I, iPad – Sir Jonathan Ive and Leonard Read Sing the Same Tune

Apple recently released an ad for the new iPad Air that — whether intentionally or not — mimics CEI’s I, Pencil short film. In the new ad, a pencil sits on a table as the narrator describes the many purposes of this simple machine. At the end of the 1:03 ad, the pencil lifts to reveal an iPad Air that’s been hiding behind the slim writing tool.

Hark, Leonard Read fans! Take heart, disillusioned entrepreneurs! The iPad is a wonder of capitalism just like the pencil. And contrasting a pencil – seemingly simple, but used far less in our digital age – with an iPad reminds us that the collaboration that made possible the manufacture of old tools still works the same way today.

An iPad and a pencil aren’t that different, after all. As the ad notes, both can “start a poem or finish a symphony;” both are “extremely simple and yet extremely powerful.” And just as importantly, the process of making each of these items hinges on the expertise of many parties, working independently of one another to advance their own interests.

With our I, Pencil short film recently winning the first Reason Video Prize, this pencil ad holds special value to us here at CEI. Hopefully, it will encourage all who enjoy Apple products to also consider the beauty and wonder in uninhibited creative energies.

Another ad on Apple’s website offers an expansive, beautiful montage of all the daring, innovative activities people around the world are doing with the iPad’s help. Yet another shows Apple’s design team raving about the device’s lighter design and longer battery life. One man describes the A7 power chip in the Air as “rigid but nothing precious about it.” But that could be said of any product. There’s “nothing precious” about anything until people find it useful. By that standard, a pencil and an iPad are both very valuable indeed.