What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet?

[HobeSoundDarryl]

And coming from a magazine publishing company, I can tell you we are all very excited about an "iTunes Store" subscription type service for the tablet!

Are you less excited if your magazine can be sold through iTunes to existing iTunes-connected devices like Laptops? Sure, any business will be interested in selling their stuff through iTunes (anything at all)... but what about the Tablet makes it so much better for publishers (note I run a business that serves publishers, and I would much rather sell print media content to all iTunes-connected devices than just Tablet owners, so I won't want to be locked into Tablet-exclusive arrangements unless that's all that is being permitted by Apple). The point is not are print media publishers excited about easy access to potentially millions of new subscribers through iTunes... that's obvious... the question is still "why the Tablet?" and my question is asking for reasons qualified by what people think the Tablet they describe should cost.

apolloa responded: "it will be the best ebook reader on the planet, it'll offer far more obviously but Apple will sell it on it's ebook features, and I suspect it will have some very clever screen tech and very good battery life." So how much should this version of what it might be cost? As a point of reference for just a dedicated e-reader (and very little else), the Kindle is $249.

 

[cmaier]

Don't get too excited - if no one is buying your printed magazine, no one I going to buy your e-magazine, either.

 

[peterdevries]

.....and I suspect it will have ..... very good battery life.

Yep, Apple will say it runs 15 hours, but after you buy it you notice that that only is the case when the backlighting, network connections, etc are switched off..

My MBP doesn´t come close to the advertised battery life, even with minimal system resources turned on..

 

[cmaier]

Yep, Apple will say it runs 15 hours, but after you buy it you notice that that only is the case when the backlighting, network connections, etc are switched off..

My MBP doesn´t come close to the advertised battery life, even with minimal system resources turned on..

Mine does, without doing anything special.

 

[skinnylegs]

I'm pretty sure all laptop manufacturers advertise best possible scenarios in terms of batteries.

 

[Rocketman]

The point is not are print media publishers excited about easy access to potentially millions of new subscribers through iTunes... that's obvious... the question is still "why the Tablet?" and my question is asking for reasons qualified by what people think the Tablet they describe should cost.

The tablet device will provide the portability of a book, magazine, or newspaper with the anywhere anytime wireless access of iPhone and the sufficiently large screen of a "MacBook". The lifestyle difference is the thing, and the tablet form factor in combination with Apple developed technologies makes it possible.

Portability without having to "open it up" like a laptop.

Rocketman

 

[ronb]

... the question is still "why the Tablet?"

What I hear over and over is that people like print because it's so portable. That they can just whip it out where ever they are and read it. It's my opinion that the tablet is a big step forward with technology getting us to that "portable" mode. It's a big enough step to make a push toward the digital print.

It can be argued that it's subtle difference between a laptop and a tablet. But that subtle difference is, I believe, a big step into digital print going into the mainstream—over a bit of time of course.

 

[RogueWarrior65]

Some uses I'd use one for

I could see using this as a front-end to a digital storage oscilloscope. Or as a configuration front-end for things that connect via a serial port (hopefully it has a USB port on it). And then I could see it as a convenient way of doing warehouse shipping in conjunction with a wireless printer. But if it had an OLED screen and GPS, that would make mapping in broad daylight a pleasure.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

The tablet device will provide the portability of a book, magazine, or newspaper with the anywhere anytime wireless access of iPhone and the sufficiently large screen of a "MacBook". The lifestyle difference is the thing, and the tablet form factor in combination with Apple developed technologies makes it possible. Portability without having to "open it up" like a laptop. Rocketman

At what price, Rocketman? How much is your imagined Tablet?

And is it really too hard to open up a bigger, full color laptop screen... and have a keyboard. Imagine separating your laptop screen from your laptop and using it like a Tablet. Consumption of content created elsewhere will be great. Creating your own content seems like it will not be so great. If that makes sense to you too, is the added thickness for the bottom half of the laptop just too thick for carrying it around and having anywhere, anytime, access on a larger screen?

