Tablet computers have slinked along the periphery of the PC business for some years taking various forms, but thus far have failed to become a significant product category. The whole segment got another look with the Apple’s much-anticipated introduction of the iPad. With its planned delivery in March, we will see if Apple and their prodigious marketing capabilities can succeed where others have failed.
Size Matters
The challenge in designing a wining electronic device is to come up with the right combination of size, capabilities, and glitz that will attract a significant population of buyers. We have witnessed this ongoing process of trial and error in the cell phone market. Motorola introduced the first handheld cell phone, the DynaTAC, in 1983, and it was almost the size of a World War II walkie-talkie. You will still see them in 1980s vintage movies, as it was the state-of-the-art cell phone in its day (if you know your technology, you can actually date movies by identifying the cell phones people are using).
With a single application to serve (voice), the design goal in cell phones became one-dimensional: make it smaller. Comedian Will Ferrell had the ultimate in a Saturday Night Live skit where he was working in an exclusive boutique and whipped out a phone about the size of a sugar cube he had to hold with two fingers. Motorola scored big in the size-plus-glitz category with the phenomenally successful Razr line.
Things got more challenging with the introduction of the smartphone that initially looked to merge the functions of the cell phone with a PDA. The problem was that a good phone was small but a good data device required enough real estate to accommodate a decent-sized keyboard and screen. Engineers and marketers developed any number of iterations before settling on two primary designs, the BlackBerry inspired Qwerty (the multi-letter SureType system was a misfire) and the iPhone-like touchscreen. So the design imperative shifted from “small” to “functional”, and the non-voice capabilities of the smartphone defined that functionality.
Looking at the landscape we have a laptop to shove into your briefcase (or backpack for the younger set) and a smartphone to clip on your belt or drop in your purse. Guys go for the belt clip, but I find many women are so attached to their smartphones they tend to carry them in their hands more often than in the purse. The question is, can a market develop for the “Three Bears” segment (not too big, not too small, …). We have certainly seen a market for those mid-size devices in the mobile computer market, but the likelihood of those morphing into a consumer product is about as likely as my buying a forklift to drive to work.
There are two devices that occupy that mid-size computer market today, netbooks and e-book readers. We’re now looking at the same type of trial and error process in attempting to determine what type of capabilities people will want in a computer that’s too big to put in your pocket. E-book readers like the Kindle are going for the “do one job well” philosophy, while the netbook aims at being a laptop only smaller and designed for people who don’t mind typing with their hands essentially touching over the keyboard.
Into this mix Apple has thrown a device that looks like an iPhone that got trapped in a 1950s Sci-Fi movie. Besides supporting its own reader program dubbed iBooks, the iPad can also do web browsing (using some undefined implementation of 802.11n and eventually 3G), but also run games, shows movies, can act as an iPod and run versions of Apple’s iWorks suite (i.e. their run at Microsoft Office). As usual, the packaging is elegant, though the primary data input uses the touch screen’s virtual keyboard like the iPhone. There is a home charging/docking station available with a hard keyboard.
The key in personal electronics is the “personal”, and there are limits to how far you can get people to go to accommodate your product. I’ve got a smartphone on my belt, a laptop in my briefcase, but I don’t think I’m going for a “man bag” to carry an iPad.
