19 January 2010

my ideal tablet

If rumors are true, Apple will be releasing the details of the next great “consumer tablet”.  Speculation has whipped up into a frenzy and has a lot of people wishing and hoping.  Needless to say, I’ll be very surprised and delighted if they actually build something that I’m willing to wait in line to purchase.


If someone does come out with a tablet, here’s my simple wish list:

  • Entertain when I have a few minutes between other activities
  • Inform of what is going on in the world around me (news, blogs and my social network)
  • Be easy to hold, read and interact with, in a wide variety of posture
  • Small and light enough to transport with my other things
  • Real world battery life of over 8 hours
  • Does not incur any reoccurring or additional charges (e.g. no subscription, no fees for content, etc.)
  • World class user interface that allows me to simply and elegantly interact with the device


There’s a lot of ways this can be accomplished, but the devil is in the details for actually making something that is usable, useful and needed.  I’ve had some conversations with ODMs who can definitely produce the hardware, but lack the vision for putting together a comprehensive hardware, software and content ecosystem for a total device solution.  Apple is uniquely positioned to do so, but will they?  If not, here's hoping that someone will soon!

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