Hardware companies think writing software is easy (Sony) and software companies think building hardware can't be that hard (Microsoft). Apple has been doing both as an integrated discipline for a few decades. They can tell you that it's a culture that takes time to build and replicating it is not as easy as some would think. This is the main reason why even though "tablet PCs" have been around for almost 10 years, they never got out of their niche markets. Yes...they can do everything a regular laptop can do, but they are heavy, expensive, and have crappy battery life. The Apple iPad is the exact opposite of all of that. It can't replace a laptop, but it is light, cheap, and can last for days between charge.
What got us on this topic was a recent discussion on a few blogs with some very knowledgeable folks. We were trading thoughts about the HP Slate, HTC, JooJoo, and what would be our idea of the "perfect tablet."
In the course of the discussion, the following transpired which we thought was worth sharing:
The challenge:
"OK, let's do this. I will compare my netbook against a iPad - HP Mini 110 - $300. 10inch screen. 1GB HDD. 1GB RAM. 1.66Ghz Atom. 3 usb ports. TV out. Various media card slots. Windows 7. Webcam. Keyboard. The ability to load any software I want. Oh and flash/silverlight/whatever else suits my fancy. iPad - $500. 8GB hdd. No ports. Phone OS. No webcam. No software installation capability. Etc."
Our response:
And the trajectory of Netbooks sales are heading ...where? In six months, the word "netbook" will be a footnote in computing history. Of course we could have "paid" less had we purchased netbooks, but they would not have been used...which in the end, would have been "false economy", as with most purchased decisions based on that type of thinking.
While the iPad trajectory will level out, the netbook curve will go down to zero. The same will happen to the iPad when a better device comes out, but light weight, multi-touch devices will be the new 3rd screen.
The argument we have always made was if one really wanted a "perfect" combo of hardware and software... an integrated approach is the only way to go. Our reasoning is if you are a "software only" company (ie:Google, Microsoft)... the software has to be generalized to anticipate the needs of multiple hardware makers, to allow them to pick a combo of features, so their products can stand out. This criteria makes it difficult to optimize any specific combination.
When Apple designed the A4 chip, they could target performance parameters based on agreed upon features the chip will have to support. They can optimize the heck out of the instruction set given that bounding box. Also, Apple can drop the iPad to $300 and still make money with the App Store. This hardware/software one-two punch is pretty difficult to counter. We don't see anyone standing toe-to-toe and slugging it out with Apple any time soon. [Permalink] -Building the perfect tablet
Update: Oct 25, 2011 - It took longer than six months, but tablet shipments have surpassed netbooks in Q2 of 2011 [BGR].
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