Gruber of Daring Fireball posted his take on a suggestion that the Apple tablet could be called “Canvas”. I agree that it would make a great name, and the artwork in Apple’s invitation does point towards it. This post gave me another thought though for a potential use for this device.
Everyone is talking about reading stuff, watching movies and playing games on the device. It’s all about digital consumption, not creation. How would you write documents and manage spreadsheets on a small tablet device which likely doesn’t come with a physical keyboard? The answer: you wouldn’t. But there is a form of creation that doesn’t require a keyboard: art.
Think about it: the tablet would be perfect for designers as a… well… a graphics tablet. Today artists use products like the Wacom Tablet to paint digital art. If you actually want to see what you’re doing you’ll need much more expensive tablet with screens on them. But here comes Apple with a touch tablet device that’s not only multi-touch but features a high resolution screen. A perfect replacement for the old Wacom.
Apple has always maintained a large mindshare with designers. Windows runs Photoshop just as well, but designers tend to prefer the Mac. I think art creation could be a great angle to explore with this tablet, and would potentially be one of the selling features for artists and designers. Not “the” feature, just one that gives the product that extra edge. Like the camera on the iPod nano.