Booklet computer
It's almost a week later. How did I miss this?
It's a tablet computer done as a booklet, and with an interface that looks surprisingly very non-Microsoft. Assuming the hardware is solid -- a readable screen, doesn't scratch easily, responds to both multitouch finger and stylus input -- then the clincher is going to be the software. On a historical basis, Microsoft hasn't done this particularly well. By all accounts, Apple has its Mac tablet in late R&D, so this will be the next shoot-out arena: the tablet.
And it's about time too. He were are in the 21st century still using pen and paper (or pencil in my case) because there is no really decent way of capturing good notes (and crucially: pictures, sketches, and block diagrams) electronically. Of course, I blame Microsoft for holding back people's imagination with Windows for so long, but I admit the personal bias, and of course Apple hasn't exactly escaped the "Windows" paradigm either, even if it executes better on the interface.
Apple hasn't traditionally gone head-to-head with Microsoft, although the reverse hasn't been true, so I expect Apple's tablet to be a different proposition, more iPhone in its look-and-feel, and that's fine. Bring it on, and let's see how the market responds. The world needs tablets.
