I’m catching up on Project Runway on TiVo this weekend (yes, I watch reality shows, but only the ones that are basically game shows or require some creative output, and not just setting up personality clashes — so no to Big Brother, yes to Top Chef) and I notice all the contestants are using these HP tablet PCs this season. And I know it’s been done to death already, but that got me thinking again…what the hell happened at Apple’s press conference this week?
I was expecting a true tablet PC from Apple, a Cupertino spin on the swivel-screen laptops that HP has made for a few years now. But instead, they unveiled the iPad, which I define more by what it cannot do than what it does. The iPod Touch XXL falls directly into a valley between portable computer and digital entertainment device — and who lives in that valley? I’m a giant gadget whore and I don’t want one. I liked all the fake renders and fan-made Photoshop concepts more.
But, quite honestly, maybe it’s me. What I wanted — what I expected — was a ModBook. This is an awesome mix of MacBook and Wacom tablet, created by a Toronto-based company called Axiotron. (Bonus: Its board of advisors includes the one and only Steve Wozniak.) The only trouble is, that’s based on a MacBook, not a more powerful MacBook Pro, which is more attractive to power users who would want something custom like this in the first place. The ModBook Pro is in development, but to me, that’s Apple’s perfect market opportunity. I wanted Apple to say, “We’ll take it from here.” But their real plans were very different.
I think some of this problem is not managing your own hype. Apple didn’t address the leaks, so people ran with what they wanted the product to be, not what Apple actually knew it was. And now a lot of people (myself included) are disappointed; the audience’s dream was better than the real product. That’s a huge, but increasingly common, problem when it comes to tech. And games, for that matter. Anybody remember the Zelda GameCube debacle, when gamers assumed that the test footage was representative of final gameplay? Then Miyamoto said “Wind Waker is cel-shaded” and everybody got pissed because the game they were getting didn’t match what they thought it was going to be. (And then they played it and shut up.)
Apple loves its secrecy. (Activision, too.) But sometimes people make up their own mind based on tiny shreds of info and if you don’t give them something more concrete, the whole thing backfires. That’s what I came away with this week.
I’m also going to check out one of those HP tablet PCs in person. Hell, they sell them at Staples.
