Tablets are Toys (Not Mainstream Machines)
Everyone is falling all over themselves to talk about tablets. Yesterday Wired.com topped them all in the hype department by declaring 2010 to be the year of the tablet. But let's just slow down a minute. Yes, a big old pane of multi-touch goodness is a thing of beauty, and we're just as susceptible to its magic as you are. But there's a reason tablets haven't caught on to date.
It's because you can't work on a tablet. You can't get things done without a decent working keyboard, whether it's in the enterprise or for personal productivity. Normal people are never going to lug around a separate keyboard for their computer. The two most highly anticipated products, Arrington's CrunchPad and the Apple tablet, are both going to be secondary entertainment machines, not the mainstream tech trend of the year.
Popular and Mainstream, Not the Same
There's no doubt everyone will continue to gab about tablet rumors from the likes of Apple, Dell and other companies. It's exciting stuff, and they should sell well. But there's a huge difference between an exciting rumor and the tech trend of the year. No one even knows for sure what market Apple's tablet will be aimed at; will it be a Kindle competitor or a glorified Touch for gaming and video? We just don't know, so hold your horses.
Amusing, But Not Useful
The most mainstream device without a physical keyboard is the iPhone. But neither the iPhone nor the iPod Touch is a good basis for comparison when it comes to tablets. They both already had mission critical, mainstream functions (voice and mp3 storage, respectively) to act as the base driver for their adoption. Without something along those lines, taking away an integrated physical keyboard detracts from a device once suitable for both business and pleasure.
Tablets like the CrunchPad seem like they might have upright stands to go along with them, and they'll definitely support either a USB or Bluetooth keyboard. But how many people (outside the tech industry) do you see carrying mice for their laptops? Not a lot. Regular people will not seek out accessory keyboards. They'll just buy a device with a keyboard integrated in the hardware to begin with.
Not the Tech Trend of 2010
Yes, tablets will be seriously cool. Some of us here at ReadWriteWeb may even buy them. But in all the hype, let's not forget that no matter how shiny they may be, tablets are not suited to the kind of market that would make them the tech trend of 2010.
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Finally, some common sense.
I think Apple's tablet has a chance if marketed as a tricked out Kindle competitor, but if the pricing rumors are at all accurate, it's DOA.
The CrunchPad? The entire concept is laughable. The specs are atrocious and it only serves as an internet browser.
Maybe the same people who were dumb enough to buy the MacBook Air will buy one of the above, but anyone with an ounce of consumer savvy and practicality will stay away. Have you looked at the price of full featured laptops lately? Those things are getting cheap!
For me, buying a tablet would not add anything to my computing experience...A mouse works just fine for most people.
I beg to differ.
Creative people (especially in the graphics design and the user interface design world, but not only) who like to sketch their ideas and concepts (I do it every single day) have been waiting for the perfect tablet for a long time. It is not a whiteboard, as it needs to be portable. It is not a Wacom tablet, as it needs to be interactive (the only one that is interactive with a screen is a monster and it is very expensive). It is not a laptop either, as the mouse and trackpad horribly get in the way of creativity.
As of now, pen and paper are still doing the best job. Another alternative is LiveScribe, but you need to use special paper and a bulky pen, so it has not been wildly successful. What if you never needed to scan your sketches ever again? What if they were dated and filed automatically for you, for intellectual property management purposes? What if you could do all that by simply drawing and writing in the most natural way? What if you could work collaboratively with others on the same sketch or diagram in real time, through the network, in the most comfortable way ever.
I have no idea whether the upcoming Apple tablet will address these issues, but I suspect (or rather, hope) that it will. I doubt that the CrunchPad would be able to compete in that area, as it is all about excellence in user experience and carefully crafted integration between software and hardware, a challenge where Apple consistently shines.
Is that a big market? I think that it is. If Apple has chosen to explore it under Steve Jobs' supervision, it probably is. And then, there are all the other use cases: book, magazine, and newspaper reader with subscriptions, movies and games, of course, web browsing, etc.
Remember the Kindle?
Apple with release the reading device with a real color screen and probably a massive battery.
