Larkland Morley’s Professional Blog

Today, April 3rd, was the first release of Apple’s Ipad tablet computer. It’s important to note that this is not the first tablet computer on the market, in fact I got myself an old Fujitsu ST 5022D off ebay.com recently which I think is about 5 years old in terms of technology. In fact Apple once had a tablet/large PDA called the Newton as well.

The Ipad is not the first of the new generation of tablet computers either as  there are several other brands out in the market except that the closest competitors in terms of functionality are from smaller companies. Now what makes the modern tablet stand out from its ancient siblings?

There are several key differentiating technologies that is changing the face of computing in general and will drive not just tablets but intelligent devices in general. The first is touch screen technology. This allows a user to interact directly with the screen on a device with fingers as oppose to using the pen on older devices. The other technology is battery in general. This has made the other devices very heavy such as the Fujitsu ST 5022D that I have. I took the battery out, and it weighs so much less. I think the evolution of battery technology and low power components is a big factor in driving the usage of portable devices.

The next key factor, is wireless data technology. Several devices came out on the market in the last few years from the blackberry which allowed corporate e-mail interaction to the Iphone that provides web browsing and applications in general. Several others came with options to surrounding those models but pretty much the same thing. The wireless technology I want to mention is 3G wireless. This allows much better data experience from literally anywhere. Of course, we know this will reach its peak soon and fortunately 4G technology is pretty much ready to go. We will see this in larger scales by 2011. Wifi should not be ignored, as it’s the technology that is still available in pretty much any decent locations nowadays including most homes. Bluetooth is another one that will help device to device communication in a limited space.

The next very important technology that’s driving the technology landscape is the issue of application deployment. I think Apple has set a trend with the launch of its Iphone Apps store and this will continue with the Ipad and other similar devices. The ability to find an application for pretty any function in one place is very big.

In summa I think the Ipad will do well as Apple is very good at marketing, but I do think it will improve significantly over the next few years as this is just 1.0. Other vendors will drive the competition forward but the question I have, is this the ultimate computing device? I doubt it. I think this is where Apple will beat the others. They will focus on having an Ipad answer will Apple is now focused on solving the next computing challenges for user interaction.

I do believe we are heading towards the time when we can have full video interaction anywhere. While, we have several means to get that done, there is still work to be done in that arena.

Here is a recent review from the different points of view on the Ipad – Goto Ipad Review.