The iPad: The First Real Computer

The iPad marked the beginning of appliance computing, when physical devices and interfaces receded into the background and touch gave people an entirely new intimacy with information. The strangest thing about the iPad is that Steve Jobs is still wearing blue jeans. The iPad isn't the most capable machine out there. But the iPad's limitations are also its strength. Because they're uniform across the platform, developers can work with and around them. The same kind of uniformity has allowed video game consoles to stay competitive with -- and sometimes eclipse -- more powerful gaming hardware. The iPad is a step in the right direction, a step people have waited 30 years to take.