Thoughts on an Apple Tablet
Welcome again TheStreet.com readers. Seems that Jim Rogers is becoming a regular collaborator with The Curious Investor. It seems that people who have found this blog through my references on TheStreet.com come in two flavors.
- People who think that I’m an Apple expert.
- Mac fanboys upset that I haven’t given a 100% Buy! Buy! Buy! comment on Apple.
For those in group 1, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this isn’t an Apple blog. I don’t purport to have any particular insight on Apple and its products other than through my interest as an Apple investor. But, I have written a few articles on my view of Apple’s stock and business strategy (follow the link to find the full collection).
For group 2, let me address my viewpoint on the rumored Apple tablet as quoted by Jim in his recent article, “Investors Keen to Taste Apple’s Tablet.” The quote Jim used from me described my disappointment with recent leaks on the Apple Tablet. From what I can tell, rumors have focused on a 10 inch screen, a $600-$800 price range, and arguments over whether or not the tablet will run iPhone on steroids or run OSX.
The thing missed amongst all these rumors is that if Apple wants to attack the $600-$800 computing price range, they can’t just drop out a “color Kindle” or some sort of large format iPhone. Moreover, there really has been no discussion with regards to the input mechanisms for the tablet. On an iPhone, it’s easy to use your thumbs to type, but how can you quickly interact with a tablet to do something simple like write an e-mail if it’s 10 inches?
Moreover, with a seeming price war in eReaders brewing, will people really be willing to shell out $600-$800 for a limited function mobile “reading” device even if it offers web surfing? No, I believe to really make a splash with the tablet, Apple must treat this as a productivity device. Further, they need to carve out a niche so that the device does not canabalize their own products either upstream (laptops) or downstream (iPhones). We’ve seen with the netbook craze that PC manufacturers have had their margins squeezed badly and Apple can’t allow this to happen to them.
I think Apple has a chance here to do something really impactful much like they did with the iPhone. A mobile computing device which can integrate tightly (something I find slightly missing with the iPhone) with your home computer and extend your productivity has the potential to not only change computing, but the way we live. While Microsoft is rarely a business to imitate these days, here’s a video of their once buzzing “Origami” idea which inspires my vision of how I’d like to use a mobile tablet device. (Admittedly, Microsoft couldn’t solve the input issue with the various examples in this video featuring cumbersome attached keyboards and easy to lose stylus pens.) But, I trust that Steve and Joni over at Apple will cook something up that will wow us all.
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