The Apple Tablet: We Know What It Will Be, But This is What It Will Do

January 18th, 2010Blog0 comments

The reveal date of the worst-kept Apple secret ever has just been slated for Wednesday, January 27th. I’ve been watching this thing carefully; everyone from John Gruber to the New York Times has chimed in on what they think the Apple tablet/slate/thing will be and won’t be; the Chicago Sun-Times’ Andy Inhatko even famously and publicly purchased airfare to travel to San Francisco in anticipation of being physically present for an Apple announcement which, at the time, had not yet been announced.

Well now the word is out: On January 27th Apple is going to show its cards.

Through educated guesses and controlled leaks on Apple’s part, we all have a fair idea of what it’s going to be: A 10″ touch screen designed to play games, view movies/tv shows, and read books and magazines. It may have a front-facing camera for “Skype”-style video conferencing and “Photobooth” capabilities. I was recently reminded of how much fun Photobooth can be when our friend Deb took out her Macbook and had us snap pics with it in the lobby after seeing her show at South Coast Rep. Man that thing is fun! Now imagine yourself doing that with a lightweight tablet — plus being able to videoconference and watch TV with other people remotely, with your images inset in a little window in the video.

So we know this thing’s technical capabilities because the size and shape of the niche that it will fill are very clear. But from a content creator’s standpoint (i.e. writer/director/producers/talent), what kind of world will it create in the future?

I’ve been evangelizing this new world for a while now; I’m pretty excited about it. There are a few things I can say for sure: The tablet/slate/thing will take visual mediums (movies, TV, newspapers, magazines, books, games) and make them portable and personal like the iPod did with music. It will allow for wireless content delivery anywhere and at any time, updated constantly and precisely tailored to the end user’s demographic.

Time slots and the concept of “prime time” will go away. Everything will be on-demand. There will be two clear tiers for entertainment: Ad-supported (reruns, sports, etc..) and purchased “premium” content. Hyperlinking will be king. Meaning that if you see a video “ad” you should be able to tap on it and go to the product’s website; any object that you see on the screen should be tappable. You should be able to tap on any piece of clothing, product, or other movie/tv show/program that you see on the screen and go to a website to purchase it. The same goes for any song you hear, any individual person that you see, any vehicle, any location, any food. The war for Search is over (Google won), but there will be a new war over who can assemble the cleanest, most seamless, and most powerful back-end (invisible to the user) database of hyperlinks in the future.

Because of hyperlinking, as content creators what we want to put together are properties that are ecosystems of entertainment. This is going to sound weird coming from me, but High School Musical and Glee are very good examples. You have the TV shows and movies which serve as the spine of the property, and coming off of those spines are albums to buy, spinoff web series, clothing, live events, and individuals whose careers can grow into their own ecosystems. The LXD is another hot property to watch in the future. The goal is to find properties that can straddle multiple mediums and do great storytelling and showmanship in all of them.

Human beings evolved as omnivorous browsers that gather food through visual stimulation first. The tablet/slate/thing will be a window into the world outside that connects everyone to entertainment, news, knowledge, products, and other human beings seamlessly. It will define the 21st century in the way that cinema, radio, television, and the desktop computer defined the 20th century.

The best part: This won’t just be an American revolution — it will be a global one.

These days I’ve been counting my blessings often. I keep reminding myself of how lucky I am.

In terms of my interests and what fascinates me and energizes me, I was born at precisely the right time. I love technology, I love storytelling, I have the skills to pursue both and fuse them.

The world ahead is going to be exciting and turbulent, but above all, for good and ill, we’re going to be connected to it in ways that we never thought possible.