[New reports](http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/01/january-launch-of-10-inch-amoled-apple-tablet-near-impossible.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) are surfacing, putting to bed the rumors that Apple’s new Tablet will have an OLED screen. Thank god we’re getting that out of our systems now, so people won’t be screaming about it next week.
(Who am I kidding? People will be screaming about this for the next five years.)
The argument against OLED in the Tablet this time is a logical one; there simply aren’t any 10-inch OLED screens being manufactured right now. At least not in the quantities Apple would need. So unless Apple has some secret deal in place with Samsung, it’s highly unlikely.
But even if OLED were possible, it would still be a poor choice for Apple in this product.
OLED has been getting hyped for several years; I remember people talking about Palm Treos eventually getting OLED screens back in 2005 or 2006. It’s one of those technologies that is supposed to change the world eventually but never does.
The problem with OLED is a common one in the tech industry. It sounds great on paper to nerds, but doesn’t suit anyone in the real world.
Sure, an OLED screen will look great indoors at a trade show, or in a commercial, or in your mother’s basement. The colors are better defined, richer. It saves power in some circumstances. But go outside in the sun a couple of times, and you’ll quickly realize that your screen is completely useless.
Seriously. Read several reviews of the Google Nexus One, and you can tell which reviewers actually took the thing outside, and which ones just reviewed it from inside their homes. Either they mention the fact that they can’t see the screen outdoors at all, or they don’t mention going outside at all. I have yet so read “this thing looks great outside.”
And a gadget that doesn’t work well outside is, by definition, a nerd toy, not a consumer phenomenon.
Even the battery savings is questionable. If your interface is mostly white text on a black background, sure, it will save power. But look at the interface of 90% of computer programs out there. White background, black text. And for good reason. This arrangement is easier on the eyes. The problem is that under those circumstances, an OLED screen will actually eat battery faster.
OLED power saving is a lot like a hybrid car. You can boast about MPG ratings in your Prius, but when you actually drive it like a normal person, it gets poorer milage than a good diesel.
On top of all this OLED is expensive. Prohibitively expensive. Google can afford to put it on a small phone screen, because it saves so much money by not giving you any RAM in your phone. But for a 10-inch device, OLED definitely pushes you up to $1000 or more. Something that I would argue Apple doesn’t want to do. You have to keep the price of the tablet somewhere between the iPod Touch and the cheapest MacBook.
While Apple never “goes cheap” on parts, it is very cost-conscious. It doesn’t add technologies because they have a good buzz. It adds technology that actually helps make the experience better. WiFi, USB, Bluetooth. These were game-changing technologies. OLED is better sometimes and worse other times. That isn’t good enough to justify the additional cost.
