The iPad, is it really a mobile device?
I’ve been talking a lot lately about the future of mobile marketing – for instance, here’s one in Mobile Marketer on why I think check-in or location-based applications might be the future of mobile marketing. And I just read this great article in Mobile Marketer entitled, “iPad may woo luxury brands to finally enter mobile full-throttle“.
Seinfeld's European Carry All
My question is this: is the iPad actually a “mobile” device? Having had it for a few weeks, I don’t think I’ll be taking it to many more places than I would be taking my laptop. It won’t fit in my pocket, or easily in a woman’s purse (or a murse if you’re into that kind of thing…oh excuse me, a European Carry-All). You really can’t even hold it in one hand and maybe that’s the real sign of whether or not something is mobile.
Make no mistake, I’m not saying the iPad or tablet devices aren’t important and that they don’t have a place in our lives. I surely think they do. But I don’t think they’re going to be the future of mobile marketing.
Thoughts?
100%, Yes, Absolutely and beyond a shadow of a doubt. Jobs has said himself that Apple is a “mobile device company” – I agree, and feel we share the same definition of a mobile device in that it is simply a connected device that you can take with you anywhere with minor effort. A desktop, or your Flatpanel TV, or your couch would not qualify…
The single largest point to be made here is that mobile devices have two distinct qualities that non-mobiles typically have:
1) They are usually more personal and unique to one specific individual, unlike a desktop or a TV.
2) They are used in many personal modes (work, travel, husband, leisure, communication, etc)
Why do you define it otherwise Jeff?
Cheers!
-Kevin
100%, Yes, Absolutely and beyond a shadow of a doubt. Jobs has said himself that Apple is a “mobile device company” – I agree, and feel we share the same definition of a mobile device in that it is simply a connected device that you can take with you anywhere with minor effort. A desktop, or your Flatpanel TV, or your couch would not qualify…
The single largest point to be made here is that mobile devices have two distinct qualities that non-mobiles typically have:
1) They are usually more personal and unique to one specific individual, unlike a desktop or a TV.
2) They are used in many personal modes (work, travel, husband, leisure, communication, etc)
Why do you define it otherwise Jeff?
Cheers!
-Kevin
My point is really that the iPad is not any more of a “mobile” device than a laptop is. I've struggled so far with finding ways to use it when I couldn't also pull out my laptop.
So the first question I'll ask you is do you see the laptop also as a mobile device?
I agree 100% on the iPad vs. latpot use case… however, I think that by
definition both of them still qualify as “mobile” because they are
connected, computational devices that can be taken with you through many
“personal modes” of life…
As it pertains to the marketing and communications industry, this
terminology might not translate the same… and certainly one needs a
distinctly different “tablet strategy” versus a “mobile strategy”, just as a
“traditional digital” strategy wouldn't translate the same to the more
social and semantically powered web…
I suppose, it just depends on your perception and position to the iPad.
Right, that's my main point. People are professing that the iPad is going to revolutionize mobile marketing. I say that's BS, if that was the case then we'd have found amazing ways to market to people based on the fact that they use a laptop.
So when people talk about “mobile marketing”, I don't think that pertains to the iPad as much as people would want it to.
[…] So back in April I wrote this post, “The iPad, is it really a mobile device?“, and I got into a nice debate with @kplanovsky. And I’ve since spoken many times on […]
[…] I’ve been saying for a long time that tablets are not “mobile devices”, at least not any more than laptops are. […]