older than Apple, but in terms of cultural impact, I’d say the two companies are approaching equal stature. Again as I said in my article, this is also an effective extension of branding:

Mercedes-Benz Museum

The Evolution of the Apple Museum Article Art

Wed, 4 Apr 2012 09:37:48 -0400

I’m proud of my article about Apple creating a corporate museum and public space. I’m especially proud of the artwork that Tim van de Vall and I created for it. I collaborated previously with Tim on my book, where we designed the covers and the Special Kickstarter Supporters centerfold.

I thought readers might find it interesting to learn a little of how the two pictures came about. When I first had the idea for the article, I thought it was very important to have some art to go along with my descriptions. I discussed it with Tim, and he was commissioned to work on them.

First I gathered a number of pictures for reference. I got pictures of different museum spaces, galleries and Apple stores. I then wrote out my descriptions of the two rooms that would be pictured. I met with Tim and I narrowed down the basic foundational look of things and gave him copies of all the pictures that I had sourced. He then waited for me to create a rough draft, so I took a foundational background image and I “pasted” a bunch of pictures on it in PhotoShop. Here’s what that looked like.

We discussed it, he took it and created this.

I thought it was great! I really liked what he had done, but I wanted some changes, so I started again in PhotoShop, then decided it was easier and faster to do it the ol’ fashioned way, with multiple copies, scissors and hand-drawn items. Oh, and tape.

Tim came back with almost the great picture below. It just needed very minor tweaks. Here’s the final picture.

Next, I got started on the second room. It wasn’t the best initial concept picture, as far as layout.

Tim then suggested that it might work better if we approached it as viewing from the side, so I broke out the paper, pen and scissors again and created this.

That Tim is one great artist and he came back with an excellent picture. There were a few minor tweaks again, but the final is below.

I’d love to hear your comments about the article and about the pictures. You can email me with the link below.

Apple should have a corporate museum and public space at their new campus.

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:45:43 -0400

Update, Friday, April 6th:

This article should be called - Apple should have a public visitor’s center and gallery of history at their new campus.

I think there is a misconception in what I propose, and the word "museum" wasn't the best choice. I wish I had not used it now, and found a better alternative. Plus, in my follow-up article, I use the Mercedes Museum as an example and that makes matters worse. It gives the impression that what I suggest is some large space with every device and computer that Apple has made represented in it.

What I primarily mean is a public visitor's center, with a space that tells Apple's story. A gallery for Apple's story, where the history of the people that started it, grew it, perhaps even failed it is told. Not a big collection to be managed. My two pictures show this well.

I think the Mercedes Museum is great, but that would not be right for Apple, instead it does demonstrate a healthy attitude by Mercedes-Benz in celebrating and embracing their past. Steve Jobs will soon only exist in Apple's past.

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Please indulge me a moment and imagine that I’m standing at a podium. I’m also in front of a large group of assembled people. So, OK, thanks, here I go –

“Hi, my name is David, and I’m . . . an Apple fanboy.”

First there’s shocked silence, then applause starts quietly and builds to a thundering volume. There, I did it . . . I admitted it. Even better, I’m not alone, there are many others. My little visual here is not to imply that myself or others have a problem, but that there are plenty of serious Apple fans around. We love the products, and many of us love, or at least have a high regard for, the company. I live on the east coast, but I have been to Silicon Valley twice; visiting the “mothership” was a must-do for me. Perhaps you might feel the same way. It’s exciting for us fans, though all you can really do is park, take pictures out in front of the main 1 Infinite Loop building, and the Apple sign near the street, then visit The Company Store. It’s a special treat as they don’t sell Apple devices, they sell logoed items not found anywhere else. I don’t know if I would go so far as to call my visit a pilgrimage, but it was a top priority for me, if I was going to be anywhere near Silicon Valley.

So now let’s ponder that new Apple campus that Steve Jobs announced to the Cupertino City Council in June of last year. It’s set to open sometime in 2015. It’s just beautiful and very unique, as Apple has reversed the typical ratio of 80% building to 20% landscaping to just 20% building and 80% landscaping! It definitely looks like a sort of flying saucer, or more accurately, a flying ring. I know I’ll want to visit this campus one day and I’m sure even more fans would want to as well. People like architects, artists, students, tourists, and the just plain curious. The new campus will become a mainstream destination and Apple needs to realize this, and more importantly, embrace it.

