Why Are People So Hyped About The Apple Tablet?
Jan 3rd, 2010 | By James Lewin | Category: Apple iPad, General, Internet TV, iPods & Portable Media Players 
Steve Rubel wants to know what’s up with all they hype about the rumored Apple iPad computer.
He speculates that We’re Bored and Out of Shiny Objects:
For the last several months there’s been a ton of interest in the mythical Apple tablet. Just how much? Since July Google searches for the words Apple and tablet are up 400% percent and news reference volume is up 150%.
But there’s a bigger story here: we, the early adopters, are officially bored.
Twitter is out of beta and nothing arguably as innovative is seeming to replace it – although growth maybe peaking. Facebook and smartphones have become mainstream. Everything else – even some significant innovations in the mobile computing space that I am sure we will see at CES – is being (incorrectly) considered iterative. And so we’re left to debate the merits and need for the Apple tablet, a fantastic imaginary device addressing arguably a need and market that does not exist currently, except perhaps in our imagination.
Rubel’s point that first adopters are bored with the current generation of shiny objects is a valid point.
But there’s a reason why we’re bored. The current crop of shiny object isn’t that shiny.
Especially in the world of new media and social media, there are a lot of problems that aren’t being solved. There are a lot of needs that aren’t being met. And there are a lot of opportunities that aren’t being jumped on.
Look at devices like the Kindle and the Zune HD. They don’t solve today’s problems. They aren’t giant leaps forward. They are nicely designed devices that fail to wow.
Take a look at Apple TV. Instead of delivering a complete solution for publishing and watching Internet TV, Apple’s given us a device that lets you do a subset of the things that you can do on your computer. It lets you watch YouTube videos on your TV. It lets you listen to Internet radio.
Look at just about any area of new media and Internet media, and you’ll see people struggling to filter through information, create content efficiently, understand what’s happening, capture new media professionally and organize and edit their lives.
So, yeah – one reason for the iTablet hype is that first adopters are bored with the current crop of shiny objects.
But that doesn’t mean that the current crop isn’t a bit boring.
Image: Wally G
That may be one reason, but certainly not the only reason.
One thing a tablet will do that neither a Kindle nor an iPhone does well is handle image-rich content. Like graphic novels. Like biology textbooks. Like glossy magazines. Like trashy gossip sites.
No one wants to read dozens of volumes of the epic manga Lone Wolf & Cub squinting at an iPhone screen, and no one wants to read just the text of TMZ on their Kindle. They want the trashy photos.
A Kindle is perfect for text and rotten for everything else. A touch-screen tablet, on the other hand, may not be the greatest for some kinds of media consumption, but it is better than good enough for every kind of media consumption common in the modern world. It’s a device that reads & shows everything well enough that you won’t need anything else.
For me personally, graphic novels are reason one I’m hyped about the rumored tablet.
Reason two is what it may portend about the iTunes store. Apple has been down the DRM road with music until the industry finally saw the light and allowed DRM-free purhcases. I’m hopeful they’ll leverage that experience into shortening the same process for the publishing industry. If they can bring printed content to iTunes with a flatter pricing structure and less (or no) DRM, that could prod Amazon and the others to do likewise.
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