It’s not about the tablet…

Anybody that thinks that Apple’s (rumoured, still) tablet release is about the tablet doesn’t remember their history.

Back when the iPod was first released, most people, including a lot of tech pundits, simply didn’t get it. Apple was releasing an MP3 player? WTF?!? There were plenty of MP3 players on the market–most from companies dedicated to that market segment. How did Apple expect to supplant them? Were they crazy?

As history shows, Apple didn’t merely supplant its competitors, it blew them away. Swept them aside like dust. Because Apple didn’t release an MP3 player with the iPod, they released an ecosystem for the enjoyment of (first) music and video.

Same thing happened again with the iPhone. Again, tech pundits called for Apple to be wrapped in a white coat and sent to a padded cell. Companies like Nokia dominate the cell phone hardware business, and there was no way that Apple would get into that.

But Apple wasn’t building a cell phone. It build, again, an entire ecosystem around a smart phone. It did it better than anybody else and, arguably, continues to do it better than anybody else.

In both cases, entire industires were shaken. The iPod ultimately led to the abolition of DRM on digital music. The iPhone showed that the phone companies were not all-powerful–give them a compelling reason and they’d fold.

Tomorrow, Apple will do it again. They will have a nice, shiny hardware device to look at, touch and admire. But behind it, they will have an entire ecosystem ready to go. This time, I think they’re primarily looking to turn traditional print media on its head. They’ll likely take on the cable companies while they’re at it.

Ultimately, the device Steve Jobs shows off will be a game changer, again. But it won’t be just the hardware. And that’s why nobody competes with Apple. They just don’t get it. They think “shinier, faster, cheaper!” But that’s not enough. You need to think different (sorry). You need to think faster.