Anticipation: BlackBerry PlayBookApril 15, 2011
It's Friday and the PlayBook officially launches on Tuesday, just two business days from now. The reviews are out, and they're... pretty mediocre, actually a little negative, which is a marked change from the positive vibes that have surrounded the device these last 7 months. The most noise being made is about the lack of native email client, calendar, contacts, lack of apps, and the power button of all things. Here are my thoughts on each of these things:
Native Email/Calendar/ContactsFirst of all, I agree that RIM ideally would have these things at launch, no question in my mind there. But they don't. So how big of a problem is this?
If we side step the "perception of a problem" as being a problem and think about actually using the device, I still agree this is an issue, but not as big an issue as people are making it out to be. Let's think about how I personally use email... I use Gmail. And how do I access it? Through a web browser. The web UI for Gmail is so good that I've never felt the need to download an email app on my PC. And so I think that's where RIM is coming from when they say their anticipation is that this device will suit webmail users just fine.
Using webmail on a tablet is different than using it on a PC, though. You have less screen area, etc, and so there are opportunities to create a UI that is better suited to the tablet. And of course, using a native app will likely be a bit snappier, and finally, since this is not an always-connected device like the PC, not having an app means that you won't have offline access to your email.
Remember though, that you can just download a third-party email app if these things are important to you. When you add up the webmail and third-party email app aspects, I again say that this argument is being overplayed. I think it somehow becomes more a symbolic argument than a practical one: People feel that the lack of these apps is symbolic of the fact that the tablet is being released on very tight time frames, and that RIM hasn't had enough time to "do it right". If this is the concern, then let's step back a moment and remember what industry this is... every month counts, and no device is ever going to be perfect on every front when it is released. So I think you have to look at these issue not as symbolic but rather in a practical light, and in the case of native email, as I've made my case, I think it's an issue but not a big one. (Calendar and Contacts are essentially the same discussion)
Power ButtonOk, so it's pretty clear that the industrial design of the power button gets a "fail", or does it? I'm not questioning that the power button takes serious effort to push, but what isn't clear in my mind is whether the power button is something that needs to be used on a daily basis. Do I ever use a "power button" on my iPad? Rarely, very rarely. Perhaps I've used it 5 times in the last year. So unless I'm missing something, why are people unhappy with the button being very tucked away? Going back to the industrial design argument, this might actually be seen as good design, because it's going to keep you from accidentally hitting the button, and because it's recessed, it doesn't clutter the perimeter of the device with un-flush adornments. I'm not arguing that RIM made the perfect design decisions here, but I am again saying that I think this criticism is coming off very loud giving how minor the issue is in terms of practical usage of the device, and I think there are some real benefits to the design as well.
AppsThis one is a little bizarre too, because RIM hasn't yet added the thousands of PlayBook apps to the app store, they only have a few dozen in the store to demonstrate how apps can be browsed and installed. So why would Gizmodo create a fancy comic-like graphic with "NO APPS" spray painted on the PlayBook? Seriously?
I fully agree that this is legitimately a big issue... both the iPad and Android have tens of thousands of apps available, whereas the Playbook has about 3,000. But I also don't think this issue is quite the way people are painting it, either.
First of all, the iPad doesn't REALLY have 300,000 tablet apps. Sure, there are hundreds of thousands of iPhone apps out there, and they can technically run on the iPad, but in my collection of 20 or so iPad apps, are any of them iPhone apps? No. I'm not saying that other people don't have some phone apps on their tablet, but the lion's share of apps running on iPads are tablet apps. So I think to be fair, you shouldn't quote 300,000 when talking about the number of iPad apps there are. (The number of iPad apps is 65,000, I believe) And likewise for Android tablets, how many of the available apps are actually tablet apps VS phone apps? If you look at the situation that way, the picture is very different.
Secondly, I don't think 3,000 apps is problematic. That's a lot of apps... remember in the early PC days when the number of apps available at the computer store was < 100? Did that stunt the growth of the PC industry? Not at all. I think a more important consideration is whether the prime-time, popular apps are available on a platform, and that's something that reviewers don't yet know. If these apps are truly missing, and they don't show up in the next couple of months, then yes, I think it's very fair and right to point this out as a flaw of the platform for consumers, but from this vantage point I don't think "NO APPS" is a good or even valid assessment.
My Personal ThoughtsPersonally, I'm very excited about the PlayBook and the platform. There have been many times I've been browsing the web on my iPad and go to watch some video clip on Facebook or elsewhere and groan when I realize it's flash and I can't view it. Ugh. I'm not saying Apple made the wrong decision at the time, but for them not to have Flash working over a year later and making no known efforts to get it working is kind of mind boggling. Given all the criticism of RIM this week, it's kind of curious that consumers don't rant about Apple's lack of flash support.
Being a UI guy, I'm also very impressed with the flow of using the device. I find the iPad to be a somewhat mediocre multitasking experience. Some of that is just the memories of the last year not having any multitasking at all, and so I sometimes forget now that you even can multitask, but in addition to that, the app switching mechanism gets about a C grade from me. On the contrary, I'm happy to give the PlayBook's app switching UI an A or A+. It's fast, it's integral to the design of the UI, and I'll even call it "fun". It has flair -- it kind of draws you into the experience of multitasking. This is an exciting development for tablets.
Something that I have yet to find out is how well the tabbed browsing aspect of "multitasking" works in the PlayBook. That's perhaps my biggest annoyance of the iPad: If you want to open a bunch of links as background tabs to checkout later, I don't know of an efficient way to do that. I don't know whether it's memory limitations on the device or what, but for me it's a big drawback to browsing on the iPad. Maybe the PlayBook solves this problem, maybe it doesn't, so we shall see.
