
Not the chemical kind. Of course, I’m referring to a tablet computer, namely, the Apple iPad. Others call it a tablet PC or a slate. Whatever it is, it’s here!

On Saturday morning, devotees throughout the US congregated to become the first Apple iPad customers, at an entry level price of US$499.
Given the weakness of the US dollar, it’s not surprising that Apple isn’t saying much about its release in Australia. All we know is “late April”, with no pricing details.
A straight forward conversion would set us back by AU$550, though Apple’s usual, unwarranted 30% price markup is tipped to set us back by AU$650.
But whatever the price, who cares. I want one.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT
I love my iPhone for all of its features other than phone calling, but the screen is too small and the typepad is too difficult to use. It reminds me of one of my favourite Simpsons quotes : “The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialling wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now.”
This is just one significant problem that the iPad will solve. In short, the iPad will be much easier to use than current smartphones.
As Steve Jobs noted in his keynote speech back in January, “devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks. Better than the laptop, better than the smartphone”.
Those tasks would involve web browsing, email, photos, video, music, games and ebooks.
And the iPad Apple store has already exceeded the 3,000 apps mark on iTunes, with about 20% being free.
All the iPad now needs is an open-source, so that app usage isn’t restricted to what’s available within the iPad store. Either Apple needs to offer this themselves – competitors surely will – or hackers will do it themselves by overriding the software lock-down through a process called jailbreaking. Users can already very easily jailbreak their iPhone or iPod Touch, and it seems as though hackers are already working out how to jailbreak the iPad.
HOW I SEE THE COMMS LANDSCAPE CHANGING
Sure, the iPad does comes with its pitfalls, but with the world now at our fingertips in what’s still a much more convenient way, it made me wonder, what will this mean for the future world of comms?
What will happen to laptops and smartphones if there is now a device that’s better than them?

The Nielsen Company already predicts that by next year, smartphone penetration of the US mobile phone market will overtake feature phone penetration by the end of next year.
Also in 2011, the release of 4G technology will bridge the gap between what our devices can do and what the networks can support. This new IP based network basically means faster broadband wireless access on mobile devices.
And by 2013, mobiles will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide, according to a study from information-technology research company Gartner.
This migration demonstrates the need for people to seek out information and entertainment from the web, not just whenever they need it, but wherever they need it, too.
I can’t help but feel the satisfaction of that basic need, will eventually cause PCs and laptops to become extinct – I see it happening in 20 years time from now.
The irony is, digital proponents once claimed that PC- and laptop-based internet capabilities would cause the demise of print media. They were wrong.
The mobile web will do it.
If people can use their tablet PCs on buses and trains, in cafes, or when lying down on the couch, it’s now not a question of if print media will die, but when. I’d give that even less time, say 15 years.
The Amazon Kindle couldn’t kill print media, because it offered readership of mainly books and some mags and blogs, but no additional utility, which meant consumer demand wasn’t significant and media owners therefore didn’t need to support it.
Now, media owners must support the migration of readers and viewers to mobile web-based platforms, or they will perish.
IMPLICATIONS FOR BRANDS
This migration will have huge implications for brands and the way they connect with people. The main reason is because media consumption will largely be self-selecting.
Who knows what this will mean for TV broadcasting. Perhaps TV schedules will need to become TV menus, whereby revenue streams change from being primarily advertising driven, to being entirely pay-per-view.
If consumers will be in total command of controlling what they consume and when, I wonder if finding people at the right time and place will no longer be a relevant part of connections planning.
I wonder if connections planning will be more about enabling people who are already seeking out brands themselves, to find brands easier. Obviously this places greater importance on content, in terms of both quality and accessibility, not to mention the context in which that content is delivered.
Understanding context largely means understanding channels such as those made possible by the tablet computer, founded on technology that facilitates the dialogue, when they’re new rather than when they become mainstream.
It really is an interesting an exciting time, now and ahead, and I can’t wait to hit the Apple Store in “late April” to have a chance to experience what I preach.
“It’s beyond technology. It’s a culture. It’s a community”.
(One proud new iPad owner in the US)