This week Apple its notebook line. However, something was missing: the much rumored Apple Tablet. The rumors have been around for so long and Apple has not been able to deliver on the concept that now it’s time to wonder if Apple will launch a Tablet form-factor anytime soon.
Now I will give the “small-Tablet” edge to Apple already. The iPhone is a great UMPC or MID-like device. It’s a pretty good web browser and a not-too-bad reading device. One big thing it’s missing though is a bigger display. I thought, in fact, that this is where Apple might go: A larger iPhone as an Internet device. It hasn’t though.
I think I’m beginning to understand why. First, there’s the price issue. An Internet device probably won’t have a subsidy from a carrier per what we’ve seen for similar devices. So it’ll be full priced and because of the cost of the current iPhone and a device like this with a larger display, you’d wind up with something probably a couple hundred more than where the iPhone originally stood. That places the price up in the $899 range, which is pretty pricey and sure to keep the market size down–unless it were to have some other compelling features. And this brings me to the second set of issues that a larger iPhone Internet like device would run into.
The larger device would encourage new uses for a device like this. For instance, it would scream for a very good high-quality camera capable of live video. However, the carriers probably wouldn’t like this because of bandwidth issues. It would also make sense to see some type of knock out web service to go along with it and yet Apple hasn’t exactly proven itself adept in this area recently. Also, with a larger device I’d expect more normal computer like features, such as copy-paste, something that Apple has been tryping to avoid with the iPhone. In other words, simply scaling up the iPhone introduces more pressure on the features the OS provides. And I don’t see that Apple is there yet in terms of expanding its OS for a new device like this. Not yet anyway. It still has its hands full with the iPhone.
Now there is another way that Apple could go with a Tablet. It could make something even larger that lets say artists might like to draw on. But to do this it would need features on par with Sketchbook, which no one has been able to repeat. Since Sketchbook is tied up at AutoDesk now, Apple is like Microsoft here and would have to create comparable features in house. That’s something that will take time and there’s no outside signals that Apple is creating a “GarageArt” like application.
And then there’s handwriting and shape recognition. If Apple was to try to create a Tablet that makes sense in schools let’s say, it would need to improve OS X’s recognition capabilities. Windows is way ahead here. It’s not even close. Again this is not something Apple could do in a quarter or so. It would take a concerted effort of at least a couple years. And again, there’s no outwardly visible sign that Apple is envigorating OS X’s reco capabilities.
So where does this leave an Apple Tablet? In the R&D room at Apple I think. From the outside it still seems like a larger iPhone-like device is the most likely “Tablet” to hit the streets, but it still will introduce some significant challenges to Apple’s software group and its pricing strategies of its product line. Who knows, down the road though, we might see a Tablet proper from Apple that rivals a device that runs Windows. But as time passes, there’s more time for Microsoft to continue to refine its lead, and that very well may quash any business decision on Apple’s side to get into this market.
I’m still holding out hope that Apple will get into the game. I think the competition will be good. However, I’m getting more and more skeptical of the rumors I’ve heard to date and whether Apple can get something out of the lab.