Well, Steve Jobs seems to be angry. The recent trend by different companies to come up with different or smaller sized tablets is perhaps the reason that has infuriated the Apple boss. This notwithstanding the fact that many an industry behemoth like Samsung or Research in Motion have just recently launched their 7 inch tablets, Galaxy Tab and Playbook respectively. Not to mention, all tablet PC makers are looking forward to emulating the instant and resounding success the iPad has met with and this is perhaps another factor that is acting as a perennial source of irritant for Steve.
“This size isn’t sufficient to create great tablet apps, in our opinion. While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size.” This is what Steve has to say about tablets that are less than the iPad‘s 10 inch screen size which, as per him, is the minimum a tablet should have for an optimum tablet PC experience. Any thing less than that will be anything but a compromise.
Another reason why 7 inch sized tablets wont be a hit is that screens of this size won’t be able to “express the software” well enough. He also firmly believes this will also pose problems for those developing the software. “Software developers aren’t gonna deal real well with all these different sized products, when they have to redo their software every time the screen size changes…”
He made it clear the 7 inch iPad would remain just what it is right now, a prototype and would never make it to production lines. So those who have been awaiting the baby iPad with bated breath, well they can now breathe easy and settle down for the 10 inch iPad instead. Unless they are ready for a sand paper treatment as Steve has pointed out. However, there might still be hope in that what has once been decried by him tends to return somehow.He had gone on record saying “no one reads” though we do have the iBooks now.
Steve Jobs also took the opportunity to take a dig at the competition saying what is being made out of it as an avalanche is in reality nothing more than a trickle. He poo pooed the idea of Android powered tablets overthrowing the iPad though he did acknowledge Android is their biggest competitor in the smartphone segment. He is skeptical of tablets running Android making it real big as he believes the OS is still not ready for tablet devices. He also pointed out that its none other than Google itself that is asking their OEM partners to not have the current version of the Android in their devices and instead wait till early next year when the first fully optimized version of the OS for tablet is launched. He wondered what message is being sent across when vendors are still going ahead with the Android tablet plans ignoring Google’s pleas to not to do so.
Steve though is pretty upbeat on the prospects of the tablet itself: “We’ve got a tiger by the tail here. This is a new model of computing,” is how he is describing the booming tablet PC segment.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
