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The Tablet Debate – Situational Device, Take # 764531276534

image Gotta love the new debate on Tablets – it’s not about the CrunchPad, JooJoo or the Apple Tablet anymore.  It’s about whether we need any.  Joe Wilcox declared that The world doesn’t need an Apple tablet, or any other.

Really?  Well, there was this other guy who famously declared:

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers

He obviously proved to be wrong, but somehow this mistake did not break his career: he was legendary IBM Chairman & CEO Thomas Watson, and the prediction goes back to 1943.  (Too bad the famous quote is likely incorrectly attributed to him – but it’s a better story this way)

I suspect Joe Wilcox will prove to be just as wrong as Thomas Watson (or whoever really said that…).  But I’m not going to argue.. cause I’ve done it a zillion times already.  Hack, I even own the Google search for situational device (but hat tip to Imran Ali who coined situational hardware).   Yes, Joe, the tablet will be a “middle product”, not a phone and not a full-fledged computer, either – and it’s all right. It does not have to be.

How many computers do you have in your household?  None of us would own a monster like the one on the pic – but then computers became personal, and we all got one – for the family. Then we got a few more – 2-3-5 computers are not uncommon in a household.  But what about your digital camera, iPod, iPhone, eBook Reader..etc?  We don’t call them computers, despite the sophisticated processing they all do.

The Tablet won’t be a computer, either. Not in the classical sense of the all-in-one multifunctional machine.  It will be a lightweight, convenient browsing, reading device.  Perhaps a “passive” one – but the most comfortable form of consuming information lying in bed, in a lounge chair, perhaps on a float in the pool 🙂   A situational device.  In fact many situational devices: one for the road, one for the couch, one touch-based, on driven by voice .. you name it.  We’ll have many of those.  Not because we need them. But because we can.  And that’s progress.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve )

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Did the Gizmo-blogs Just Fall for an Old CrunchPad Prototype?

Forget all the news coming from Iran, there’s real excitement on TechMeme: the unboxing of the CrunchPad prototype, posted on Youtube by Loic Le Meur:

 

I hate to say this.. but I think what we’re seeing here is Prototype C, the previous version, not the final, Launch prototype.   Compare the photos and decide for yourself.

 

Given how I am waiting for the CrunchPad myself, I’d be happy to be proven wrong this time…

(Cross-posted from CloudAve)

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CrunchPad – It’s Real. Beautiful. I Want One.

I admit I was skeptical when Mike Arrington first announced he wanted to build a  lightweight  Web Tablet.  But a few month later we saw the first prototype, which was not particularly attractive – but real.  Mea Culpa, I was wrong.

The second prototype was already quite likable, albeit not as sexy as as the original sketch.  Today Mike @ Techcrunch announced that the final prototype is just weeks away– and although all he now has are conceptual drawings, if the real thing is anywhere close .. OMG.. OMG.. it’s absolutely sexysmile_tongue

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CrunchPad: a Keyboard-less Netbook

I admit I was skeptical when Mike Arrington first announced he wanted to build a  lightweight  Web Tablet.  Skeptical partly because I had just witnessed Ismael Ghalimi of the Office 2.0 fame feverishly work on the Redux Model 1.  I had been doubtful about his effort, too, but his energy level was just radiating, he actually convinced me, I started to believe…  But in the end, all the effort (and quite some money Ismael spent along the way) came down to nothing, he nuked the device, and the Office 2.0 Conference gadget became an HP 2133 Mini-Note PC.

Fast-forward half a year, and TecCrunch is showing off a prototype.  Granted, it’s not as cool-looking as the initial sketch above, but this one is working.

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