Murses, Velcro, and Wipes: the Future of Taplet Computing

Posted May 23, 2010

Downey w purse I dislike the potential social impact of Apple's vertically integrated, closed system business strategy (details here, here, and here), but I bought a 3G iPad the day it came out. It rocks.

The iPad is not your father's tablet computer — it is fast, lightweight, touch-based and runs applets. More like a taplet. You will own and use one very soon. Apple is selling 200,000 iPads each week and, to judge from the Google IO conference this week, there will soon be many worthy alternatives to the iPad.

Google is already activating 100,000 Android handsets each day and Android web traffic now exceeds the iPhone. As Android morphs slowly into Chrome OS, apps will go from being native downloads to more like browser extensions that are operable without a connection. Not since the late seventies have we seen this kind of ferment and innovation in personal computing. I already do much more work on the iPad than a PC — it is fast, easy, and killer handy.

Taplets will change the way you work, play, and learn. And there will be some surprising winners and losers. For example:

1. Briefcases are out. You need a new purse. Women will need different purses for taplet computers and men are going to carry purses. We will call them man-bags, day bags, travel bags, or messenger bags to preserve our dignity of course. But it will be a purse: just big enough for our taplet computer, keys, phone, and a small pad of paper (because typing on a computer in a meeting or while talking to someone still seems distracting to me — but this is changing).

Robert Downey illustrates the future of fashion. Mandatory murse – plaid hat optional.

2. Velcro will soon be ubiquitous. I am not sure why tablets don't just come with Velcro backing. This video illustrates the opportunity (HT: Dalby). Note that if you are viewing this on an iPad, you can't see it because Vimeo uses Flash. Imagine a funny video….

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

3. Covers and wipes. Touch screens get gooey fast. The iPhone came with a nice soft cleaning cloth for the screen. The iPad, with a screen eight times larger but just as glossy, managed to omit this crucial detail. Since touch is the new interface, screen wipes are the new necessity. I keep a soft glasses cleaner tucked behind the case, which is also a necessity. Unlike the iPhone, Apple makes a case — and a very good one. Or you can order a case from the skin of an exotic creature that costs you more than the hardware it protects and even more in karma.

4. That Syncing Feeling. You are going to need your files up to date and available on your desktop at home and at work, on your tablet, your phone, and for a few people, your laptop. Except that you don't want every file on every device, and you want your passwords and bookmarks synced as well. Until connections are ubiquitous, cloud storage is not enough. In my tests, Dropbox beat Windows Live, XMarks, and SugarSync but each has a ways to go until they have nailed this problem completely. Also, a file system for the iPad, coming with OS 4 this fall, will help a lot.

Who loses? Makers of netbooks, briefcases, and laptops need to think hard about their future. Taplet computers are a great way to consume books, movies, games, and movies, so brick and mortar media retailing is very, very dead (and online retailing very, very consolidated — another story). Packaged software for both consumers and the enterprise is truly toast. And once again, Microsoft could use a plan: they missed the internet, missed search, missed mobile, were early but off on tablets, mostly missed TV, and have so far missed the cloud. They are living off of operating systems and desktop apps. Your taplet uses a lot less of both.

Who will win the epic battle between Apple and Google? The battle of the titans now extends to devices (iPhone vs Android), tablets (iPad vs Adroid/ChromeOS), developers and their applications (iTunes Ap Store vs Android Aps), animation standards (no Flash vs Flash), retail strategy (Apple stores vs everyone else), media sales (iTunes and iBooks vs. newly acquired Simplify Media), television (Apple TV vs. the newly revealed Google TV) and above all, advertising (iAds vs AdMob). Apple has the advantage of integration: they coordinate this mess within their company. Google has the advantage of an ecosystem: a much messier coordination challenge but a much more powerful force with the right standards and incentives are in place. Consumers will win (so hands off, FTC). We can now see what the $100 computer will look like: it is a taplet computer.