Apple Tablet Hints: Virtual Keyboard, Camera, eBooks, More

MacRumors · Jan 20, 2010

The Wall Street provides some new tidbits of information about he upcoming Apple tablet that is expected to be announced next week. The article summarizes many of the recent rumors and suggestions about he tablet device which is expected to be 10 to 11 inches in screen size and be priced around $1000. The article cites several different people "in the know" about Apple's plans and reveals the following new tidbits.

According to those familiar with the situation Apple will be targeting the new device at both homes and classrooms. Apple is said to envision that one device might be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email. For classrooms, Apple is looking into electronic textbooks. The device will include a virtual keyboard for input.

Apple is, of course, working with book, magazine and newspaper publishers for content, but also television networks. Apple has apparently been pitching some sort of "best of TV" subscription service to media companies. Invites to the gaming media seem to have some substance as Apple is also said to have worked with EA to show off the tablet's gaming capabilities.

In the end, it seems Apple is working on all fronts to bring various types of media together on the single device. Sharing of a single device seems to have importance to Apple with experiments in users leaving virtual sticky notes for each other, and even automatically recognizing the user by built-in camera. The author isn't sure if these features will make it into the final shipping product.

Article Link: Apple Tablet Hints: Virtual Keyboard, Camera, eBooks, More

macfan881 · Jan 20, 2010

is it the 27th yet.

miketcool · Jan 20, 2010

I heard the iPad is the best way to experience new product releases too.

NYR99 · Jan 20, 2010

I am really hoping for the price to be in the $600-700 range, this way it can be a little competitive to netbooks.

queshy · Jan 20, 2010

This is just as exciting as when we were leading up to the iPhone launch...can't wait to see what they have...also can't wait to see how SJ is doing.

basesloaded190 · Jan 20, 2010

Sounds good to me! Now let's get this even going here. Anticipation and crazy rumors are killing me!

Rocketman · Jan 20, 2010

The facial recognition function or the user log on function makes sense considering screen visual capture. Obviously that feature is not yet mature, but in 2 years it will be.

Fingerprint capture too?

Rocketman

benlee · Jan 20, 2010

I knew this was going to happen. Leading up to the event is going to be bits and pieces of information and misinformation coming from every direction. It's fun. However, I'm surprised at how little we actually know for sure. For all we know there is no tablet. They have kept this thing under wraps. Apple really knows how to market this way, it is kind of freaky.

Gizmodo is saying the article said something about streaming iTunes as well.

Velin · Jan 20, 2010

Plastic screen = scratches = fail.

Luke1robb · Jan 20, 2010

1) I'm slightly confused on the sticky note thing...so basically its an emailed sticky note to my "desktop"?

2) Are we EVER going to have live video streams of Apple events?

I don't even NEED live streams, but at least it could be up earlier than 5 hours after the keynote ends. I avoided all info/coverage about MWSF '09 to watch the keynote and had to wait until late at night just to see it.

@Arn: You wanna see if someone can hop on uStream and live feed the keynote???

peepboon · Jan 20, 2010

The text book would be amazing! no more lugging around heavy books.

Also, what if you could borrow library books that will be 'locked' after the due date? Would be awesome as no more late fees!

levitynyc · Jan 20, 2010

I don't see how making this a $1000 product makes sense. If you are going to spend 1k, why not just buy a composite Macbook?

More likely we will see this in the 600-700 dollar range.

cmaier · Jan 20, 2010

Since the last rumor was that there is no camera, clearly you must have to identify yourself by licking the screen (that explains the prior "water sensor" rumors).

Dudwasup · Jan 20, 2010

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/7D11)

macfan881 said:
is it the 27th yet.

I wish

billystlyes · Jan 20, 2010

peepboon said:
The text book would be amazing! no more lugging around heavy books.

Also, what if you could borrow library books that will be 'locked' after the due date? Would be awesome as no more late fees!

Yeah, all yours for only $1000. Everyone can afford one at that price.

ShiftyPig · Jan 20, 2010

$1000 for an eBook/eNewspaper reader is about like $5000 for a Segway.

