Saturday, February 27, 2010

i-What?

Apple has thrown their hat into the ring. Exactly what ring that is has yet to be seen but they did it in true Apple style. They haven’t really reinvented the wheel with the i-Pad but they have put a new spin on the whole idea of personal computing/media center/light work station/e-reader. Just watching their promo video can be inspiring. And let’s not forget the nook, Sony, or the grand shoulders that Apple wants to climb on top of, the true pioneer in the world of e-readers - the Kindle. There are hosts of other equally worthy entrants in the niche market of electronic reading that I could mention but that’s not really what’s on my mind.

Now that we’ve seen almost (not quite - Microsoft is lurking out there) everyone else’s big ideas do we have anything we want to tell them? What would your idea of the perfect e-reader/anything else be?

Apple definitely hit the mark with look, style, and GUI (graphic user interface). Slick. Nice. Makes you want to tickle it just to hear it laugh. So that would be a good jumping off point along with size. Not too big and not too small. Apple got that right as well. Now give it some serious storage. Maybe a hundred gig’s worth (flash - no hard drives allowed), leave the wifi, dump the 3G. And something they could all do is get rid of the edges. You know, the frame around the screen. I want edge-to-edge workspace. Then make it an i-Pod, give it a built-in cam, a user replaceable battery, and give me twenty-four hours of continuous use.

On-screen navigation for page turning. Rub your thumb or finger just like a book and the page turns. Use an open format for e-books, allow color covers, photographs, and even short films (that ever important author interview) inside the e-books and, most important of all, sell it for three hundred dollars or less.

Yep. Now we’re talking. I’ll take two.

And speaking of two. Have you seen the concept videos for the Microsoft slate that has two screens and actually opens like a book? That is my favorite. That’s something I could really get into.

Thanks for dropping by.

Roscoe James

www.roscoejames.com