It's amazing, sometimes, how fast things move in the world of tech. Something that one day seemed to be a project that would never come to fruition, a frivolous idea, a joke . . . suddenly becomes the harbinger of the Next Big Thing.
A few months ago, Apple's tablet was merely a rumor, and a baffling one at that. It sounded like a huge, overpriced iPod. Nobody was quite sure what role it would fill (A netbook without a keyboard? A super-sophisticated E-reader?) It was being thought of as Apple's folly even before it was officially announced.
But the more people talked abut it, the more they realized this may be something after all, especially if it ran the full Mac OS. And apparently, other companies paid attention to the talk as well, because, apparently, there's a genuine challenger to the Mac tablet in the works.
The tablets are coming. Welcome to the next battleground of the Everything Wars.
What made the potential of Tablet Wars so very interesting was both the company that was rumored to have one in the works – Dell – and the OS it was going to run. Apparently, the Dellpad would be powered by Android.
The more you think of it, the more the matchup of a tablet computer and Android seems like a no-brainer – one of those things that was so obvious that everyone missed it. But now that Dell has planted the idea (allegedly, remember, neither the Apple tablet nor the Dell one has been officially announced), expect other manufacturers to pick up on it – I can defintiely see not only computer manufacturers, but smarphone ones as well leaping into the game.
Who stands to win from this? Definitely Google – this may be the most high-profile use of Android yet (other than on those T-Mobil phones that were relentlessly advertised for awhile) and their best shot at being a genuine challenger to Windows. Android developers will have a lot more opportunities to create apps of all kinds – productivity, Web, the works.
And Apple will benefit from this, as well – because suddenly, their idea that looked highly questionable now looks like the cutting edge of a new revolution. The iPad (if that is, indeed, its name) will come out as the Tiffany of tablets, the one for people who want Apple workmanship and a familar OS – and, again, there will be plenty of new opportunities for software developers.
Expect the tablet wars to be one of the biggest arenas of the Everything Wars next year. Now all we need is for all these projects to be officially announced, so the speculation can become reality.
- Bonnie