As the Mac obsessed faithful eagerly wait for lord Jobs to give some word about the Apple tablet, every PC manufacturer seems to be responding to this potential product with a tablet of their own. At the CES trade show we saw a 5-inch tablet from Dell, countless ebook reader/tablets from everyone and their grandmother and of course the very exciting Lenovo U1 which is a combination Notebook with a detachable screen that doubles as a tablet. It’s clear that this trend is going to dominate 2010 but I’m not entirely convinced.
Firstly, all these devices are purely touchscreen based devices and if there is one thing I can’t stand for real work it’s a touchscreen. As such (at least for me) a tablet will purely be a device to consume the Internet with. At the most I’ll be typing URL’s into the device and even then you’ll have to use one finger rather than two like the iPhone as the size is prohibitive to use both hands. The argument about us consuming more and more media on our phone’s and thus a tablet making sense as it can really give you a “web” like experience and I think a tablet would be a great device if it can overcome the following issues:
The first problem is that of connectivity. Obviously as a base connectivity option there needs to be wi-fi to connect to home networks and coffee shops but the next logical connection is that of a sim slot to connect to a 3G network. This unfortunately costs a fair amount of money and means that you’ll probably end up buying another contract either to subsidise the price of the device or just to get online. Now if you’re an iPhone Acolyte chances are you’re selling your first born child into slavery to afford an iPhone. This means for you to afford the data for an Apple tablet, you’ll have to sell your house and live in your car. I’m struggling to see a reason for a tablet and without a 3G connection I literally see no reason for the device.
The second issue is that it’s another device to carry. I’ve got a phone, a laptop and a Kindle (which I’ll use as a reference for a tablet) and quite frankly the Kindle stays in my bag when I take it out with me. Having an extra device isn’t necessarily going to make the web experience better and most importantly, I have a laptop for when I want to do something more than just check my mail or Twitter on my phone. A tablet would be another device I’d shove into my bag while running out the house that I wouldn’t really have a chance to use. Sure, if I was travelling on a bus or subway everyday then being able to use a tablet might come in handy but sadly I drive everywhere myself and can’t multitask well enough to do both. I check my mail and twitter on my phone while I’m in bed in the morning as it’s simple and I don’t have to find some ten inch device and fight through two menu’s to read my mail.
The third and probably most important point is the price point. It’s fairly likely that most tablets will use either an ARM processor or an Intel Atom chip for less power drain while still providing enough power for their stripped down operating systems. What this means is an inevitable comparison to Netbooks. In 2010 we’re seeing Netbooks reaching below the three hundred dollar mark. Yes, a tablet screen will cost more to build than a junky Netbook keyboard but you’ve also got to remember that it’ll be difficult to justify a tablet that costs more than six hundred dollars if you consider that for this price point you can buy a Netbook and a Kindle to perform any potential computing and reading requirements. If an Apple (or any other manufacturer) goes for the subsidised model which requires you to buy a twenty-four month data contract then you’re looking at thousands of dollars over and above the initial cost of the tablet.
I can’t help but wonder if the move towards a tablet PC is an aim to get “one device that does everything” and I’m fairly sure that this is a terrible approach to computing. The Kindle works so well as it’s a highly focussed device while the average smartphone tries to be a mobile computer and always has some sort of niggle that prevents it from excelling in all it’s attempted fields.
Of course this is all based on supposition and my vague opinions on a device (and category) that basically doesn’t exist yet. It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the month when the Apple tablet is inevitably announced but I won’t be that guy camping outside a Vodacom store to spend even more money on a subsidised Apple tablet.
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