The Tablet
It’s both the
best-kept and the worst-kept secret in the tech
world. No-one expects anything but a tablet or
slate-type device to be unveiled by Apple supremo
Steve Jobs on Wednesday, but no-one outside a small
and tightly controlled group of people know what it
looks like or what it will do. There has been a
huge amount of idle speculation about the mythical
device on the internet and in the mainstream media,
but that’s what it is - speculation. A few hundred
words from me on the subject isn’t going to add
anything to what’s already known, but I’m not going
to let that stop me.
The first question is “Why would Apple want to release a device like this?” The sub-notebook sector of the market is already quite crowded, what with ebook readers, netbooks, and of course, existing slate-type devices. This is true, but there were plenty of smartphones on the market before the iPhone, and the iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player. And it is to these two devices we should look in order to get an answer to that question.
The two runaway successes for Apple in the last decade have been the iPod and the iPhone. When the iPod was released in 2001, Apple was just a computer and software business. Music players - that was a game dominated by Sony, Philips, Toshiba and several others. But Apple came along and changed the game. The iPod offered features that none of the other manufacturers did - an intuitive user interface, and a superb desktop application to manage your music library and sync your iPod with ease. Then along came the iTunes Music Store (later renamed the iTunes Store) and growth went vertical. Not only were you buying your device from Apple, but chances are you were also buying content for it from Apple too. By the time the competition managed to wake up to what was going on, Apple and the iPod were out of sight. The device has become a generic name for MP3 player, just as Hoover is a generic name for vacuum cleaners.
It’s hard to believe that before 2007, Apple hadn’t sold a single mobile phone. Like with the debut of the iPod, Apple were entering a new market. But this was different. In 2001, MP3 players weren’t a big sector in the overall consumer electronics market. In 2007, the mobile phone sector was enormous, with most markets saturated. However, no-one had come up with a really good smartphone, that combined phone, internet device and media player. And then Apple just came along and did it. Looking back on the first release of the iPhone, it looks primitive, with no 3G, a 2MP still camera, 4GB of storage and no MMS. But the killer features made all the difference - a simple to use interface, a really good browser and some serious eye candy when it came to media handling. If Apple had left it at that and just upgraded the hardware and tweaked the software every now and then, the iPhone would be forgotten by now. What Apple did next was a stroke of genius - the App Store. Developers were invited to develop applications for the iPhone, distribute them through an Apple-owned store, and get a nice share of the price if they were paid-for apps. Two years later, there are over 100,000 apps available for the iPhone and over 3 billion downloads have taken place.
Both of these devices succeeded not because they were early to market - they succeeded by changing the game. In 2001, the music industry was in crisis. Illegal downloading and filesharing was threatening the future of music as a commercial commodity. When Apple offered the music companies a paying way onto its hip new music players that all the cool kids were using, they jumped at the chance. Of course, it’s not the only way that you can buy music online or your iPod, but because the iTunes Store is so seamlessly integrated into the iTunes/iPod experience, that for many users it is the default way to buy music online.
In the smartphone market, nearly every new entrant these days has that lovely scrolly touch screen, and most of Apple’s competitors have App Store equivalents with literally tens of apps available. It will be interesting to see if anyone catches up with Apple and the iPhone - perhaps Google and their NexusOne Android phone might give them a run for their money.
So what has all that got to do with the putative slate device? If Apple are going to release a device in this sector, it will have to have a defined function that sets it apart from whatever is there already. It is said that Steve Jobs was initially reluctant to facilitate the development of a tablet as he could see little use for it other than for browsing the web while on the john.
The iPhone, though a great device, has some serious limitations. One, which is common to virtually all smartphones, not just the iPhone is the screen size. It’s fine for very casual browsing, but it is unsuitable for reading a long article or for using as an ebook reader. There is too much pinching and scrolling involved. We don’t read books that measure three and a half inches diagonally. Similarly, if you have photos on your phone that you took with your 10MP camera, you’re not getting the benefit of those extra pixels. If you had an iPhone-like (or more relevantly an iPod touch-like) device with a bigger form factor, this content becomes more useful. Movies are more watchable on a 10” screen than a 3.5” one.
One thing is for sure - it will be gorgeous. Jonathan Ive and his team of designers will deliver when it comes to teh shiny. I’m not even going to begin to speculate on what sort of horsepower will be under the hood, as I haven’t got a clue. There has been some debate as to what OS will run the device. Will it be a fully featured Mac OS X device running Snow Leopard, or will it run the iPhone OS? Or will it be a new OS, built especially for the device? Will iPhone Apps run on it? If not, will a parallel slate App Store exist alongside the iPhone App Store? We won’t know till Wednesday.
A gorgeous device on its own will not cut the mustard, even one with the famous Apple logo on it. What will Apple offer, content-wise, that will change the game and make this device the leading one in its class? There are plenty of rumours doing the rounds, that Apple has been in discussion with publishers and news organisations to see if they would be interested in licensing their content. Apple would be in a very strong position in such negotiations. News organisations and other publishers are looking at dwindling revenues, as the expectation grows that they should distribute their content for free on the internet and fund themselves through advertising. Apple can show them its experience of iTunes and music, and also tempt them with the fact that it owns a database of several hundred million credit card holders who regularly purchase a diverse range of content from its iTunes store. Another strong one is the notion that this will be aimed at the education sector, and will eventually replace textbooks.
One hunch I have is that MobileMe is going to feature somewhere along the line, maybe as an online repository for content or possibly as a method of delivering content through a subscription service.
