Friday Takeaway: To Consume or Create?

The iPad, despite strong launch window sales, is still struggling to find its niche. "Okay, I bought an iPad. Now what do I do with it?" Apparently "whatever you want" is too vague. It's also untrue. The device does have limitations--potentially severe ones if you haven't done your homework (more on that after the break). These limitations usually favor the iPad is a device built for consumption. But what about creation?

A friend, for instance, is trying to sell her iPad because she bought it for her online classes, several of which require Flash for presentations and activities. The device is now "useless" to her, and she's over $700 in the hole until she can sell it. In this case, the lack of Flash both prohibited her from consuming media and creating the necessary output that went along with it.

Many, myself included, have argued that the iPad is more of a consumption device than a creative tool. This is not to say that there aren't some outstanding apps that let you do some cool things: (limited) music composition, painting, and Office-style suites allow you to create a lot of things. But everything you create is still in a strong sense tethered to your iPad. Often you can e-mail the results off the device or distribute them after you've plugged into your computer and offloaded the files. Other times, you can't, depending on the app. And don't get us started on the continued lack of native printing capabilities in iOS.

These inherent limitations further place the iPad into the consume category. Most of the creation seems to be for your own enjoyment or that of close friends who subscribe to your YouTube channel, friend you on Facebook, or follow your Twitter feed. The iPad is a me-first device. It's about exploring your creativity for yourself, but not so much for the benefit of others.

Quite honestly, I'd like to see that change. The promise of Web 2.0, love it or hate it, has been about the end user building the web rather than just being a passive participant in it. The problem is that while people the world over have embraced this, they have failed to embrace the true heart of it. If I update my Twitter feed 20 times today, I am contributing, certainly, but it's probably all about me. Let's face it: except for close friends and my mother, the rest of the world doesn't care if I just enjoyed a tasty burger at the mall. It's self-expression, but it's also self-centered. It's not building up a community of knowledge so much as staking a personal claim on minuscule part of the net.

I don't intend this as a strict pejorative against those who publically share their lives. It's just the fact of the matter. With Apple's incredibly successful "I'm a Mac" ad campaign, they made owning a Mac more about a status symbol than a machine they were trying to sell. And what is an iPhone, iPod, or iPad if something something centered around i? Apple has long been the provider of choice for the creative type; just ask any graphic artist. But the company has somewhat shifted gears as it has moved into the mobile arena.

Now, many talented developers are doing amazing things with the iPad. It's still a baby, mind you, and it has a lot of room to grow. But it's going to take a conscious effort from users to transition from a me mentality to an us mentality. As developers overcome more hurdles revolving around a touch-only interface, and as more "innovations" are introduced that allow old ideas to be introduced to the iPad for the first time, the iPad will allow the creative among us to reshape the device into something that's just as good for creation as it is for consumption. I anxiously await that day.