I find this wildly at odds with the experience of my friends. Granted they are early adopter type folk but they have taken to tablets extremely intently. They use them for gaming, and browsing, and other miscellaneous activities. Just because they are not great at everything doesn't mean they can't be incredibly useful tools.
I think the key difference there is that those are 'passive consuming', which is what tablets are excellent at. But those things are entertainment, not 'productive' in terms of output.
I don't agree with the authors conclusion, but I do agree that tablets aren't usually the right tool to efficiently be productive on. But they're great for consuming. I don't see a problem with that.
I think that's actually more of an artifact of the nature of introduction of tablets than a fundamental limitation. Over time tablets will become much, much more powerful and standard peripherals (such as external keyboards) will become more refined and more commonplace. I don't see anything particularly odd about the notion that someone in, say, 2023 might use a stylus with a tablet to produce various graphic arts, or sit at a desk with a tablet on a stand and type on a keyboard to write, or code, or do any sort of creative endeavor that is now possible with a PC.
There have been artists who produce the majority of their work on a tablet PC for years. They aren't as thin or as light as an iPad, and none of them have been perfect, but they are incredibly well-suited for drawing.
I just hope that Microsoft's efforts eventually cause Apple to implement a Wacom digitizer into the iPad.
The author talked about "productive use" - you listed gaming and browsing. In many circles those don't rank as productivity. There's a fine difference between "great"/"cool" and "being productive".
I think this depends on the kind of work you produce.
I know tons of CEOs who are more productive because of their tablets. The reason is that the form factor makes it easy to carry it everywhere. So they always have documents in Evernote, Dropbox, etc and are able to manipulate those if needed. Sometimes accessing information is the key to productivity.
Now, I am sure someone will want to debate the idea of CEOs being productive, but that is another thread.
Are we being a bit condescending by insinuating that points earned or facebook walls commented on, is not productive?
I'm sure you cure cancer with every 5th keystroke of your best selling novels and crush awesome ruby code for breakfast.
You're espousing a pretty narrow view of what a computing device can be used for in a way that produces some value for its user.
"Productive" is used in its more literal definition here: producing, m/aking, creating. It doesn't have to be shakespeare or picasso to still be a creative work.
You are allowed to find a device useful (i.e. gain value out of it) without being productive on it. That is why e-Readers sell a lot - they are useful. We're arguing about productive use cases here and that in my mind does not include commenting on facebook walls. If that is a narrow viewpoint then that's fine with me.