I have what I think is a great idea, and this article serves as a vehicle to plant the seed of this idea, hopefully even to Apple’s leadership team. First though, and in all frankness, a corporate museum is something that Steve Jobs himself had been against. He certainly would have continued to be so, if he was still living, but that’s another key consideration. Especially with Steve's passing, this idea / project should be seriously considered by Apple’s leadership. Apple needs to build a public museum to celebrate it’s past and present. It also needs to create a dedicated public space at the new campus. A space where visitors can spend a couple of hours learning more about the company they respect, and about the past products and leadership which brought Apple to the here and now. A wonderful place for visitors to relax and learn about Apple's exciting past, while standing in the exciting present, and future of the company. A place to also learn something more of Steve Jobs, and to further celebrate his life and influence on Apple, and the world. I do not suggest an archive though, as that already exists at Stanford University. Shortly after Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he canceled plans to create a corporate museum and gave Stanford all of the archives in 1997.

Steve Jobs is Apple's Walt Disney. There are many interesting comparisons and parallels to be made of the two men. There even became an interesting bond between the two companies, which is currently continued with Bob Igor, Disney’s CEO, who joined Apple’s board after Steve’s death. The Walt Disney Company stands as a good example in how to handle the legacy of a founder. Apple's not all about Steve Jobs, but his legacy is the brightest star that still shines there. Apple must have a special section of the museum dedicated to him, and one that captures and displays his exceptional impact on life today through personal technology. There are plenty of books and documentaries about Steve Jobs, but his philosophy of design needs to be acknowledged and remembered further by Apple, at Apple. A museum space would become a special destination of the new corporate offices, for both the public and employees.

If possible, an entire public area would make the most sense. This space would include it’s own public reception, lobby and lounge. Also, having the museum adjacent to the company store and adjacent to an area of the cafeteria would be ideal. This creates an entire public venue for visitors to have a relaxing and very enjoyable trip to the new Apple campus. It would all become a further part of branding and the Apple customer experience, for those who are. This idea presents some complicated and serious planning issues for Apple in regard to access, parking, management and security. It would absolutely be an additional and ongoing cost to them, but the PR value would be priceless. More people are going to want to visit this new campus, so why not better facilitate and mange it. Apple should own the experience and integrate it.

It’s important that the Apple corporate museum be balanced and fair in it's reflections, both with the people that have lead Apple - Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, Gil Amelio, Michael Spindler, John Sculley, Mike Markkula and Michael Scott, and its products - iPad, iPhone, Macintosh, Newton, Lisa, Apple ///, Apple ][, etc. Much can be learned and reflected upon in this context. The 1985 - 1996 years especially serve to even greater bolster Steve Jobs' renaissance years after returning to run Apple. The company now is an example of recovery and success through his vision.

Here are two original pieces of art showing the first two areas of the museum. I would imagine the full museum to be about two or three times this in size. It would probably make sense to dedicate large spaces to the Apple ][ years, the Macintosh, and then the return of Steve Jobs and his revival of Apple.

At or near the front of the new Apple Campus is the main entrance, with a large glass paned area. This is the public reception area and public spaces of the building. After entering, and to the left along the curve of the building is the entrance to both the corporate Apple Museum and corporate Apple Store. There are connectors between these two spaces, with both emptying out to the public cafeteria and lounge. An exit here takes visitors easily back to public parking, or they may go back through and back out the lobby.

The lobby of both the museum and store contain a large picture of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak hung on the wall. There are smaller pictures too, showing images of early microcomputers and the Homebrew Computer Club. Out on the floor are the items which the two Steves sold to start Apple Computer. There is a glass case with an HP-35 calculator like what Woz owned, and a VW mini-bus like the one Jobs had. There is a stand with a plaque between them describing the humble beginnings of the two Steves, and the start of their company together. A reproduction of the facade of the Jobs' garage from 1976 is the entrance to the museum. A short glass wall extends from the right of the garage, so that closer to the entrance of this lobby is the entrance of the store off to the right.

