There’s a lot of talk of 2010 being the year of the tablet or, more correctly, the year of the Mobile Internet Device (MID). These devices were supposed to change the world a few years ago (remember Origami?) but never did and we basically bumped over MIDs and into netbooks, resulting in the race to the bottom we’re now seeing.
But now we learn that Dell might be making a MID and that Apple is planning a bigger Touch. These two rumors are fairly concrete – I’d give the Tapplet a 75% chance of happening and a Dell MID about 80% – but there’s a big problem: people don’t like MIDs.
Archos knows this. They’ve been making MIDs since we were all in diapers – at least it seems that way. They’ve made touchscreen media players and mini computers for years. Samsung made a few. OQO made one and then died. People just don’t like the size and shape of MIDs. Their value is not immediately apparent to most people and devices like the Nokia N810 and the Samsung Mondi have no clear audience.
Robin pointed out that we’re also talking about the Crunchpad. It’s definitely in the tablet realm but it’s not really supposed to act like a Tablet PC – the OS is designed to lead you into browser sessions rather than apps. It might scratch an itch we all have – the tablet that stays on the coffee table or bedside table and let’s us surf – but that’s all wait and see right now.
If Apple makes a tablet people will buy it. They’ll line up around the block. Why? Because it won’t be a tablet. It will be a good media device with some cool tricks. It will make sense, in some way, to have an Apple Tablet. The trick is that the device has to replace two devices. The iPhone replaced your smartphone and your media player. The netbook, in a sense, replaced your big laptop and your pricey office suite. Apple needs to replace two things. I suspect, for example, the Tapplet – with a streaming device that will connect to your TV – will replace the media center PC and the netbook in the home and the netbook and Kindle on the go. This is all speculation, but it sort of makes sense.
As for other MIDs I doubt there will be any traction. Ultralights will replace netbooks and MIDs will remain niche products unless Microsoft gets really smart about Windows for Tablets, creating something like a mini-Surface.
Generally, however, the year of tablets will never come – at least not in the next decade. The keyboard is an old, tested construct and it will be hard to wean us netheads away from it. Some day we’ll all be typing in the air and gesturing on paper-thin screens to bring up our Google Excel 2059 spreadholograms but that’s a way off.
Do you use MIDs daily? Tablets? In what field?
“People don’t like MIDs.” Where is your proof in this statement? Claims like this cannot be made without basis in fact.
I think this space will heat up when ubiquitous WiFi/3G/whatever is available to the common man and not tech early adopters. It’s not going to be hard to convince someone to use one if they can:
A) Get their internet anywhere, on the move.
B) Find a remote/”cloud” storage system for all their files that is inexpensive and mimics the use of a hard drive on PCs today.
Hard drive crashes would be a thing of the past, your entire music collection on the go? It’s all awesome, it’s all reality, and it’s all a long ways off.
It could, never underestimate the “Foolishness” of American people :o), they are capable of doing anything.
Swivel screen in notebooks are need of the hour. That will break open the notebook screens free. Currently there is misconception that if screen is swivel’lable then it has to be touchscreen.
A) 3g coverage is 99% in my country
B ) 95% of people I know (being a student at a university of technolgy) don’t need cloud storage, they have more then enough with 16/32 GB of flash memory.
But still, nobody is using MIDs, nor would they be interested in one if I tried to convice them. people will say: “nah, I need a keyboard”.
A curious article given your affiliation with the vapour ware that is the “crunchpad” … you don’t mention it all in the article at all and I’m srprised given the line “As for other MIDs I doubt there will be any traction.”
I was up for spending a few hundred £ on the CP but hey ho…
that’s a weird statement. you only buy what others buy?
Did the article change? Or, did you not read it? I see the word CruchPad…
CrunchPad likely to happen 90%, chance it will suck ass 99.9%.
You should make the CrunchPad useful. The design which has been describe in TechCrunch will only be of use to people like Arrington. We want a computing device not a rich guy toy.
