I'm breaking out my crystal ball and taking the collective stirrings on the net about Apple patents, the MacBook Air, iPhone and our old pal Newton and making my prediction about Apple's next big thing. Hold onto your hats, folks - this could be revolutionary.
Recently Steve Jobs remarked in an
interview with the New York Times that eBook readers like the
Amazon Kindle
were flawed because
It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.
Folks who follow the methods of Steve Jobs read this as a clear indicator that Apple has an eBook reader in the works. I agree with this assessment and couple it with other tidbits of information.
Apple has had a slate of recent patent applications that serve to further my prediction for Apple's next big thing. Among them are two of greatest importance.
Electronista does a good job of describing the clamshell structure of a possible new iPhone. This may come to pass, but the application of this technology is not, in my opinion, limited to an iPhone device. When you couple the dual-sided touch-screen panels with a larger input device you have what amounts to a book-sized reader with multi-touch capability. Take a look at the images Apple included in the filing of the patent:
In a nutshell the patent uses a dual-sided input such that either side of the device could be used for tactile input. When closed it could act as a tablet and when open it could function as a notebook. Keep this in mind.
The problem with eBook reader so far has been they do not mimic the reality of reading books. They are bulky at best and even when thin they lack multiple functionality and are therefore limited to what they can do.
Now take into consideration the (some say) surprising success of the MacBook Air. It lacks some of the ports and embedded devices (DVD drive for example) that laptop computers are "supposed to have" and yet users of the new laptop are gushing about the experience of using the Air. This new form factor bodes well the development of a whole new category of machine - a revolution that Apple is certain to be first to bring to market.
Lastly consider the Newton. The Newton helped to create the market for PDA's but it never shook off bad press it had gotten for the handwriting recognition software it used. Back in 2004 Steve Jobs made mention of
pride in a PDA they never shipped and some believe the Cupertino company never gave up hope on a PDA. Just today it is being reported that Apple has placed an employment position for a
Handwriting Recognition Engineer. If you think Apple isn't mulling a new PDA you're nuts.
So onto my prediction then ...
Apple's next big thing is a laptop/tablet/PDA/book reader. Apple's next big thing will raise the bar on what we expect from a mobile computing platform.
Consider a multi-touch clamshell device that you open like a book and flip pages with your hand as though you were really flipping pages of a book. Imagine closing that book and writing on the cover with a stylus as you make notes. Imagine a software-only keyboard brought up by a single icon along a dock. Imagine using multi-touch for manipulating files. It goes on and on.
I have seen a lot of predictions for the iPhone clamshell and a lot of predictions for the dual-screen multi-sided input device as a laptop. But I think what is missing in these predictions is that Apple will want to redefine the whole landscape of expectations.
In a smaller form factor we might see a paperback sized eBook reader/tablet/PDA with browsing similar to the iPhone and in a larger version we would see a full-blown MacBook sans hardware input.
When this form factor comes into being I will be first in line to buy one.
What do you think? Possible? Probable? Let me know!
Labels: Amazon Kindle, Apple, eBook reader, iPhone, MacBook Air, multi-touch, Newton, patent, prediction, Steve Jobs
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