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Rupert Goodwins

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Mixed Signals

Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise

Thursday 1 November 2007, 1:00 PM

Touching on tablet PCs

Posted by Rupert Goodwins

Last week, we waved goodbye to Suzie Daniels, a very long-standing (most of the time) member of our gang. She's been in charge of ZDNet UK and much else besides, and helped us do all sorts of cool things.

As is traditional, there was a bit of a bash and a bit of a presentation. For a leaving gift, we got her an iPod Touch and, for a moment or two at least, that got more attention than she did as various people clustered around to marvel at its slickness. It, like its iPhone sibling, is undoubtedly and extremely cool. (As is Suzie, who soon reasserted herself as the central focus of the evening.)

Meanwhile, the Tablet PC format remains undoubtedly uncool. This is a bit unfair: after a few misfires, Microsoft has got some good technologies together and the idea is working well. It's still a spoddy, vertical market thing that most people associate with meter readers and survey takers. But the conceptual difference between it and the iTouch is nowhere near as major as the vast perceptual chasm that exists between the two.

And now, Apple is busy back-porting features from its touch-based portables into its mainstream PC operating system. CoverFlow, for example, which I saw running on Leopard for the first time yesterday; on the iTouch/iPhone, it lets you riffle through album covers and the like; on Leopard, it combines with a preview for lots of content types so you can go burrowing through the filing system with pizazz.

I don't want to join the rumour mill on the Apple Tablet, although... no, I don't. Honest. But if one were to consider that Microsoft's tablet tech is being held back from widespread acceptance more by perception than its actual capabilities, that the format is potentially very powerful for rich media in a connected world, and that Apple has established a dominant position in touch-based computing, then - well, just join the dots.

Comments on this post

wydeboi

You know of course someone has already done this, Rupert?
Look up Axiotron for their ModBook© >
http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook

Not sure how they got past Mr Jobs and his IP police but there you go.

Posted by wydeboi on Nov 5, 2007 1:59 PM

Rupert Goodwins

Well, according to the Modbook entry in Wikipedia...

"The ModBook which has been slated for April during the MacWorld exhibition has been delayed indefinitely due to component shortage by Axiotron. According to the Axitron order web site, the ModBook will become first available in the United States and Canada, followed by selected regions and countries worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2007"

which means that IF there is a real Apple tablet, that's really being made as I type by one of the Macbook suppliers, then they'll be royally shafted in short order. Or if the Modbook is... perhaps... slightly more vaporous than one might think?

Posted by Rupert Goodwins on Nov 5, 2007 3:22 PM

Rupert Goodwins
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