Apple Tablet vs Netbook: What Does It Mean For Sports Fans

Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT, INTERNET, MOBILE on 12-28-09    No Comments


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For the sports tech smack-down for 2010, it is going to be tough to beat the looming grudge match between the Apple Tablet, due out probably in March, and the commodity netbook computer flooding the market as we speak. Tablet computers have been around since the beginning of computing. Bank installed cash machines are basically tablets customized to rip you off every time you want your money. And netbooks, which are really nothing more than stripped down PCs with no hardrives or big screens, have quietly become the default portable computing option worldwide with easily 200 million of these units being deployed internationally by the end of the year.

What makes these once for geeks only gadgets critical to us sports nutz is, you guessed it, the webification of sports.

Between the TV Everywhere initiative, the sophisticated Web video efforts of the NFL, the NBA, MLB, the NCAA and the rest of the leagues and conferences, web sports feeds online will almost certainly be the must-have sports experience for the first half of 2010. What heats the action up even further is online sports enters its peak season early in the year: March Madness on Demand, The Masters and the big early season NASCAR events like Talladega and even the Indy 500, are all getting way webish way fast.

That puts the Apple Tablet rollout right at the height of the online sports season. And considering it is a done deal that the Apple Tablet will be sexy, heavily promoted, easy to use and probably move something crazy like 100,000 units in its first weekend, the unit may catch on fast with fans. iTunes is set to light up a pay for TV streaming service sometime next year. And with Steve Jobs as a major Disney shareholder, imagine what an iTunes enabled ESPN360 channel will be like running on such an Apple device: games, stats, fantasy info, chat and social media all woven in a single well developed easy to use, touch enabled gizmo that is app ready. And open to third party developers who are cashing in like bandits on weaving new apps every day.

It is no stretch that the tablet will offer probably the best 7 inch immersive sports experience on the market. But the iTablet will not be cheap. Let’s guess the unit comes in at $500. Compare that to an entry level netbook that can be had for $300 and offers roughly the same content, but not nearly the same user experience.

And the battle is on. Will fans decide to ante up for the better sports feel of the Apple Tablet. Or will a properly enabled netbook offer cash strapped customer reasonable access to league websites and content. Which would make paying up for the Apple a flagrant foul.

Stay tuned. Or rather, stay plugged in. Learning to take your tablets might be the sports medication for 2010.

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No Comments on “Apple Tablet vs Netbook: What Does It Mean For Sports Fans”

  • Robb Todd

    Great take on the tablet.

    12-28-09 » 7:05 pm »

  • blum

    thanx dude … hey where are you looking for more infor on this? I am checking out the usual suspects. But I am always pushing for info …

    12-29-09 » 8:28 am »

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