Yesterday Google unveiled their new Nexus line up, new Chromecasts, and showed off a slew of services. One curious tease towards the end of their keynote revealed their strategy for offering up a new tier of productivity device.
The Pixel C.
Previous “Pixel” products utilized Google’s Chrome OS, but this next entry to the line will run stock Android, the operating system reserved for phones and tablets. Clearly Google is looking to compete with the recently announced iPad Pro, and the focus on productivity is clear. The Pixel’s signature accessory is a magnetic keyboard cover which includes and adjustable hinge.
There’s been a bit of a scramble lately in the tablet market. Sales are generally down. After being the hot item, destined to replace those boring old laptops, even Apple is struggling to grow sales year over year.
For all the focus on multi-media and entertainment, it would seem we’re nearly at that saturation point. The people who want a tablet have one. It’s a tricky position, as larger screen devices don’t seem to be replaced as quickly as phones, just look at all the satisfied iPad 2 owners out there. The next arena for tablets to conquer is productivity, but there’s a small catch.
Software
Mobile apps focus on the immediate. Social services, gaming in bite sized chunks, on the go interactions. While we have access to a few staples now like Microsoft Office on Android and iOS, the idea of “working” from a mobile app is still a fairly novel concept. When used from a phone, it becomes a situation of “I can, if I need to”. It’s still not a preferred way to produce content.
Larger screened mobile devices like phablets and tablets can help with some of the ergonomics of producing content or editing documents, but the software produced for tablets is still firmly entrenched in a mentality of mobile phone usage. A lot of it is focused on entertainment. That we call them “apps”, instead of applications or programs, reinforces the idea that most of these experiences are simply pulled from our phones and blown up for our tablets.
We’ve come full circle in the market, and Microsoft is starting to find its footing in mobile and multi-mode “convertible” devices. Their Surface products are showing solid growth by blurring the lines between slates and notebook PC’s. Surface is now a billion dollar brand all by itself, and the market perception of Windows laptops being “stodgy” or “boring” is starting to shift as more manufacturers embrace aggressive design and touchscreen focused gadgets.
While Windows 8 was something of a desperate response to the iPad, Microsoft simply didn’t have an offering in the tablet space, their reactionary move is starting to pay off with solid adoption rates for Windows 10. One of the main advantages of Microsoft’s platform moving forward is the idea that consumers no longer have to own multiple large screens. A person can own both a laptop grade computing device, and a tablet form factor mobile device, for the same price as (or often cheaper than) their last laptop purchase. For many consumers, the ability to play with both desktop grade applications and entertainment apps on the same device can be very appealing.
It’s no surprise that Google and Apple are trying to re-position consumer tablets to better compete with this new breed of multi-mode computer. The problem isn’t hardware however. Larger screens, more powerful mobile processors, stylus support, and hardware keyboards help tremendously, but if there isn’t quality software to take advantage of that hardware then a consumer still wont be able to rely on a tablet as their single mobile work solution.
A major issue facing both Google and Apple are the divisions between their different operating system ecosystems. OSX is a completely different environment than iOS, and Chrome OS is a completely different environment than Android. They can share some services between them, but apps for one typically wont work on the other. Both companies are trying to encourage developers to move applications from traditional computers to mobile devices, and then hoping customers will make the migrations, and find the right productivity solutions to remain invested in that ecosystem.
Aside from third party developer support, the operating systems themselves need minor overhauls to truly offer up work solutions. Android for example, still does not offer a native way to split screen apps, and custom solutions on LG and Samsung devices are very limited in which apps they will allow you to run side by side.
Apple is starting to offer split-screen multi-tasking, but iOS is still fairly terrible at file management. It can be very time consuming finding workarounds for importing and exporting video files from cameras out in the field. Most of the solutions Apple provides still require a full fledged computer to complete the transaction, and the idea of simply popping in a flash drive or external hard drive to share content produced on the tablet is usually restricted.
Microsoft’s app situation is woefully behind Google and Apple, but their current tablet offerings don’t require consumers to re-buy mobile versions of software, or hunt to find new solutions for productivity. Moving forward, as more developers focus on mobile apps, Microsoft will also benefit by being the first to offer up a truly unified operating system ecosystem, where one app developed for Windows can be used on desktops, laptops, hybrids, tablets, phones, and the XBox. As their offerings are full fledged versions of Windows, there are almost no restrictions on how files are managed, or which accessories might work with any given tablet.
That’s the precarious position Google and Apple find themselves in today. Their offerings for mobile productivity with Pixel C and iPad Pro are built largely on the promise of what’s to come. They’re not quite feature complete solutions today.
Consumers tend to shy away from the risk of hoping these promises are delivered.