It’s been a tumultuous month for technology. Apple lost Steve Jobs as CEO, Hewlett Packard (HP) gave up the tablet war even before it got going, Financial Times pulled the plug on Apple by refusing to share data and revenues and Sony introduced the world’s first foldable tablet. The world of technology has clicked into an irreversible trajectory, as has the interface between man and device. Web consumption is firmly in mobile telephony territory — cheap, cheerful, transformational, and in the process of creating new king makers.
The first battle is being fought on the price point. Apple has never been known to sell them cheap. The top cheerleader when it comes to futuristic devices, Apple has milked consumers, who want the me-first experience it offers. Apple users, who queue overnight for its products, take pride in being early adaptors as much as they fancy themselves as big spenders.
Still, last month when HP slashed the prices of its TouchPad tablet to $99 in a desperate bid to get rid of inventory, it may have unwittingly set a new floor for tablet pricing. It’s already evident in the pricing criticism that Sony’s tablet has drawn. While HP has walked away from the tablet market, stunning the market, the technology world is abuzz with whispers of how Amazon is readying an Android-based device, which will be a tablet priced hundreds of dollars below Apple. And it’s not another Kindle.
In India, both Reliance Communications and Airtel have introduced tablets priced between Rs 10,000 to Rs 13,000. At this point, don’t expect the HTCs of the world to take it easy, despite putting a pricey product into the market this week. What the world can do, the Taiwanese will do cheaper — by a lot.
The tablet’s success has partly been because of its incredible portability and ease of use. Its non-daunting interface is a far cry from the early days of the PC. Remember those computer courses that would teach people to log on?
As the world goes wireless and phone operators look to make money off the huge fees they have paid for 3G airwaves worldwide, expect them to cash into data downloaded by using new technology. And expect users to prefer it to clumsy wires or stodgy wireless routers — at least for personal use. In India, it represents a never before opportunity to take internet rural, something that fixed line providers have failed to do.
The next challenge is going to be to tailor content for these devices. Technology blogs have already berated the gaming experience on the new Sony tablet, so device makers and software programmers will have to make applications that will pixilate and respond rapidly to a tablet device, formatted for a ten inch screen. Online sites that have been delivering for a personal computer will have to hone products for a personal tablet.
The tablet war will spawn a new generation of successful firms and bleed of those that can’t keep pace, be that in hardware, software or content delivery. Nokia is a classic case in point. It has been outsmarted by Apple, whereas Samsung, has used the opportunity to get ahead in smartphones.
Apple, the icon of all things funky, now faces the Nokia challenge — to keep producing devices that exceed user expectation. With Steve Jobs taking a back seat all the bets are on how Apple will fare. It’s very hard to guess.
One thing is clear though. For users and companies it’s the defining moment of which side of PC history they will be on. There are only two camps — the future and the past.
Anjana Menon is executive editor, NDTV Profit
