Why The Apple Tablet Will Matter

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Why The Apple Tablet Will Matter

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Apple will announce their new tablet product today, and all the internet is buzzing with gossip and speculations about features, pricing and strategy.

I want to write about this subject, but I also what to steer clear of the hype bubble. I’m not sure that’s possible.

I will make one projection about today… The Apple Tablet will matter for the same reason that the iPhone matters (and is now Apple’s largest source of revenue): Developers care. In the infamous words of Steve Ballmer: “Developers Developers Developers.”

You can feel the buzz of pent up demand amongst hackers to get the Tablet in their hands so they can start building to it. Like an artist craving a canvas to express their ideas, developers are thirsty. VentureBeat has a nice piece that attempts to quantify developers’ demand for the Tablet.

Great developers see their code as an art (assuming they’re proud of it), and they only want to program for platforms that are respectful of their art. “Respect” in this case means two things: an excellent frame and a large audience. Steve Jobs is building a beautiful frame and attracting a large audience with his grandiose unveiling and continued marketing/branding.*

So, I’m optimistic about Apple’s announcement today. I expect the Tablet to be functional with most existing iPhone apps, come with big-name launch partner applications, and quickly amass a bunch of Tablet-specific apps over the next few months as developers flock to build to it.

* This same phenomenon is at work at Etsy. Most Etsy sellers see their work as a form of art. Many competitors to Etsy have launched in the wake of their success with more features or better economics, but none of them have been the beautiful frame that Etsy is, and none have attracted a large enough audience.