the iPad favors passive consumers not active prosumers
I’ve written many posts on this blog about the implosion of the spheres of production and consumption indicating the rise of prosumption. This trend has exploded online with the rise of user-generated content. We both produce and consume the content on Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia, YouTube and so on. And it is from this lens that I describe Apple’s latest creation announced yesterday: the iPad. The observation I want to make is that the iPad is not indicative of prosumption, but rather places a wedge between production and consumption.
From the perspective of the user the iPad is made for consuming content. While future apps might focus on the production of content, the very construction of the device dissuades these activities. Not ideal for typing, and most notably missing a camera, the device is limited in the ways in which users create content. Further, the device, much like Apple’s other devices, is far less customizable than the netbooks Apple is attempting to displace (which often use the endlessly customizable Linux OS).
Instead, the iPad is focused on an enhanced passive consumption experience (and advertised as such, opposed to their earlier focus: can’t resist). Unlike netbooks, the iPad is primarily an entertainment device. Instead of giving users new ways to produce media content, the focus is on making more spectacular and profitable the experience of consuming old media content -music and movies via the iTunes store, books via the new iBookstore and news via Apple’s partnership with the New York Times.
Thus, the story of the iPad’s first 24hours, for me, is the degree to which the tasks of producing and consuming content have been again split into two camps. The few produce it -flashy, glittering and spectacular- and the many consume it as experience. And, of course, for a price.
Does this serve as a rebuttal to an argument that the trend towards the merging of the spheres of production and consumption into prosumption is inevitable? Or is prosumption indeed the trend for a future Apple seems not to grasp? Or will the applications developed for the device overcome its limitations? ~nathan
Read More: Times Topics: the iPad
Read More: Read More: The Intersecting Roles of Consumer and Producer: A Critical Perspective on Co-production, Co-creation and Prosumption
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I wonder if Apple is an expert in making consumption more enjoyable, allowing us to experience content anywhere, anytime. The devices accomplish this in a user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing way.
It might be the case that the iPad is not competing with PC tablets, but with televisions, radios, books, personal gaming devices, newspapers, magazines, and more. This is arguably a much larger market. Apple already produces light, powerful, user-friendly laptop computers (I am writing this comment on one). Rather than producing an iPad that competes with them, they have produced an iPad that enhances another aspect of consumption. This kind of product will likely be quite popular in a world shifting towards weightless capitalism.
Keri
keri-
1-i think content producers can use the device as you describe – as a consumption device that compliments production devices (macbook). however, i do foresee many people, especially without lots of disposable income, carrying both around. when one is in class, on the train, at the coffee shop, etc, it will be an either/or situation, and apple is betting on passive consumerism…
2-the point that apple is trying to make consumption more “enjoyable”, “pleasing” way is spot on. i’d use the term “spectacular”, remembering debord’s (and others’) point on the spectacle. how to “enchant” one’s experience by way of spectacle to keep us smiling, wowed, happy and therefore passive.
3-last, the iPad is indeed another indicator of weightlessness! i wanted to work that in, but these posts get so long so fast… all of our books, records, magazines, newspapers, etc. all on one device. many of which are not even on the hard drive but instead in the ‘cloud’. information is dissolving into itself!
AppleInsider tells us that the USB Camera Connection kit is not crippled, the way Bluetooth is on the iPod Touch, but supports a variety of USB devices . This is a bit of evidence against the argument that the iPad is not a prosumer device. While it is not primarily a prosumer device, it’s not completely locked down, and enhanced mobility of the thing may make it a more effective micro-blogging, micro-podcasting platform.