Upon entering the garage, the museum flows back along the curve of the building with two-story high ceilings. There is refracted light along the ceiling, in the original colors of the Apple logo. This light becomes a sliver-blue much further back. The outer wall is lined with rows of wall, then shutters, etc. The space has a very Apple Store like simplicity and grace, with white walls, light brown tables, wooden or marbled floors and accents.

At the front of the museum entrance is a glass case with the Apple 1, the company's first computer. Along the left (outer wall side) are stands with the Apple ][ computer, the Apple ///, the Apple Lisa and the original Macintosh. On the walls behind could be enlarged original advertising, colorful logo'd boxes, enlarged brochures, etc. More pictures of both Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs are displayed. The famous “1984” Macintosh commercial is projected along one wall.

Along the right-hand walls are photos of the different Apple founders, Presidents, CEOs and other key people. There are stands along here too, with models of Apple's offices. Small buildings to the larger, former (current) main campus of Apple. Further back is a display to NeXT Computer and the change of Apple Computer, Inc. to just Apple, Inc. Perhaps there could even be an example of a Power Computing Mac clone (Apple purchased Power Computing in 1997) to acknowledge the short-lived Mac clones.

I don't need to tell you that Apple has transcended its place as a regular corporate enterprise. This museum and visitor’s center belongs at the new Apple campus. What a fantastic place it could be too, and what a wonderful gift Apple could give to its loyal customers and fans. Apple, your fans would want this, and they will love you even more. Please think about it.

David Greelish is practically a lifelong fan of Apple. He has been one for most of his adulthood, going back to 1986. The Macintosh has been a core part of his life, and has played a critical role in his creativity, and in his professional and personal work. He is a computer historian, author and produces podcasts. His interest in general computer history arose from his interest in personal computer history, and that arose from his interest in Apple’s history. All of that was sparked by his interest in the history of his first real computer, the Apple Lisa.

Art by: Tim van de Vall

YouTube: Steve Jobs Presents to the Cupertino City Council Last Public Appearance

City of Cupertino, CA: Apple Campus 2

At Forbes.com

At Cultofmac.com

Interviewing Bob Cook from Sun Remarketing

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:18:03 -0500

Though my first computer was a Commodore 64, given to me for my birthday in June 1986, I consider my first “real” computer my Apple Lisa, that I purchased from Sun Remarketing in December 1989. I loved my Commodore 64, but I never had anything else - cassette deck, disk drive, monitor, etc. My Apple Lisa however was a fully configured computer that I could do creative work on.

It was $1095, about $500 less than a comparable Mac Plus at the time (with external 20MB hard drive). For all practical purposes, it WAS a Mac Plus, but with a 12” screen instead of a 9” one. The Lisa is still one of my all-time favorite classic personal computers.

I thought it would be interesting to interview the guy behind the company, and the products, and it is very interesting. You should give it a listen.

Go to the interview page HERE or download any of my interviews or podcasts directly HERE

The Third Tier of Personal Computing

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:17:51 -0500

or “Whatever Happened to Pen Computing?!”

I wrote the following article for the second issue of 300 Baud magazine. I have taken the opportunity to update and edit it slightly.

Have you heard about Apple’s new iPad? C’mon, you must have by now. It’s new, new, new, and it’s going to change the world! I’m being a little sarcastic, but it will change the way many use a computer, at least in some specific tasks. The iPad will be the first serious contender in a mode of computing that has been struggling to mature for almost thirty years. It will cause a paradigm shift that is already taking place in the smartphone market (more on that later). The iPad is commonly known as a “tablet” computer, but it belongs in the category that has arguably existed since shortly after the personal computer became mainstream – the handheld. The handheld is the third tier of personal computing, and falls in between the two other tiers – the desktop and the laptop. The handheld can break down further, with many different sizes, styles and interfaces. The most common ones are the palmtop (with QWERTY keyboard), PDA (personal digital assistant) and the tablet.

