2010: The year of the tablet (with e-books helping)? Or just the year of hype about ‘em?
Tablet-friendly writings have popped up on the sites of Computerworld and PC World, both owned by IDG. And others are also talking up tabs.
Is this an authentic trend, fuelled partly by the rise of e-books?
Or just the desire of business people to get on with The Next Thing—having already done netbooks, which, inconveniently, have actually sold at reasonable prices?
I suspect a mix. The reborn CrunchPad, now the Joo Joo, along with the Microsoft-designed Courier and the Apple tablet reports, can’t hurt.
Look, I’m not anti-tablet. In fact, I’m forever grateful to Computerworld for, in 1992, being the first to publish the evolving TeleRead idea, which suggested the use of tablets with keyboards.
Seven pro-tab arguments
For now, here are the seven pro-tablet arguments of CW writer Mike Elgan in Hello, tablets. Good-bye, netbooks! (the CW article), along with my own thoughts:
One: “Touch instead of pen.” Yes, he’s on to something. If nothing else, unlike a stylus, you can’t lose your finger, short of suffering a medical amputation, getting in an accident or being caught as a thief in some regions of the Mideast.
Two: “Cell phone operating systems.” Bingo. That’ll bring the costs down, one of the big downers of the Tablet PC.
Three: “Cheaper components.” Another creditable, cost-related explanation.
Four: “App stores.” They have a role, thoughI hope they don’t dumb down the computer world (lower case, both words).
Five: “The rise of e-books.” I’ll reproduce this reason in full: “Everybody is talking about e-books. And although dedicated e-book readers will always be with us, most people will read electronic books with cell phones and touch tablets. Ignore the naysayers. Tablets will be great for reading books. You’ll even be able to turn the page by flicking your finger across the top right of the page, kind of like a paper book.”
Exactly. Jibes well with what we’ve been saying. Some people will still prefer E Ink based devices like the Kindle. But the rise of multi-use displays like Pixel Qi’s, intended for many apps besides e-booking, can only help make tablet more attractive.
Six: “Faster mobile broadband.” Let’s just hope the wireless companies wise up and lower prices so we can have cloud computing for real in e-books and other areas—just so noncloud alternatives remain.
Seven: “HD video on demand.” Yes: Tablet TV will be good for e-books and apps. They’ll all build on demand for the others.
Why tablets will not necessarily “kill netbooks”
Although Mike’s seven reasons for the rise of tablets seem right on target, I’d disagree with his belief that tablets will kill netbooks.
With my Acer netbook, I often surf the Web and do e-mail when I’m lazing back, nice and comfy, and you can’t this so easily if the keyboard and screen/CPU are two separate units.
Yes, I suppose your tablet could have a virtual keyboard. But it’s a lot more fun to use a real one, even a shrunken version.
Not to mention the fact that many schools would rather not have keyboards or screens for the kids to lose. So I expect that K-12 will continue to be a major netbook citadel, even if many also go for tablets.
Another issue is fear that the best distance for typing on a netbook won’t be compatible the best distance from the eyes.
This is of concern, but netbooks are so small that it really doesn’t matter as much as I once feared it would. My favorite form factor for reading remains the tablet by far, and I still like the vision of a tablet and detachable keyboard.
Student-by-student decision
But let this be not just a school-by-school decision but also a student-by-student one.
Simply put, whether for a student or someone else, the real issue would be the needs of the individual, just it would when you’re considering dedicated readers vs. alternatives.
There is no one right way, and I’m hoping that the market will respond accordingly, so we all can find the hardware that’s best for us.
Often this might mean a mix of machines for you to read on, one reason why I continue to be wildly in favor of e-book standards (knowing that Amazon and the like won’t necessarily port their apps everywhere).
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