I’ve been holding on for a while to give my opinion on the tablet matter given that there’s so many rumors and speculation going around. Now that the date is near, I want to put it out there.
Let me begin by emphasizing that I do believe a Tablet will be a very useful device, if done right. That is a big IF. It turns out that I’ve used TabletPCs (HP TC100 and later the TC1100) in the past but no longer use them. I’m also currently using the LiveScribe Pulse SmartPen, a MacBook Pro an iPhone an Apple TV, a Kindle, a Nook and a Sony Reader, among other things that are not relevant to this post.
Even though I abandoned the TabletPC in 2004, right after finishing my MBA, I didn’t do it out of frustration or lack of satisfaction but out of lack of necessity for it. In fact, I was very happy and grateful for the TabletPC during my MBA. Turns out it was ideal for the classroom. To begin with, at the time laptops were prohibited in the classroom at Duke due to the collective noise generated by the keyboards, among other smaller details. With the TabletPC I was able to take notes without such disturbances and in fact I got TabletPCs officially approved in the classroom with the school.
The HP TC1100 had an 11 inch screen (if I remember correctly), a removable keyboard and it weighted about 4-5 Lbs. It was a relatively light computer for the time which made it relatively practical. It ran on Windows XP TabletPC Edition.
The tablet was great for many reasons. To begin with, the school actually provided most of the reading materials in digital form and all professors published their slides ahead of the class or at worse at the time of class. This meant I could read a lot of things on the tablet and make comments, highlight and draw over documents, just like paper. I tried to do this as much as possible so that I could digitally preserve my MBA for the future and in fact, all the materials are still on a Duke folder in my computer, which is sometimes visited for reference.
For note taking and even for critical reading, having the option of a stylus is preferable than just using your fingers, particularly if you require precision. Thus my ideal tablet will be primarily used with touch but would support a stylus.
Another important factor for note taking is text input. By using the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen for about a year now, I’ve learned that it is mostly useful only when I don’t have a keyboard handy or I need to do a lot of non-text inputs. This is because by far I’m a better typist than a freehand writer and this is increasingly the case for most people.
Back in 2003, the MBA class where the tablet was most useful was a Microeconomics class given by a great but not so technologically inclined professor, “Pino”, who preferred the old school chalk boards, was very fast with the chalk and with the tongue. Enter the digital camera.
The notes that I’m prouder of from my MBA where those for the mentioned class. I took a strategic position on the classroom with full frontal view of the board and put my camera on a small tripod on my desk, next to my TabletPC (yes, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a gadget freak). “Pino” would start his class and I would begin writing on my tablet. The best part of the technological magic was when Pino drew a chart on the board, I would just draw a square on my notes and take notes about the chart as he explained it and when he was done, I would zoom my camera in and snap a picture. Then I would write the image number on the designates square and continue.
After the class I would just embed the photos on their corresponding spaces and make any necessary corrections. Then I would post my notes on a PDF to the bulletin board.
I’ve never been on the very top of the student rankings thus I was very proud when I saw several classmates studying with printouts of my notes.
I remember wishing at the time that the camera was better integrated to the TabletPC and that the software I was using could immediately embed the picture in a designated spot as soon as I took it. Now I even believe it would be better if I could embed short videos of the professor explaining the chart in the designated spots but with the “thumbnail” being of the finished chart, making the notes truly multimedia but also printable.
I also wish I could have used the keyboard for typing text next to my drawings but this would only really work if the keyboard were external to the Tablet, like a small Bluetooth keyboard. That would have made me an even better note taker.
In a sense, I was making the ultimate live-blogging possible or at least the ultimate reporter’s notes or the ultimate drafting tool.
We now have all the technology necessary to do this at a reasonable price, it’s just a matter of putting it together. Furthermore, it’s not just about hardware technology, as Apple proved with the iPhone, software may be the most important piece of this puzzle.
An important software component for note taking is something that the LiveScribe pen has; audio recording with the timecode association to the writing. In other words, when played, the audio is matched to the content on the page.
This software feature, which I also use on the Mac with an App called Pear Note, allows me to use the text as just an index/pointer to the different sections of what I’m recording. For example, if the speaker if about to explain a concept I can just write “Explanation of concept X” and keep listening. Later on I can just click on that text and the audio will play from that position. Imagine this with video as well!
Most analysts and reviewers are focusing on the Apple tablet as a media consumption device. Granted, it has to do that and in many cases it will be ideal for it. But I see little discussion about the tablet as a content creation device, as a tool for creative input. I don’t expect it to be the end all of content creation tools but I do hope it will be capable of becoming the ultimate drafting/prototyping tool. It would be a bridge device, a device that will allow me to create concepts, take notes and draft ideas wherever I am. Later on, I (or someone else, wink, wink) could polish and finish my drafts on a full blown computer.
