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What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet?
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As a developer, I don't think you and Gruber are disagreeing. Whatever this thing runs it won't be iphone os as we know it. Sure, it will be derived from iphone os - john says as much when he suggests it will run some version of UIKit. But certainly this new UIKit would have features that wouldn't be back-ported onto iPhone (for example multi-column UITableViews). This being the case, the two OS's will always be, at some level, different.
What is the role?
This is a new "form factor".
The Newton and the Cube was less than successful, despite the vision thing.
The Tablet form factor (and ecosystem) will have this V1.0 system in 2010. But the interesting thing is what will happen in 2011 ans 2012. As the system evolves, the "vision thing" of the Tablet will be revealed. Little by painful little.
Rocketman
This is a new "form factor".
The Newton and the Cube was less than successful, despite the vision thing.
The Tablet form factor (and ecosystem) will have this V1.0 system in 2010. But the interesting thing is what will happen in 2011 ans 2012. As the system evolves, the "vision thing" of the Tablet will be revealed. Little by painful little.
Rocketman
I hope that the tablet is annouced with some sort of integration with a streaming iTunes library option when not at home too. I would love to be able to access my library from home away from home. The device will hopefully have at least 64GB of internal SSD storage but it would be nice when your on the road or not at home to have access to everything in your iTunes library and not need a load of storage to do it. I hope that we see a seperate AppleTV update soon too... it's completely underpowered and I am dying for the full 1080p... 720 is good, but 1080p is so much better!
It's not going to replace anything.
Just like the ipod nano, ipod shuffle, ipod touch, ipod classic, and iphone didn't replace each other.
There will be a lot of overlap between macbooks, macbook pros, macbook airs, ipod touch/iphones, and the new tablet. Apple will bet on people buying the tablet because it is cool and because a lot of people will buy anything they make. They will make it look really pretty, they will advertise aggressivley and make it look fashionable, and it will have a really fancy and flashy new interface.
Think about the ipod touch. It plays music and does a lot of other things very poorly and inefficiently. Yes it plays game, but with horrible controls (but there is a gimmicky accelerometer). Yes you can type emails and browse the web, but the keyboard is small and and hard to use, the web browser is slow and has no flash (and a small screen). Yes it has 20,000 applications, but 99 percent of them are worse than useless.
The tablet will be the same sort of thing but with a few new cool things. I bought an ipod touch because it was so cool and fresh and trendy, and it takes a while for that novelty to wear off to the point where you realize that it's just a really pretty mp3 player.
You are looking at the wrong device.
Almost all of the Price of an iPhone for Apple is profit. Some estimates place that profit at 65%. The production costs aren't all that high but licensing does add to the cost. What you really need to look at is the Touch line up to get an idea of the possibilities.
Apple could easily build a tablet for $200 that is manufacturing costs. Other things would Jack the price up some and then you have to add margins. In any event the likely stiff points are the display and the Flash memory. Depending on the technology the display can be had for well under $100 and maybe even under $50. Flash of course is variable depending upon what you implement, but if Apple does it right Flash would be by far the most expensive part. Let's say they end up paying $75 for 128GB, between that and the screen there is a lot left over for the rest of the machine. Some of the features I'd like to see might add bump the manufactured cost to $250 or so but that still means a $500 tablet.
One thing that I'd like to see is a designed in port for 3G or whatever card. This would avoid carrier lock in, reduce the number of models and give people a port for optional hardware besides cellular networking. This would add a cost to the base model but I think it would be worth it. It just gives people more options in how they use the device.
In any event don't look at the price of the IPhone as an indicator of anything when it comes to the tablet. The profit is huge there even for Apple. Rather consider two key points "high integration" and "cheap screens".
A big factor here is the CPU that PA Semi supposedly has been tasked with creating. If Apple pushes as hard as I think they will that SoC could reveal itself as an engineering marvel. With everthing but Flash and maybe RAM on that chip there will be minor needs for external components which leads to cheap motherboards. This SoC is likely to be cheap relative to other parts of the system but it will be a key to being successful as performance will revolve around it. In fact success with this chip is success with the rest of the tablet.
Dave
Almost all of the Price of an iPhone for Apple is profit. Some estimates place that profit at 65%. The production costs aren't all that high but licensing does add to the cost. What you really need to look at is the Touch line up to get an idea of the possibilities.
Apple could easily build a tablet for $200 that is manufacturing costs. Other things would Jack the price up some and then you have to add margins. In any event the likely stiff points are the display and the Flash memory. Depending on the technology the display can be had for well under $100 and maybe even under $50. Flash of course is variable depending upon what you implement, but if Apple does it right Flash would be by far the most expensive part. Let's say they end up paying $75 for 128GB, between that and the screen there is a lot left over for the rest of the machine. Some of the features I'd like to see might add bump the manufactured cost to $250 or so but that still means a $500 tablet.
One thing that I'd like to see is a designed in port for 3G or whatever card. This would avoid carrier lock in, reduce the number of models and give people a port for optional hardware besides cellular networking. This would add a cost to the base model but I think it would be worth it. It just gives people more options in how they use the device.
