Ben's Place

The buzz around the Apple tablet has been building gradually last year. Rumors have run wild that Apple will introduce its much anticipated 10-inch touchscreen device, and next Wednesday, on January 27th, Cupertino-based computer maker Apple is likely to finally unveil its tablet device.

Here is a very rough outline of the mass market computing devices evolution. First there were desktop PCs, then came the Internet, followed by slimmer PCs shaped like small suitcases – the laptops, which became lighter and lighter over time. In parallel the mobile phone phenomena took place while people started to carry mobile phones with them at all times, making them virtually accessible anytime – anywhere. In the beginning of this century, mobile phones started to have Internet capabilities integrated into them. But the implementation of the phone makers, Nokia and others, got it all wrong for years. Screens were too small, appropriate operating systems were not open for developers, network access was extremely slow and expensive, and the wall-garden approach of the mobile operators dominated and prevented the mobile Internet from flourishing. It was at this stage that the Apple revolution occurred, where many others failed before. Apple connected the dots with the introduction of the iPhone (riding the wave of the iPod’s success), which was so much more than just a great technology.  It was the first time that a mass market mobile phone offered a very wide variety of applications and services connected to the Internet with a reasonable business model and a great user experience. The iPhone became the gold standard for Smartphones, and since then many others have been following.

Apple’s tablet is based on an existing concept, called a netbook which was not adopted by the masses yet. Like most Apple’s products, it would be a high-end one in its category. With a powerful community of applications and developers at hand, convenient touch pad technology, easy to carry and stylish properties, on top of its wondrous marketing capabilities, Apple now intends to reinvent this existing category, just like it did with the iPhone for Smartphones. Although netbooks are much cheaper than what Apple Tablet would cost, competition will emerge and prices will drop with time.

If you own an iPhone or other Smartphone, you are well aware by now, that you can do much with it, spending less time on your PC than ever before. You may check your email and calendar, read news, take pictures, play games, listen to music, access social networks and even watch videos – all done with a device that you carry on at all times, which also serves as your mobile phone. Apple’s Tablet doesn’t come to replace this concept, but to complement it. In a world where internet is so crucial to our daily interaction, such a device can take us one step further from the desktop PCs and laptops, and do even more without them. The Tablet could be the best device for surfing the web and far more suited for reading newspapers, books and blogs. Apple may represent a direct challenge to Amazon, which dominates the fast-growing e-book market with its Kindle product. Additionally, it may become the best solution for watching videos while on the go.

Even more, imagine that the Apple Tablet, whether in this version or next one will come with a new type of tactile, gesture-based keyboard, something a recent Apple patent supports and which is really missing in the iPhone today. Say you could type freely similar to a conventional keyboard, it would immediately become a great device for computing on the go, one that could be used as your primary computer if you wished.

Apple’s Tablet would not just serve the gadget lovers, it would introduce an important category into mobile computing. In just one week we would probably know the product details (like its name, specification and price). Tablet is likely to start shipping in Q2/10. Whether Tablet will make a revolution similar to the iPhone’s one, is yet to be seen. Stay iTuned!