David Sobotta gives us several reasons why Apple is unlikely to launch a MacTablet:
1. Tablet market is too small.
2. Form factor isn’t right.
3. Healthcare, one of the better Tablet markets, is too risky from a liability standpoint.
4. Too expensive for a growth market product.
5. Apple sales force wouldn’t be able to capitalize on a Tablet platform.
Ah, when you put your banker’s hat on, it’s so easy to see why you shouldn’t get into this or that market.
But business (and engineering) being what it is, companies learn from each other and Apple has the advantage this go round of seeing what Microsoft and its partners have done and figuring out how to make it better. As the Tablet market continues to grow the temptation to prove how it should be done may be too difficult to resist. And then the fun will begin. It’s not just the healthcare market, like this article points out. Its Apple’s survival in the student market. This next year it just won’t be the Tablet PC competing headstrong against Apple’s devices. The MIT/OLPC laptop with its reading mode will be getting notice internationally too. But it’s not just the education market. It’s Apple’s loyal graphics-savvy market. They understand the value of digitizers.
Now if Apple really wants to have fun with Microsoft, there is one thing they could do that in one simple transaction could change the whole market: acquire Wacom
By acquiring Wacom, Apple would instantly have the Cintiq product line, which are what I call desktop Tablets. These highend displays are ideal for the graphics market (one of Apple’s most loyal and enthusiastic) and with the Apple brand, sales channel, and service the volume of Cintiq sales would grow rapidly. For the first year or so this sales growth would give Steve Jobs bragging rights over the Tabletscape.
But there’s a bigger, more interesting reason why Apple should acquire Wacom if it wants to make a counter move to the Tablet market: Most Tablet manufacturers use the Wacom digitizer behind their displays. If Apple acquired Wacom, in one step most Tablets would have to then go through Apple. It would own key digitizer patents. And it would give Apple a tremendous edge in terms of developing the next generation digitizer/display combination.
Do I think Apple will actually acquire Wacom? Unlikely. But it sure would give people a lot to write and talk about.