Lots of people are asking for the logic behind Apple’s apparent move into the tablet market. Matthew Miller of ZDNet posted this inquiry-of-a-post asking for any potential reason for why Apple would want to enter the tablet game, but it seems he (and two of my favorite colleagues, Mary Jo Foley and Zack Whittaker) may have missed the answer:
Students.
Many schools suggest tablets for note-taking or engineering work. Heck, some even mandate them. This market is currently owned by Microsoft, and given Apple’s de facto hip-couture status in universities, it’s only logical to see that Apple wants to snatch the remaining Windows tablet users and turn them to the dark side, preferably before Windows 7 strolls along. My own discussions with students of various universities which suggest or mandate tablets (the biggest one which comes to my mind is a school I was considering attending myself and which currently lists as alumni a few of my friends, Virginia Tech), lead me to believe that a vast number of the attending students wish they could use Apple’s own hardware. Sure, there are a few hackintoshy solutions (modbook) but these aren’t official, supported by Apple, or anywhere near as “hip.”
Granted, Apple’s rumored tablet offering isn’t actually aiming for the engineering students, but that’s beside the point. The point is that if one Apple tablet succeeds, they will swiftly aim for turning it into a billion-dollar business, just as they have with the iPod, the iPhone, et. al.
Here’s the problem: Microsoft is coming with Windows 7 on October 22nd. That’s long after classes begin and likely a month after Apple’s seemingly-real tablet offering, which might still find its way into the hands of hipster-poseurs and college students. If Apple’s tablet happens to be an unproductive media device with no purpose other than to watch films and browse the internet, then I suppose only the crunchpad may possibly need to worry, but if Apple’s tablet offers any decent means of taking notes or generally being even slightly productive, Microsoft quickly needs to put it to bed.
Otherwise, Apple’s legions will embrace it like the second coming of choose-your-deity rather than the outcast child the business world would much prefer to see (before these students force said businesses over to the worlds most unproductive OS). Given Apple’s recent streak of screwing the consumer, the last thing people need is another outlet for the consumer to be, well, screwed.
Yes, I wrote this on a MacBook, which thankfully currently possesses no trace of any Leopards, Snow Leopards, or any other endangered sources of luxury furs. I also gracefully stole the article’s image from PC World.
Follow Bryant on Twitter! 
And once again I’m left wondering why a Microsoft community resorts so low as to post anti-Apple articles. Come on guys. This belongs on a personal blog, not the AeroXP blog.
It’s perfectly warranted. Apple’s stifling innovation, which is funny since this is exactly what Microsoft was doing years ago.
Funny how the tables have turned. I’m fine with the Apple-bashing; it’s needed to counter the fanboy attitudes put up by many Apple lovers.
But the Apple fanboys aren’t even coming to AeroXP, so I don’t see the point in stooping to their level on a forum they’ll never visit.
Brian, you’d be surprised
Microsoft has got to do whatever it can to stay in the game. I’m not anti apple but at this stage it think tablets will suck. (lets hope I’m proven wrong).
While Macworld is 5 months away, Microsoft has the ability to stir up interest in portable multi-touch devices with the launch of Windows 7. Eee T91 and a bigger HP tablet (~14″ probably), along with a cheaper more consumer-friendly Latitude XT2 would make some good devices.
Heck, if the Tablet PC was deemed ahead of its time at the release of XP, predating this launch is the only chance they’ve got.
Most students are choosing Macs for college anyway. Either way, competition is good.
Maurice, the Apple Tablet isn’t premiering at MacWorld, it’ll more than likely be around the time the iPods are refreshed in September. And I agree that competition is good, just look at what the iPhone’s done to the market – Android, the Palm Pre, WM6.5 (as it is today) and in the future WM7 are all direct answers to the trends created by the iPhone.
[...] a tall building if things go disastrously wrong (or missing). Bryant Zadegan, a good friend of mine who wrote an article yesterday on the upcoming tablet, suggested students were the focal point of Apple’s new venture. [...]
Hmm, I just remembered that Apple won’t be showcasing at Macworld. But this being launched with proximity to the iPod event begs the question if this is an ARM-based “iProd” running mobile OS X or if it actually has a fully capable x86 version. The former would be kind of disappointing, making it seem like an oversized iPod Touch; and the latter would actually make it good (possibly damaging sales of Axitron Modbooks).
I’ve been using a tablet at university for a couple years now, and I love it. However, I only find the tablet useful because of OneNote. If Apple doesn’t develop a software package like OneNote, their tablet will be doomed.
One more thing, it looks like the Apple Tablet will not come with a standard keyboard attached. Another failing point. The true “tablet” failed in the real world, it wasn’t until they made “convertible” laptops that tablets really became useful. I’ve used both, and having the ability to use my tablet like a regular laptop would convince me to buy one (if work didn’t provide me with one, that is).
According to Steven Troughton-Smith, it’s neither – it’s an Intel based device coming preinstalled in iPhone OS (Mobile OS X) that’ll be capable of upgrading to Snow Leopard.
Brian Hough Says:
“According to Steven Troughton-Smith, it’s neither – it’s an Intel based device coming preinstalled in iPhone OS (Mobile OS X) that’ll be capable of upgrading to Snow Leopard.”