So called Tapplet should replace also Portable DVD Player which always we carry while outing for kids. Definitely for the higher class consumer.
What’s a DVD? Didn’t stone people use those? :P
As a parent, what I’d like ideally is to ditch both the portable DVD player and the DVDs. I’d like for the kids to have a portable little device like a Kindle for movies…just tap a button to download “Superman” immediately and watch it. I have my credit card out…
I’m not sure that either a MID or a tablet fills a niche in my life.
The HTPC needs to stay where it is, because I’m not always at home when my wife wants to watch something.
On the go, I don’t see a time when having a tablet would be better than a laptop or netbook. Besides, unless somebody can make a super light one, tablets are uncomfortable to hold, and uncomfortable to look at if they’re on a flat surface.
Ok, so you know how when you say a word over and over again, it doesn’t seem like a real word anymore?
Between my post and the article, that just happened to me with “tablet”.
I might be missing the boat but I think “convergence” is the thing that jumps out. The iPhone is almost enough to leave a laptop behind completely. But not quite. The demand is there because people are using crappy devices like Netbooks. They’re cheap, you can always have it nearby etc.
I might be wrong but these really are iTouches on steroids or mini laptops that free you from a computer. And yes 2010 will be all about them because the iPod sales are down and the iPhone is mass market.
Using a company like Archos as the test case?
I used mine all the time, it has both digitizer and touch screen and dual array microphones so I used it for hands free dictation and talking on Skype too, just need it within a few feet of where I am for Skype.
I used it to work a convention with One Note and was supper efficient as I marked and had all the booths I wanted to visit ahead of time with a page, competitor information, and booth number and some contacts. Ran a quick query in One Note to find competitors based on the show partner list, fast and efficient.
Inking is handy although I do not do a full sprawling email with it, short ones are fine, but it’s great to forms and I used it for a general sign in event a few times when doing some large group training at Best Buy, all the employees just signed in on the tablet, no paper and a great way to capture signatures and store number, etc.
That to me is one way where tablets are under used, as a sign in device, why not instead of all those papers that people flip through.
I also wrote an EMR years ago and it worked fine on the tablet for data input too. The tablet goes to meetings with me and I take all notes in either Journal or One Note, no more yellow pads and even a very basic beginner can do that, yellow pad on screen if you will.
I hope tablets keep going, I really like them at lot and they capture a digital signature easily too.
“I used it for hands free dictation and talking on Skype too”
sounds like it comes in handy for those long lonely nights of tech-dorkdom…
I actually really like your concept of using the device as a digitizer! Having a tablet where there is a touchscreen pad would be cool. Hopefully, the Apple tablet will connect to a larger monitor. In my mind it would be an Air replacement with telecom features.
That is the product that I want — an elegant OQO that obviously runs OS X. I used a Fujitsu tablet several years ago and very much enjoyed the experience on the road. I didn’t use a second monitor, and found the 10″ screen size acceptable.
Don’t forget about Apple having another advantage. ONe app store loaded with on-click installable apps. If they use the iPhone OS for the Tablet developers need to resize and update their programs.
Besides that of course all the other cool features. Move the tablet to play games on it, use it as a steer if you wil.
It won’t be a tablet. It will look like one, but it will be more than i.e. an Archos.
why resize. instead, use the extra space to display multiple applications side by side. or do both
Cool!!!
2010 will be the year of the SmartBook
http://www.MeetSmartBook.com
It’s not the fact that people don’t like MID’s, people just can not justify the cost. Why buy a $600 device with an underpowered CPU and a touch screen when you could buy a fully functional laptop for the same price? If these devices were decently priced and had functionality that was comparable to computers in the same price range they could definatly become a huge hit.
LOL! Way to kill-buzz the four-days-late-for-launch CrunchPad :-) Waiting for @arrington to chime in here and say, hey, wait a minute–did we just send that one out to press???
