Are Tablets the Future or Just a Signpost?

There's no doubt that tablets are coming into their own.  Compared to comparable technologies from the past their adoption has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Apple, of course, kicked it off with the iPad.  Well, if you ignore the tablet devices that were used on Star Trek, which I understand inspired the Kindle family that are now adding to the tablet expansion.  And definitely if you ignore the 1981 radio/book/TV and eventually cinematic phenomenon, the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.  I think Douglas Adams should really get some credit for inventing the genre, but hey, that's life, I guess.

So have we finished with the old forms of computing?  Well I suspect the bottom has fallen out of the desktop market to a significant degree.  Of course there's a lot of roles for computing that don't require portable devices and some would suggest that office equipment have their advantages for not being portable.  Plus, I think it's fair to say that although tablet screens can be fast, sharp and very intuitive with their capacitive stretch and slide they're also too small for some applications.

Now I'm a moderate computer user - in my day job I use Word, Excel, Outlook plus some proprietary programs.  As a preference I extend my desktop screen from my laptop computer to increase the real estate I can use as I often have multiple Word, Excel and Outlook windows open.  I could double the size on both screens and still want more.  Tablet screens are great if you're able to do just one task on a screen at a time, but true multi-tasking is currently a challenge for the genre.

I think that tablets will increase in functionality over the next year and we may start to see iPad+ sized screens arriving - the Microsoft Surface pushes the size boundaries slightly but loses something with its unusual screen format.  However, who knows what Surface 2 will look like? There will inevitably be a bleed across the technologies, and again the Surface has nodded towards this.  I don't think Microsoft have got it right, but I'm sure we're going to see a lot of innovation in the near future.

What would work for me would be a tablet computer I can take out to business meetings, capable of running   MS Office applications, connectable to a projector and able to run proprietary software.  Back at the office it would be able to hook up to a full keyboard and mouse plus a full size screen that is also a capacitative screen.  As a minimum it would be possible to use the extended screen setup in the same way I use my current setup, but able to drag windows across to other parts of the screen, stretch images to get a better detailed view and generally have an enhanced experience that brings the benefits of both paradigms.

Can Apple or Google deliver this level of functionality coupled with the security required of a business level computing system?  Of course, all it takes is cash and time.  Can they beat Microsoft to the table?  Unless they are working towards this standard already, and are quite a long way down the development route, probably not.  Will Microsoft regain its market position if it is the only company pursuing this route? Probably not fully and I expect that one or both of Apple and Google will be barking at Microsoft's shirt tails pretty soon anyway.

So tablets aren't the end-game, in my opinion, although I fully believe they are pointing towards the future. We're in for an exciting time ahead in the next two years and I think that all tablet makers should prepare their customers for the ride.  Taking a leaf out of Douglas Adams I would support all tablets sold from now on having the words 'Don't Panic' emblazoned across the front screen.  It might just help.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

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Sullivan's Almanac

We are rapidly approaching that time of year when folks think it appropriate to make forecasts about the future. Generally these are baloney and manage to give astrology a good name, or at least a better name.  I've two main issues with them.  The first is the ridiculous notion that the end of one year and therefore the start of a new year is a sensible point to make these predictions - let's be real here folks, the New Year is just an arbitrary point in time that is only significant because we start drinking in one year and don't stop until the next.  Actually, I think I understand it now!

The second point is probably the main one.  If I or one of the other hundred or thousand people who claim to have forecasts for the future were actually in receipt of certain knowledge we wouldn't be posting the predictions in a blog, we'd be buying and selling shares with every penny we had to our names.

Still, it does seem appropriate as we approach the end of the year to make some predictions.  So this is just for fun, right?  Don't go buying shares off the back of my opinions.  But if you do and I'm right, well you know where to find me.  Cash or cheques are fine by me.

My top six predictions for 2013

1.   Apple will still be here

No, really.  Sure it's going to be one heck of a year for Apple, but they'll survive.  iOS 7 will be launched in January - it'll actually be iOS 5 in essence but probably will have Apple Maps included and working.  It'll also have most of the 'enhancements' included in iOS6 reverted to how they were until iOS 6 was released.  By March there will be rumours of a new iPhone - look I never said this was going to be an innovative look into the future - but the phone won't arrive until August.  Maybe it'll have thought control?  Apple haven't got that many more new ways to go.  Stock price will rise and fall.  Probably in that order.

2.  Amazon will  still be here

No, really.  2013 will be a bit of a disappointing year for Amazon because they had intended to rule the world by the end of this year, but will be two countries short of the full set.  To be fair, North Korea and Iran have always been a bit difficult to anticipate.  The Kindle will still be the best selling dedicated eReader - that's the good news.  The bad news, for various reasons, is that dedicated eReaders will be in general decline having peaked at Christmas 2012.  The Kindle Fire will be the new entry level device for reading eBooks by September or December - I must dust this crystal ball before moving on to number 3.  However, one of the big players - maybe Amazon, possibly Apple, probably Google will launch a tablet that can be read in sunlight.  Stock price will rise and rise, probably in that order.

3.  Google will still be here

But I guess you knew that.  Google+ will be clinging on, but really it won't make any impact during 2013.  Google will do one of two things this year.  They will either use their formidable financial muscle to buy Facebook and rebrand it FB Google+ or they will save some money and develop a time machine, go back a few years and buy Facebook.  Or maybe they'll go back even further and create Facebook.  Their family of tablets will fight like hell all year for market share, but really that battle is between Apple and Amazon for the majority of the year.  There will be at least two new releases of the Android OS, both with stupid names that should be unforgettable but will just blend in with the older names.  Their share price will be quoted in scientific notation.  Greece will buy one share in January with the intention of selling it before the end of December and sorting out the deficit in one move.  They will probably have some change to spread around as well.

4.  Facebook will still be here

It's a close call, but it will manage to hang on one more year.  It will be a challenging year for FB, but not terminally so.  The challenge won't come from another social network but from a public that becomes jaded with the whole social network paradigm.  Either Facebook or Get Me out of Here - I'm a Celebrity will look like it will fail just after 2013 is over.  Facebook will announce, probably in the autumn, that they are introducing a thought controlled version to use with the 3D holographic tablets Apple will announce in the late summer. Did I forget to mention Apple will announce the  i3DPad in item 1?  Well, they will, but it won't exist until 2014 so that's for another almanac.  Stock price will fall until they unfriend the bankers.

5.  Twitter will still be here

But nobody will understand why.  So nothing new there.  Twitter will continue to innovate and may stretch the letter count up to 141 characters by the end of the year, but this will bring enormous bugs in its wake.  Twitter will end up in court defending account holders who have inadvertently defamed British politicians - like that's an easy task - but nobody will understand why they do this.  Stephen Fry will threaten to leave Twitter again and the share price will tumble.  Stephen Fry will eventually relent and share price will tumble further.

6.  Microsoft will still be here

No kidding.  More importantly the Surface Tablet will see version 2, Windows 8 will see Service Pack 2 by mid year and some confidence, obviously misplaced, will return to Microsoft.  The Surface will be pushed as the serious tablet for business use, will be tied strongly to Microsoft Exchange and will have the full suite of MS security built in to instil business confidence.  Consequently it will run like a dog with one leg, will install service updates virtually every time it is switched on and will reboot without warning most days, generally when in the middle of a critical transaction.  MS Exchange users won't even notice.  Share price will change, up or down, probably both, possibly simultaneously.

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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!