Smalltalk with James Robertson

In China, even the dead want iPads....

Technorati Tags: iPad

I think Dell's head of marketing doesn't really grasp the tablet space. While saying that the iPad "isn't ready for business", he explained:

“An iPad with a keyboard, a mouse and a case [means] you’ll be at $1500 or $1600; that’s double of what you’re paying," he claimed. "That’s not feasible.”

There are so many things wrong with that. First off, you don't need a mouse at all; that's the whole point of the touch interface. You navigate these devices differently. That's mostly true for keyboards as well, although, if you do decide on a keyboard, the rollup travel kind you would get is around $30. The case is also in that ballpark. Where he gets "double the cost" is beyond me; maybe he drank too much Australian beer.

What this tells me is that Dell sees tablets the same way that Microsoft does - as smaller PC's. That's not what they are at all, and seeing them that way is why Microsoft - which got into the tablet space very early - made no headway at all. If Dell looks at them that way, expect their entries to fail with a loud thud as well.

Technorati Tags: tablet, iPad, dell

PC World's Katherine Noyes has a fundamental misunderstanding of how tablets are being used outside of a business context. Claiming they are a "passing fad", she says:

Unlike smartphones, the tablet form factor is too large to fit in a pocket or purse, yet it doesn't offer anywhere near the functionality of only slightly larger devices like notebooks and laptop computers. I just don't see why you'd be willing to carry one of these things around--in addition to a phone, most likely--when you could have something convenient (a single good smartphone) or powerful (a laptop).

The funny thing is, most of the usage I've seen doesn't involve travel anywhere outside the home. My wife uses her iPad to read, and to browse or play games while the TV is on. This is the sort of usage I see most people talking about, and for "couch potato" usage, a tablet is far, far simpler than a laptop. It's easier to pick up and put down, takes up less space, and, for things like interacting with Netflix (especially if you have an AppleTV device), it's vastly simpler than connecting a laptop or desktop to the TV.

My usage is actually the outlier, I think. I travel with mine, and use it at the gym (while using an exercise bike). Basically, the tablet isn't a laptop replacement; it's a classic "I didn't know I needed that before I had it" device. You don't replace your laptop or phone with it; you use it in addition to those things.

Technorati Tags: iPad, tablet

Interesting news on the battery front - there's some research aiming to recharge a lithium ion battery in minutes (as opposed to hours):

A trio of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are trying to solve that problem with a nanostructure design for batteries that could allow a lithium-ion battery to charge in two minutes rather than six hours.

That's cool, but my question is, what kind of power supply do you need for this? I'm guessing that a standard 110 outlet isn't going to cut it. Still, it would be nice to be able to use a laptop without worrying about "saving" it for a flight, and then fully charge it just before boarding.

Technorati Tags: battery, power

Business Insider ticks off all the pieces that Amazon has already put in place - they have the full retail experience down pat. If they released an Android based tablet, they would probably blow all the other Android players over to the sidelines and quickly become the main alternative to Apple. It all makes sense, too.

Technorati Tags: amazon, tablet, android

The Zune is now dead:

After years of mediocrity and weak sales, Microsoft is finally killing off its Zune media player, Bloomberg reports.

I always wondered why they created the Zune, and then had a completely different group working on phones. It's not as if the Apple example was hard to see :)

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Looks like AT&T will finally lure me off of my unlimited data plan for the iPhone with the mobile hotspot. Being able to set one up on the fly is better than carrying one plan for the iPhone, and then pondering whether to use 3g on my iPad:

Thankfully, you can just revert to the standard, non-Wi-Fi hotspot data plan once the need is gone. An AT&T spokesperson confirmed to me that upgrading to include support for iOS 4.3 Wi-Fi hotspots is not an irreversible, long-term commitment. The spokesperson told me, "Customers can select and migrate between data plans without penalty or contract implications."

Technorati Tags: iPhone, iPad, wifi, 3g

This will make me consider it:

AT&T has reportedly provisioned the new Personal Hotspot WiFi sharing feature of iOS 4.3 beta 3 for a developer, indicating it will follow Verizon's lead in offering the feature to its subscribers.

The hotel wifi is often terrible when I travel, so....

Technorati Tags: apple, iPhone, att

If you have a gadget that's popular enough that you can more or less corner the market on key components, you end up with a pretty nice advantage:

In order to achieve its internal goal of shipping 40 million iPad products in 2011, Apple has occupied close to 60% of the global touch panel capacity causing tight supply among Apple's competitors, according to sources from upstream component makers.

There is a downside to that though. With their moves in the subscription space creating some anger amongst publishers, that number might embolden someone to push for anti-trust action. I've always been skeptical of that kind of thing, but I think Apple needs to keep it in mind as a real risk.

Technorati Tags: iPad, tablet