If AAPL hangs around 210 by the beginning of next week I'm going to short-sell, take my 10% and laugh all the way to the bank.

macduke · Jan 20, 2010

$1000 is pushing it for me, especially since I'm planning on buying a new MBP within the next year or so. $600 is a sale for me, but probably not until later in the year. Gotta save the monies because I just bought a car with cash! Who even does that anymore? I guess I could always use credit, but that would be irresponsible. That and the wife would kill me. I wasn't even that interested in this tablet until recently. I still think I'm more looking forward to the next iPhone software and hardware upgrades, as I'm getting those for certain (money waiting in the bank). But my wife has needed a new compter for awhile (old Dell), and the concept of a shared system that is left on the coffee table does sound very appealing and would fit into our lifestyle nicely. Though I was planning on giving her my current MBP before I upgrade. Oh decisions.

JoEw · Jan 20, 2010

i think $1000 dollars is to high, $600-$700 range makes it a little more reasonable for people, but even if it does launch at $1000 if it were subsidized on a 3G network could make it $500 or so. Just a theory.

wenfuu · Jan 20, 2010

owh come on, its just few days away. quit building up the rumors and let your patience and excitement take over.

Luke1robb · Jan 20, 2010

levitynyc said:
I don't see how making this a $1000 product makes sense. If you are going to spend 1k, why not just buy a composite Macbook?

More likely we will see this in the 600-700 dollar range.

I think you misread; She said that an OLED would be $1000, whereas other options existed to make it less.

I see it at $600-700 subsidized.

digitalbiker · Jan 20, 2010

levitynyc said:
I don't see how making this a $1000 product makes sense. If you are going to spend 1k, why not just buy a composite Macbook?

More likely we will see this in the 600-700 dollar range.

There will most likely be a $799 model, an $899 model, and a $999 model. The difference will be storage space and/or possible OLED vs LED.

Why on earth would anyone buy an old tech composite Macbook, when a lighter smaller tablet with touch capabilities, subsidized 3G connectivity, better battery life, better display, ebook capable, accelerometer, facial recognition, etc. etc. could be had for the same money?

I guess to each his own but the old composite macbook is an outdated turkey anyway.

macduke · Jan 20, 2010

levitynyc said:
I don't see how making this a $1000 product makes sense. If you are going to spend 1k, why not just buy a composite Macbook?

More likely we will see this in the 600-700 dollar range.

For the same reason the Macbook Air costs $500 more than the Macbook even though it isn't as fully featured (except maybe for size). This could also be said to be true about the tablet. More convenient, smaller? Plus the cool factor.

BTW, what ever happened to the Macbook Air? Nobody talks about it anymore and it's design doesn't match any of the new systems. Will it be EOL'ed with the introduction of the tablet?

D 5 · Jan 20, 2010

You will be able to Type on your Tablet using your iPhone/iPod Touch when there is no access to a full keyboard

MacFanJeff · Jan 20, 2010

I see this as replacing the Macbook entry level models, including the "Air" and them making the tablet and Macbook Pros only for mobile computing. Also I think they will move their portable music devices to the Touch and maybe still the "Classic" but do away with the rest.

This is the first step to getting more content from truly portable devices for Apple and consolidating it into the tablet makes the most sense. At $1,000 I still think it will be a great seller because they don't intend to ever compete with netbooks and it will be better than a Macbook since everything seems to be moving to or accessed from "the cloud". That eliminates the need for bulky laptops.

The keyboard touchpad would be OK, but it really MUST have a Bluetooth keyboard capability too. The face camera seeing you as a unique user is one of the WOW factors I suspect will be revealed. Kevin Rose already said on a couple of podcasts he has gotten info from a reliable source that it will have several of those unique Apple WOW designs.

thewireman · Jan 20, 2010

Velin said:
Plastic screen = scratches = fail.

Glass screen= scratches = fail too?

Apple Tablet Hints: Virtual Keyboard, Camera, eBooks, More

macrumors bot

macrumors 68020

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68040

macrumors 68030

macrumors 603

macrumors 65816

macrumors 68000

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502

macrumors 65816

Suspended

macrumors newbie

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502a

macrumors G5

macrumors 68000

macrumors newbie

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 65816

macrumors G5

macrumors member

macrumors regular

macrumors regular

Our Staff