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THE increasing integration of computers into our everyday life continues as mobile phones become smarter and portable computers get smaller.
In-between the smartphone and portable computer lies a grey area that is yet to be convincingly seized by any vendor. The big guys are aiming for the segment, however, with Apple and Microsoft coming up against some unusual competition.
The Apple iPhone heralded a breakthrough in mobile computing interfaces, presenting the world with the first truly usable touchscreen device. The iPhone has been available for two years and we are yet to see anything nearly as functional in terms of touch interfaces from other vendors.
Apple no longer refers to the iPod Touch, which has all the same features as the iPhone barring a camera and the actual phone bit, as a media player. It has labelled the device a "pocket computer" and this is really what the iPhone and Touch have become.
The interface is so intuitive that both my four-year-old and my mother can figure it out without much assistance. But the killer feature has been the App Store that has opened up a world of mobile application development for the first time and which other vendors like Nokia, HTC and Blackberry are stampeding to emulate.
To the gap
Apple's next play is expected to be a tablet computer that fills the gap between smartphones and smaller portable computers. Tablet computers are nothing new - companies like Lenovo and HP have had devices in this category for many years - but they have been bulky and expensive affairs. More like laptops with so-so touch screens than the Internet tablets that are being developed now.
What's being suggested by Apple is something more lightweight and affordable. Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, only bigger and more capable. All we know about the device now is that Apple has ordered a large number of 10-inch touch screens from a Taiwanese manufacturer and that something like it must be in development - everything else amounts to hearsay and, as is always the case with Apple, we won't know anything for sure until it is launched.
But Microsoft came to the fore this week with its own tablet-like device called The Courier that takes aim at whatever Apple is developing, along with devices like Amazon's Kindle ebook reader.
Microsoft's device will flip open like a book and sport two glass touchscreens positioned to resemble a medium-sized notebook. The functionality Microsoft is promising is quite impressive. An online video of The Courier shows how one can bring together map information, contacts from the address book and online content according to projects. The touch interface allows for things to be flicked around and pinched, ala-iPhone.
And while all of this amounts to posturing at time of writing, Microsoft is promising some interesting new interface ideas, such as a handwriting-guided web browser.
The Courier is clearly designed to replace the moleskin diary that so many of us still carry around to do the kind of note-taking that neither our phones nor laptops provide, being the tangible touch of pen to paper that allows us to quickly record our thoughts without an additional interface layer.
The Courier seems to satisfy this intrinsic desire for simplicity in coordinating our thoughts without having to think about anything else. Microsoft says you'll be able to use your fingers or a stylus to write, draw and arrange things on the screen.
From the leftfield
While the big boys prepare their entries into this market, competition is coming from unexpected quarters.
Blogger-slash-journalist turned entrepreneur, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame, is one of the unexpected contenders who will soon launch a device called the CrunchPad.
His idea is to release a sub-$200 device that will be open source in both its software and hardware design, allowing anyone to duplicate it, modifying the plans and operating software to their needs.
Sony's eBook readers have been redesigned in the wake of the Kindle to be less about ebooks and more about everything else. And whatever Amazon is planning for the future of its device remains a mystery.
The Kindle has taken the American market by storm and now includes a wireless network in the US market to deliver books and newspaper subscriptions to users over the air. But the Kindle could be so much more and looks more like an Internet-tablet with each release.
And 2010 will be the year of the tablet computing device as Apple and Microsoft finally show us what they have been cooking up and we find out if the market for converged computing devices that play in the space between smartphones and laptops is as lucrative as the major players clearly think it is. As for the consumer, we get new shiny toys to play with, which is fine by me.
- Fin24.com
