The Trouble with Tablets

For the past several years, I've had an uneasy relationship with tablets, and I think I've finally figured out why: Tablets are an imperfect solution to a problem that few people actually have. And I don't know why we keep trying to pretend otherwise.

As is often the case these days, this is all Apple's fault.

When Steve Jobs announced the original iPad, he tried to justify the reasons that Apple made the thing. "All of us use laptops and smartphones now," he said from the stage in early 2010. "And the question has arisen, lately: Is there room for a third category of device in the middle? Something that's between a laptop and a smartphone."

That sounds like a reasonable question on the surface. But read that again. The question has ... arisen? That's a curious choice of words. One naturally wonders where, and in what situations, has that question has arisen? Who exactly was asking for such a thing?

What's interesting about the iPad is that it was the first major Apple product of the Jobs era to come into being simply because it could. Yes, it was initially successful because of the iPhone halo, but Apple customers have famously purchased virtually everything that this company produces. But then sales nosedived---not slowed, but fell, and dramatically---and have for almost three years now. And Apple was forced to copy its competitors and create mini-tablets (the iPad mini) and productivity 2-in-1s (the iPad Pro) just to slow the pace of the fall.

Apple says the shortfall is because this is a new product category and that they're just now learning that the replacement cycle is longer than originally expected. I'm sure that's true, but it's only part of the story. What we've also learned is that the rough market size of the tablet is limited in scope. It's smaller than that of the PC---which you'll recall many believe is "dead"---and much smaller than that of the smartphone.

Size is ... whatever. The tablet market is certainly bigger than that of smart watches, another Apple boondoggle. And it's bigger than that for video game consoles, too. It's possible to make money, even good money, in such markets. So it's not just about the size. It's about thepurpose, the intent of these devices.

So back we go to that original iPad launch. After introducing the concept of an in-between device, Jobs explained the iPad's raison d'être, using an interesting list that anyone will instantly realize came to being long after the product was in fact conceived: The iPad should be far better than both the laptop and smartphone at some key tasks, Jobs said: Browsing the web, email, enjoy and sharing photos, watching videos, enjoying music, playing games, and reading eBooks.

With the arguable exception of email, which can be both sent and received, all of these tasks are what we now call consumptionactivities, as opposed to the creation activities that many of us still use PCs for. That is, writing, number crunching, presentation creation...