Understand- unlike some here- I'm wanting to be convinced... I'm actually interested in a solid answer to the thread question... and an appealing price to go with that answer. So what do you think? What exactly is it? and How much is it going to cost?

 

[str1f3]

Bottom line is it's designed to sell Mac computers, Apple have gained market share in computer sales thanks to Vista, iPhone and iPod sales. People buy the small devices and think 'hey this is great, lets buy a Mac computer'.
The Tablet will be the same, only it's possible it's more of a computer in itself this time, but Apple will no doubt be hoping for some iMac or Mac Mini sales from it and again more market share.
They can't get any more of the MP3 player market considering they own it pratically. Mobile phone market share will be slow to gain due to competition. But computer sales is what they want.

As for the device itself? The ultimate role bar selling computers, it will be the best ebook reader on the planet, it'll offer far more obviously but Apple will sell it on it's ebook features, and I suspect it will have some very clever screen tech and very good battery life.

I think you're partially right. The tablet can't be about selling more Macs. You can't have a $600-700 (probably a data plan as well) being a gateway device to a Mac. This will have to stand on its own.

Unlike others here I don't see a point to making something like an e-reader. The Kindle is better for book reading and even now Amazon refuses to report sales of it so you know it can't be selling that well.

Is this just for magazines and newspapers? Why dedicate a device for a industry that is falling apart? People can get their news for free on the net already and chances are, since Safari will be on the tablet, you can get it for free still. Could the newspapers & magazine publishers sell a very fancy iTunes LP type thing? Yes, but Apple would have to be stupid to wager their bets on this and to essentially create another OS around it.

The only chance is for this thing is to be a computer. The main questions are is how close is this to Mac OS X and how do you type on it.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

What I hear over and over is that people like print because it's so portable. That they can just whip it out where ever they are and read it. It's my opinion that the tablet is a big step forward with technology getting us to that "portable" mode. It's a big enough step to make a push toward the digital print.

It can be argued that it's subtle difference between a laptop and a tablet. But that subtle difference is, I believe, a big step into digital print going into the mainstream—over a bit of time of course.

OK. But do you want to pay (my guess) $799 for this AND THEN pay for the subscriptions to the e-Magazines to go with it? Or would you rather just use the $799 to buy hundreds of copies of the print version over the next few years. For example, if you subscribe to 2 magazines now at- say $25/yr each- $799 buys you 16 years of copies of those magazines... even if they are the dreaded print version.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Could the newspapers & magazine publishers sell a very fancy iTunes LP type thing? Yes, but Apple would have to be stupid to wager their bets on this and to essentially create another OS around it.

Not to mention that if the publishers have to do a lot of additional work to publish, creating additional content for the iTunes/Tablet edition, etc, they are probably going to want to be paid MORE for all that additional time & effort. So the idea of all this "wow" new content for so much cheaper to fill this thing with desirable content we can't (somehow) get via the web now seems quite a stretch in justifying why a Tablet is going to be such a hot (print media consumption) device.

 

[peterdevries]

Don't get too excited - if no one is buying your printed magazine, no one I going to buy your e-magazine, either.

I don´t agree. The majority of people with a paper subscription will most likely keep it (at least until the subscription runs out..). Some would switch to the e-version.

Due to a new delivery method magazines could promote more aggressively, because duplication of an issue to send to someone would be cost neutral. Take the TV shows in the iTunes store. There are lots of free episodes around to entice people to get the whole season or subscription. They could do the same with magazines.

One of the large advantages for non subscribers would be that they don´t have to get up and go to a newsstand to get an issue. Just buy it online. That same principle makes me buy more music anyway..

Technically it would also be possible to buy single articles from issues and back issues.

If the store and the electronic issue itself would provide some function to search and purchase other issues and back issues (like iPhone spotlight) it would be another source of income. Imagine next to the article a section with "further reading" with an option to buy those articles immediately (in app purchasing)

Summing up, I think the electronic distribution model holds enough potential for the publishing industry to increase the number of sold issues in total (paper and e-version), but only IF they offer more flexible subscription and purchasing models than with the hardcopy versions.