In any event don't look at the price of the IPhone as an indicator of anything when it comes to the tablet. The profit is huge there even for Apple. Rather consider two key points "high integration" and "cheap screens".
A big factor here is the CPU that PA Semi supposedly has been tasked with creating. If Apple pushes as hard as I think they will that SoC could reveal itself as an engineering marvel. With everthing but Flash and maybe RAM on that chip there will be minor needs for external components which leads to cheap motherboards. This SoC is likely to be cheap relative to other parts of the system but it will be a key to being successful as performance will revolve around it. In fact success with this chip is success with the rest of the tablet.
Dave
Something that I was thinking about when watching the symphony play on New Year's Eve.
A tablet could be used as a replacement for sheet music. When the musician plays, they have to flip the sheets over and interrupt their playing. If they had a foot enabled device, they wouldn't have to interrupt their playing at all. The tap of the foot either flips over to the next page or scrolls the page down.
I like the idea that this is Apple's answer to the netbook. However, I'm not sure how I feel about them replacing the white MB altogether--assuming that speculation is true.
A tablet could be used as a replacement for sheet music. When the musician plays, they have to flip the sheets over and interrupt their playing. If they had a foot enabled device, they wouldn't have to interrupt their playing at all. The tap of the foot either flips over to the next page or scrolls the page down.
I like the idea that this is Apple's answer to the netbook. However, I'm not sure how I feel about them replacing the white MB altogether--assuming that speculation is true.
Think Lifestyle!
FAMILY ROOM/LIVING ROOM/COFFEE TABLE
This Lifestyle niche is currently under-exploited. This is where families live and interact... television, games, reading, communication, photos. Currently, most families do not go crowding around the computer in the Home Office to share things. This keeps them on the couch at Christmas as the lightweight tablet gets passed around. Most importantly will be its ease of use - a computer that even your Grandparents can use, just like an iPhone. Much more convenient than a laptop which can be awkward with its clamshell design and tendency to get rather hot for actual lap use. This niche also carries over to the family auto for taking trips.
BUSINESS TRAVELER/FIELD EMPLOYEE/CORPORATE CLOUD INTERACTION
CREATIVITY/STUDENTS
So many Creativity Apps already exist for the iPhone and have been very successful. This expands those possibilities with its larger screen and ability to connect to other computers at Home, School, or in a Studio.
Think about Lifestyles first, rather than technical innovations per se. The key here will be the application of the tablet in people's lives. This is where Apple has succeeded with the iPod and the iPhone... by introducing technology that impacts Lifestyle, not just by coming up with another cool gadget.
EDIT: I personally hope the physical design of the tablet will resemble an artist's palette, with a thumb hole off to one side. This will make holding it with one hand easy... for typing and other touch screen uses. This will also allow it to be held easily in landscape or portrait orientation.
The Tablet will succeed by aligning itself with niches in people's Lifestyles.
While we normally avoid purely speculative pieces here on MacRumors, John Gruber has posted a particularly interesting opinion piece on what void or need the Apple Tablet might fill. Gruber acknowledges that this is not based on inside knowledge, but he is certain that a Tablet project is in the works and describes a "cone of silence" surrounding all those involved in the project.
FAMILY ROOM/LIVING ROOM/COFFEE TABLE
This Lifestyle niche is currently under-exploited. This is where families live and interact... television, games, reading, communication, photos. Currently, most families do not go crowding around the computer in the Home Office to share things. This keeps them on the couch at Christmas as the lightweight tablet gets passed around. Most importantly will be its ease of use - a computer that even your Grandparents can use, just like an iPhone. Much more convenient than a laptop which can be awkward with its clamshell design and tendency to get rather hot for actual lap use. This niche also carries over to the family auto for taking trips.
- Versatile Remote Control interface that any manufacturer will be able to create an App for to connect with their device.
- Webcam built-in to enable camming from the couch, with families interacting with extended family long distance, the tablet being passed around on the couch from Mom to Grandma to Child. For the webcamming single guy, this gets him out of the office chair.
- Game playing, beyond just a larger screen for current games. A replacement for board games by placing the tablet on the coffee table or couch cushion, allowing multiple players all viewing the same screen. Monopoly, chess, checkers, dominoes, etc.
- Access to other computers in the household for displaying photos, streaming movies, reading files, etc.
- More!
- Webcam built-in to enable camming from the couch, with families interacting with extended family long distance, the tablet being passed around on the couch from Mom to Grandma to Child. For the webcamming single guy, this gets him out of the office chair.
- Game playing, beyond just a larger screen for current games. A replacement for board games by placing the tablet on the coffee table or couch cushion, allowing multiple players all viewing the same screen. Monopoly, chess, checkers, dominoes, etc.
- Access to other computers in the household for displaying photos, streaming movies, reading files, etc.
- More!
