Comments on: Is The Age of the Web Tablet Finally Upon Us?

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:11:31 +0000

We’re starting to see this approach with netbooks and I’m watching to see how this plays out. My gut feeling is it won’t impact netbooks nor the tablet you reference. Mom and Pop User don’t want a $60/ month fee to get on the web.

By: Mark Jaquith

Mark Jaquith — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:50:49 +0000

What do you think about the possibility of a carrier-subsidized tablet (or ultraportable)? That could really get the price down. Like, to “free.”

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:57:31 +0000

^^^I think the biggest factor affecting the timing of acceptance for a web tablet is price.^^^ It’s the same factor that has propelled the netbook into the forefront. There have been small, portable notebooks for years but it wasn’t until they hit the $200 – $400 price point that netbooks took off.

There have been several web tablets over the years, the Pepper Pad being one. It’s not much different than a tablet that would be produced today. The problem preventing the public from accepting them earlier was largely price, although the lack of prevalent WiFi was a factor too.

For a web tablet to reach mass market potential even today it had better be $300 or cheaper or it won’t go mainstream which must happen for the genre to take off.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:35:49 +0000

I think that you’re spot-on about the PA Semi impact, Mike. Apple is successful when they can control (and therefore best integrate) the software and hardware.

By: Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:29:07 +0000

Stacey – I mentioned CPU improvements at the end, and here I was specifically thinking of Atom. You are right though, advances here are worthy of even more emphasis given they are driving huge innovation in mobile devices. Interesting to me is Apple and whether they will utilize the PA Semi assets to design their own processor for something like a web tablet

By: Mark Jaquith

Mark Jaquith — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:37:39 +0000

It seems that just like every year is the year that Linux gains substantial desktop user share, every year is the year that tablets take off. I’ll believe it when I see it. But if it does happen this year, think it will be because Apple showed everyone that making a portable computing device isn’t about cramming a full sized computer’s form factor into a smaller space, but by embracing limitations for their ability to free them from past design constraints. That just might have people thinking outside the box enough to do a tablet PC that isn’t just a desktop PC without a keyboard and with a stylus instead of a mouse.

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:34:27 +0000

You neglected to mention the improvements in ARM-based chips or even Intel’s Atom that have allowed for lighter machines that can run longer on smaller batteries. Plus there’s also the rise of capacitive rather than resistive touch leading to a better user experience. However I’m not sure that general purpose tablets will beat out my smartphone. I can see a market for Internet-enabled specialty devices like a Kindle or web-enabled gaming tablet, but otherwise the category mystifies me.