2 Responses to “Another Apple tablet video”  

1. 1 Barry on Dec 15th, 2009 said:

   It looks pretty cool, but it seems to be an odd size. What makes it preferable over a laptop or netbook?

2. 2 alexis on Dec 15th, 2009 said:

   That question is the reason why tablet devices haven’t been particularly successful in the past. However, I think things will be different this time because of a couple of factors. First: multitouch interfaces have come of age. With the huge success of the iPhone, there is a space for people who want something “just like my iPhone but bigger” for reading, web surfing, watching videos, etc. Also, as internet connectivity becomes ubiquitous, there is a huge emerging market for internet-connected devices in the home. Think of all the things you want to do online in your home where a full-featured laptop is overkill — pretty much the same things I outlined above: reading, watching movies, looking up something quickly online, viewing a recipe while you’re cooking, etc. The reading thing is an especially big deal when you look at the success of the Kindle, etc. People are shelling out hundreds of dollars for a device that does nothing more than read books. Why wouldn’t you just buy a netbook? The answer for reading is the form factor. So now, what if you have the same form factor, but you can do far more than just read books on it? (Yes, the screen isn’t as easy on the eyes for reading, but I think it’s more than a fair trade-off.)

   I think all of these activities are the sweet spot for a mid-range touch tablet device that’s bigger than an iPhone but smaller than a laptop. Of course, there are netbooks for this too, but Apple’s interface design and range of available apps that they already have in the app store create a significant advantage. One of the main reasons that netbooks have no appeal for me is because they are all Windows machines.

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