I've always had a love-hate relationship with tablets. I think it all started out when the early tablets were merely laptops with a touchscreen and stylus, and swiveled so that the keyboard can be an optional thing. It seemed like a cool thing to have. It was beyond what we know because there was the touchscreen capability. However, that was nothing but a two minute gimmick. if anything, it was a disappointment.
These early tablets were clunky, expensive and really not that useful. You were better off just using a regular mouse to do all of your drawings instead.
Apple, as per usual, decided to rewrite the rule book and came up with the iPad back in early 2010. The iPad looked like a joke to a lot of people. It looked like an iPod Touch being magnified four times, it acted like an iPod Touch. In fact, it ran a similar piece of software that runs on the iPod Touch. Everything about it, screamed iPod Touch. There were people who joked that while the rest of the world was finding ways to shrink their products, Apple, decided to do the opposite. In retrospect, that seems to be the trend, with Android phones getting bigger and bigger, reaching to the point of the Galaxy Note, the One X and even the Lumia.
The thing about the iPad was that even though it was like an iPod Touch, it worked. It made sense. It was a device that really did put a a lot of things on the market to shame. What was the point of an ebook reader, or a digital photo frame? Why would you want to bring your laptop away from home, and furthermore, why would you bother to buy a netbook.
Naturally, when the rest of the world rolled out with their versions of tablets to satisfy the Apple haters, much was at stake. Unfortunately, many people have failed. Lenovo's was too slow, Acer's was rubbish by definition of being an Acer, Samsung had many to choose from, but they never caught on, Motorola made one, many people didn't seem to know that, Asus made one, and it was well received, but it's not mainstream, HP made one, but then axed it, and lastly, even Blackberry made one, which was a monumental failure. Let's be honest, the iPad was well designed, and everything about it was slightly superior to their competitors. Unlike the Playbook by Blackberry, no McMaster business professor gave an interview, highlighting how useful it's built-in HDMI output was useful. That could be because the iPad didn't have one, but that's not the main reason.
What made the iPad so successful was because it was a simple thing to work with. It wasn't filled with the insane intricacies of the Android operating system. Even though everyone praises the Android operating system to be free of bounds that Apple products have, I never found it easy to use. It was a pain to navigate, it was cumbersome, and required a slight learning curve that Apple products lacked. All iOS devices are relatively universal, so the amount of work required in learning to use their products is virtually little if any.
This is what opens up a new opportunity for competitors. A newcomer into the tablet market can capitalize on Android's ridiculous system, and Apple's strict stronghold on non-jailbroken devices. Microsoft has made that attempt this week with their new Microsoft Surface tablet. The tablet features a built in kickstand. It features a pressure sensitive keyboard, that doubles as the smart cover. This makes it easier to type than any tablet on the market. It features Windows 8 interface, and even has quite a bit of power to punch.
All of this makes the Microsoft Surface seem like a very attractive device. Reviews have been great for Windows 8, especially with how well the social integration aspect was so good on its UI. I've never been a fan of social networking, so I can care less. What is most important, is the entire issue with apps. Apps are what make or break a device. Apple's great success lies within the fact that they have hundreds of thousands of apps. The apps range from small and useless apps that make fart noises, to ridiculously high end ones that allow you to do 3D mapping of an object you've only taken photos of. Android isn't far behind, but is slowly trying to catch up. This is precisely what broke the Playbook, because it made no sense to use, and had very little, if any applications. So, the most important question to ask is : Can this tablet by Microsoft make it as a latecomer?
Will Microsoft be able to learn from its mistakes from the development of the Windows Phone OS and actually try to make something that's user-friendly? Only time will tell.
