StartupCafe

Witty pre-event smack talk set the stage for today’s Mobile Monday (MoMo) Edinburgh event, with this month’s theme of ‘Keep taking the tablets!’ Looking at the newest multitouch devices on the scene, the focus was on media consumption, interaction, and opportunities & challenges introduced by the tablet category (including but not limited to iPads).

The group of mobile companies, developers, and interested parties was about 20 strong, with nearly as many opinions, so I certainly didn’t capture everything. Instead, I’ve distilled my notes to highlight 10 of the key issues and the discussion that followed. Views are a scattered selection from the group, with credit due (though not sufficiently recorded) to a wide assortment of people. Enjoy, and in the spirit of MoMo Edinburgh, feel free to disagree in the space below!

1. Form Factor

• Feels more natural, whereas phone feels constrained and a laptop can feel in the way when you’re trying to eat your breakfast and read the news.
• Is weight more or less than expected? Heavy enough to feel substantial in your hands (and that means valuable, right?!) but lighter than a hard cover book.
• To what extent will tablet accessories be desired, and does that defeat the purpose? ie. a keyboard, a reading stand, camera, etc… Will the laptops whose screens pop out to become tablets be handy or impractical?

2. Touchy Feely Interaction

• Looking at new navigation mechanisms, how are we changing the way people interact with things?
• iPad testimonials: ‘Feels like there’s nothing between you and what you’re reading’. Feels instant and intuitive… ‘Doesn’t feel like I’m doing something to make the web page move’ [Jamie Montgomerie, real iPad owner].
• Additional report that it’s very intuitive even for kids or a cat that was seen using one.

3. Gestures & Inputs

• What gestures are most intuitive and convenient?
• If you want to tweet something, should you have users press on a Twitter button, write a t, draw a bird or other motion? Kate Ho is having an intern research this issue over the summer, staying tuned for the conclusions…
• On-screen keyboard was found to be acceptable by a few who tried typing in, but how about projected keyboards – is that technology any good?
• Devices picking up on other inputs, ie. shaking the iPad/iphone to erase something… is that not ridiculous looking though for a serious business person? Practical vs. just gimmicky?
• Potential for gesturing in the space around a device, instead of on screen? (ok I’m just adding this in now, but reminded me of this article: Magnet magic puts phone control in the air)
• Confession: ‘There are times I wish I had a stylus’

4. Development Rules

• Pros vs. cons of Apple being so restrictive to developers… Are developers required to dumb their apps down too much, or does this make for a more beneficial user experience?

5. App Design

• Design of an application for tablets is very different than for mobiles – must take into consideration how it will be used, how information is displayed/selected/inputted.

6. Stand-alone

• Could a tablet be stand-alone, or is it still dependent on a PC? iPad ‘kind of’ has the concept of files, but some aspects still require owning a PC too so you can organise files, ie. music in itunes…
• ‘Do we now just have another tool in the box?’ [Adrian Williamson] where you may divide tasks between your mobile, your tablet, and your laptop depending on which is best suited? Does it need to be stand-alone to have merit, or can it persist as just another tool?

7. You vs. your mum

• Just because it doesn’t fit into your life perfectly doesn’t mean diddly squat. Is the iPad a useful tool for people like us or is it designed for a less techie audience?
• And now my two favourite quotes from today… *drumroll* …
• ‘There’s a difference between geeks and everyone else in the world’
• ‘Normal people are different’

8. Paying for content

• Apple helped the music industry get people paying for music… Can tablets help get people paying for newspaper/magazines to save the industry?
• Having a conscience vs. simply having a platform that facilitates the transactions smoothly and effortlessly.

9. Consumption vs. Production

• Are iPads pretty much just a consumption device?? And is that a sufficient enough service to provide? Think we had a rare occasion of near consensus of yes, that’s the intention and that’s fine…
• Would you actually use a tablet to produce documents, and what kinds? Word docs vs. painting applications.

10. New Forms of Content?

• Considering how tablets will be used – ie. on the couch, at a table with multiple people, etc – what new apps can people go develop and sell? What new use scenarios are being opened up?

Anything you’d like to add?