The iPad is digital paper

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with my iPad. And much of that came from all the confusion and debate over what the iPad actually is.

Is it a big iPhone that can’t make calls? Is it a netbook replacement that doesn’t have a camera? Is it a laptop replacement without a keyboard or multitasking? Is it a TV replacement that can’t play Flash video?

I was frustrated that my iPad didn’t live up to the hype. I didn’t like typing on the screen, and using a wireless keyboard was awkward. I wanted to surf the Web while being able to quickly read new email. I wanted to easily share links without going through finger-gesture contortions.

Having paid hundreds of dollars for this gadget, I wanted desperately to find uses that would justify the expense. But my annoyance grew and the iPad kept falling short as I tried to force it into being something that it’s not.

It wasn’t until I realized what the iPad actually represents that I’ve come to peace with it, and am simply enjoying it for what it is. The iPad is digital paper. It now seems so obvious. That’s the reason for its name, which unfortunately caused mocking comparisons to women’s hygiene products, adding to the confusion.

It’s a pad of digital paper. That’s why it’s the iPad.

My confusion partly stemmed from Apple itself. Surely, they realized that asking people to pay at least $500 for digital paper seemed exorbitant — even for a product graced by the Apple logo.

It wasn’t until I realized what the iPad actually represents that I’ve come to peace with it, and am simply enjoying it for what it is. The iPad is digital paper. It now seems so obvious. That’s the reason for its name, which unfortunately caused mocking comparisons to women’s hygiene products …

So they talked about all the things you could do with the iPad, listing feature after feature. They built word processing and spreadsheet applications so you could in theory do actual work on the iPad, trying to give it corporate street cred.

Reviewers lauded the iPad and pontificated about where it fit in the spectrum of laptops, netbooks and smartphones. They debated whether it would replace other computers, and agonized over who the real user would be: Luddites? Your Grandma? Power users?

The realization that the iPad is simply digital paper came to me as I was preparing for a panel I was moderating at a journalism conference. I typed up some introductory remarks and notes about the speakers on my laptop, and was getting ready to print it to take with me to the event. And then I realized I didn’t need to kill more trees, but that I could simply load the documents on my iPad and take that with me. Finally, I had found the use case for the iPad.

Getting those documents on the iPad wasn’t as simple as it should have been, and required some networking maneuvers so my devices could talk to each other. (This process has now gotten much easier thanks to the great Dropbox application, a must-have utility for the iPad that gets around Apple’s awkward iTunes file transfer scheme.) Once the documents were on the iPad, I didn’t have the right application to edit them. And when I got to the conference, the iPad’s Wifi failed to connect to the network, even though my iPhone and other laptops had no problem.

So yes, the iPad now falls far short of what it’s meant to be. It’s expensive, too heavy and a bit thick. The delicate glass screen is quickly clouded by fingerprints. While having great battery life by today’s standards, the iPad still takes hours to recharge. Connecting to the Internet relies on problematic Wifi, or the overloaded AT&T network.

These are all technical hurdles that will be solved over time. And that will eventually lead to a device like the digital newspaper from the film “Minority Report,” or the electronic paper seen on the TV series “Caprica.” (Although I wonder if we really need the cut-off corners of the Battlestar Galactica world, and what the benefits are of non-rectangular paper.)

There is a need for media devices that aren’t fully interactive. With our always-on world, people must be able to relax and indulge in more passive media experiences. In social situations, we can’t always be huddled behind tilted laptop screens or heads down with keyboards. The flat shape and easy handling of digital paper devices like the iPad makes them great for passing around, sharing and engaging with others. Being digital means these devices will be rich with video and interactive media that allow viewers to view content from multiple perspectives, or make changes and see the immediate effects.

In the end, there won’t be any confusion over what these devices are for. We will finally have a digital paper product that in some ways is a lot more like … paper.