Ever since the laptop really started to take off in the mid-1980s, its life has seemed ultimately doomed, to be replaced by just a screen. A screen that could do everything a regular laptop could do, and more. In the late 1980s, there arose a small buzz in the portable computer industry, and it steadily grew louder. The buzz was about the so-called “pen computers.” These systems generated a lot of excitement at the time, and it seemed inevitable that they would eventually replace conventional laptop computers, perhaps even traditional desktops. After all, those all used keyboards. It just seemed to make sense that a singular input / output device would be the way to go – the screen. Also, using a “pen” seemed the natural choice for writing without a keyboard. As graphical user interfaces started to appear, the pen as a stylus, seemed just right for the interface too.

Dynabook, original illustration from Alan Kay’s 1972 paper

About twenty years earlier, before there were personal computers of any kind, Alan Kay created the concept for the “Dynabook” in 1968. This was two years before the founding of Xerox PARC, where he would go on to work. Many of his ideas led to the development of the Xerox Alto prototype, which was originally called “the interim Dynabook.” The Dynabook concept paved the way for what is now known as a notebook computer, and even the tablet computer in some of its other incarnations. As personal computers evolved, they became faster and their circuitry became smaller; this made the “luggable” computer possible, then the laptop. The central theme to Alan Kay's idea was however, that of a book-sized device, with the power of a super computer. The technology to realize his vision had yet to be developed, but others shared the design and usability goals.

Original Apple Newton, MessagePad 100

Keyboards originated in the 19th century with mechanical typewriters, so the pen seemed the logical evolution in how people would work on computers in the future. The pen was also seen early on by many as critical to the handheld concept, especially when coupled with handwriting recognition. It was this mindset that became the “albatross” to the pen computing paradigm. In the early 1980s, handwriting recognition was predicted as the most important future technology in computing. Unfortunately, the technical reality was unable to live up to expectations, at least initially. The most notable example of this was embarrassingly demonstrated with the arrival of Apple’s Newton. Or at least, that was the perception. The handwriting system on the original MessagePad was designed to recognize entire words rather than single letters, as Palm eventually developed with their Graffiti system in 1994. Apple’s engineers chose this method because focus group data had indicated that people wanted to write in cursive. When the system made a mistake, it would often pick a word that was different than the one intended, which lead to much ridicule. This ridicule and criticism was summed up regularly in the newspaper comic strip Doonesbury by Gary Trudeau and was even lampooned in The Simpsons. Apple corrected these problems with the Newton OS 2.0 (almost three years later), but the damage had been done. Ironically, even more than a decade later, Newton's handwriting recognition has been praised as some of the best in the industry.

Momenta Computer, 1992 / AT&T EO Personal Communicator, 1993 / Dauphin DTR-1, 1994

Pen computing hype reached its peak between 1992 and 1994, as a number of companies introduced software and hardware. GO released its PenPoint OS, which was truly pen-centric, but had a steep learning curve, Microsoft released Windows for Pen Computing, running on top of Windows 3.1 and Lexicus Longhand handwriting recognition software was released. Momenta created its own hardware and a pen interface running on top of DOS. Other notable hardware manufacturers were AT&T, Compaq, Dauphin, Fujitsu, IBM, NCR, TelePad, Toshiba and Samsung.

Amstrad PenPad, PDA600, 1993 / Casio Zoomer, 1993

Some of these were laptops, and others were more palmtop and tablet-like. But it was really Apple’s Newton and the PDA concept that brought pen computing and the awareness of touch interfaces into the public consciousness. The hype surrounding the Newton was incredible, as Apple had some pretty good commercials even back in 1993 (there’s an interesting similarity between a Newton commercial and an iPad commercial, link below). The Newton was quickly emulated by the likes of Amstrad, AT&T, Casio / Tandy and a few others. The hoopla surrounding the Newton had set high expectations, but the device did not live up to it. The “clones” did an even poorer job in meeting the expectations of this computing future.