I totally agree with Jean-Michel. There are lots of purposes in the creative industry for a piece of hardware like that. Both in web, graphic and print design. Also in all kind of presentation-based work. Everywhere where ones uses a pencil for his ideas, somewhere on the run, in the cafè or wherever else.
Any existing tablet hardware is still some mixture between office, multimedia and creative machine. Almost all of them lack of a good battery and the ability to use it for professional creative tasks. Drawing, sketching and painting are from my opinion the main purposes for such an instrument.
I'm waiting for that and would be very happy to see 4+ hours battery,
By the way, i don't have an Macbook Air but would buy that one for less than 800€.
I would just like to take a moment and as:
When did my Fujitsu Stylistic "Slate" PC become a tablet? Tablets have keyboards kids.
Photoshop on a slate is a nice place for design mock ups. Wacom tablet on the desktop copy on PS.
OneNote and Inkseine create a powerful notebook system
Visio site meeting work is also great as you walk a site.
2 cents in the bucket.
A laptop with a keyboard AND a tablet is very useful. The tablet is great for sketching, ad-hoc diagramming, etc. I used to have a Toshiba with a tablet screen and it was very useful at times.
But a computer with ONLY a tablet? I agree - a sideshow.
Making such blanket dismissals of a platform such as the tablet computer (in whatever form and by whichever maker) isn't the depth of reporting and analysis I'd expect from a journalist. As both an instructor and an instructional technologist in higher education, I've used the tablet PC platform extensively in the classroom as a means of presenting lectures. For example, the tablet platform is ideal for showing PowerPoint slides, as it allows the instructor to annotate directly on the slides (as well as other types of content to be displayed, such as PDFs), and save these for later distribution to students, etc. Mindmapping is another great application of the tablet platform, especially when brainstorming or as an alternative way to organize information collectively. MindManager makes extensive use of the writing features of the tablet platform, which again proved invaluable to me as an instructor.
Furthermore, using a tablet with applications such as Microsoft's OneNote makes notetaking during meetings, presentations (especially at academic conferences) as simple as taking out the tablet and writing on the screen with the pen. Granted, Apple's iteration of the tablet likely will not have a pen (although it'd be great if it did), I imagine it won't be long before they're making a significant impact in similar venues.
Finally, the tablet is perfect for creative types, as mentioned a previous comment. Trying to be creative with a mouse and keyboard is a futile effort.
I'd welcome more in-depth analysis of technology instead of dismissing an entire category as a toy. Yes, the tablet platform isn't ideal for everyone; and that's the point. That's why we have so many choices in means to interface with technology. Saying a tablet is a toy is like saying speech recognition technology is a game. Tell that to people who are blind or do not have use of their hands. These alternative, niche technologies work well for those who can make the most of such an interface, whether in a convertible format (keyboard and display swivels around to lay flat), a slate (display sans keyboard), or however Apple chooses to redefine tablet.
I'm on the fence on this one. Tablets up till now have had relatively low adoption, but mainly because the user experience is purely not good enough. With the likes of Apple putting some decent design in that may well change. We tend to judge new ideas by the previous experience we have rather than by the new idea itself.
For example, I have been pleasantly surprised by the ease of working on the iphone. Sure, i'm not going to publish a newspaper on it but for writing basic blog posts on wordpress and so on its great.
I hope Apple/ Crunchpad do a good job, it may well push some more moves in the market again.
They will have nice homes with some who like the format, such as designers. It is probably a little harsh to call them toys, but I like a strong view point, especially when used to rebuke hype.
Tablets have a long way to go, so I too do not think 2010 will be the year of the tablet. And if it is, it will be because they're new and shiny, which won't sustain into 2011.
Just wanted to leave a quick comment sorting out some of the terms being used as synonyms but aren't. First you have your "Tablet" vs "TabletPC". A TabletPC is a device with an active digitizer used to translate the movements of, usually, a pen and is used with a Microsoft OS (started with XP, but is now on 7 as well). A tablet can be anything used as a slate style device. Some people could call an iPhone a Tablet. Secondly is "Slate" vs Convertible", basically if it has a keyboard and can look like a laptop, but the screen can also turn around, its a Convertible. If there isn't a keyboard, it's not a convertible. Lastly my 2 cents on Apple's "Tablet": it looks like a great concept, but if they make it underpowered or a "2nd laptop" like netbooks it will fail to completely change the market (see: Kindle).
