“If our tipster is right, whatever [Apple’s] Tablet’s user interface (UI) is, it’s going to be different enough from OS X or the iPhone OS to require a significant learning curve,” John Brownlee reports for Cult of Mac. “According to reader Tom: ‘I just heard [to] be ready for a steep learning curve regarding the ‘new’ Apple product about to be released [and its] interface. This person is an employee of Apple and had just had a meeting regarding some of the new things coming. He/She would not go into details, but did say that he/she hoped we liked learning.'”
“As a rumor, it’s vague, but it does engorge thought. Time and again, interfaces that require steep learning curves fail when compared to subtle evolutions of intuitively entrenched desktop metaphors,” Brownlee writes. “Since Apple still does multitouch better than anyone else out there, presumably the Tablet won’t have too outlandish an interface, but talk of a steep learning curve is still eyebrow arching.”
Full article here.
yes, what others said. if you plot learning on the y-axis vs. time on the x-axis, then a steep learning curve means you are learning quickly since the change in learning occurs with only a small amount of time elapsed.
Yes, when I saw this, I thought: “Oh great! That means everyone should be able to learn it in no time.”
Exceeeeept pretty much the entire public is stuck in the erroneous notion that “steep learning curve” means “difficult to learn.” (Similarly to the infamous and utterly inane “I could care less.”)
In truth, something with a “shallow learning curve” is difficult to learn, since the slope of learning over time is…… you guessed it! Shallower. If you don’t believe me, just ask your friendly local graphing calculator.
For example: you can get from one side of a hill to the other by climbing to the top, then descending down the other slope; or you can just walk through the tunnel in the hill. Both journeys take you from your start point to the same end point; one requires much more effort (steep curve), the other very little (shallow curve).
@TT…
Probably very much like the one that the chinese employee went over when he purportedly ‘misplaced’ that 4G iPhone prototype.
If this rumor is true, then Cult of Mac’s ‘tipster’ may need to buy some more life insurance.
@Predrag:
It comes down to which variable you put on the x axis. Since it is standard form to always put time on the x axis, I hold my position.
The iSlate learning curve:
1 Turn it on
2 tap an icon and something will happen
3 continue and enjoy
Any questions?
The term learning curve is one of the most commonly misused phrases I see. People assume that something that is steep is difficult climb or hard to overcome. But that is the opposite of what the phrase actually means. A learning curve is a graph of how quickly a skill is acquired, with proficiency on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. Thus, a steep learning curve indicates a skill that is quickly acquired. A long, low, or gradual learning curve indicates a skill that takes more time to master.
The question is, was the Apple employee using the phrase correctly, or was this another case of the common incorrect usage?
The problem with “heshe” and “himhere” is that it can blow the employee’s cover. The chances of there being more than one intersexual employee in a group is very small.
Ok folks, prepare yourself, emotionally, physically… em, yeah there’s gonna be a new product with a steep learning curve…
Man the life boats… BS Meter in red!
ABQ Peter:
Your logic is flawed, since your axes aren’t correct. X-axis represents the amount of subject matter to be learned, Y-axis is effort required to learn it. Time is not directly at issue here. Effort required (per unit of subject matter learned) is. Ideal learning curve would be horizontal and straight (just above zero on the Y axis), indicating minimal effort required to learn the subject matter throughout the learning process.
I don’t know who ever introduced this concept that steep is equal to quick, and shallow to slow. It is wrong (and your understanding of steep as you interpret it here is incorrect).
An expression “steep learning curve” always meant the same: great effort is required to learn certain subject matter.
Good. That means we’ll get something revolutionary! The advanced multi-touch gestures, the 3D interface, perhaps an option for a stylus. Of course it’ll still be intuitive and easy once you master it.
I didn’t want a big ass iPod touch with buttons on a screen. Looking at the multi-touch gesture dictionary patent from 2007 that I cited a week or so ago, I was prepared for something that’d take longer than a day to get used to.
I find it incredibly hard to believe, with all of the secrecy Apple exerts over it’s product development, that we suddenly have Apple employees freely talking about an impending product.
This has to be made up.
This is the exact kind of bullshit story I expect to see more of with the sole purpose of trying to create headline risk for the stock price.
That’s good to know… There’s probably some sort of scroll wheel that you could activate or some magic menu to bring up…
That being said… Have a look at minority report and avatar, those touch screens are complicated … Yet looks so easy to use
The new Apple tablet UI is skipping 3D, as was rumored, and is going straight to 4D – warping time and space as well.
@chaz,
The closer you get to showtime, the more people become involved, the more potential leaks. Let’s rememer that while the majority didn’t expect the iPhone to be a touchscreen smartphone, there were a few leaks out there as we got closer to Macworld that were right on the money.
Let’s take a look at some of these old patents, folks.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/08/02/apple_developing_configurable_multi_touch_gesture_dictionary.html
Wouldn’t you say that it’ll take a while to get used to that? We’ve been preparing for it over the last two years with the iPhone and iPod touch and now it’s time
to take the next step.
@Pedrag
Wikipedia – “A learning progress curve is steep when very little effort is required”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_curve_effects
On the subject on learning curves, it is curious that every online dictionary defines the learning curve as a function of the amount of subject matter acquired over time, yet every single example of usage in a sentence (steep learning curve) describes what I had defined above (a function of an effort required over the amount of subject matter to be learned). Since the concept of “learning curve” is almost exclusively used within the context of the expression “steep learning curve” (with a meaning: requiring great effort to learn something), it is clear that the definition of function in these dictionaries is incorrect.
The only way the two can be reconciled (the pharse “steep learning curve” and time vs. subject learned) would be if the time were plotted on the vertical axis, and amount of subject matter learned on the horisontal one. In such case, time would be the function of subject matter. Therefore, a steep curve would represent a lot of time needed for little subject matter learned.
Either way, the common (and apparently intuitive, as most here have argued) definition doesn’t correspond to the meaning of the phrase.
I’m usually a zealot about usability, but the geek in me was very excited to see this posting. The implication of a steep learning curve is a radical departure from what we know, and as such, more of a paradigm shift in computing experience. That would be exciting in and of itself (it’s been a long time), but to have it come from Apple would make it also reassuring. How long have we been interacting with our machines primarily by using keyboards, mice and visual displays? a LONG time.
Ringgo:
There is this confusion between the colloquial “learning curve” and the “learning progress curve”, to which you (and, apparently, most online dictionaries) refer:
<i>A “steep” learning curve, in colloquial usage, usually means experiencing a large and increasing amount of effort for a constant amount of learning<i> (Wikipedia)
“None of my friends who I talked into buying a Mac can ever figure out how to put a file in a folder…”
“Everyday I meet people who have switched from Windows to Mac.
9 times out of 10 they don’t get the Mac and more importantly.
they don’t deserve a Mac…”
This is so freaking true! I am so tired of dealing with ex-pc people who refuse to learn how to use their damn computer.
If I go from an automatic to a manual shift car, they’re both cars, but I’m gonna’ have to learn how to use a clutch.
I’ve stopped trying to talk people into switching to Macs.
Some people really deserve to use a pc.
We are all creatures of habit. Changing takes intelligence, patience and perserverence.
Either the Mac is ultra-intuitive or most of the bloggers are dumber than a door nail.
I choose the latter.
Erratum: perseverance
Sounds like that employee was a typical leftwing tree hugger liberal who can’t figure out something as simple as what to do with his fingers–or maybe the problem is, the employee was a woman. God knows women just don’t do tech.