Re: [NTLK] No iNewton announced today

On Sep 11, 2009, at 1:13 AM, Jon Glass wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 9:50 AM, Ryan Vetter <physicalconstants@yahoo.ca
> > wrote:
>> All of those things apply to other devices... But what is really
>> happening here is that you fail to understand the reasons why there
>> is a market for a multi-touch tablet.
>
> I view it as quite oppositely--you all are failing to realize why
> there is _no_ market for a multi-touch generic tablet. I would LOVE
> one!!!! But I also know normal, non-geeky people who just use their
> computers and phones (several use iPhones--but would never use a Treo
> or BB or Android phone), and who will never, ever buy a tablet. These
> are the normal ones. We aren't! That is what the proponents of tablets
> can't seem to understand.

Hm... I don't know. I see what we're clumsily calling a tablet as a
necessary part of the evolution of personal information systems. As
newspapers continue to go bankrupt and disappear, what will people
read on the train on their way to work in order to get their daily
news? A cellphone five inches away from their faces? I don't see that
as being satisfactory for anyone more than the gadget geeks like us.

That's why we're beginning to see real consumer-oriented tablet
devices out there—the ereaders. But people are more savvy than that—
they expect much more even if they can't handle much more. After they
get acclimatized to the paradigm, it will expand. And someone will
offer a device that is useful on the train and at home and at the
office, and those people will breathe a sigh of relief and flock to
the device that isn't going to hold them down like their laptop does,
but which will give them a rich Web experience, allow them to send and
receive email, and probably edit documents and organize photos. Those
devices will be the ereader killers. It may not happen this year, and
it may not happen until the technology is less than 1mm thick, but it
will happen for exactly the reason that you say it won't—because
people want devices that fit the paradigms that are comfortable to
them. The newspaper and the magazine, the notebook/sketchbook and the
clipboard are all devices that 99.9% of the people on this planet are
more comfortable with than the laptop computer.

At that point, all that will be required is to add OPTIONAL support
for keyboards and pens, possibly wireless-mountable storage and
suddenly, you've replaced the entire laptop (and desktop) computer
paradigms with items that won't clutter up your office but will make
your information life rich and powerful.

Steve
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Received on Fri Sep 11 14:33:48 2009