Ladies & Gents, Boys & Girls, I present to you the “other” MID that will gain no traction, The CrunchPad!
What gives? Oh, and if Apple builds a tablet–it will sell because sheep follow the heard and Jobs will say it revolutionizes the way people go to the bathroom. Or, it will go the way of the infamous Apple Cube. The only thing you can bet on is that the Tapplet probably will not have Google Voice.
Cheers!
I actually think that Google Chrome is a perfect example of why something like the CrunchPad will succeed. Somebody will make one, the question is always do small companies have the resources to launch in a timely manner, and update thereafter. Look at OQO as a company with cool tech but always one step behind in processors and such.
naah its not.. that’s why you guys should burry the crunchpad… apple’s gonna rip the crunchpad a new one… fact is they SUCK
So what you’re saying, really, is that Apple will define what a tablet is. I agree with you on this. Nobody is more in touch with consumer desires than Apple is.
But wait… CrunchPad… launched in or before 2010… off timing then? Or no mass market ambition? Why do it then? (EgoPad, anybody? ;)
I always told you the CRUNCHPAD SUCKS… glad you guys realize it yourself…
John.. you’re good you have common sense.. you know your shit.. one of the few ones who do!! and glad you speak up for it.
Gotta remember you….if I ever need someone like you
Yeah, and no one liked smartphones until Apple started making them. Now they are taking over the cell phone industry.
Maybe “no one” likes tablets because there aren’t any good ones out there yet?
I disagree that the device needs to replace 2 devices. I have an iPhone and a macbook. I still want a tablet, because 99% of the time I am surfing from the couch or the back yard or the toilet. My iPhone is handier but too small and underpowered (but I still use it for this). My laptop is too cumbersome.
I’ll still use both devices, but a tablet would be used for 99% of home surfing.
If it also happens to fill a few other roles (book reader? portable TV streaming from Apple TV? etc…) well then even better.
MGZ
No one liked smart phones until apple made them? Have you heard of Blackberry? Or even Treo?
He was talking about mass appeal, obviously.
Obviously… To you, maybe.
Blackberry’s had mass appeal.
You’re almost assuredly right, except that, the thing that keeps nagging an old **rt like me is, how will I recognize the next-gen when it gets here? (What if dirt/dust-immune virtual keyboards become the way to go, someday?)
@Matthew: “Why buy a $600 device with an underpowered CPU and a touch screen when you could buy a fully functional laptop for the same price?”
Where are these “fully functional” laptops for $600? Oh you mean a POS netbook… yeah.
To answer your question Matthew, tons of people bought nearly $600 iPhones with “underpowered CPU and touch screen” and love them. Sometimes you need not only function, but form.
@MGZ
An iPhone isn’t a laptop a Smart Phone. That’s a compleltly different market. And iPhones (after a 2 year contract) are substantially cheaper. They wouldn’t be nearly as popular if you couldn’t get them for under $600. I hardly see the value with the contract deduction myself.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9166635&type=product&id=1218041148373
Netbooks are more like $350.
Agh, dangit, sorry about that. It kept looking like it didn’t go through.
this can replace the tablet & netbook:
http://images.google.com/images?q=olpc+xo-2&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=prN4Su3DL9KYlAelhvSZBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5
VIVI LA CRUNCHPAD…
um… why didn’t you mention it in this article?
why is PCWorld and Cnet talking about the CP in the last week and nothing on CrunchGear?
unless…
Very good!
I agree with John Biggs. Tablets are just too bothersome. I would rather stick with my iphone than a tablet i can’t use while waiting on the dentist’s office.
on the other hand, a wifi-enabled watch might do some nice tricks. prepare for the iWrist
Next stop: brain-computer interfaces, or HUD glasses
“The keyboard is an old, tested construct and it will be hard to wean us netheads away from it”
Maybe that’s why they will have a keyboard on them. Just because the keys arent raised, doesnt mean its not a keyboard. after all, apple keyboards have been getting flatter and flatter
isn’t it awkward to type in a keyboard where you have to look at the keys all the time?
