The iPad is a worm in the Apple. The crowd is underwhelmed. This glossy tschochke is evidence of the beginning of the end of an era.
A New York Times article today,Steve Jobs and the Economics of Elitism, extols the virtues of the “auteur model of innovation”, citing Jobs role as design-team leader as case in point, in direct contrast to the “wisdom of the crowd” and “open innovation”. What is often left unremarked in the critiques of “the open-source model” is that the “collective intelligence” keeps a space open for the individual.
Yes, Apple makes nice things. But each successive generation of these shiny objects limits the users ability to customize them to specific, individual needs and desires. Design for dummies.