Just saying the word "Apple" fills me with so many conflicting emotions these days—longing, frustration, jealousy, disgust, admiration—they’re all twisted together. As a company, Apple has the advantage of being the curve when it comes to portable communication, so why are they intentionally dragging their feet when we’re on the threshold of a universal communications device?
Please, take a moment and think about how data moves in and out of your home. Phone line? Probably. High speed internet? Check. Television? Gotta have it! Cellular phone? Even my ten year old niece has one now… Data plan? Texts? Tethering surcharge? Add another line for just $5? Might as well!
At the end of the month I look back and it frustrates me to realize that I'm paying AT&T for a half dozen separate services when essentially they're all the same product: data transfer. They’re just one of many telecom companies milking the last days of an era and they know it. We're on the verge of a technological transition that will fundamentally change the type of world our children are born into, but no one wants to pull the trigger on that big change. We’re being held back intentionally.
Imagine that for $30 you could send/receive all the same calls, text messages, emails and photos you currently do. Dock your device and have a face to face conversation with someone in another time zone. Watch a movie while you wait at the dentist office. Respond to a vendor’s email while on an airplane. All of this technology exists, is readily available, and should have been integrated as core design elements for the iPad—but then what would they put in next year’s iPad, who would buy the iPhone4, and what would that do to Apple’s strategic partnership with AT&T?
Technology is advancing faster than the marketplace is, faster than most people care to imagine. Rather than release the best possible product though, companies maneuver to have something up their sleeves for next year’s model. They’ve created an atmosphere where they can spend the first six months of the year selling you a product, and spend the next six months making you feel that it’s obsolete compared to their next big release…effectively allowing marketing considerations to drive the pace of technological proliferation.
The answer, clearly, lies in more competition. Unfortunately, the failure of previous tablets has given Apple an incredible head start in this marketplace. They’ll be releasing a second generation device as other companies bring their first offerings to market. We can look forward to tablets powered by other operating systems, but not for another six to twelve months in all likelihood—by which time Apple’s iPad could become as synonymous with tablet computing as the iPod is for portable music, and iTunes for digital distribution of media.
As each carrier establishes increasingly competitive price points for integrated data service (Sprint most recently offered unlimited voice/texting/data for $70) I predict we’re going to see new devices pop up—4G tablets, compatible with multiple carriers, running a variant of Android OS (probably) and capable of purchasing/installing apps from a myriad of outlets, even directly from websites. Cellular companies will complete the cross-over to scalable data plans, and instead of adding a new line for $5 a month you’ll be offered the opportunity to sync an additional device for a nominal increase.
That’s the revolution! That’s the real goal. But in the meantime, we’re stuck in the end zone waving our arms, waiting for Steve Jobs to throw a touchdown—all the while he’s trying to run out the clock.
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