I strongly dislike typing on the iPad. I know Apple's commercials make it look pretty slick, but in my experience it's not. It's too big and heavy to hold, and so you have to put it on your lap, but then it slides off and the ergonomics of typing on it while it's on your lap are mediocre at best. This was actually my biggest question about the iPad before it was released: How would typing work? Would there be some fancy UI that was truly innovative? I think a lot of people were surprised to find out it was just a flat, standard keyboard. So will the PlayBook be better in this regard? It think it will be... it's small enough that you can type with two thumbs when holding it in portrait mode, and I think it's even possible to do that in landscape mode. Is it light enough to make that comfortable? Again, I won't know these things until I actually get to try it out, but I'm hopeful that typing won't be as much of a chore as it is on the iPad.
I'm really looking forward to being able to get internet access on the PlayBook through my phone without having to pay for an extra account. I'd love to have 3G access on my iPad, but there's no way I'm going to pay an extra $15-$20 for it when I already have a data plan on my phone. Being able to do this for free on the PlayBook is a very big feature. Finally, being able to browse the web on long car trips! (And yes, I'm a sucker for "free")
My biggest hesitation with the PlayBook is actually it's size. Having a nice portable 7" device has plenty of advantages, but when you're curled up on the couch or in bed browsing the web, I think anyone would prefer a 10" tablet over a 7" tablet. What does this mean? I think it means that my iPad will remain mostly the bedside browsing device, and the PlayBook will be mostly the mobile tablet that can be used to browse the web while out of the house. So here we are again, only a year after tablets hit the market, and already we're seeing specialized tablets that excel in different use cases. ie. First was the question of "will people buy a second web browsing device to complement their laptop"? It was an uncertain question, but the answer was a resounding "yes"! Now we're faced with another question: Will people buy a second, smaller tablet, that excels at mobile web browsing on a screen that is larger than their phone's but not as annoying to carry around as a 10" tablet? I have no idea, we shall see, but my inkling is that, again, yes, many people will own both a 10" and 7" tablet. The other way of looking at is, in any given house, how many web browsing devices do people want? I think it many house holds, eventually, it will be approx. 2 devices per person, and so in a family with two parents and two kids, I could easily see 8 web browsing devices, some of them PCs, some of them laptops, some of them tablets, some of them smartphones, and in there somewhere quite likely is a 7" screen.
My last comment is a word of advice to RIM: Develop a 10" PlayBook, and do it ASAP. Don't limit people to the 7" mobile experience in the long term, because that's only part of the market, and the pieces that make up the PlayBook would also be beautiful on a 10" device, so why not expand your audience? Surely it can't be hard to expand a 7" design -- I think it would actually be a little easier to do that than to shrink a 10" design.
Things of RecentJanuary 19, 2011
IBM JeopardyFloored. That's what I am. Floored that IBM seems to have succeeded in its quest to program a computer to win at Jeopardy. Part of me thinks that they're cheating some how -- well, not really -- but I don't understand how they've pulled this off and so by process of elimination... but seriously, a big congratulations to the team at IBM that has worked on this project. I look forward to watching the game in February!
Google's Self-Driving CarsI was very surprised to learn that Google has picked up where the DARPA Grand Challenge left off... and that they have many thousands of miles under their belt. But if there's any company that is up to the challenge, it's Google. I'm so curious how this will unfold. Where will we be by 2020? I would certainly be surprised to see self-driving cars by then... my guess is still mid-to-late 2020s, say around 2028, but you never know. Anyway, companies are clearly working hard on this, and it's only a matter of time. Fun stuff.
Chevy VoltAfter first hearing about this car a few years ago, it is finally out in the world. Very cool, wish I could own one some day.
NetflixFinally, Netflix in Canada... I find it incredible that you can get so much value for $8/month. For a guy that canceled his cable a few years ago, it's great to see legitimate Internet media blossoming. Also, I've been impressed by the Netflix recommendation engine. I have yet to be disappointed.
BlackBerry PlaybookNow and again, a device catches my eye, and this fall I've enjoyed following the development of the Playbook. I wrote an app to help new parents choose a name for their baby which hopefully qualifies me for their free Playbook offer. I hope the Playbook is a success for RIM.
Retina DisplayMarketing speak aside, I was astounded by Apple's retina display this year. If they had increased the number of pixels in the display by 50%, I would have been impressed. But 400%? Incredible. I have to wonder what led to such a dramatic increase all of a sudden.
AvatarI was very impressed with Avatar last January -- and while I'm skeptical (like many people) about the 3D craze, Avatar was the real deal, a novel experience that raised the bar.
SpaceX2010 was a big year for commercial space with a couple impressive launches by SpaceX. It's great to see Elon Musk getting some bang for his buck and finding success in these endeavors, and I look forward to the next few years.
Virgin GalacticI continue to be very impressed with Burt Rutan and his composite spacecraft. I was in Greece in 2004 when I saw a newspaper reporting that he had succeeded at capturing the XPrize, and now 6 years later his partnership with Virgin appears to be going very well. Exciting stuff, and it will be interesting to see how the cost of a trip to space falls over the coming years. Reducing it from tens of millions to 200K is a great start. Random prediction: 30K by 2030.
ThoughtsI have to say, we live in an exciting time, and I think that the last couple of years have been flush with interesting developments in the technology world. Already we seem to be off to a good start this decade...
Exactly, that's what I'm saying-December 17, 2010
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/17/0335211/Pocket-Airports-Would-Link-Neighborhoods-By-AirDo it.
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