Laptops,
smartphones, tablets, better of all three….what is next? Who is the audience
for tabs, and what is the need that this device serves?
To answer
this, I believe moving a step back, and assessing “how in today's fast moving
world the lifestyle has also been changing (even) at faster pace / interval, as
compare to may be what it had been a decade back. Not long back, we had
portable cassette players, CD players, mps3 players, iPod, smartphones with
superlative audio quality...what it essentially means the innovation is driven
through need, or influences the need to cannibalize the existing product”,
would really help.
It is not
a new phenomenon; however, may be we never paid / attached so much thought to
it either. What it also means is that a company’s success or float can’t be
dependent on existing product / service, rather it has to keep evolving, else
be ready to face the extinction (the marketing is full of these idioms and
illustrations). The things change, if you have the monopoly, or have created a
monopoly kind of situation; otherwise, the strong forces of market are so
ruthless that they show no mercy to the laggards.
Another
known fact, conceding a ground to opponent, rest assured that it be fought
tooth and nail, when it comes to regaining the lost ground.
With this
backdrop, I personally feel tabs are for the people who like to surf, read, and
need reasonable computing power to accomplish these and other computing needs.
These are not technology savvy people (Ok; may be most of them), rather they
are consumers, and demand experience. That is experience of elegance, branding,
and usage at the same time. For them these are not three attributes or needs,
rather it is only one need, “experience”. Well, may be that is why iPad was a
runaway success, and leaving all others to catch-up with it.
So, what
is in store post tab? Will it be a death of PC / laptop?
I
personally believe that eventually, more or less, market would consolidate into
smartphones and laptops (lighter, smarter and more powerful). The reason behind
this understanding is the “smartness” of smartphones and the tasks that these
devices have been carrying out. With powerful cameras, video conferences, mail,
quality audio system, connectivity options, printing, gaming, ever increasing
computing and storage power and of course, the basic functionality of calling,
it is having all the “services” that you need from a device you want to keep
“handy”, is portable and help you keep “connected”. With its pinch and gesture
driven movement, it is easier to read (relatively) too, albeit maybe not for a
longer period of time.
On the
other hand when it comes to actual development, testing and release of
applications / software, people need mobility and high computing devices with
lot of connectivity options, which enables them to work for relatively longer
hours with less strain. That is where you need laptops, as it provides exactly
the same. Of course, the needs around long battery hours, and light weight are
yet to be tackled effectively; nonetheless, the progressive products are
inching closer to desired levels. Again, you will have categories within
laptops; however, the basic traits will not change, i.e. need for power
computing, extended working hours, bigger screen etc.
So, what
is tab’s work? It is a product, which has traits of smartphone and “basic”
laptop, to provide users a mobile experience. However, can those be used for
serious software development, or can those be used as a replacement for your
phone? Those had been and will always be “add-on”; if those survive the
revolution in smartphones.
It always
beats me as why do you need an 800$ device to read books? The reason being, all
other needs can easily be (at some place even better) be served by your
smartphone. This is not a device, which can replace your laptop either. Then
why do you need it?
May be it
is a device, which was a stop gap arrangement until your smartphones could
serve those needs. I believe the time has come, where the “premium” tag to this
category is no longer justifiable. At best it could serve as replacement for
netbooks. That is, convenience / volume category, and not as “niche” market.
The reason
behind my understanding is very simple, smartphone with an option of
“physically expandable” screen is tablet. This trait is well known, and I’m
sure many companies would have been researching to provide this flexibility
with no compromise in “experience”. It is a matter of time, when we have that
feature in smartphones, and at that time it would be the end of tablets, or at
least those would recede into “netbooks”.
Of course,
all of this with affordability, as you do not want to create another “satellite
phone” kind of case study.
