The iSlate – As Big as the iPod?

What do YOU think? Will the “iSlate” from Mac (a Mac based tablet computer) be as “big” as the iPod? There is a lot of hype about it, but tablets haven’t caught on, and they have been around a loooong time! I know, I know, this one is an Apple… so it be be “cool.” But Will it? Really?

Marketing Hype and the ‘iSlate’

“While a certain amount of speculation is healthy for any industry, I believe there’s a tipping point beyond which it becomes more than a little silly. We spend so much time discussing the minutiae of what this mystery thing may or may not do that we forget the big picture of why we use technology in the first place. As I wonder about the tablet, I can’t help but think about netbooks. These diminutive, inexpensive devices were the hardware story of the year as budget-crushed consumers looked for ways to remain productive without cutting into that week’s grocery order. There was no runup of publicity surrounding netbooks. No lineups around the block. No frenzied speculation about feature sets. The netbook is the anti-tablet, then, a known device with known capabilities that consumers instantly get. The tablet? Not so much. Not that Apple should ever feel the need to make its own netbook, mind you. The company will never play in the low-margin end of the market. It doesn’t need to play the price game to compete, and the tablet will continue that premium strategy. But when the hype machine kicks into overdrive, too many consumers end up buying not because they need it, but because they feel they’ll be missing out if they don’t buy in now. It’s as shallow as the pet rock was, a purchase rationale that revolves around being part of the crowd and not around actually meeting a particular life need.”