Atari Portfolio, 1989 / US Robotics PalmPilot 1000, 1996 / GRiDPad 1910, 1989

The PDA market collapsed as fast as it had false-started. Pen based computer companies began failing, with many non-PDA and tablet manufacturers included. Momenta shut down after only ten months on the market. AST purchased pen pioneer GRiD for its manufacturing capacity, then stopped all pen projects. Dauphin went bankrupt owing IBM over $40 million. GO was taken over by AT&T, and AT&T closed the company in August 1994 (this was after the interesting “You will . . .” - faxing on the beach, etc. TV commercials). Compaq, IBM, NEC and Toshiba had all stopped making consumer pen products by 1994. By this time, the very term "pen computing" seemed like a joke. The market mocked and abandoned the whole concept, especially that of handwriting recognition. Pen computing as a new interface to computers was seen as a failed technology. For years after, the pen as a stylus, was mostly used in the more lowly organizer category by Sharp and a few others. It wasn't until late 1997, when the PalmPilot became popular and its sales began to grow, that slowly a renewed interest and confidence in this input method grew, but in a more specific and humbled way. An organizer was a far cry from a full-featured pocket computer.

Sharp Wizard OZ-9600II, 1994

During the last decade, the idea of a “pen computer” has mostly disappeared, and replaced with the concept of the hybrid tablet / laptop (or “Tablet PC”), where the screen turns around to lie flat and thus allow the computer to be used as a tablet. During this time, tablet concepts have been almost completely dominated with pen-based Windows operating systems. In 2000, Microsoft showed off a prototype and said that the first Tablet PCs would come to market in 2002. In 2001, Microsoft announced the Tablet PC standard, which was defined to be a pen-enabled computer conforming to hardware specifications devised by them and running a licensed copy of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. At Comdex in the same year, Microsoft chief software architect Bill Gates said in his keynote: "The Tablet is a PC that is virtually without limits, and within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America." Microsoft has predicted the rise and domination of the tablet computer on numerous occasions since, yet it has not materialized.

Handspring Treo 180, 2002

So what’s the future for pen computing? Well, it’s thriving, or it’s dead, it really depends on how you look at it. The original concept of pen computing was way ahead of its time. With the PDA, the real irony was that it devolved into the organizer, a far more limited computer, but far more successful. The Palm device reached a refinement after the year 2000, and as it gained more computer-like features, it was turned into a phone! One of the first smartphones in the US was the Handspring Treo 180 in 2002. This development gave birth to the current push towards true handheld computing, and in a way “pen computing.” Pen computing exists now, and has a very promising future, just without . . . well, without pens! Yes, there are still those Windows-based hybrids, and there are even some tablets and rugged PDA-like devices that use pens, but those aren’t in the mainstream, or the future. In 2007, Apple introduced a new smartphone, and it was so incredibly ahead of everything else, that it changed the standard in a big way. All smartphones are now judged against the iPhone. The iPhone gave way to the iPod Touch, and that has now given us the iPod Touch XL – the iPad! The finger is the new pen, and all of these devices have virtual keyboards, so the keyboard is not dead, yet. The iPhone has serious competition now in Android phones, and we are seeing the first Android based tablets. So, this is what “pen computing” is now – multi-touch based, web enabled, communication tablets (of different sizes). Not to sound like too much of an apple fanboy, but it appears that Apple truly drives the standard on all FOUR of our current computing platforms – desktop, laptop, smartphone and tablet.

Original iPhone, 2007 / iPad, 2010

There was an interesting video in the tech news earlier this year, in which Microsoft demonstrates a unique computer book concept. It brings four components together – the pen / stylus, Windows (or at least a Microsoft OS), multi-touch and handwriting recognition. The device was called the Microsoft Courier and it was to include two screens that faced each other, in a book form factor. The user would be able to input, drag, copy, etc. across the “pages.” In April, Microsoft announced that it was no longer working on this project, yet in June they received a patent for a “dual display device.” It’s an impressive video, take a look at the link below.

Newton & iPad ads, coincidence?!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPnnhcKW2cU

AT&T "You Will" ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kfIFDX9kE4&feature=related

Microsoft Courier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFQWc79TYcU

Dynabook & iPad, coincidence?!: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/alan-kay-steve-jobs-ipad-iphone,10209.html