Anthony Frausto-Robledo (afrausto@architosh.com)

6 Jan 2002

 

Apple to introduce "Realm-based" Computing?

Apple may introduce Monday a new product based on a different type of computing strategy. Actually they may introduce a series of new products. To learn more about that see my keynote predictions.

What is "Realm-based" Computing?

The term realm in this context is based on the notion of a "digital experience" that is targeted to physical and psychological areas or spheres of habitation. An example will clarify. The television was initially developed for the realm of habitation we call the "living room". It has changed only in minor ways because fundamentally the living room realm is similar today to what it was in the 1950's and 60's. Essentially we go there for entertainment, to zone out and to come together with others, to socialize.

Here my architecture and urban design education is influential. This concept of "realm-based" computing is influenced by the architectural theory of "contextualism" as described by the influential architectural theorists Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter. Many of you architect readers are familiar with this. For the uninitiated, "contextualism" is a theory which describes an approach to designing buildings in response to a set of forces outside the immediate functional requirements of the building. The word "forces" characterizes "attributes" of a given physical and psychological context. Such attributes of the context are not (typically) statistically accountable but rather determined to exist and have value by judgment (by the architect or his client).

The value postulated by "contextualist theory" in architecture is that such buildings are of more enduring value to a place (like a city) because they respond to and reflect the prevailing attributes of a given context (both physical and psychological) in addition to just fulfilling the functional mandate of a building, which can change over time.

The concept of a "realm" is similar to the concept of an architectural context but more heavily psychological.

The PC's Realm

Nobody will deny that the personal computer was designed around the concept of sitting at a desk. In the beginning it followed from the minicomputer and hence this desk was your workplace desk. When folks bought their first computer they came home, unpacked it, and immediately put it on a desk.

The PC's realm descended from the workplace desk and continues to maintain that heritage today. Unfortunately, today what we actually do with PC's is radically different than what we did with them in the 80's. Especially in the home, since the mid 90's, the PC has not evolved in format to address the physical and psychological differences involved in today's various computing experiences.

The "Digital Hub" Shatters the PC's Old Realm

The Age of the Digital Lifestyle, The Age of the Internet, the Age of Productivity. These are the three ages Jobs described (in reverse order). By moving the PC to a "hub" notion it acknowledges that the physical and psychological context in which the hub has value is very different than that of the PC. In other words, the desk-based workplace realm is no longer appropriate for what we call a personal computer.

In order to create a compelling product for a existing or new realm that realm must be well understood in both physical and psychological terms so that a value-network can be constructed for digital experiences in that realm.

Value-networks are discovered within realms. Sony discovered that there was a "portable music value-network" in a realm or series of similar realms that included the physical conditions of running on the beach, walking in a park or sitting on a subway train. The brilliance in the Sony Walkman was the discovery that music enhanced the psychological experience of walking or running or even riding the bus.

Realm-based computing postulates that those digital devices of the future which will succeed are those which are designed to respond to and amplify the prevailing psychological and physical attributes of specific realms.

Target Realms of the Future

The living, family or social room of the house does not have an appropriately targeted digital device. Putting a PC in your living room simply doesn't cut it. And using a laptop on the couch (which I do a lot) doesn't cut it either. I lay horizontally on the couch. That's what some people love to do with couches. And it's a wonderful way to watch TV or a movie. But there is no digital device that acknowledges this about the living room realm.

The New Realm of the New Hub

What I hope Apple has done with the new consumer device is to go "beyond the PC" as they have stated and base the new product entirely upon a newly defined computing realm or series of similar realms. Ideally a hub device could go in many locations but would conceivably go in the living room or even the kitchen. Psychologically these two rooms are closer today in spirit and use than they were back in the 1950's. Today's kitchen is quite often the center of the home socially. So why is today's domestic social center still without an appropriate digital device?

It would be both historical and appropriate if Apple changed this for us Monday.

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