Many analysts believe Apple has its sights set on the educational market as well. If this is the case, it is vital that the tablet excels at note taking.
Thus, aside from a great content consumption device, I want the Apple tablet to be the ultimate drafting and prototyping tool, a content creation device. It would be then also ideal for many verticals, particularly for journalists. My wife, an architect, dreams of using this while doing construction management for creating the so called “punch lists”.
The technology is there, so how could Apple pull this off? Here comes my Tablet wish-list (in no particular order):
Size:
I hope it’s less than 10 inches. My experience with the Kindle DX is that it’s way too heavy for prolonged content consumption. It requires too much finger torque for sustained reading while holding on one hand, particularly in bed. 7-9 inches at most. Pretty much the size of a Kindle2/Nook or even the LiveScribe Notebook.
Built in cameras:
Ideally one frontal and one in the rear. Some companies have tried swiveling cameras but that’s just not an elegant solution so I don’t see Apple doing it. I would pick a rear camera if forced to choose but rear on for an alternative.
iPhone integration:
The iPhone can be a great sidekick to the tablet, particularly when it comes to the camera. From my experience with the TabletPC, having an external camera for content creation is much more versatile and it wouldn’t cost much to Apple to create a software solution that allowed the iPhone to share its camera with the tablet, including the video functionality. Imagine taking notes or having a video conference or live blogging on a Tablet with the iPhone as a freely movable camera. At the very least the Tablet should be able to wirelessly browse the iPhones Camera Roll and embed its pictures into any app running on the tablet as part of the SDK (Software Development Kit)
I will even argue that the iPhone’s keyboard may be a good alternative to the Tablet’s on screen keyboard. I’m probably wrong here and it will greatly depend on what the Tablet’s keyboard looks like but it wouldn’t hurt to have the iPhone as a remote Keyboard and trackpad. This could help when the tablet is on a stand displaying content. Also, one handed typing works on the iPhone due to its size but it may not work as well on a large tablet. At the very least, there should be an easy way to share clipboards between the devices.
Bluetooth HID profiles:
In many occasions having an external keyboard for fast typing will be ideal. I don’t think we need to explain this one too much. Bluetooth Headset profile will also be very useful for VOIP and cable-less media consumption, obviously.
SD Card Slot:
It’s got to have a way to download pictures from another camera and for sharing media and files. This is unlikely to happen though because it would increase the width of the device. I would choose thin over SD because external storage can be easily solved via USB.
Wireless Connectivity:
One of my favorite rumors is the possibility that it integrates Whispernet (Kindle) style connectivity for purchasing and downloading content anywhere. This would mean that the cost of the connectivity is included on the price of the content purchased from iTunes. Want to watch a TV episode on the Tablet, buy it for $2.99 and get it via built-in 3G.
Alternatively one would just subscribe to a 3G plan on AT&T or Verizon. I just hope this is not mandatory as in the case of the iPhone.
WiFi has to be in, obviously.
OS:
I’m betting it will be iPhone OS or a derivation. Apple won’t miss that 30% margin on the apps and it requires less system maintenance that full Mac OS. Besides, it would run thousands of apps from very early on. Besides, let’s not constrain our imagination to iPhone OS 3.0 as this would likely be a 4.0 edition with Multitasking and other substantial improvements. Also keep in mind that the iPhone’s screen resolution is already obsolete (compare with Droid and Nexus One), which means that developers should start working on new pixel dimensions for their apps anyway!
HID:
Like I said before, primarily multi-touch but with the optional use of a stylus for precision drawing. If it doesn’t support a stylus natively, I’m pretty sure some third party styluses will appear.
iTunes/Software:
I’m also betting this will reveal a new iTunes version, one that is much more integrated among devices. Home Sharing will be available for the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the Apple TV and the Tablet, all bidirectionally. So whatever media I have on any of my Apple devices can be streamed or copied to another one of my devices. With the acquisition of Lala it’s possible that this could even be done over the Internet. Even better would be if the our complete media library could sit on MobileMe.
iTunes would also incorporate an eBook store with a new format capable of displaying multimedia content, pretty similar to what has been done with iTunes LP and even more similar to what my Duke notes with video would look like. This would be the same format that one could create on the Tablet. Maybe this could be iWork 2010 with online sharing?
I’m dreaming too much!
Yesterday I was thinking precisely about dreaming. I was at the Atlanta Content Strategy meet-up and Margot Bloomstein mentioned companies wanting to be more like Apple. What does Apple have that makes some of us loyal? To me it’s that it allows me to dream, dream that there’s a company who could actually make them real.
On the realistic side, I’m absolutely sure of something. Just like Obama, the Apple tablet is destined to disappoint. When expectations are so high, it cuts both ways.
