Enter the Tablet
2010-01-02
Pure, but thoughtful, speculation on Apple’s iTablet/iSlate/iWhatever device that's coming soon:
1. It Has At Least One Hole
How do you carry and hold a flat seven to ten-inch device? If it's smooth and shiny, as we all expect it to be, it’s also slippery. So it has one or more carefully engineered holes that you can put a digit or two through. Think of an artist's palette.
The hole could be round or rectangular, but whatever shape it is, it will be on one of the narrow edges, making the device longer than it would be expected to be for the screen shape. This gives the device one of two orientations in landscape mode, one for right-handed and one for left-handed people.
The home button therefore does not exist. Instead, there are home surfaces on the edges that are swiped.
2. It's Built For Sharing
When Grandma comes or the grandkids come, how do you share media with them? We don't hand photos around any more, but we do have them on our fragile, inconvenient, and costly laptops. It's the same for home movies: either get everyone around the TV and get the movie into the TV somehow, or crowd around a laptop.
The tablet has speakers -- good speakers -- or more likely some sound technology that others have not yet mass-produced, that makes sharing a great experience.
It's optimized as a home-use portable computer, just as an iMac is optimized as a home-use desk-top computer.
3. It's Rugged
It's hardy enough to withstand plenty of abuse, including being dropped, and rugged possibly to the point of liquid immersion. Why not? It has no fans, no removable battery, and all the connectors are sealed. There are no dangerous high voltages inside because the display uses LEDs instead of fluorescent illumination.
Apple has shown that it can create products with sensitive and responsive, yet unscratchable displays, and the tablet would have a big one. The rumors of a display that could not stand the rigors of intended use delaying production fit well with this idea.
4. The Killer App Is Commerce
Think of it as a window into a store. You can buy with it, just as you can on the iTunes store, but much more stuff. And Apple gets its cut. Amazon has a huge presence online, but they are not mobile because they don’t have control over the hardware. Apple is aiming to be the Amazon of mobile purchasing -- which will be a huge percentage of all purchasing once it becomes easy, reliable, and secure.
The big display makes this possible, but much of the underlying technology (Cocoa Touch) is already proven and in use.
And you can sell your physical products through Apple. You create your store using the same open-source and standard technologies that Apple has packaged together to make Apple LPs. And you pay using your Apple account. Say goodbye to Pay Pal.
1. It Has At Least One Hole
How do you carry and hold a flat seven to ten-inch device? If it's smooth and shiny, as we all expect it to be, it’s also slippery. So it has one or more carefully engineered holes that you can put a digit or two through. Think of an artist's palette.
The hole could be round or rectangular, but whatever shape it is, it will be on one of the narrow edges, making the device longer than it would be expected to be for the screen shape. This gives the device one of two orientations in landscape mode, one for right-handed and one for left-handed people.
The home button therefore does not exist. Instead, there are home surfaces on the edges that are swiped.
2. It's Built For Sharing
When Grandma comes or the grandkids come, how do you share media with them? We don't hand photos around any more, but we do have them on our fragile, inconvenient, and costly laptops. It's the same for home movies: either get everyone around the TV and get the movie into the TV somehow, or crowd around a laptop.
The tablet has speakers -- good speakers -- or more likely some sound technology that others have not yet mass-produced, that makes sharing a great experience.
It's optimized as a home-use portable computer, just as an iMac is optimized as a home-use desk-top computer.
3. It's Rugged
It's hardy enough to withstand plenty of abuse, including being dropped, and rugged possibly to the point of liquid immersion. Why not? It has no fans, no removable battery, and all the connectors are sealed. There are no dangerous high voltages inside because the display uses LEDs instead of fluorescent illumination.
Apple has shown that it can create products with sensitive and responsive, yet unscratchable displays, and the tablet would have a big one. The rumors of a display that could not stand the rigors of intended use delaying production fit well with this idea.
4. The Killer App Is Commerce
Think of it as a window into a store. You can buy with it, just as you can on the iTunes store, but much more stuff. And Apple gets its cut. Amazon has a huge presence online, but they are not mobile because they don’t have control over the hardware. Apple is aiming to be the Amazon of mobile purchasing -- which will be a huge percentage of all purchasing once it becomes easy, reliable, and secure.
The big display makes this possible, but much of the underlying technology (Cocoa Touch) is already proven and in use.
And you can sell your physical products through Apple. You create your store using the same open-source and standard technologies that Apple has packaged together to make Apple LPs. And you pay using your Apple account. Say goodbye to Pay Pal.