This also worked for the recording industry, where records were sold in the past, and most people now just buy one or two songs from the album. E.g. I would rather pay $0.99 for a single article than for the whole magazine that would cost $3.99 and where I would only read that same article..

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Due to a new delivery method magazines could promote more aggressively, because duplication of an issue to send to someone would be cost neutral. Take the TV shows in the iTunes store. There are lots of free episodes around to entice people to get the whole season or subscription. They could do the same with magazines.

Magazines do that now. Call up just about any of them and say you are interested in subscribing and ask for a free issue or free trial. You'll almost certainly get it. And that is much more accessible than asking someone to buy a Tablet so that they can get a free trial.

One of the large advantages for non subscribers would be that they don´t have to get up to get an issue. Just buy it online.

But will they want to pay a couple of hundred dollars so that they don't have to get up to get an issue.

Technically it would also be possible to buy single articles from issues and back issues.

But why do we need a Tablet to do this? They can sell those articles to a much larger market of non-Tablet owners now (the whole Internet).

I think the electronic distribution model holds enough potential for the publishing industry to increase the number of sold issues in total (paper and e-version)

In this, I totally agree with you... but not because there might be a Tablet... only because such content would be made available to millions of iTunes users. If iTunes added- say- a yo-yo section, the exact same argument could be made: I think the electronic yo-yo marketing model holds enough potential for the yo-yo industry to increase the number of yo-yo's sold in total (retail and iTunes channel)

The point is why a Tablet? So many posts seem to be finding real marketing opportunities because new content will be added for sale on iTunes, etc which is most definitely true. But why do we need a Tablet for all this other stuff to work?

 

[ronb]

OK. But do you want to pay (my guess) $799 for this AND THEN pay for the subscriptions to the e-Magazines to go with it? Or would you rather just use the $799 to buy hundreds of copies of the print version over the next few years. For example, if you subscribe to 2 magazines now at- say $25/yr each- $799 buys you 16 years of copies of those magazines... even if they are the dreaded print version.

What you're not taking into account is the fact that the price of print is driving publishing companies to digital and AWAY from print. Don't get me wrong, I love print myself, I'm from that era, but its a simple case of economics. Print is going away, replaced with digital media. Not today, or tomorrow, but it will happen. I'm just saying this is a big step in that direction, and a hope for a future life of publishing companies that are loosing money as we speak.

 

[DanielSw]

Sorry it took so long. I've been actively participating in this thread coming in with a bias against what ultimate role this Tablet will fulfill, but trying to imagine it in a way to answer the thread question. Unfortunately, I still don't have a clear conceptual answer.

. . .Bottom line: I'd love to see some really good answers to the thread question, qualified by at what price you think the device you are describing will be priced. That would be some interesting reading, as I fear there is much too much "Star Trek Tricorder" dreams being imagined for an unsubsidized price below about $300-$400. If so, when has Apple ever delivered Star Trek type advances... for "shockingly low" prices?

I'd like to answer this question, myself. But I don't have the time or adequate perception of "the market" from which to distill or deduce a really good one.

I do know that my iPhone has changed my life in numerous ways for the better, but I have sensed its "smallness" on occasion. I'm also not strongly compelled to get a laptop as I don't have enough need to justify the cost, relative bulkiness, or relative fragility of one. So the tablet seems at least to fall into a desirable size/durability category. I also like the prospect of enhanced gestures and an on-demand soft keyboard which may be fairly realistic in size and function.

Though I personally am not a big consumer of published media--I don't read newspapers or print mags--just Mac stuff online--I do think that will be the major use of such a device for most people.

Perhaps it could be thought of more generally as a sort of personal "interface module"--not just media consumption, but it could plug into automobiles and contain settings for mirrors and seat positions, climate control settings, pre-planned travel routes; for airplanes, it could contain meal preferences, food allergy info; for interpersonal communication it could contain language translators, travelogues; for business, it could be a nicely mobile video conferencing/presentation tool.

