Blog

Apple. Now available in a delicious-tasting tablet?

Posted January 25 by Robbie Byrd in Business of Business, Media, Technology, Mobile Marketing

After years of speculation, prognosticating and various stages of gadget lust, it looks like the inevitable will become, well, the inevitable. As announced earlier this week, Apple will hold a press conference this Wednesday to unveil what it is calling "our latest creation."

The speculation surrounds Apple's long-rumored development of what the gossip-filled blogosphere is calling the iSlate or iTablet, a tablet-sized device that will, if you believe what you read on the Internet, change the world as we know it.

The tablet computer has been tried in every known incarnation known to man; from the personal electronic legal pad, to the eBook reader, all the way to the video-player-slash-web-browser-slash-recipe-looker-upper variety, none of the intended uses ever took hold.

But it seems that, if true, Apple is in a much different position than most of the other current tablet makers out there. While no one really knows what the device will do--or if it is even real--the landscape of it's competitors shapes up like this:

Amazon Kindle: Released in 2007, the Amazon Kindle was the game-changing device that would reinvigorate the publishing world and return a whole generation of media-overloaded yuppies back to the ancient art of reading. It didn't. While Amazon has probably the strongest relationship with book publishers of any digital powerhouse out there, the device itself has actually limited the sale of periodicals: poor graphics and a monochrome screen, while great for battery life, leave magazine publishers feeling like a girl stood up at prom. Granted it sold over 1.3 million units and everyone who owns one can't help but start gushing about it unprompted, but its lack of color, somewhat awkward design and primitive web browser make it seem more circa 2000 than today.

How Apple will shape up: While not having a long history of relationships with book publishers like Amazon, Apple's best corporate buddy, Disney, has a strong relationship with HarperCollins, the second largest publisher in the world. It's safe to say that book publishers will play ball with Apple: they proved with their iTunes music ecosystem that if content publishers don't jump on board, they'll miss the evolution (and money) train. Apple is at the forefront of periodicals, too. You're hard pressed to find a magazine or newspaper that doesn't use Macs. Plus, you can bet your grandmother's china set that whatever Apple brings to the table, it will not only be color, but it will be so pretty and simple to use that granny will want one, too.

Sony eReader: The grandfather of the eReader bunch, Sony released it's first model in 2006. And, since then, not much has changed. While Sony has upped the ante to compete with Amazon's Kindle--such as over the air downloading of eBooks-- it still lacks a web browser or the ability to view books on your computer or mobile device. One plus for Sony's eReader is that it supports a whole host of eBook formats and sites, freeing you from the "one vendor, one source" model that Amazon uses. But, it still pales in comparison to the quality and quantity of books available with the Kindle. Sony is known for elegant styling and seamless integration, usually only with other Sony products. But as of late, as it struggles to get a handle on changing consumer attitudes to being locked in to one vendor for everything, it seems both its design and ease-of-use are slipping. The Sony eReader, while a competent tool for reading books, is not the device of the future.

How Apple will shape up: Apple believes in the "we will control everything" model, much like Sony, but is usually more in tune with the masses. Their tablet will not only offer the aforementioned color option, but will offer the old-school Sony's style and ease of use. And, unlike Sony, it already has a very competent delivery system from its experience both with iTunes and the wireless relationship it has with AT&T.

JooJoo (Formerly the CrunchPad): It is marred in controversy, and that really is a shame. The JooJoo, which at one time was the brainchild of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington (or so he claims), the company behind this exciting device broke ties with Arrington and went it alone. It's a gorgeous device, with Apple-like styling and ease of use. It also runs an incredible software package with integration for not only social networking and email but video and multimedia, too. Even so, it is in the midst of pending litigation and has been on a delivery date of 8-10 weeks for, well, forever. Plus, JooJoo isn't really a media tablet, per se: it's just a handheld web browser, and it requires a nearby WiFi connection, unlike the others that use a cellular connection. While a feat in and of itself, it won't have the same out-of-the-box appeal that a dedicated media device will. If it can overcome the seemingly insurmountable scandals and challenges of its development, then it will be a force to contend with.

How Apple will shape up: It seems pretty hard to beat the JooJoo in terms of both usability and functionality. But as Apple has proved with things like the iPhone, iPod and Mac OS X, they'll find a way to change the game. It's fair to note that JooJoo's own web browser is based on Apple technology, so the JooJoo has already begun copying Apple's tablet before either are even released. Apple's strong relationship with both the music and movie industry put it at as the logical frontrunner for building an amazing integrated media device. And with the backing of billions of dollars in the bank, the publishing world is salivating to bring their magazines and books into the 21st century with Apple, a feat JooJoo's parent company could never muster. It may have been too little, too late for JooJoo: that is, if there ever will be one.

The "others": There's a whole slew of i-this and e-that readers out there, in various flavors, models and catering to a whole slew of niche markets. The most notable, the Barnes & Noble nook, fails miserably at even the task of a simple eBook reader. It's clunky, slow and incredibly buggy, even after a software update. The others, while hardly worth mentioning, are like the third-or-fourth faxed copy of the Sony eReader.

How Apple will shape up: Since taking back the reigns at Apple, Steve Jobs is a maniacal perfectionist, involving himself in everything from the industrial hardware design to the most intricate details of fonts in the software. Rest assured that nothing will come out of Apple half-baked on Steve's watch?and that advertisers will be seduced enough by the consumer's experience to want to take a lustful bite.