The form-factor question is a real one. I don't quite understand the
Ipad size, yet they are wildly successful. I have used Ipads a fair
amount and carried them around, and they are fun and even useful, but
they are not a trivial thing to haul. What is the use case? I guess they
are displacing notebook computers, and they are smaller and lighter than
notebooks. They are compelling, people probably plan their schedules to
include Ipad time.
My wife is carrying her new Ipad with her a lot, but is complaining
about too much stuff and so quit bringing her Kindle on the bus in the
morning. I predict that the Kindle will win. The Nexus 7 (340 grams) is
heavier than her Kindle (247 grams), but that still seems way different
from her Ipad 2 (600 grams).
A 7-inch tablet is still not in my pocket, but it does fit in the
smaller bag that I pretty much carry everywhere. I can have it with me
without planning to use it. A 10-inch tablet is for the couch, maybe car
passengers, and when one has specific plans to use it. It is not
opportunistic the way a phone can be.
Yes, maybe 7-inches is too compromised, but for those with good eyesight
the Nexus 7 has a greater pixel-count than the original Ipad...
Interesting piece by Jean-Louis Gassée recently about the prospect of
Apple selling an Ipad-mini, he thinks it would be very successful (I am
more distracted what Steve Jobs' Ghost does to try to prevent it). I
think the Nexus 7 will sell very well. We'll see.
I do admit I still entirely don't know what the Nexus 7 is good for, but
I am working on that. Yesterday I was early for something and while
waiting did some webpage reading on it, and boy was it better than
reading off even a large phone.
Fingerprint-related observation: At Google IO the male/female ratio was
predictably high (I think Google encouraged area female employees to
attend just to beat back the ratio a bit) and the men's rooms were
crowded between sessions. Moscone West has odd bathrooms with few sinks
and only two paper towel dispensers, use of which block two of the
precious sinks. If one thinks washing hands is optional, this would have
been the time to take the easier path, yet these geeks were all bumping
into each other washing their hands. I bet other conventions at Moscone
West are less fastidious.
-kb, the Kent who still uses a Palm Pilot.
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