No For Kno, Finally. It Was DOA Anyway.

Boomtown reports Kno, makers of the flip-open dual tablet designed for the education market is planning to sell off the hardware business, and focus on software only. Says Kara Swisher:

That’s because marketing a new and complex product like the Kno takes a lot of effort and cash, especially since it is an increasingly competitive market for mobile and portable computing products that includes Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Amazon, Dell and many others.

Oh, really? I think not. It’s not about marketing.. it’s about recognizing the product was Dead On Arrival… a ridiculously impossible design. And no, I’m not just discovering it now, I declared in DOA when it was announced:

The Kno is Not a Tablet. It’s a Workout Device

At 5 and a half pounds it’s not exactly a lightweight tablet you would want to hold for hours. I have a very simple test for you: if you have an average 14”-15” laptop around, flip it open, hold it vertically, just like this:

… and tell me how long you could comfortably hold it like that. My guess is it will be just a few minutes.

Seriously. The two-sided book format as we know it was the ideal format when bound paper was the only way we could record and consume textual information. When we liberate information from paper, what is the point in replicating the paper (book) experience? Why not just accept that this is a paradigm-change and come up with the format that maximize readability and comfort while consuming information.

But better late then never: Kno may very well become a good software business. Good luck selling their overpriced weights though.

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