Rubbish.
This completely ignores the many users, like myself, who got incredible levels of functionality out of devices like the Nokia N800 touchscreen internet tablet. I was easily able to perform 80% of my daily job requirements on one in a pinch, and that included:
-user acceptance testing for a web app on a corporate intranet via VPN and wifi;
-SQL server database administration;
-email;
-reading PDF documents;
-managing a web-based claims handling application, including case escalations, workflow configuration and user account management;
-etc etc etc.
All without a keyboard... but I did "lug" my tiny bluetooth keyboard in the same carry bag that held the N800, in case I needed it.
Don't assume your apparent limited knowledge of tablet use cases is paramount. I recommend actually getting one in your hands and trying it before offering up misguided rants like this one.
It's highly possible 2010 *can* be the "year of the tablet"... but that will come down more to marketing than technology or usability.
I have a iPod Touch with no music or video stored on it - yet I use it all the time.
When I get up or get home it is an good device that is instant on to check my email and social networks (using friendbinder). Often I will read some blog entries or some news on it.
I find a laptop doesn't really compare to the experience of reading a magazine which I can easily read on the sofa, but a laptop is heavy and less flexible. An iPod Touch/Phone is good for this but the screen is too small. I used Sony eReader the other weekend which is a nice form factor but I want a color screen and access to the internet.
That said I used a Windows XP tablet edition tablet years ago at it was rubbish mostly because it was bulky, heavy, required a stylus and didn't have simplified interface (like the iPhone/iPod Touch does now). They need to be instant on/wake up, thin/lightweight, not get hot, simple device like OS and have long battery life (3 hours+) the tablet I used had none of these and that is why it failed.
I think the tablet idea is competes with eBooks and netbooks but not full laptops.
someone build this & and I will come (pun intended):
http://images.google.com/images?q=olpc+xo-2&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=prN4Su3DL9KYlAelhvSZBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5
better than the Crunchpad or iTablet
In reply to Michael Willits and some others,
If it appears that I'm making a "blanket dismissal" of tablets, then that is my mistake.
Tablets in one form or another (I'm talking specifically about larger slate tablets here, the kind that Apple and Arrington are making) are definitely useful for specific use cases and industries, like in design or for ebooks. What I'm saying is that they're not useful for the kind of general computing and productivity most people do on a day-to-day basis, which is text heavy and requires a decent keyboard.
Posted by: stevenwalling.com
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August 4, 2009 3:38 PM
This is an outrageous claim. I have data showing that simply introducing a Tablet PC as paper replacement increases student interaction and engagement in a classroom when working in pairs. How can a tool with such a profound pedagogical impact be "just a toy?"
I think the people who discuss the utility of the tablet for graphic artists have a point, but that is not what most would call a mass market.
The real issue with tablets is the use they are intended to serve. For content consumption and simple information lookup, tablets would be just great. Hence all the talk about the tablet as a kindle killer or as a replacement for AppleTV. Content creation is another story.
I wrote about this last December, when the last round of Apple tablet rumors went by, and nothing seems to have changed since then. If you want to read more, see this link:
http://shebanation.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/convergence-smartphones-vs-netbooks-or-consumption-vs-creation/
re: "What I'm saying is that they're not useful for the kind of general computing and productivity most people do on a day-to-day basis, which is text heavy and requires a decent keyboard."
Again, I know of many who are practically living on Nokia N800s, with no keyboard. They take advantage of the text prediction which, as one becomes adept, begins to compensate for the lack of a "decent keyboard".
And I'm no wizard at this approach, but as I said I managed to conduct *business* on my N800, and very text-intensive business at that. Email requires typing, and if that's on a touchscreen via virtual keyboard, so be it. The situation is not the showstopper you assume.
But maybe the key qualifier is "most people". However, I don't think usage by "most people" is required to fulfill the original premise of the Wired article. Wired is always scouting the fringe, not the mainstream.
Anyway, if as you assert though you did not mean to impugn tablets so broadly, perhaps this rant might have been better thought-out beforehand and vetted with tablet users prior to publication.
