The Tablet Revolution Is Coming!

It has been a little over a week since Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s latest innovation. The iPad. The Tablet that was supposed to change the world. Now, Tablets have been around for quite sometime. Apple is not the first to make a foray into the market. But it is looking to revolutionize the Tablet world just like it changed the portable music player world when it came out with the iPod, and to the smartphone market with iPhone.

Written off?

What was amazing about the iPad was the interest and buzz Apple managed to generate around it, without spending a single dollar on advertising. Based on the reactions of the Tech World just after the launch that maybe Apple overcooked the hype. It was criticized for everything from its name, to the lack of Flash support, missing camera the list goes on. It was even compared to a Rock.

..maybe not yet!
While it is certainly difficult to top products that have been as successful as the iPod and the iPhone it may be too early to write off the iPad. Apple has already announced that it will have access to the iPhone App Store and released a new SDK with iPad support. With nearly 2 months to go before the release expect to see the final version of the iPad with a few new features by the time it hits the stands. Also safe to assume that a lot of what has been said about what the iPad ‘could have been’ will go into making the next version(iPad 2G?). Infact, tearing the device apart has already revealed a slot which might be used to house a camera.

Widening Horizons

New avenues are already opening up for the ‘Jesus Tablet’, as its being called. Citrix has released images of an iPad running Windows 7, thanks to a combination of Citrix Receiver and XenDesktop 4(Citrix Blog)

It has already been seen with smartphones. Make a good enough product, give it an SDK and setup an App Store. You will be surprised to see what it can be used to for thanks to some innovative developers. When smartphones came out, no one predicted that geo-tagging would be the kind of rage it is today. With the likes of Dell, Google and well..almost everyone poised to enter this segment in the near future, who knows where this Tablet Revolution could take us!

Has it been misjudged?

One area where the Tablet, or atleast in its new Avatar, is being misjudged is its intended use. It doesn’t seem that it is being launched to be a primary computing device. Any parallels with the PC will be a case of Apples and oranges. Gone are the days when the computer was the forte of the geek. Today everyone needs one and the Tablet seems like a very attractive option for the non computer savvy or those whose relationship with a computer does not go beyond the internet and entertainment.

Collateral effects

Twenty10 was largely slated to be the year of the eReaders. With around atleast 20 different eReaders due to be released during the year. The coming Tablet revolution could be a really ominous sign for them. Some of them are not taking it lying down though(read: Amazon Kindle). The silver lining here is that a lot of these devices run on OSes like Android and plenty of them are designed to be multipurpose anyway, so sensible pricing just might save them..or maybe I am being too optimistic.

The publishing industry on the other hand is looking at Tablets (and eReaders too) to revive their declining fortunes. How far that will be true, only time will tell. Another industry it could impact is the Netbook market. In 2009, Netbook sales saw record growth and rose to capture a significant portion of the notebook market. Even though the downturn is easing out, pockets are still tight and netbooks are making for good, budget investments. Given their Form-factor which makes for better on-the-go usability and pricing, The Tablets of Tomorrow may very well eat into this segment.

Where will it go?What will we do with it?

It is unclear whether the Tablet will hit the mainstream immediately. For now it will have to resign itself to being a luxury item. But, in the future, expect it to become entrenched in our lives in many ways. Inflight entertainment systems (like ICE) already use touchscreen devices, we could see a lot more action here.
The service industry could use the Tablet in many innovative ways – Imagine having Digital menus which also allow you to customize your order. No more waving frantically for attention and looking away embarrassed when the waiter does not see you. Shops/Showrooms could show off graphically rich e-brochures to have a better impact on the customer. The Banks of the future could adopt it too.

Some healthcare application developers have already announced plans to use the Tablet .See here.
Others are speculating that Tablets could find their way into education as well. No more text books/note books just one ‘slate’ like Tablet.

Basically it could replace any scribbling/display surface that we use today. (sound familiar?)..
The Tablet could step into fulfilling Idea’s idea, where the mobile phone might fail because of its small size!..and more..