If, and I underline the word ‘if,’ there’s an Apple Tablet for us to buy this Christmas, it’s not going to be, as some would have it, a replacement for the Apple TV.
The argument for this proposed new tablet replacing the Apple TV is that younger users will be so happy watching video on a mobile device with a 10″ display that this will replace the demand for media-extenders like the Apple TV. Eh… I don’t buy this. Would I, or my 20-year old daughter, be happy to watch South Park on an iTablet instead of an iPod or iPhone. Sure. Would this replace the Apple TV. I don’t think so.
I like my iPod Touch a lot, and I like the idea of an iTablet, but while watching TV on a small screen is fine some of the time, when I really want to “watch” TV I want to watch it on a real—read at least 26″ HDTV—and not on a hand-held device.
Of course, this presumes Apple is actually going to produce a tablet-sized iPod device. For all the words bouncing around the net today about this tablet all we really have is one (1) story from the Financial Times.
If you read that story, you’ll see it actually says little more than there will be an iPod-like tablet device out by the end of this year. That’s it.
You’ll excuse me if I don’t praise this as the next big entertainment technology must-have gadget. I’ll certainly look forward to seeing it if anything actually ever arrives. But, whatever it turns out to be, I don’t see it as being an Apple TV replacement. People want both mobile video and big-screen, stay-at-home TV.
Perhaps not an AppleTV replacement, but (if provided with a daylight-readable, color, full-motion, hi-res Pixel Qi screen), a replacement for: netbooks, all other tablet PCs, all other e-readers (including Kindles), and probably more. Apps, ebooks, movies, songs, newspapers all being made available through itunes; this would net Apple a pretty penny or two that could be used to reduce the price of such a tablet to the point where it becomes the ubiquitous portable PC and e-reader of the masses. Corporate and medical applications would also be very profitable. The movies I think would just be one of many features available (not the main selling point). VOIP could also make this even more interesting, as could authentic interoperability with Linux (as well as OSx and Windows).