“Archos knows this. They’ve been making MIDs since we were all in diapers – at least it seems that way.”
Archos also made MP3 players since we were all in diapers. Didn’t work either, they’re all called iPod now.
MID would be great if mobile internet prices were weren’t a rip-off & the service was dependable. I can afford the device, I can’t afford the service.
Mobile is the way to go. As more mobile devices are introduced, the price will go down dramatically.
What happened to the CrunchPad? Seems kind of strange, bashing a concept that you yourselves are trying to bring to market…
I realize that not all writers agree on everything, but you shouldn’t try to disprove the usefulness of something y’all might just sell.
It is not in the best interest of the TC network to include the crunchpad in this bashing article. Haven’t you learned the way of the Arrington?
I’d like a cheap device that allows me to browse internet (mostly blogs and newspaper reading) that I can use in the restrooms. It does not need to do anything else except perhaps kindle types of function. Because right now it’s not easy to read techcrunch in the restrooms. Laptop is super hot and difficult to handle … :-)
Hope I’m not too much off subject
If they would let you make calls with a bluetooth headset (without the SKYPE B.S.) I would have got one a long time ago, but no they want you to carry a phone AND a tablet, totally backwards. Now if Apple made it lets you make calls with it that would be sadly somewhat revolutionary (just sad to say that!) and they might be able to sell more than anyone else has. If they REALLY wanted to screw people they could make it so you could insert the Iphone into it for this functionality and make you buy both.
I can see where you coming from with Archos reference, but for as long as I remember companies that made any kind of respectable attempt at making a tablet have been consistent in missing a mark.
Here’s why.
A tablet calls for a totally different approach at usability. You can’t make screen 5 inches small and have Windows XP cramped in old-school 800 by 480 screen. Anyone who can afford this device is already too old to squirm so hard. You can’t force me to use stylus, because in order to be stylus-precise one need to be so comfortably positioned that they wouldn’t need a tablet in a first place.
Apple hit it right on the nail with iPhone’s interface. Windows 7 has somewhat similar approach with noticeably larger elements of the interface out of the box. We’re getting there, it’s just that this is the industry’s hardest learning curve we’re trying to pass through for gazillionth time.
This spring I was looking for laptop with touch capabilities – they don’t exist beyond 8 inch realm. 12 inch screen, finger-touch oriented interface and price below $1200 would hit it bullseye.
The ONLY reason the iPhone is as big as it is, is because it is basically a MID. Throw a 3g radio in the n8×0 and it would have sold like hotcakes. Internet anywhere? Theres definitely a market for that.
anything apple will sell. the tapplet sounds like a big iphone lol
I have a desktop, notebook, netbook, tablet, ipod browsing, and smartphone. They each have their place (wherever I am with whichever I have at the moment) The smaller they are though, the more you need to carry a hotplate with you.
it’s called the iPad, not the tapplet. I have seen it. It is real and you all will buy one. Now shut up and go beat off to engadget.
I use my tablet daily when I’m in school, as a normal laptop is completely useless when you need to take notes in some classes. Ever tried typing math formulas quickly? Not fun.
That said, the Apple tablet will likely be useless for me when it comes out as well. At least if there’s no good note-taking app like OneNote.
Evernote is pretty good.
I believe a big touchscreen device would be nice if:
1. Ability to read emails and respond via voice recognition or keyboard.
2. Apps to allow easier controls of programs (skype, games, etc…)
3. GPS navigation system
4. Simple docking solutions for in the car and at home.
5. Definitely a media player, easy hookup to the TV would be nice (or even wireless streaming which probably won’t happen).
