A lot of people are speculating that the killer app for the Apple Tablet will be X or that it will be Y. However, the bigger picture involves the following:
- What major inconvenience does it solve?
- What Possibilites inherent in the form factor?
- How will it fit into the Apple ecosystem?
- How will it fit into the general ecosystem?
At least 3 out of 4 of these are key questions for any Apple product.
Major inconvenience solved:
I believe that the Apple Tablet will be a UMPC. It will have enough memory to store all of your personal data (perhaps not including video content). I would be the ultimate solution to all sync problems. In true UMPC fashion, you would be able to conveniently carry your data with you everywhere including on the plane. It will act as a "hub" for such data.
Possibilites inherent in the form factor:
Everything the iPhone is a little too small for. An agenda can work on the iPhone screen, but it would be much better on a 7" or 10" screen. A 7" or 10" screen is large enough to be a digital "Moleskine" or sketchbook. It is comfortably large enough to be a whole house remote control. It can serve as a richer augmented reality interface than an iPhone. Photo touchup in the field -- better on a larger screen than the iPhone.
How will it fit into the Apple ecosystem?
Everything will sync to the tablet. The tablet will be primary store of such information. Mobile Me will be the web accessible copy. The iMac will be there for an even richer input/display and have the computing/graphics horsepower for serious work. Laptops will get phased out, in favor of inexpensive, lightweight input/display clamshells. (Bonjour is the key to Apple's future!)
How will it fit into the general ecosystem?
The UMPC will come into its own. Laptops & netbooks will die off, become the purchase of those who can only afford one piece of kit, or morph into high-end specialist machines.
Laptops will get phased out, in favor of inexpensive, lightweight input/display clamshells.
This is a pipe dream until we either get a better input device than the keyboard (speech?) or we no longer need to move text from our brains to our computers. Until then, people need keyboards, which means that tablets won't overtake laptops. Just my .02. Hope Apple has something revolutionary enough up their sleeve to prove me wrong.
This is a pipe dream until we either get a better input device than the keyboard
Misreading here. You can have something with the same display/input form factor as a laptop. That doesn't mean that it has to contain all of the computing, data, and display resources.
UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) strikes me as something of a misnomer for the tablet. A 7"-10" flat screen, non-foldable tablet PC would have to travel in a folder, or in a bag, or somewhere that's not your pocket.
I believe the mark of a UMPC is its ability to be carried and not its size. IMO the mark would be a notepad, being a writer I can find myself carrying them around when I'm going nomad (either by choice or by force: air travel) and find a writing folder to fit the needs of 'ultra-mobile' useage. If a UMPC can fit in the same size and weight ranges as a writing portfolio then it will be infinitely more accessible than any netbook.
I've travelled for days carrying my writing portfolio's by hand, and I've never felt the need to put them down and due to the dimensions and weight I can frequently have usage of both hands (sticking the portfolio under the armpit) or often both arms (by sticking it down the pants, not exactly classy and certainly not for use in business meetings, but it works).
Interesting aside - has anyone else noticed that the requirement to identify jargon that not everyone will be familiar with (UMPC was new to me) - is basically solved when google/wikipedia are about 500 msec away at any time?
A lot of people are speculating that the killer app for the Apple Tablet will be X or that it will be Y. However, the bigger picture involves the following:
At least 3 out of 4 of these are key questions for any Apple product.Major inconvenience solved:
I believe that the Apple Tablet will be a UMPC. It will have enough memory to store all of your personal data (perhaps not including video content). I would be the ultimate solution to all sync problems. In true UMPC fashion, you would be able to conveniently carry your data with you everywhere including on the plane. It will act as a "hub" for such data.
Possibilites inherent in the form factor:
Everything the iPhone is a little too small for. An agenda can work on the iPhone screen, but it would be much better on a 7" or 10" screen. A 7" or 10" screen is large enough to be a digital "Moleskine" or sketchbook. It is comfortably large enough to be a whole house remote control. It can serve as a richer augmented reality interface than an iPhone. Photo touchup in the field -- better on a larger screen than the iPhone.
How will it fit into the Apple ecosystem?
Everything will sync to the tablet. The tablet will be primary store of such information. Mobile Me will be the web accessible copy. The iMac will be there for an even richer input/display and have the computing/graphics horsepower for serious work. Laptops will get phased out, in favor of inexpensive, lightweight input/display clamshells. (Bonjour is the key to Apple's future!)
How will it fit into the general ecosystem?
The UMPC will come into its own. Laptops & netbooks will die off, become the purchase of those who can only afford one piece of kit, or morph into high-end specialist machines.