Why Everyone Has High Hopes For Apple Tablet

waderoush writes "The deafening roar of anticipation around Apple's expected 'iSlate' announcement on January 27 is strange, to say the least, given the public's utter apathy about tablet computers to date. What's going on? Xconomy's analysis makes three points. 1) Previous tablet makers have shown little imagination around UIs and how a touchscreen changes things. 2) With the iPhone, Apple has shown what's possible in this regard. 3) There's latent demand for a mobile computing device that's smaller and lighter than a laptop but has more screen real estate than a smartphone — something reminiscent of a Star Trek tricorder or PADD. Hence the hopes for the iSlate — which are so high that it may be difficult for even Apple to meet them."

Comments

Re:Hype and Results

[frozenray]

We are now in the "As Macworld or the Worldwide Developer’s Conference draws near, the chatter builds to a fever pitch. Rumor sites jockey for position, posting a new unverifiable, contradictory rumor every hour or so. eBay is flooded with six-month-old, slightly used gadgets as college students, underemployed web designers and independent musicians struggle to clear credit card space." phase.

Click here for the rest of the Apple life cycle

the hype is about what could be

[SethJohnson]

Last I checked, we haven't been lusting for this sort of thing.

And that, sir, is exactly why Apple is able to command such premium prices for their products. The company has the ability to develop products and features in areas where other companies were unable to detect a demand and opportunity. Innovation isn't just a matter of crossing a technological hurdle.

People mock Apple's products as being popular through marketing. That derision is too narrow in focus as it assumes 'marketing' is limited to slick ad campaigns. Advertising IS a component of marketing, but the real value is in analyzing consumer interests and creating products, identifying the feature sets to be included, and tightly managing the product lifecycle through upgrade paths.

The hype and anticipation surrounding this product release is justified because Apple has a strong track record of delivering products that define and energize categories. Apple didn't event the all-in-one computer. But the iMac made consumers take it seriously enough to buy into the notion of computing without a floppy drive or serial ports (USB & firewire only). Apple didn't invent the portable MP3 player, but they introduced a compelling enough product that it's become a standard to which third-party manufacturers cater (i.e. car stereos, clock radios, jogging shoes, etc.). iPhone- same thing.

So people are excited to see what Apple is going to do in the tablet category. They want to see what can be innovated in this category where other companies have failed to deliver excitement. Hence, "we haven't been lusting for this sort of thing."

Seth