6. Note taking program, being able to seamlessly integrate hand drawn objects and typed handwriting (external keyboard or slide out would work best.) That would be amazing for people following classes or lectures, I know I couldn’t take notes on my computer in physics/chem and math because I couldn’t draw easily on a non touchscreen computer.
7. Depending on the size, having 3g would be nice if it really is that portable, or else a 3g usb stick will work just fine.
8. Built in stand, just put in a DVD, put it on the table infront of you and enjoy! This would also be usefull for video chatting.
9. Voice control, this tablet could be a hub for all the music streaming, for the apple tablet, airtunes will work perfectly.
10. A dashboard, use the tablet as your way to see the weather, RSS feeds etc…
11. A Kindle rip off.
Cheers!
never, I hate pen.
There once was a near-perfect tablet: the NEC Versa LitePad. Less than a kilo, only 9mm thick, 1024X768 screen, a bit under powered with a 900MHz Pentium M (but good for 2001). With a new SSD it still works great. And it sold for under a grand back in 2002. I bought 3.
I’ve been using tablets since the Newton and the AT&T EO. The comments about the ergonomics of a tablet being different are spot-on. That was the reason NEC had an almost perfect design: the thickness allowed you to lay it flat on a table and take notes just like a legal pad. You could hold it in one hand and write on it without strain. In order for a tablet to be useful, above everything else it must be thin and it must be light weight. After that, you can add the user interface and applications. With the right ergonomics, the use of the tablet becomes obvious.
I’ve been looking forward to the Crunchpad, and somewhat less so to the Apple tablet, but only because I feel Apple has replaced Microsoft as The Great Satan. But, if the Crunchpad fails to launch or foobars the design to uselessness, I’ll go with Apple, as my last surviving NEC is becoming too fragile to use much any more.
Oh, I still have a regular laptop and it does all of the heavy lifting. But the tablet gets aired out every day at the office (sitting on an easel with a BT keyboard and mouse attached) and gets about 2 hours of walk-about to meetings and visits. It also goes with me on holiday (great place to download pix to, as well as use for maps and GPS) as well as sketching. Oh, and surfing the web via tether to the cell phone.
‘Nuff said.
Nice fairy tale Brett. Go peddle your warez elsewhere, hackface.
“It might scratch an itch we all have – the tablet that stays on the coffee table or bedside table and let’s us surf – ”
Not at $400, it won’t. Sorry, just sayin’. I was really excited about this project at $200. I little less so but still prepared to buy at $300. Now that it’s rumored to be a $400 device…
I certainly hope the rumors are not true, because that’s too much for the specs that have been released. Way overpriced. Like “apple” overpriced,
I couldn’t agree with you more. People are still clamoring for keyboards on their phones, and complaining about cramped keyboards on their netbooks. There’s no way that the tablet is going to replace the laptop anytime soon. And because of its larger size, there’s no way a tablet can replace a smartphone, either. I’m still trying to figure out what Apple’s angle will be.
anyone familiar with virtualized desktops and ssl-vpn based remoting will understand just how close we are to the tablet age.
the confluence (sp?) of slate format and widespread 3g will totally change my way of work/rec computing.
in fact, i have been internally debating whether that will be enough to send me back to a “regular” cellphone! (i think it will.)
the only issue with tablets is carrying them, but then our fathers carried briefcases and sample cases EVERYWHERE. my guess is that you will see that change soon.
I was so close in getting the Lenovo or the HP Tablets, but I b*tched out at the last minute. I thought tablets would be better in the future and it would be my next buy. I am glad with my decision because I am intrigued with the tapplet. I ended up buying a Lenovo IdeaPad Y550 which was a great buy. Anyways I think Tablets will get bigger in popularity
I. Cannot. Believe. It. You added an entire paragraph on the #crunchpad without making any mention of it. Totally against the rule of proper etiquette. GYAT!
We will definitely see an increase in tablet PC use among healthcare professionals as more of them adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and rely on pen-based computing resources.
cool news!!!
yes!!!!!!!!!!