Can Apple change the world again?

As most of the world waits with bated breath for the latest gizmo from Steve Jobs, KARLIN LILLINGTONwonders whether it can live up to the hype and repeat the iPhone's success

HANG ON TIGHT, because the Apple roller coaster is about to take off yet again.

In what is widely tipped to be the company’s biggest product launch since the iPhone – but which Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has indicated is even more important to him – Apple is to announce a major product in California at 6 pm this evening, Irish time.

Jobs apparently has said this new device is the most important thing he’s ever done, and for a man who has brought us the Mac computer, the iPod, and the iPhone – to many minds the glorious pantheon of digital devices – that’s saying a lot.

But wait – all this hype, and no one even knows what the product is? It hasn’t even been launched? We’re sitting here talking about a product that to all intents and purposes, doesn’t yet exist? Welcome to the wacky world of Apple. This is not just one of the world’s most potent brands, but a company that has so influenced the way we think about computers, music devices, and mobile phones – three of modern life’s essentials for much of the population, especially those under 30 – that any entirely new product is going to be awaited with feverish anticipation.

Consider the iPhone. Rumours had been flying about for years that Apple was considering a mobile phone (the rumour mill runs full time, round the clock, globally when it comes to Apple. There are entire websites dedicated to Apple rumours). In the lead up to the launch of the iPhone, the company was tightlipped, but there were indications that Jobs would indeed announce a phone.

But few imagined or expected the device he eventually held aloft and proudly demonstrated to a crowd that could, for once, accurately be described as having “gasped”. A thin, flat phone, with no keyboard, and a crisp touchscreen, with the capacity to run exciting little “apps” – it redefined the mobile phone.

Cynics predicted it would not sell except to a geek elite, but it was a bona fide phenomenon that all types of people wanted. And, predictably, the iPhone immediately had a massive influence on mobile phone design. It was only launched 2½ years ago, but now every major mobile phone manufacturer has touchscreen devices and no one considers this an odd way to interact with a piece of electronics.

And now, Apple has again demonstrated its astonishing ability to manage hype and spin and to have millions gagging for a product they haven’t yet seen. Once again, there is a good indication of what we can expect (Apple’s forte is to neither confirm nor deny, and to prevent any advanced leaks except for a few quietly placed enticements).

We know, for example, that this is almost certainly going to be Apple's long-awaited tablet computer – a slate device with a touch screen that will most likely be the equivalent of an iPhone on steroids. Sources told the AppleInsiderrumour website that the device looks like "a first-generation iPhone that's met its match with a rolling pin". Tablets have been around for several years, but the market has never taken off as predicted (famously by Bill Gates, who said tablets would be the bulk of the computer market by the mid- Noughties. It didn't happen).

Tablets tend to be heavy and a bit clumsy and their touchscreens a little stodgy. They have some cool features but they have not been compelling.

The one thing Apple really knows is how to be compelling – just count the number of pairs of white headphones you see on Grafton Street any day of the week. When this company goes after a market, it does so with the intention of owning it. Apple rules the music device market with its iPod. Unexpectedly, it kicked Nokia out of the way and became the visionary leader of the mobile sector. The rather dull tablet market is waiting for a saviour, and the money is on Apple.

Wired.comthis week boiled down all the rumours, and came up with a 10 to 11-inch device, probably to be called the iSlate (though Apple has apparently acquired the rights to terms like iPad and iGuide too), with an iPhone-like touch interface, costing somewhere in the region of $1000 (€710 approx). It is expected to run small downloadable applications just as the iPhone does, and to elbow into the e-reader/Kindle market (there have been plenty of rumors about deals with media companies and publishers).

One of the most intriguing questions is how users will type on this device. Will there be a virtual keyboard? Voice recognition? Something we’ve never seen before? By this evening the world will know. Jobs, who has been on sick leave from Apple for a long time after a struggle with pancreatic cancer, will no doubt relish taking to the stage in San Francisco for the announcement.

His “Stevenote” keynote speeches at which he announces new products are the stuff of legend and always follow a fixed format: a slow lead up to the main announcement with some dazzling demonstrations, some peripheral announcements and then always, his famous “one more thing” at the very end – which is sometimes the main announcement itself.

By tomorrow morning, you can be certain, pictures of this new device will saturate both online and off-line media. Whether it will redefine computing in the same way the iPhone redefined mobiles remains to be seen. But Jobs has a formidable track record now, and if he thinks this device will be part of his legacy, tonight’s roller coaster ride looks sure to be a doozy.

IF YOU WERE STEVE JOBS WHAT WOULD YOU MAKE THE TABLET DO?

DAMIEN MULLEY

Technology consultant and blogger

The one thing Apple seems to fail on again and again, so it’s definitely on my wish-list for the new tablet, is battery life. I hope they make sure this mythical, magical unicorn made of glass will last a long time. Many people are using laptops on trains now, so battery life is the big thing. After that it’s not the hardware as such, but the content that you can get, whether it has a good internet connection, and whether it will give you access to content for that screen. Can I convert my existing DVDs to play on this, via some sort of iTunes connection, or can I rent TV shows and rent movies? It also should have a nice interface, so that you can read content on the go. I’m also really interested in the way they’re calling it “our latest creation.” The imagery they’ve used makes me wonder whether they are moving from getting people to be consumers of content to being producers as well. Last thing on my wishlist? An affordable price. People estimate it will cost about €900, which nowadays is twice the price of a fairly good laptop. But then again if they have that super cool creative feature built into it, people might just get it.

STEVEN TROUGHTON SMITH

App developer

There’s been a lot of talk about books and reading, reinventing print media, and bringing it into a new age with something that’s more than a website, something like 21st-century newspapers. I think it will be something like the way Apple has reinvented music with iTunes, and reinvented software sales with the app store. I think they’re interested in doing something like that for the old media. The thing about the tablet is that it will enable people to create the kind of things that we want or need, just like the app store has done on the iPhone. I think we’ll see something like that.

EOIN MAHON

Designer, web and graphic design company Breakopen

They say it’s going to be multitouch, like the iPhone. If they could bring that to a new level, that would be amazing. It’s the idea of moving things two at a time, so you can use your two hands simultaneously, that brings so many interface possibilities. Also, I’d like to be able to draw on screen like a tablet and have it pressure sensitive, something as natural as a paper notebook. It would be great if it could dock with your home computer, or base computer – and synchronise as a portable version of it. I’d like if for meetings or journeys, that it would still have my emails and relevant documents, like a smaller more concise version of your main computer. It would also be great if the screen was more natural for reading newspapers and articles. When you’re working on a screen every day, it would be such a relief if they could improve the reading experience.

DAVID O’MEARA

Managing Director, interactive software provider Havok

We’d like to see the tablet become attractive to a more mainstream audience than Apple’s current following and appeal to the mass market in the way Microsoft windows does. Unless it takes a mass market approach, it’s not going to appeal to videogamers, because videogamers want to play with other videogramers. I think price is terribly important too. Apple has great design, great technology and is a very interesting company, but in the mass market it comes down to value for money. Usually what’s compelling in videogames is content rather than platform. What are going to be the compelling games to make people go out and buy an Apple tablet?