Steve Jobs does it again

Apple resurrects Tablet as a mainstream product

If there’s any company that can match or even emulate the hype that online search giant Google generates when it is to launch a product, or sometimes even a couple of years before the launch, it is Steve Jobs’ Apple Inc.

The company has proved this repeatedly. First, with its aesthetically-designed Macintosh (or Mac as it is better known), it showed the world that personal computers (PCs) could be more than just black boxes. Later, it was the iPod, then the iPhone, and now the iPad (known as a Tablet PC).

Critics expected the Apple magic to fade with time. However, over 300,000 iPads were sold on the first day of their debut weekend. Wall Street analysts are now pegging sales of the tablet computer at about 5-6 million units in the first 12 months.

Apple fans in India, meanwhile, can access e-commerce companies like eBay and Bangalore-based 20North to have the iPad delivered to their homes, albeit at a higher rate on account of customs duty and shipping charges. Since Apple has not announced any plans for India till date, the sales are not authorised, and so warranty may pose a problem in some cases.

But would users who have a laptop and a smartphone need an iPad? For one, an iPad is more portable and easy to use than a laptop. You can place it on your coffee table or even take it with you to the washroom where you may want to read an e-book (a threat to Kindle and Amazon’s book reader), surf the web, check your e-mail or perhaps watch a video. The iPad’s larger screen, with its touch-screen interface and motion sensors, will make these activities more enjoyable.

iPad, however, does not support Adobe’s Flash software which is annoying especially since there are around 150,000 applications in Apple’s iPhone and iPad App Store. iPad also does not allow users to run multiple programs. Apple has generally barred multitasking on iPhone operating system (OS) devices, most notably with applications that users download from its App Store. Apple is expected to rectify this with an upgrade of its OS.

There are other irritants, too. For instance, the iPad lacks a USB input; it can’t connect to wireless projectors; the Wi-Fi connection can give a problem and there’s no camera for video calling/Skype. Apple is expected to find answers to these glitches, and Apple fans generally wait.

Apple’s shareholders, too, are patient with Jobs. And with good reason. Apple now makes more money from the smartphone sector than Nokia, although Nokia still has twice the overall market share. Where the market for high-end mobile devices was once dominated by Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and HTC, it’s now split between Nokia, Apple and RIM. Telecom research firm STL credits Apple’s success to its approach to the developer communities.

Even Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp, has lent his might to Apple. He believes the iPad can not only save the print media worldwide, but also end the rule of Google by forcing the latter to pay for content instead of aggregating it freely.

Apple, on its part, has not only made the Tablet appealing but also a viable mainstream product (one faintly recalls Microsoft’s tablet PC today). But if online reports are to be believed, we should see an Android-powered WePad and MeeGo-powered Nokia slate before the end of the year. This is not to forget Hewlett Packard’s Slate and a slate from Samsung too.

Apple won’t rest on its laurels either. Reports say Apple might launch a smaller version of the Apple iPad in 2011 which, of course, will be cheaper too.

The big question is will Apple’s magic die after Jobs. No one knows the answer.