If this vague middle ground between phones and laptops is undefined, it is at least fairly broad, and Apple will most likely have some good ideas of how to fill it.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

What you're not taking into account is the fact that the price of print is driving publishing companies to digital and AWAY from print. Don't get me wrong, I love print myself, I'm from that era, but its a simple case of economics. Print is going away, replaced with digital media. Not today, or tomorrow, but it will happen. I'm just saying this is a big step in that direction, and a hope for a future life of publishing companies that are loosing money as we speak.

There's no argument from me against the need for the print industry to go digital... nor that the print business is generally a dying industry. I don't even argue that trying any way to monetize the good work that is (generally) done there is a bad idea... quite the contrary... I'm all for the print media industries trying to save themselves any way they can... including selling their stuff via a massive channel like iTunes. That all makes perfect sense.

It's the "why the Tablet?" piece that I'm still not grasping. How is it required to pull all this off?

If this print media hits iTunes and is NOT exclusively available only to Tablet owners, why will we need a Tablet to consume it and "save" the print media industry with all these millions(???) of new subscribers?

 

[christian_k]

A thing that comes to my mind when thinking about an electronic reading device is durability.

You can read something (esp. cheap paper backs or newspapers or magazines) everywhere. You can do that while bathing. If it falls into the water it is still readable or at least you do not loose much money. If it is pressed against something or falls down because you are in a crowded subway train, again you do not loose much money. The daily paper is even designed to be a "throw away" product.

Very different with an electronic device. This has to be handled with care. i would only use an electronic reader if it is very robust.

But apple tends to make things thin and cool looking, but not shock resistant and warerproof.

Christian

 

[colickyboy]

Still haven't read a convincing answer to this thread's question. I agree with most here that this tablet can't simply be a netbook/e-reader combo. While people love having music everywhere they go (hence the revolutionary iPod's popularity) and people love cell phones (hence the revolutionary iPhone's popularity), I just don't see a big market for e-readers. Do people really need a revolutionary device for reading books and periodicals everywhere they go? I personally wouldn't care for it...unless it did *something else* that was revolutionary.

 

[Rocketman]

At what price, Rocketman? How much is your imagined Tablet?

Let's begin by saying I imagine 7" not 10" for myself. I also think it will have a data only plan and any voice features will be VoIP. The required plan will discount the device. An iPhone now is around $600-700 undiscounted and requires a plan of about $60/month for 2 years. About $1800 all-in.

I think the Apple Tablet Not Nano (ATNN) will be about $1100 undiscounted, have a $40/month plan, so about $1900 all-in. The kicker will be "semi-exclusive" media content that Apple gets a cut of and the device will compel the consumption of.

Steve noted in a Keynote that iPod users were paying to download a relatively small number of songs on average, and most content was loaded from CD's and such (such being pirate sites).

I think the release of TV shows and albums has added sufficient value that paid downloads has gone up quite a bit and the Appstore is sensationally successful on the paid side.

So let's estimate over 2 years Apple's 30% content share is on average $200 per device. That might be on the high side. That brings it to about $2100 all-in with the margins being ticked up from 30 something % to 50 something %. The margin being the thing from a corporate perspective. Pricing is margin driven.

Rocketman

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Let's begin by saying I imagine 7" not 10". I also think it will have a data only plan and any voice features will be VoIP. The required plan will discount the device. An iPhone now is around $600-700 undiscounted and required a plan of about $60/month for 2 years. About $1800 all-in.

I think the Apple Tablet Not Nano (ATNN) will be about $1100 undiscounted, have a $40/month plan, so about $1900 all-in. The kicker will be "semi-exclusive" media content that Apple gets a cut of and the device will compel the consumption of.

Steve noted in a Keynote thast iPod users were paying to download a relatively small number of songs on average, and most content was loaded from CD's and such (such being pirate sites).

I think the release of TV shows and albums has added sufficient value that paid downloads has gone up quite a bit and the Appstore is sensationally successful of the paid side.

So let's estimate over 2 years Apple's 30% is on average $200 per device. That might be on the high side. That brings it to about $2100 all-in with the margins being ticked up from 30 something % to 50 something %. The margin being the thing from a corporate perspective. Pricing is margin driven.

