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Last week at the MIT Media Lab anniversary celebration I met the director of R&D for one of the large Taiwanese computer manufacturers (not Quanta). We were talking about the emergence of the cheap (<$120) Android tablets in China. These machines are forecasted to have sales in China in 2011 of 7 million units. He felt that these tablets were really just advanced media players and should not be considered computers. Also, with no Internet connectivity, an Android tablet has very limited uses given the reliance on cloud computing.
When I asked him whether the iPad was just a fancy media player he said no. The iPad had much greater functionality than its Android competitors and was a new form of computer. I disagree with him on the notion that the iPad is a new form of computer. Clayton Christensen, the HBS professor who coined the phrase "disruptive innovation" characterized such innovation as a subset of features at a lower price. I think that the iPad is just a subset of features, albeit a great set of features, but not a new form of computing.(As a historical note, the touchscreen was invented at the Media Lab twenty years ago.)
Youngme Moon, another HBS professor, in her new book makes the point that product features proliferate as a product reaches maturity. In other words, excess, unneeded features are added as products mature. The iPad and the XO computer from OLPC may be the proof that current computers have an excess of features. It was only a matter of time before one of the large computer manufacturers realized it.
Great post on iPad interface here.
My new book, Billion Dollar Company: An entrepreneur's guide to business models for high growth companies, is available on Amazon. Learn the fourth strategy Michael Porter should have included, how to determine if a market opportunity is large enough to interest venture capitalists and how product differentiation is more than just a feature set. Book website.
