Let’s assume a few things.
- The Apple tablet comes out some time in Q1 2010.
- It’s basically a 10” iPod touch, with a new OS that’s about 80% iPhone OS, 20% Mac OS.
- It’s not a great laptop replacement; it’s slower, text input is clunky.
- It’s not a great iPhone/iPod touch replacement; it doesn’t fit in your pocket.
Naturally, it will suffer an Internet fate worse than that of the MacBook Air, which was ridiculed in its time for how underpowered, overpriced, port-poor it was. The tablet will be called a fanboy’s gadget, a netbook with a fancy logo on it, and why would anyone buy that instead of the Nokia N101 or something which has a higher-megapixel camera and Ogg Vorbis support. Or, why not just keep your iPhone/iPod touch?
Except whatever. Except the MacBook Air was awesome, and clearly this is what the rest of the MacBook line will look as soon as Apple can pack enough CPU and battery into the same enclosure. And so, some time in the future, the average computer will be a lot like the Apple tablet. It will be super-thin and light and you’ll pinch and swipe with your fingers a lot more than you do today. That’s reason enough for Apple to start dipping their toes deeper into these waters.
But while we wait for that future, the tablet doesn’t have to be a weird half-solution. See, about a year ago I said of tablets that they’re “small enough that you can take them anywhere, and big enough that you won’t take them anywhere.” As in, you always have your phone on you, and if you need something bigger - that is, big enough to need a carrying case or bag - why not just grab a laptop? But then I heard a few comments about certain special cases where a tablet would actually be the total bee’s knees; cooler and more useful than a laptop.
Special cases such as digital sketching and painting. If you’ve ever used Wacom’s Cintiq 12WX, a portable version of their screen tablet, you’ve felt the magic potential in it. Of course, in Cintiq’s case, it’s a bummer that you still need a computer to connect the screen to; not so with the tablet.
Or take the cases of professional photography and medical imaging; here, laptops have traditionally been used to assist with field work, but many pros choose to bring an iPod touch these days. You’ve made a giant leap when you can hold your demo device in one hand and swipe/zoom with your fingers on the image. Now imagine a much bigger touch screen, one you can still hold like a framed photo. There’s another leap waiting to be made here. Keep in mind also that these users bring a bag of stuff anyway, so they don’t necessarily need the tininess of the iPhone.
How about a customizable, multitouch control board? Many iPhone apps do this sort of thing, controlling everything from your TV to your SLR camera, guitar, and home security system. Again, the inches you gain on a 10” tablet don’t just double your controlling abilities; they open a new world.
And one last area where the tablet may create a whole new category: gaming. To my knowledge there’s been no 10”, handheld, touch-input game console. Again, the form factor won’t just mean that now your Rolandos will be four times as big; it will mean whole new kinds of games. I don’t have the imagination to guess what these will be, but the possibilities are enormous, even assuming that Apple doesn’t add any new capabilities (such as a front-facing camera).
My feeling is that in all these cases, the most noticeable upgrade from the iPhone will be the lack of zoom-and-pan claustrophobia we now experience when we browse the web or play Scrabble. On a device with a 1280 px x 800 px display (or higher!) this will go away. It will no longer feel like you’re viewing the Internet through a keyhole. In table-and-detail based apps like Mail, gone will be the need for constant digging in and out of views; having room for a source list will change things considerably.
Your laptop will still be a better email platform, of course; it will have a real keyboard and real keyboard shortcuts, menus and the sort of functionality that can be hidden in them. We won’t be writing novels on the tablet, nor will we code for the tablet on the tablet. And that’s alright, since those who deeply care about writing/typing won’t accept any text-input compromises; they will stick to their keyboards of choice, style and fancy features be damned. But those who need to manipulate other kinds of data - no offense to writers, but I will dub these funner kinds of data - may find that the tablet is the best specialized device for almost any special use.
