What will Apple’s Tablet Be Like?

You may have seen my editorial about how the Apple tablet will save the press. I’ve been thinking a lot about this device, and since I’m here in my Alpine village home in tablet-watch, waiting for Apple’s presentation in about 8 hours, I thought I’d post my thoughts about what I think the tablet will be like. I have no shame in making predictions, and I’ll leave them posted so you can see exactly what I got right and what I got wrong. So here’s a list of bullet points with my thoughts on the tablet.

• Name: iPad, iTablet, iBook? I like the last one best. Apple owns that trademark already. All the rumors about Apple registering other names could simply be red herrings. I think iPad is not very good, though; too close to iPod.
• Size: 10″ screen seems to be the ideal size for such a device. I think the real question, though, is how thick and how heavy it will be. If it can be as thin as a new iPod, that would be great, as long as it’s solid. As for weight, Apple’s done wonders with the MacBook Air, so i think it’ll be possible to keep it light enough.
• Connectivity: There has been a lot of discussion about the tablet having 3G connectivity. Unless carriers can offer a data plan that’s really affordable, I don’t see that as being viable. Many people will only want to use it with wifi in their homes. So if a 3G contract is required for the device, it’ll fail. Everyone has a cellphone already, and paying two phone contracts would be ridiculous. However, offering the possibility of a 3G connection would be a good thing for people who travel.

  Oh, and this will be the first iPod-type device that won’t need to connect to a computer to sync. It’ll have 802.11n, and syncing will be via wifi. (Though I’d guess there will still be a dock connector for connecting to accessories.)

• Content: I think the main focus for the tablet will be for reading. It’s clear that Apple has been in discussion with many publishers, from the print media and book publishers. McGraw Hill’s CEO confirmed that the companies textbooks will be on the tablet just yesterday, and there have been a number of magazine and newspaper publishers who have let slip suggestions that their publications would be tablet-compatible. Regarding textbooks, I think this could lead to two models of the tablet: one for education, which might be more sturdy, and would only offer e-reading features, and one for general use.

  There are rumors that Barnes & Noble will “power” the book section of the iTunes Store. This would probably be a smart move on Apple’s part, getting a book-savvy company to run this part of the store, just as the audiobook content is provided by Audible (though it’s not clear that Audible does anything other than provide the content.) Note that since Audible is now owned by Amazon, it’s likely that when their current contract with Apple runs out they’ll no longer provide audiobooks for the iTunes Store.

  I think that games will also be a big feature, notably two-player games, where each player sits on one side of the tablet. I’m hoping there will be a go game.

• Operating system: It will use a modified version of the iPhone OS. There will be the ability to run current iPhone apps in windows of the same size as the iPhone, sort of like Dashboard widgets. The new iPhone OS SDK, to be announced today, will allow developers to make apps that run full-screen, but some may choose to keep the smaller screen size for widget apps.
• Content delivery: iTunes, of course. Apple will provide books, magazines, newspapers and apps through the iTunes Store. I would like the tablet to be able to run Mac apps as well, but I really don’t think that will be the case. I hope that, at least, you will be able to easily add files and view them on the tablet: files such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. It will need .doc, .xls, .ppt and PDF support at a minimum.

  The tablet should naturally offer web access, e-mail and other basic desktop functions. What is up in the air is how text input will be handled. Will it be a kind of virtual keyboard, like on the iPhone? The iPhone works for inputting short texts because of the way you hold it and use your thumbs. With the size of the table, there could be a (more or less) full-sized keyboard that would require typing differently. As a touch-typist, I think it would be hard to get used to touch-typing on a surface with no tactile feedback.

  There have been rumors over the past couple of months about Apple negotiating with TV networks to offer some kind of subscription service – a flat rate for all the network’s programs that are available on the iTunes Store. There have also been recent rumors that Apple’s trying to get networks to agree to lower the price of TV shows from $2 to $1. I’m not sure how all this plays out with the tablet, though; I don’t see a tablet as being a device for watching videos, but I guess it’s better than an iPhone (though not as good as a laptop). So whether or not the tablet will be specifically designed for video playback (with an appropriate graphics chip) remains to be seen.

• Price: I think that under $500 would be good. If it’s a lot more expensive, it would be a luxury item. However, as a 1.0 version of a product, it could be good to have a high price, leading to slower adoption, but allowing for glitches to be fixed for the 2.0 model which would then be cheaper. Also, the question is whether Apple can produce enough tablets to meet initial demand; a higher price would lower demand, making it easier to deliver tablets to those who want them.
• Availability: Look for the tablet to ship late March or early April. Apple needs the time to get enough developers to create apps. While the tablet itself is groundbreaking, it’s the software that will really sell it, as it has been for the iPhone. Apple will also want to give newspapers and magazines time to get their content ready for the actual product launch.