Tablet Wave is Breaking

9/3/2010 8:21 PM EDT

I like the idea of an open platform book reader. I use an Amazon Kindle and find great value in it, but would like to see an open platform where content could be shared among my friends, much like I could do with a physical book.

9/4/2010 1:51 AM EDT

Tablets are an exciting new platform (either open or walled). If you think about the many uses that they enable, you will soon realize that they could also help our planet become greener by obsoleting newspaper and book paper or at least minimize their ecological impact (of course I do not know the eco-impact of tablet electronics but I suspect we come out ahead). I think the Flash or Flash equivalent lack of support (from Apple at least) needs to get resolved for this to take off even more.

9/4/2010 1:25 PM EDT

A right size tablet will definitely be able to replace a lot of paper media - magazine, newspaper. I believe there will be a more interesting magazine in the near future.

I always support open platform and would like to see more interface to external memory or connectivity. I am sure the future tablet will be more than just eBook, eMagazine and ePhoto Album.

9/4/2010 4:27 PM EDT

I'm definitely in the camp that calls tablets a game changer (even if I do own the dreaded iPad). The form and size makes it a valuable device to have around. My wife was able to show her elderly father in the hospital pictures of his great-grandchildren is a size he could see; my wife is a hard-core casual gamer and the games are simply fun; I have dozens of books and magazines loaded (I loved Daemon, but I sure can't get though the Dragon Tattoo); and I'm streaming Netflix (it seems that SOAP and Arrested Development are in direct line with each other). I even use it for guitar tabs.

9/6/2010 12:43 PM EDT

The iPad is a game changer and has created a market that Microsoft has been trying to create for years. They made concessions to be more content consumption based then creation based, but with the rather low entry price (versus the tablet PC) and the app store, it is tremendous device. The best new device I've purchased in years. It's a book reader, newspaper, web browser, movie player and game machine rolled into one.

If the android tablet market follows the same model, I think the market will explode, similar to the cell phone market.

The only thing that will stop it is if they try to go back to the tablet PC model, and increase the price and add iffy pen input. Especially for us lefties, the handwriting recognition is not ready for prime time yet.

9/6/2010 2:08 PM EDT

The iPad was the first, but will by no means be the last Tablet Computer. The traditional publishing media needs to bridge the gap between the paper-based products (i.e. magazines, newspapers, books, etc) and the new technology, and I seriously think the tablet computer will allow them to accomplish that transition. Their old model is dead, and they have been looking for something to rescue them from the abyss. The key will be to provide a marketing model that provides the publishers with an income source (such as free access with ads, or paid access without ads) but does not turn off the potential audience. The tablet computer could bring revolutionary changes to some segments of the market. It incorporates not just the reader but other functionality similar to a smart phone. However, long battery life and bright displays in high-light conditions will be challenges to overcome.

From my perspective, I would love to have a iPad. Once you try it you are hooked. However, the Wave and other MS and Android-based Pads should have no trouble in the market. I have become a huge fan of the open-source nature of the Android-based systems and feel they will be a major contender in this market.

9/7/2010 12:51 PM EDT

I think that Samsung et al had not thought thru why iPad is successful among the carcasses of other tablet computer. It is not the first one. What is the game changer here? If those questions cannot be answered properly, I can see millions of R&D dollars go wasted again...

9/7/2010 5:44 PM EDT

Certainly, the big advantage is the relatively small size compared to a laptop. And the other big advantage is the relatively large size compared to today's smartphones. I'm thinking the sweet spot is a high resolution smartphone that is just small enough to pocket. The biggest problem with the ipad, IMHO, is it's inability to recognize and record scribbling on the surface (i.e. use as an notepad). Several phones and pdas do that today, but are generally underpowered. My shirt pocket fits 3.5" by 5". 1024X768 (or 1320 X 768 for 720P). Notes compatible. With plenty of horsepower. That's what I want... :-)

9/26/2010 1:00 PM EDT

Often with game changing technology you have to wait and see what people really do with it. My wife would not consider herself particularly computer literate; she uses NotePad for most things. But she used my iPad on a trip to write her father's obituary (92, peaceful in his sleep). She assembled comments from several people, copying and pasting from emails using some Note app on the iPad. Re-sent them out for review, sent a photo to the funeral home and the newspaper. All from the iPad. No one told her the keyboard was so lame that it couldn't be done. Game changers are what people make of them.