Tablet, Tablet, Everywhere

Let me start by making two things clear. Steve Jobs is not my long-lost uncle, and he has not given me an Apple iSlate to test for the next few weeks.

In fact, this post is not about speculating over the hardware at all. To me it's fairly clear obvious what the hardware will be like (obvious because Apple employs smart designers, and smart designers re-use what has worked in the past because it's more familiar to the customer). The tablet will be thin and mostly all LED screen on the front (and not a more expensive OLED option). It will run iPhone OS (giving it access to that great App Store) but with a very customized user interface, befitting its 10" touchscreen. Finally, it will feature a full screen touch keyboard — when you need it.

I've written before how useless these tablets or mini laptops are. Who wants a tiny notebook with tiny keys, tiny trackpad, tiny screen? Why would I want a $200 laptop when its screen is awful, the materials are cheap, the processor stinks? No matter how small these things get, they're still a pain in the butt to lug around. They still fold and unfold like laptops do and they don't feel very good in your hands. Apple will not simply improve the market — they will rethink and re-invent it. After the iSlate, these tiny laptops will seem like a strange, short-lived flirtation.

Enough said on the hardware. Let's talk about what really matters to a marketing company like us: content. Again, forget rumors. You don't need leaks and conjecture to know Apple's next move; you just need to understand Apple. Apple will add print publisher's content to iTunes. Magazine publishers and newspapers will release their content as cheap subscriptions and we'll be happy to buy. Why?

Today on the Internet, news information is not distinct. The same article the New York Times tries to sell can be found for free somewhere else. This is what frustrates a company like the NYTimes and why they've been so interested in locking down their content, suing other companies, shortening RSS feeds, and colluding with their competitors. But if music has taught us anything, it's that content wants to be freed from DRM.

What will separate content post-iSlate, therefore, is similar to what separated it pre-iSlate: the quality of the journalism or writing, and the presentation of the content. In other words, I might pay for Newsweek on the iSlate because I am receiving a better experience than I would elsewhere. It will look phenomenal on my iSlate's screen thanks to the infrastructure Apple has built. This, combined with my familiarity with just clicking, paying, and receiving on iTunes or the App Store, will provide me with the right experience to finally pay for "premium content."

What does this mean for you? It means get ready. For the first time, there will be a place for premium content on the Internet. The quality of your writing will matter, but so will the presentation of that content. You'll publish to your website and you'll publish to iTunes. Apple, unlike Amazon, will take only a small piece of the pie, and you'll be exposed to Apple's already huge installed base.