Rocketman

Smart, smart answer. I hope you are wrong about pricing being that high- especially for the 7" that I also imagine I would prefer. But at least you are pricing it based on what you think it is, which I suspect is (also) much higher than what much of the crowd in this thread is expecting.

What you'll get at that price- and at my price too- is "why not just buy a Macbook?" unless it can really cover a lot of the things people use a laptop to do (though it is hard to imagine how). That's where I continue to somewhat hang: why not just use my iTunes-connected Laptop to potentially buy all this new iTunes content- if I want any of it? But, if the thing can be an iPhone too, then I may be interested since I don't own an iPhone yet (and the current incarnation is too small for my big hands).

 

[cmaier]

I don´t agree. The majority of people with a paper subscription will most likely keep it (at least until the subscription runs out..). Some would switch to the e-version.

Then you don't disagree. You are saying that existing readers will hang on or switch to electronic versions. I said that "if they don't subscribe now, they won't subscribe to the electronic versions." Unless you are making a case that somehow electronic versions will bring new (paying) customers, which I don't see in your post.

 

[apolloa]

Well it will be an ebook, no doubt about that as rumours of Apple scanning books have been rife for the last 2 years, so I would imagine iTunes to be updated with an ebook store which if priced right could blow the competition away considering some of the prices they charge!
And as for online news, Murdoch has himself expressed interest in an ebook type of newspaper and has managed I think to stop Google posting his content for free on the web, so if he can do it the others will follow but do you want the Sun or Daily Mirror on an ebook?? Instead of paper?
At least it'll save some trees I guess.

There is the possibility of the device being sold cheap with advertising from newspaper and book subscriptions making up for it?

When I was referring to the screen tech, I am thinking of perhaps colour eink, or a very very good OLED screen with no reflection. Either way it will have to have very low power consumption to match other ebooks.

If it has Apples amazing interface design, and the very easy iTunes for purchases right onto the device, face it, it'll be a wining device that millions will buy. Now add in Tegra tech, then you also have a extremely capable media device too.

 

[cmaier]

Well it will be an ebook, no doubt about that as rumours of Apple scanning books have been rife for the last 2 years, so I would imagine iTunes to be updated with an ebook store which if priced right could blow the competition away considering some of the prices they charge!
And as for online news, Murdoch has himself expressed interest in an ebook type of newspaper and has managed I think to stop Google posting his content for free on the web, so if he can do it the others will follow but do you want the Sun or Daily Mirror on an ebook?? Instead of paper?
At least it'll save some trees I guess.

There is the possibility of the device being sold cheap with advertising from newspaper and book subscriptions making up for it?

When I was referring to the screen tech, I am thinking of perhaps colour eink, or a very very good OLED screen with no reflection. Either way it will have to have very low power consumption to match other ebooks.

If it has Apples amazing interface design, and the very easy iTunes for purchases right onto the device, face it, it'll be a wining device that millions will buy. Now add in Tegra tech, then you also have a extremely capable media device too.

what rumors of apple scanning books? Obviously google has, but i haven't heard anything about apple?

And why would they have to scan books unless they are old and in the public domain? (i.e. free?) Copyrighted books will typically be available in ebook format from the publisher (assuming the publisher is willing to allow them to be published electronically).

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Well it will be an ebook, no doubt about that as rumours of Apple scanning books have been rife for the last 2 years, so I would imagine iTunes to be updated with an ebook store which if priced right could blow the competition away considering some of the prices they charge!

apolloa, not really singling you out in this response (and I can generally agree with a chunk of what you are saying), but a good deal of the reasoning for why we need a Tablet keeps revolving around other companies/industries outside of Apple heavily dropping their prices. Why would a book publisher want to "price their e-book for Tablet" right (meaning really low) to only help Apple sell more Tablets? What's in heavily cutting their revenues for each of these sales for those companies?

And we see no evidence of this in general. Are movies in iTunes cheaper than their DVD versions? Are TV Shows in iTunes cheaper than their DVD versions?

More directly, are ebooks sold on Kindle cheaper than the print version? And if so, are those prices "priced right" if they represent just about as low as the publishers will be willing to go for a paperless version?