Tablet Wars

No fewer than seven “slate” devices were announced at CES 2010, including ones from Dell and HP. I myself am so amped up for the January 26 announcement from Apple, I can barely contain myself. But why so much excitement over laptops without keyboards?

The first reason is simple: it’s about potential. “Slates” don’t have a bunch of clunky buttons or a fat keyboard hanging off the front. They can be any device that their software wants them to be. Think about the iPhone, with more than three million apps available: the iPhone is potentially three million different devices. Cracking the code on a “slate” would be a goldmine for whoever gets it right — one device to rule them all.

This brings us to the second reason for so much excitement surrounding the “slate.” In December, Vitrue released its annual “Vitrue 100: Top Social Brands.” The iPhone was in the top spot. It isn’t because it’s a great phone — it’s because of how many other ways we connect socially through the device. Facebook’s mobile usage grew by 300% after the launch of the Facebook iPhone app. Twitter’s mobile users account for half of all tweets. Mobile computing devices get social currency when they help us connect. A “slate” with a social component is going to get tremendous buzz. That buzz will translate into social currency. With Frost & Sullivan estimating that more than half the world’s population will have mobile subscriptions in 2013, social currency translates into real currency for manufacturers of the next big thing.

If Apple rolls out a winner on the 26th, the tablets of CES will be a distant memory. But if it misses, it’s anyone’s game.