Tablet hype

Am I missing something here? There seems to be so much hype around the forthcoming Apple tablet, I already DON'T want one. I may pick one up, but I won't be sold as easily as I was for say, the Mac Book Air (whose market by the way is already being taken by the netbook/mini PC notebook products). Maybe Apple feels they can take some of this market by creating a tablet. If this device lands in the $500, to $800 range, the ROI (or lack thereof) may be more disappointing than the incredulous mac fan-boys would like to think.

In order to really catch attention, the price-point for what promises to be a larger iphone will need to be more in the net-book class price range. I'm sure it won't be, but I think the only people that'll buy something like this, are the blogger/media personnel (I don't see my self consistent enough to be classified as a blogger) that have been screaming for one since Steve Jobs came back to Apple. Don't get me wrong here, but people likethis tend to think that EVERYBODY feels the same way they do; or more importantly, WORKS the same way they do.



The iphone is the premium example; In order for the iphone to truly take over the world, it needs to be sold by all service providers. What real market share of the cell phone market does the iphone really have? I'm sure it's profitable for them, but is it the most incredible device ever made like most would have you believe? Sure it's beautiful, and works well, but does a user really gain anything by using one? In many people's minds, it's just a phone. In fact several friends of mine have them, and don't even know how to use them. It's a pretty phone, a shiny silver object for most people to oogle at.

Don't get me wrong, I'd own one if our company had AT&T service, and I'd use it religiously, but most people could care less. If it's such an incredible device, why doesn't AT&T only sell the iphone? We certainly aren't going to switch service providers Just to get iphones.

I'm sure it'll be a neat device (most of what Apple does ends up being very high quality), but have they really done the market research to find out who would be interested in purchasing their product - and will it be lucrative enough for them to keep the product alive? Most of the "in-your-face" people will think it's the greatest thing to hit creation - for a few months. After the luster is gone, it'll end up being another tablet, competing for share in one of most predominantly owned by Microsoft markets.

Not everybody takes a plane from city to city, and not everybody buys electronic gadgets with little, or no thought - just to have the latest and greatest. Money is an issue - it needs to be. I may be way off here, but that's how I see it.