How Apple Will Capitalize on The Next Wave of Computing — Our Thoughts on the Tablet

Posted by Jay Harley on December 25, 2009 * Comments(0)

With all the fuss about Apple’s upcoming tablet, we’d like to offer a couple of thoughts. Apple is not only unveiling a revolutionary piece of hardware, but also creating an entirely new ecosystem of applications and services, which began with the iPod Touch, iPhone, and the App Store. It makes perfect sense that Apple would want to move beyond the iPhone / iTouch constraints of size, and move into a larger screen, but include the interface features it developed (along with 3rd-party developers) through years of iPhone apps.

Apple’s Recent Innovations Naturally Translate to a Tablet

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Our guess is that Apple will then attempt to parlay its App Store success into the next wave of computing, going far beyond the desktop, into portable computers and services. This next wave will be sure to include:

Touch — Apple has pretty much perfected touch-screen interfaces on the iPhone and iTouch. With a larger tablet, it can extend this concept even farther into even more lucrative fields such as business productivity, education, and other areas. A larger interface simply allows Apple to take a proven concept to another level.

Portability — With 3G already established in 1st and 2nd world countries, and 4G, WiMax, and other technologies on the way, an Internet-enabled tablet would go beyond the form-factor and user experiences available in the notebook and netbook space, eliminating the need for a physical keyboard and providing more interaction while using less weight.

Video — We are guessing that Apple’s tablet will possess video capabilities, and one of its many uses will be the recording and playback of video content, as well as live streaming. Think Skype and Google Video chats, as well as live video-conferencing. Tablets will give a welcome boost to web video and may even make QuickTime an important video platform for non-video professionals. YouTube, Hulu, and other content aggregators will naturally benefit from the adoption of tablets, as one will be able to browse their wares without needing a keyboard.

Gaming — Think of playing multi-person board games on a tablet. Apple has already invaded the personal gaming space with the iPod touch and iPhone, now it can provide a “board-game” like space for sharing experiences with friends in a live setting, while downloading game content from the web.

Rich Internet Web Applications — Social media applications which provide video, audio, chat, and other rich media will get a boost in experience possibilities with tablets. Photo and video libraries will be a joy to browse.

What about Web Content?

With all of this being said, what benefit will tablets provide for existing web site owners, such as those hosting e-commerce applications? Our guess is that rich media is in, static text is out. Experience is king — and site owners will need to establish rich and dynamic media experiences that exploit the hardware and software capabilities of the tablet.

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Jay Harley is the CEO and web architect of Heaven Interactive. As a technologist, Jay specializes in creating business productivity software and offering clients high-level media consulting services. Before founding Heaven Interactive, Jay led a double life as a web consultant and MFA New Media instructor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. At AAU, he enthusiastically developed several courses in web application design and scripting, and enjoyed daily interaction with design students, offering guidance, support, and camaraderie as a media professional. Jay is now squarely focused on providing Web 3.0 solutions to businesses in the form of collaboration and presentation software, by utilizing the power of the "Web as a Platform."



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