I'd be willing to bet my professional credibility that these "tablet" offerings will fail miserably. Of course, I'm anon, so there is no recourse. Either way, bookmark this thread and come back to it in a year. I will check it on 8/4/2010, reveal my identity, and provide my contact information so you can get in touch regarding digital consulting. I look forward to doing business with you. Short AAPL at 172.
Well, I can't wait for it - I think it will be a very useful marketing device to demonstrate products, et cetera (especially when Flash finally makes its way to this thing). Plus, it has a cutting edge feel that, even if it only lasts a few months, will certainly add to presentations.
After that, it'll make a hell of a mahjong board. :)
I got burnt by buying a HP tablet that looked very promising.. the HP TX1000. To this day there are hundreds of buyers who are regretting the decision as the entire TX series was defective and HP never recalled the product. Among many forums that discusses the problem, here's one:
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1249451104301+28353475&threadId=1268501
He didn't say it would be unused..he said it wouldn't be mainstream. Some artists or designers that find a use doesn't make it mainstream. It might be main stream in the graphics arts community but that just proves his point. Niche uses. "I will use it" doesn't make it a useful thing in a cubical. Or on my home office desk. A mac tablet won't google either..:D
From one perspective I agree - touch is the latest fad and overhyped. It is and will continue to be more useful over time, but as a replacement for mainstream computing it is not even close.
However I think there are two related areas that have been waiting on the wings that are seriously ready for the mainstream now that technology is catching up:
1) E-books. I have read 11 novels on my iphone, and love it. I travel a lot so it works fantastically for me. A slightly larger form factor would be nice though, but it would have to be very light.
2) Note taking. I have used windows tablets with Microsoft OneNote for 3 years now for all my meeting notes - no paper, ever. It works, but they are way too big, hot, cludgy, and tethered to power. The new generation of devices have promise to finally make this mainstream.
Unfortunately every one of the currently announced devices misses a key element - the need for an active digitizer for pen input. In fact with Oqo going under, there is not a single sub 1.2kg device on the market with an active or dual touch/active screen.
A lot of people get confused with note taking as needing hand writing recognition. It does not! If your purpose is to take notes in meetings, Microsoft OneNote is a great tool - and you use it just like a desk pad. It is not socially acceptable to type in a meeting - so this is a great solution, once the devices get smaller, lighter and more compact. I rarely convert my notes to text. I never lose notes, can search my notes, and never carry paper.
I think the next company that releases a sub 1kg, 7-9" tablet, with dual active/touch digitiser, running Windows 7/OneNote, with good battery and 3G connectivity will be on to a winner with the small but devoted bunch of inkers like me. And once others see that it can and does work well...it will be a winner in the wider market.
Here’s hoping someone can also do that with a bit of Apples design flair as well. Having said that I'd be reluctant to give up One Note to go with Apple even if they do target this market. One Note is just too far ahead in note taking.
My local council office in the UK has 4 greeters with tablets in the reception area. They work really well and help route people to the correct area, order forms and applications, etc.
Tablets aren't mainstream computers?
Well thank you for that enlightening bit of insight Captain Obvious!
Despite your ranting something tells me Apple has already realized this. Here is something else that is also fairly obvious at this point...Apple has big plans to transform the workstation experience. But they are taking their sweet time about it. They are spoon feeding multi-touch (and possibly other computer interface schemes) to the market one innovative product at a time.
I work as an infographic artist on the road, and I used to carry around a laptop and a Wacom A4 graphic tablet, last week i got a HP tablet PC (dual core, 4Gb Ram, Ati Radeon graphic card, Wacom touchscreen...)and love the change of weight and mess; i can work with it as a normal laptop, then turn the screen and draw directly onscreen.
I don't know if tablets are going to be THE trend, but i foresee a niche for really powerful touchscreen PCs
what kind of work do you think everyone needs to do on the road? Average people surf the web or look things up, chat, IM, myspace, twitter or FB. send and read emails take and store photos watch videos and listen to music. Sounds to me like a screen bigger than an iphone would be perfect for this. Then maybe add a kindle type book reading app to it and some games and there you have it what most people lug around a big laptop for can be done on a tablet. Granted professional people may need more but the average joe doesn't even use a home computer for more than this. even a reporter tapping out notes for a story should be able to see the usefulness of a lightweight portable go everywhere tablet. DUH!
