With reviews for the new iPad rapidly making there way around the internet there has been a lot of speculation about it's innovation after it's seemingly disappointing launch. It was a formula we're all too familiar with. Improved display, camera, improved processor and some new "gimmick". People are beginning to ask: "what is the next big thing?". We're a tough crowd. We're expecting a technological revolution, not a technological evolution. We're tired of the same formula; we want to see something amazing! But can technology evolve at the rate of our expectations. Maybe it's just me?
I see articles questioning: "What would you do if you were CEO at Apple for a day?" It's like those articles have lost a little faith, like they're looking for some guidance, some confirmation that what they're doing is right. In the passing of Steve Jobs the world lost some of that guidance; that innovation, that drive to accelerate innovation. To meet and exceed our own expectations.
What will the new iPhone bring? More of the same. Be thinner, lighter. An improved processor and some new gimmick? A lytro camera perhaps? Is Apple in danger of following the same path as RIMM in it's mobile space. Following a formula that initially whoo'd the crowd, but those same crowds then waned at the apparent growing lack of innovation from RIMM.
To Microsoft's credit I've always thought they were good innovators; but they just never had that drive to follow through, they lacked the attention to detail, that artistic interpretation and presentation that Steve Jobs had. Now I see a glimpse. Metro, Windows 8; a complete revolution in how we'll use the desktop. Designed with "touch" in mind this operating system will run on Windows phone's and on your lap/desktop.
Where it differs, in my opinion, is that Metro will bring productivity to tablets. Apple mobile devices are "toys" in some ways. Those productivity tools we've all become accustomed to; Photoshop, Word, Outlook. Those tools, to be able to use those on a tablet. That's different. Hopefully Microsoft can couple this with an amazing tablet. Steve Jobs had the vision to create beautiful looking objects. They are desirable; almost fashionable. Products need to work, but they need to be fashionable. Microsoft needs fashionable!
Ultimately I think tablets will become more productive; we may even start to see a decline in laptop's and desktop's as the same productivity they afford is extended to an extremely mobile and versatile device. No more clunky machines occupying half your desk.
Productive tablets still face one big problem though. Peripherals. That innate human connection with your device. A keyboard, a monitor. Tablets are cumbersome if you're trying to type lengthy articles. Tablets need a peripheral revolution. Flatscreen televisions and monitors revolutionized displays. Laser keyboards and holographic displays for tablets perhaps? A concept considered in this YouTube video.
Maybe that interaction with your device will be another idea all together. Voice recognition. Although terrible right now, Siri; (now declared "beta" by Apple) is an exploration, but it's not matured yet. Accuracy isn't there to make it viable. x-webkit-speech is an experimental (x) -webkit extension available in HTML5 that brings speech recognition to text <input> fields, it too suffers the same flaws. Voice recognition is in it's infancy but it will improve.
Right now there are all these growing ways in which you can interact with your device. Touch, voice, gesture. Touch and Gesturing, elemental human senses. Interactivity with your devices is becoming more connected, more personal. Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's "Move" are rapidly evolving gesture devices now looking to be included in Televisions. "The Kinect Effect" shows amazing promise.
Technology is at a convergence. Two distinct mediums; Television and the Internet are converging. The internet will become the television. Mobile devices are/will become portal's to the information highway. It reminds me, somewhat, of "skynet" in Terminator. The "cloud" is a less dramatic (and not self-aware, yet!) version. An etheral datasource, a mainframe, that can be accessed from any capable device anywhere in the world. "The Cloud". The internet is fast becoming a portal to the cloud, and mobile devices the gateways.
That's another problem too. Cloud security? It's like Credit Card servers when eCommerce began to thrive. Online vendors evolved. Online payment methods had to as well. There was little protection. The internet was naive, it was exploited. The same issue exists with "The Cloud". Public-profile hacker groups raiding corporate cloud storage.
I see great things though. Web technology will excel content on internet televisions. RIA - Rich Internet Applications, made capable by rapidly growing support for things like HTML5. CSS3 and WebGL. Potentially all applications could follow a SaaS - Software as a Service models. Hosted centrally, in the cloud, accessed on demand via. television or portable device.
Couple this technology with gesture and voice responsive televisions. An ability to "swipe" applications left to right. Laser keyboards, and holographic display peripherals increasing the productivity usefulness of our mobile devices and you have a more refined, a more focused technological future.
Update: Samsung's latest SmartTV combines voice and Gesture controls.
