I’ve been thinking about the iPad lot lately. I’m not the on verge of buying one – I’m doing my best to wait for other tablets that are more like the iPad should be (less lock-in, innate OCR in the OS, etc.), but watching the system has made me consider an idea I’d like to tentatively call Distributed Device Interface (DDI for you acronym types).

The thing about the iPad, as it stands, is that it’s a media consumption device, not an input device. However, with a Bluetooth keyboard, it can be made serviceable for input. You can prop up your iPad, wirelessly attach a Bluetooth keyboard, and type away on your next novel. Now some might say, “Yo. Why would I buy an iPad, then? I have something that does that, it’s called a laptop, and it works just fine, thanks.”

This is a damn fine point. I’m not gonna try to argue around it by saying that it’s easier to pull out an iPad and get up and running than a laptop, since, while that might be true, by the time you set up the keyboard and all that, you haven’t really saved any time (in fact, you may have lost it). However, that argument is only valid if you own a laptop. If you don’t, we’re somewhere else entirely. Here’s the vision:

As smart phones get faster (or better network access and use cloud computing to hold data and handle the heavy processing), more and more computing tasks are able to be handled on a device that doesn’t have the proper interface to support them. I can surf the internet or enter text on my phone, but the small screen and tiny onscreen keyboard isn’t ideal for doing those tasks, even though the processor and memory can easily handle them.

So to overcome this we carry multiple devices for multiple things. If I wanted to do everything I would have to bring a phone for calls and texts, a laptop for writing documents, an e-reader for reading long documents, a tablet for media consumption, a projector for presentations, and…the list goes on. Now, the thing is, each of those devices (well, maybe not the projector) is a “smart” device, which means that much of the functionality is replicated across those devices. I’ve got a decent amount of overlap there.

But what if devices used a Distributed Device Interface? What if all the data processing could be handled by one device and additional interface elements could be added as needed, like a larger screen, a mouse, speakers, a keyboard, a projector, an e-ink screen, and so on. Much like you can make the iPad into a serviceable text entry machine with the addition of a keyboard, why can’t I make my phone into a serviceable text entry machine by adding a wirelessly connected larger screen and keyboard? Once I can do that, I don’t need an iPad, as long as the phone’s processor can handle the load.

Taking this a step further, why can’t the software interface I use to interact with the device change based on what hardware add-ons I have attached to it? If it’s by itself, the screen of my phone displays just phone needs and small application functions. If I attach a larger touch screen, the software interface switches to something akin to the iPad, since now I have the interface to support it. If I next attach a keyboard and mouse, the interface switches to something akin to Windows 7 or OSX.

The advantages of this setup are many. Instead of needing many smart devices, now I only need one smart device and several “dumb” interface enhancements, like a larger screen, a keyboard, or an e-ink screen. More so, if I do not need the entire interface, I’ve no need to bring it with me. I can bring just my phone and e-ink screen to the beach – I don’t need the keyboard or larger LCD touchscreen. I can go to my buddy’s house and hook my phone up to his projector to show him a movie I downloaded from iTunes – I don’t need to bring my laptop, or worry about trying to authorize his computer with my iTunes account. I have it in my pocket (or in the cloud and accessible from the device) and can just interface the two devices. If I go to a business meeting I can just bring my phone and a projector, instead of my phone, the projector, and a laptop.

I can tailor my experience to what I intend to use the device for, but I don’t have to worry about juggling files between a bunch of devices or forgetting a file on another machine. I also don’t have to worry about replacing a laptop if the keyboard breaks. Since every piece of the interface is separate, I can upgrade or replace them separately. I only need to own one “smart” device and several “dumb” enhancements. If my data and processing is stored in the cloud, even my phone becomes a “dumb” enhancement, used only for network access. Everything is disposable and I can tailor my experience to my needs without replicating functionality across multiple devices.

This has vast implications for other appliances, too. If companies focus on making phones (or pocket-able computing devices) easily interface with multiple hardware interfaces, devices that currently don’t have user interfaces may add them. I want to be able to control my household appliances, thermostats, lights, and other things from my phone.

On another interesting front, places like coffee shops could rent screens and keyboards to customers. So customers could surf the internet while having their coffees, then return the screens when they were done and walk away with their phones. Hotels could provide dumb interfaces for people who want to only bring their phone when they travel but still get work done. This could also be used to place orders in restaurants, by linking the phone with an ordering system. Once the phone is setup to more easily interface with many peripherals, using it as an access portal should become more ubiquitous.

It seems like if anything, the iPad should teach us that the lesson we need to learn is to separate devices into multiple interface pieces, rather than replicate processing and data syncing functionality over multiple devices. Certainly, we aren’t quite there yet – my little phone can’t handle the full load of something like my laptop. Not yet, anyway. And there’s battery life to consider, too. But we’re getting there. It’s just a matter of time.