Martin: Right now every media outlet in the world seems to be talking about the possible appearance of the mythical Apple Tablet at a rumoured press event on the 26th January (handy that the ‘leaks’ are overshadowing CES coverage isn’t it?). Should Steve Jobs descend from Mount Horeb carrying some sort of tablet device what should we expect?
I think that the tablet will be Apple’s answer to the netbook. Its going to do everything your iPhone / iPod Touch does but with a screen that is big enough to watch video and browse the interwebs in greater comfort. I’d also like to see it take on some e-reader functions, aimed more at interactive newspapers and magazines than for reading straightforward books.
What do you hope to use your tablet for? Netbook killer? Ebook? something else?
Thomas: It’s true, the coverage is spectacular, even the Daily Express eschewed it’s usual Hitler themed double page story for a piece about Jonathan Ive! I think we can safely argue that a tablet or slate will soon be announced, if not made available to buy, the rumour mill is grinding away and I’m confident a lot of those rumours could be traced back to a certain Cupertino press office.
Apple already have an answer to the netbook, and that answer is the MacBook Air. Netbooks are sold at razor thin margins and that just doesn’t suit Apple, they would much rather sell a small number of boxes with a helluva margin than compete with Asus on price. That’s why I’ve got a Dell Mini 9, the best of both worlds!
Back to the tablet, I think we need to take a sharp knife to the some of the rumours and predictions. What we are looking at here is an eBook reader, albeit one with a bit of a twist. As well as taking on the Kindle for general ebook duties the Apple tablet will have a colour screen and enough grunt for some decent video playback. This should hopefully give consumers the reason they need to part with enough money to buy two or three Kindles.
For a start the hardware will be nothing extraordinary. Essentially we are looking at a 10″ colour LCD screen, enough pixels for some HD video, surrounded by a thin bezel and a single power button. Hopefully the rest of the case will be aluminium, but I wouldn’t bet on that. Internal storage will be solid state and connectivity will come in the form of WiFi and Bluetooth. I think we will also see a USB port or two and an SD card reader. I’m looking forward to seeing something derived from the PA Semi buyout, I think the curveball could be an ARM CPU with some spectacular power saving features woven in. Of course, the battery will not be user replaceable!
The real magic will come from the software, but is this just going to be another way to consume media bought through iTunes or will I have full access to the OS in the same way as I do on a Mac?
Martin: That’s a good assessment of the likely hardware specs. I think that on the software side it will be neither iPhone nor Mac. Apple don’t make compromises, they make what they feel is best so they will produce a new OS that is perfectly suited to the tablet. It would be nice if it allowed some freedom to play media from outside iTunes, like how Front Row lets you play things from your Movies folder. But I wouldn’t be that bothered if it replicates the iPod features of the iPhone because when Apple do lock you into their media prison it is a very seamless and smooth functioning prison.
The main thing to consider about tablet talk is that we are probably wrong. Engadget, Techcrunch, Macrumors et al are all probably wrong too. I remember before the iPhone came out it was rumoured for years, then it looked like it would probably appear at the next Macworld. There were patent drawings and mock ups bouncing from one site to the next. Everybody expected an iPod that could make phone calls. Possibly with a touchscreen, certainly a click wheel (in physical form or a touchscreen replica) and absolutely without a doubt there would be a slide out keyboard because you couldn’t make a phone without a keyboard. And then the iPhone was revealed and it was like nothing anyone had imagined. It was far better than any mating of iPod with Blackberry geek blog fantasy would ever have been.
That is why the bulk of this speculation is essentially pointless!
One thing we can consider though is whether it will be a success. I think it will. Because we don’t know what it will be like yet we certainly can’t write it off. I know that Steve Jobs doesn’t always produce hits (Cube, Apple TV(although I think Apple TV is a hit waiting to happen but that is another article altogether)) and that no Tablet has ever succeeded before unless you count the iPhone or iPod touch. But I am very confident that the Turtle necked one will deliver another iPhone moment this year. How about you?
Thomas: Of course, Apple just seem to turn out hit after hit at the moment, the reality distortion field will be in full force so even if it’s rubbish I’ll go out and buy one! Add to this that they haven’t ever really made a dud product in the iPod range before and I think they’re on to a win. It will be interesting to see how other vendors respond to the tablet once we know all the facts. The iPhone single handedly changed the way we look at phones, the smartphone is no longer a geek tool or something made for dull executives to check email. It’s also worth noting that nearly every smartphone that has arrived since the iPhone has essentially been the same size and form factor as the iPhone, with the big touch screen filling the device.
Back to the tablet, the part I’m most excited to find out about is how the user interacts with the device. This is an area where previous tablets have always suffered and hopefully something Apple will fix. In the past I’ve used Windows based tablets, and Windows is a fine OS with a good UI, but it’s built to be operated with a mouse and keyboard, and just switching the mouse for a finger doesn’t really cut it. I’ve seen talk of voice recognition and gesture based inputs, I doubt either of these will be part of the tablet, Apple will stick with the multitouch interface they’ve succeeded with before but with a bigger screen they can include more elaborate gestures.
I suppose all that remains now is to wait a couple of weeks and see what comes out of the rumoured event! I’m sure we will revisit the topic to own up to our misguided predictions and make some new ones about how Steve’s new consumerist plaything really will change the world!
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