Considering how that sounds like utter nonsense, I don’t think anyone knows what this thing might be. How is it nonsense? Well, think about the amount of work that Apple would have to put in to port Mobile OS X to x86 and the ARM to x86 emulation layer needed to make all those thousands of Apps in the Store run, all for a single device that the user could then put 10.6 on without complaint. Seems like a lot of money to spend on something that isn’t even likely to matter; not something the control freaks at Apple would bother to do. No, if this tablet is real, it will either be ARM based running Mobile OS X or it will be x86 based running regular OS X.
If it is some kind of iPod Touch Extra Large Edition, it’s going to flop pretty badly; what makes for a good small device won’t work out anywhere near as nicely on a large, more expensive device. The entire interface and application style of the iPhone is centered firmly around a hand-held item with limited battery power. While the idea of app icons the size of your fist (or a monstrous wall of tiny ones) is amusing, it wouldn’t really lend itself well to the larger format screen. And lacking true multitasking (no background apps) on a larger, netbook-ish device would be pretty killer.
If it’s an actual, honest to god, runs real OS X device, then something good might come of it. But not if it’s a slate tablet. Aside from some specialized niches, those flopped pretty hard in the market. And if Apple doesn’t include pen support, then they will kill the chance to even compete in that little niche. No amount of Apple hipness will make them sell (remember the Apple TV? Yeah, all the hipness in the world didn’t save it from fading into obscurity).
Now, if Apple made an actual convertible tablet, they might actually have something of worth. Especially if it had a decent pen digitizer and touch sensitive setup. But I doubt this is happening. Doubt it quite highly. Apple has had quite some time now to jump onto that wagon and so far has held their nose in the air about it. But I’m willing to be happily surprised. If they made a convertible tablet with a Wacom pen and a decent GPU, I’d probably consider one to replace my older convertible tablet. But I doubt they’d do such an item at the price point everyone is throwing around.
I don’t know if I would want such a small tablet device to run OS X. Running Windows on a small tablet is… painful. Not because of the speed, but because stuff is too hard to press.
I don’t think a lack of keyboard will be a deal breaker at all because I think it would be easy to add a keyboard as an after market device.. like a bluetooth keyboard/tablet case. But U would b more impresssed with Apple’s design team if they came up with something other than a minimalistic iPhone type design for the Tablet. It may be elegant but it is kind of a boring choice.
@Keris -
iPhone OS is already available on the x86 processor via the iPhone Simulator. There’s no porting necessary.
Agree with Brian that there’s no need for this here, but I’ll play Devil’s advocate anyway.
1. Microsoft hasn’t shown much ability to put anything of Apple’s to bed lately. Microsoft have been trying to put the iPod to bed for a decade, and they’ve failed so massively that iPod has become a massive brand – they’re to portable media what Coke is to fizzy drinks. Apple’s even been going on the offensive – gaining market share from Microsoft and entering the mobile space with massive products. Apple’s pushing in to Microsoft’s markets are working; Microsoft’s pushing hasn’t produced anything yet (although the Zune HD seems to be generating excitement, so watch this space).
2. The tablet market has failed. It was Bill Gates’ pet project, and if it weren’t for him, Microsoft would have given up on it ages ago. Sales have been poor and the OS utterly fails to make the most of the form factor. Apple doesn’t want to snatch the market, because there isn’t really a market. If Apple are entering this space, you can bet they’re working on something that will broaden the appeal of tablets so that there can actually be a market. How they do that is a mystery, but it’s the same thing they did with the iPhone – smartphones were niche until Apple created a phone you didn’t need a manual to operate and could browse the real web. That’s when the appeal broadened, and the smartphone market really showed its potential. Microsoft created the category, but their product was so poorly designed and stagnant that the appeal was limited and the market refused to bloom. The same thing’s been happening in the tablet pc world.
3. Contrary to your opinion, not all Apple users consider being “hip” important
4. If Apple enter the market, they’ll bring something new. It’s not going to be a device with no purpose. Apple very rarely release something like that. They always enter a market by bringing something new to it. Almost every device adds some feature to make some task easier, faster, or in some other way just better.
5. I doubt businesses would be upset by anything Apple create. They support open standards like CalDAV, PDF and OpenGL and contribute actively to standards such as OpenCL and HTML5. Microsoft lock businesses in to their products using draconian proprietary protocols which they refuse to share with 3rd parties. I’m also sure business users would be happy to pick up a Mac running Snow Leopard and find that it supports Microsoft’s proprietary Exchange protocols out of the box (whereas Windows does not), and supports Microsoft’s proprietary office formats out of the box (whereas Windows does not as of Vista, I don’t know if 7’s new Wordpad app does). I’m sure these customers would also be happy to find that whilst their iPod or iPhone works just as well on Windows as it does on a Mac, Microsoft’s Zune doesn’t work on Macs at all, and WinMo is limited to the basics provided by iSync unless you want to buy a 3rd party app. Microsoft has also attempted several times to hijack web standards and lock all internet users in to Windows, and I’m sure all web developers here will have been affected by that. Basically – don’t start saying Apple is trying to lock people in or screw consumers and imply that Microsoft is in any way better. Apple are comparatively liberal.