The Next Cool Thing

Assignment from 3/15/2011

2010 was foretold to be the Year of the Check-in, as 2009 was the year of the Twitter. Four months into 2011 and I can most assuredly see this as the Year of the Tablet. Though Apple sold millions of its iPads in 2010, without a doubt their prevalence is now coming into its own in 2011. Perhaps this perception is coming about because the tablet trend has trickled down into the ranks of the Ringling student that I can see its rise. Many students find it useful for content creation as well as media consumption here, opting to use their iPads to stream music instead of their desktops.

Even I am not immune to the siren call of the tablet, though I opted for a 1st Generation tablet running the Android operating system. This was a mistake, as its operating system is not designed to function on a tablet,but instead on a phone. Looking now at the 2nd generation of Android tablets (NotionInk Adam, Motorola Xoom) I see some strong contenders for Apple's throne. I fear, though, that Android tablets will find the same market situation as phones. Android has become the 2nd-most common operating system on phones while no single piece of hardware has come out a front-runner. While the Xoom is an excellent platform, its base price puts it out of reach of many consumers. The Adam, a brilliant tablet, is beset by being produced by an Indian start-up company. Production delays and testing put its real street date into the far future.

Even so, with the launch of the iPad2 and many more Android and WebOS tablets, I see tablets finding their way into more hands, slowly but surely weaving their way into our lives. As a bit of a thought experiment, I have taken to making use of my tablet when I would make use of my laptop. More often than not, though, I to type quickly on a larger keyboard, with the screen-space afforded by a larger keyboard. Sadly, my tablet collects dust, though it could just as easily be because it's simply not fun to use.