There is def. a niche for tablet PCs. I work in the military community and we love them (try issuing a call for fire on a keyboard while getting shot at). They are also quite popular in the medical community or any other job that requires you to enter data while not at a desk. For the average user I totally agree that they are move a nuisance than anything.
Niche market but I don't know if they'll catch on too much. A really good multi-touch tablet that had a well designed interface could be a useful product but tablets have been around for a long time and never really done much of anything aside from certain types of user. For the mainstream market you normally either want something completely mobile, or want the power, storage, and ease of use of at least a laptop.
A really good tablet would need to be made to displace a laptop and you're right that for everyday work use you wouldn't want to be hunched over it all the time so it would need to be propped up in some way so even with a great multitouch interface you'd want a separate keyboard and possibly mouse. Typing on a propped-up tablet would be too hard on the wrists. Too many of these have failed for basic practical everyday use reasons that I don't see them taking too much of the market anytime soon without an exceptional design.
I still don't see the need for them outside of creative industries. I have a Kindle and iPhone which I both enjoy, but don't see where the tablet would fit in. The screen on the Kindle is great because it's easy on the eyes, and also because of the simple screen, my battery lasts 2 weeks basically with 3G off (and that's using it 2-3 hours a day). My iPhone on the other hand doesn't even last me a whole day sometimes.
Also, how do you hold/use it? One handed? but if it's 6"+ screen like people want it's too big, and imagine the weight of an iphone 2 or 3x bigger. My kindle weighs less than my iphone I think. So that means you need a docking station/stand, or you're hunched over it on the table. Typing would be a nightmare as well because if the screen's that big you can't do it one handed, so again, how do you hold it? Also if you stand it up on something and have to type on it, you'd have to prevent it from sliding on a desk or table when pushing against it.
For creative people (and have friends who are graphic designers for a living), I'm sure they'd love it, but I still don't get how it'd be mainstream or as a complete splurge
Nobody is looking at this from a teen/twenty something perspective. These kids have grown up with cell phones as their primary means of accessing the electronic world. They are used to using touch screens, not keyboards. THEY will be the ones to embrace the tablets in the coming years. Us parents and other 'old folks' will just complain how we love our keyboards, LPs, and miss gas for under a $1.00 a gallon…
The key thing with Apple is that it won't be a Tablet. It will be an iView or iTouch or something similar for media and touch apps vs text-based office apps.
Here are my 6 reasons it will be successful where prior tablets failed:
1. A 50,000+ critical mass of fun touch-specific apps on the app store already exists
2. A $700 price point instead of MS $2000+
3. Flash-memory based and instant-on
4. Portable Book-size in ounces vs. Tablet size in pounds
5. An almost-critical mass of ebooks online for reading
6. The killer app: iPhoto (and iMovie) They are already mouse/touch-based for managing, editing, and creating slideshows of your pics and videos (whereas the iPhone is a playback-only device), at a price-point less than an entry-level macbook, with no need to be "a switcher".
I'd personally also like it to have a tiny 60gb hard-drive just to hold the big video files, freeing up flash memory for everything else and staying powered down 95% of the time
I have been using HP Tablet PCs for the last four years. Started on a TC1000 (Not so good), TC1100 (great), TC4400 (more powerful but a big retreat from the excellent ergonomics of the TC1100), 2710p (part of the way back to the TC1100).
In the office they spend most of their time in a docking station and used like desktop.
When I leave the office to work l use one application nearly all the time: MindManager in Ink mode to record meetings and events. Over 4 years my investment in Tablet PCs has more than paid for itself. It is a core tool for http://www.conferencereaction.co.uk
Occasionally I use ArtRage2, a painting tool specifically for the Tablet PC. How else could you paint standing up in the front of the crowd at an outside rock festival?
The Tablet PC has times, places and situations where it does more than just justify itself.
Um, i have a really bad back,if i carry anything over even 500g/1lb for over half an hour i get nagging pain, and i have to use an external keyboard to maintain good posture and avoid pain. But tablets 1 like normal PCs the height is too low and i keep stooping, they need a stand 2 how much weight and size would not incorporating a keyboard save? What's in my computer after keyboard and batteries?
Thank you for your sharing.!