My Virtual Dave

So yeah… I’ve been following the rumors that abound regarding the anticipated announcement of Apple’s new tablet device.  It seems a bit dim by comparison to the anticipation of the iPhone’s initial release, but who knows… maybe in the upcoming days/weeks/months it takes Apple to actually polish their announcement the excitement will grow.

Do I sound skeptical?  Yup!  And you may ask why…  You see, one of the biggest reasons for the success of the iPhone was a combination of its revolutionary user interface in the form of capacitive touch, combined with the power of a real computer which when applied to the phone industry (an industry in which Apple had never participated before), it was groundbreaking technology.  The thought of taking such powerful computing to an industry that had been locked up by mega-telco’s putting out 23% of what an end user really wanted (yes that is a made up statistic, but my feeling of what I felt I got out of cell phones prior to the iPhone).

So why the skepticism…  It is because most of the rumors seem to indicate that Apple is taking the iPhone/iTouch to a bigger format.  Wait a minute… Isn’t that the wrong direction?  Maybe and most likely yes.  Not because people don’t want or need bigger; its because the industry gets excited about smaller, faster, cheaper.  However, there would be a reason that Apple is going bigger and that hypothetical reason could be in keeping with the Apple tradition of breaking down market barriers and bringing the unconventional to new markets thereby making it the new convention.

What could the reason be?

How about the re-invention of paper.

Over the last two decades, we have seen the march of time and advancements in technology bring an almost certain death to the Newspaper industry.  Even the surviving newspapers are experiencing subscription/readership rates that are so low, its a wonder that any of them can support the infrastructure costs for the needed physical distribution of their product.  Print advertising has been all but replaced by internet advertising.  Print news in general has been replaced by “read what you are interested when you are interested in reading it” internet media sources.

So what bright new technology could topple such an industry?  Well, if we all think green, take the Kindle as a sign that electronic books are here to stay, combine it with a 4g mobile device for on demand download, and provide a device that can truly mimic the written page; you could not only crush what is remaining in the newsprint industry, but serve up a truly new ability to not only read content, but store it, save it, index it, read it in a familiar form, with full size text, and fonts we have grown accustomed to, while also combining the powerful computing tools needed to manipulate, edit, save, share and publish new media.

Where’s the catch?  Why do I remain skeptical?

Its the rumor of the name  the “iSlate”.  Slates, tablet, touch PCs have always met with limited success.  They are rigid and weighty.  They are not convenient to hold and read on a subway as you are commuting to work.  They are cumbersome and stand out when you use them in public – think of sitting getting your favorite latte at Starbucks and whipping out your iSlate to read a few headlines before heading back from your break.  Even with an iPhone like interface… Even with a larger screen… Even with it being as thin as an iPhone… its not the same.  Just the word slate brings on images of hard, heavy and rigid.

But!  an iSlate using Electronic Paper?  That would be the balls.  Think of a screen that is flexible yet can display vibrant images.  Think of a lightweight, paperthin device that could be held like a sheet of paper, or a newspaper for that matter.  That would be cool!

And I know what you are going to say… A flexible screen like that would not have the same tactile response as an iphone like device.  It could not hold the computing power of a device like that.  It would be limited in its use.

Not necessarily though!  What if Apple made an iSlate which acted as a frame for electronic paper?  the slate portion of the device held all that you would expect from the powerful devices that Apple has historically produced.  Imagine a slot at the top of the device that would allow you to reach in and yank out your electronic paper and the paper itself has enough storage to display for you the content that was downloaded to it that you are interested in reading.

Now THATS a device I would ogle over.  The slate having a glass like rigid pane similar to a picture frame on your wall that gives you that rigid yet smooth surface for the capacitive touch interface.  The images being displayed on the other side of the transparent glass by your flexible Electronic Paper.  The paper acting as the display portion of the screen with perhaps a couple of independant touch sensors that upone removing it from the iSlate would then allow you to flip through your digital content.

Think of a true converged media device.  Your TV, combined with your PC, combined with your Phone, combined with your magazines and newspapers, with an interface that is suitable in all those uses.  Internet everywhere, media at your fingertips, communication friendly, and powerful enough to handle all your computing needs.

Now that would be killer.  If the iSlate is anywhere close to what I described, I would tell everyone to call Rupert Murdoch and tell him to hang up his hat.  But something tells me that if Apple is truly going to take over this industry.  Steve is smart enough to line up his ducks before pulling the trigger, so maybe he has struck a deal with a few magazine publishers and newspaper outlets.  He already has the developers, the music, and the video content.  And to put the final nail in the coffin… how about throwing in a couple of book publishers as a way of dousing the Kindle?

I guess we will have to wait and see.

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