The other question that is doing the rounds is about price. The Wall Street Journal is suggesting about $1000. My gut feeling is $600 - $800. (Just replace those dollar signs for euros for Ireland.) $1000 means that they will not be able to attract potential purchasers of netbooks, and also it would be the same price as the entry level MacBook.
As I said at the beginning, only a select few know right now what is coming down the track. But by this time next week, we will be sick of reading about it.
The first question is “Why would Apple want to release a device like this?” The sub-notebook sector of the market is already quite crowded, what with ebook readers, netbooks, and of course, existing slate-type devices. This is true, but there were plenty of smartphones on the market before the iPhone, and the iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player. And it is to these two devices we should look in order to get an answer to that question.
The two runaway successes for Apple in the last decade have been the iPod and the iPhone. When the iPod was released in 2001, Apple was just a computer and software business. Music players - that was a game dominated by Sony, Philips, Toshiba and several others. But Apple came along and changed the game. The iPod offered features that none of the other manufacturers did - an intuitive user interface, and a superb desktop application to manage your music library and sync your iPod with ease. Then along came the iTunes Music Store (later renamed the iTunes Store) and growth went vertical. Not only were you buying your device from Apple, but chances are you were also buying content for it from Apple too. By the time the competition managed to wake up to what was going on, Apple and the iPod were out of sight. The device has become a generic name for MP3 player, just as Hoover is a generic name for vacuum cleaners.
It’s hard to believe that before 2007, Apple hadn’t sold a single mobile phone. Like with the debut of the iPod, Apple were entering a new market. But this was different. In 2001, MP3 players weren’t a big sector in the overall consumer electronics market. In 2007, the mobile phone sector was enormous, with most markets saturated. However, no-one had come up with a really good smartphone, that combined phone, internet device and media player. And then Apple just came along and did it. Looking back on the first release of the iPhone, it looks primitive, with no 3G, a 2MP still camera, 4GB of storage and no MMS. But the killer features made all the difference - a simple to use interface, a really good browser and some serious eye candy when it came to media handling. If Apple had left it at that and just upgraded the hardware and tweaked the software every now and then, the iPhone would be forgotten by now. What Apple did next was a stroke of genius - the App Store. Developers were invited to develop applications for the iPhone, distribute them through an Apple-owned store, and get a nice share of the price if they were paid-for apps. Two years later, there are over 100,000 apps available for the iPhone and over 3 billion downloads have taken place.
Both of these devices succeeded not because they were early to market - they succeeded by changing the game. In 2001, the music industry was in crisis. Illegal downloading and filesharing was threatening the future of music as a commercial commodity. When Apple offered the music companies a paying way onto its hip new music players that all the cool kids were using, they jumped at the chance. Of course, it’s not the only way that you can buy music online or your iPod, but because the iTunes Store is so seamlessly integrated into the iTunes/iPod experience, that for many users it is the default way to buy music online.
In the smartphone market, nearly every new entrant these days has that lovely scrolly touch screen, and most of Apple’s competitors have App Store equivalents with literally tens of apps available. It will be interesting to see if anyone catches up with Apple and the iPhone - perhaps Google and their NexusOne Android phone might give them a run for their money.
So what has all that got to do with the putative slate device? If Apple are going to release a device in this sector, it will have to have a defined function that sets it apart from whatever is there already. It is said that Steve Jobs was initially reluctant to facilitate the development of a tablet as he could see little use for it other than for browsing the web while on the john.
The iPhone, though a great device, has some serious limitations. One, which is common to virtually all smartphones, not just the iPhone is the screen size. It’s fine for very casual browsing, but it is unsuitable for reading a long article or for using as an ebook reader. There is too much pinching and scrolling involved. We don’t read books that measure three and a half inches diagonally. Similarly, if you have photos on your phone that you took with your 10MP camera, you’re not getting the benefit of those extra pixels. If you had an iPhone-like (or more relevantly an iPod touch-like) device with a bigger form factor, this content becomes more useful. Movies are more watchable on a 10” screen than a 3.5” one.
One thing is for sure - it will be gorgeous. Jonathan Ive and his team of designers will deliver when it comes to teh shiny. I’m not even going to begin to speculate on what sort of horsepower will be under the hood, as I haven’t got a clue. There has been some debate as to what OS will run the device. Will it be a fully featured Mac OS X device running Snow Leopard, or will it run the iPhone OS? Or will it be a new OS, built especially for the device? Will iPhone Apps run on it? If not, will a parallel slate App Store exist alongside the iPhone App Store? We won’t know till Wednesday.
A gorgeous device on its own will not cut the mustard, even one with the famous Apple logo on it. What will Apple offer, content-wise, that will change the game and make this device the leading one in its class? There are plenty of rumours doing the rounds, that Apple has been in discussion with publishers and news organisations to see if they would be interested in licensing their content. Apple would be in a very strong position in such negotiations. News organisations and other publishers are looking at dwindling revenues, as the expectation grows that they should distribute their content for free on the internet and fund themselves through advertising. Apple can show them its experience of iTunes and music, and also tempt them with the fact that it owns a database of several hundred million credit card holders who regularly purchase a diverse range of content from its iTunes store. Another strong one is the notion that this will be aimed at the education sector, and will eventually replace textbooks.
One hunch I have is that MobileMe is going to feature somewhere along the line, maybe as an online repository for content or possibly as a method of delivering content through a subscription service.
The other question that is doing the rounds is about price. The Wall Street Journal is suggesting about $1000. My gut feeling is $600 - $800. (Just replace those dollar signs for euros for Ireland.) $1000 means that they will not be able to attract potential purchasers of netbooks, and also it would be the same price as the entry level MacBook.
As I said at the beginning, only a select few know right now what is coming down the track. But by this time next week, we will be sick of reading about it.