BUSINESS TRAVELER/FIELD EMPLOYEE/CORPORATE CLOUD INTERACTION
- A tablet to replace the weight, expense, and overpowered functionality of the laptop for a good majority of business travelers who only need access to email, contacts, internet, and corporate networks.
- Corporate Cloud interaction so the tablet at times acts like a dumb terminal, feeding information back to Big Brother. Used at times as a digital clipboard for gathering data (field techs, nurses, doctors, sales people, surveyors, etc).
- Digital presentations connected to projectors or viewed directly on the device, whether the presentation is stored locally or accessed through the Cloud.
- More!
- Corporate Cloud interaction so the tablet at times acts like a dumb terminal, feeding information back to Big Brother. Used at times as a digital clipboard for gathering data (field techs, nurses, doctors, sales people, surveyors, etc).
- Digital presentations connected to projectors or viewed directly on the device, whether the presentation is stored locally or accessed through the Cloud.
- More!
CREATIVITY/STUDENTS
So many Creativity Apps already exist for the iPhone and have been very successful. This expands those possibilities with its larger screen and ability to connect to other computers at Home, School, or in a Studio.
- Photographers will appreciate the lightweight and could gain the ability to control a camera remotely while simultaneously viewing the large sceen. Great for field uses, cameras in hard to reach places, adverse weather, etc.
- Wacom tablet-like functionality for digital painting and photo manipulation. Fingerpainting for children without the mess, but with the ability to print through a School or Home network.
- Low-cost arrays for display and installation purposes
- More!
- Wacom tablet-like functionality for digital painting and photo manipulation. Fingerpainting for children without the mess, but with the ability to print through a School or Home network.
- Low-cost arrays for display and installation purposes
- More!
Think about Lifestyles first, rather than technical innovations per se. The key here will be the application of the tablet in people's lives. This is where Apple has succeeded with the iPod and the iPhone... by introducing technology that impacts Lifestyle, not just by coming up with another cool gadget.
EDIT: I personally hope the physical design of the tablet will resemble an artist's palette, with a thumb hole off to one side. This will make holding it with one hand easy... for typing and other touch screen uses. This will also allow it to be held easily in landscape or portrait orientation.
That's the wrong idea. Apple shouldn't be promoting syncing up a big mess of content spread out all over your network. They should be promoting centralized media servers.
Seriously, having media scattered everywhere, on different disks in different machines is a nightmare. It's harder to protect against data loss, it's harder to index and it's harder to sync to mobile devices for on the go consuming.
Apple should definately have an iTunes enabled, Apple TV streaming, home storage/media server solution. RAID disks, backup solution. No more local storage of your content on your iMac with a single drive that can fail is a bitch to swap out.
Since I moved everything to a mirrored NAS on my network, I never search for data, and it's protected and I back it up to optical media once in a while. It's all very easy, and Apple could make it even easier.
Then you wouldn't need any kind of contrived syncing method that syncs to every Mac or PC around the house.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes, it could. By why pay $500+(?) for a tablet from Apple, when you could buy a larger flat screen (for a lot less money) and also use a foot pedal to accomplish the very same thing? Why does this- and many other very vertical ideas- need to happen on a tablet from Apple vs. many other (likely much) cheaper options from other sources?
Ditto. I said that on another thread and everyone said I was an idiot because, using convoluted procedures one could share an iTunes library amongst multiple machines (as long as two machines don't write to it simultaneously). What a mess.
I, too, put everything on one of my NAS's (using the other NAS to backup). But keeping iphones in sync is a pain because of latency issues and iTunes' grumpiness at accessing libraries which may or may not be connected, etc.
music
I'll do you one better; the mic would be able to detect where the musician is and her tempo and flip for her. Great idea. Not to mention Apple slate + Finale = annotations etc. for composers... effing sweet.
Because an Apple slate would do a lot of other things very well too.
I'll do you one better; the mic would be able to detect where the musician is and her tempo and flip for her. Great idea. Not to mention Apple slate + Finale = annotations etc. for composers... effing sweet.
Because an Apple slate would do a lot of other things very well too.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Now there's a product I would buy immediately. I'm dancing around it with non-Apple solutions (like Drobo Pro), but would love to see this kind of thing from Apple. I had hoped when the macmini server was announced that the "one more thing" might fill in the rest of this concept (and maybe that will still come), though we still need a smart way for redundancy (without the techie-required overhead).
Apple should just buy Drobo. Seems to be up their alley. I like my Drobo a lot, but it needs to be able to be used for Video Editing. Hopefully, the Drobo S will achieve this (haven't gotten one yet, hopefully later this year).
An iTunes Media Server is WAYYYYYY over due. Talk about, "is-late".
At some point this year i hope to be in a position to be taking on that project here - i have no clue about where to go with it, all i know is that most solutions sound like that old job i had. I'd prefer something simple that just works
(we have a Time Capsule that is just a file server - no backups to it, and it rocks, but this media between 3 computers and a 4th need access to it just stinks).Give me a central media center - app even, i'll run it on my mini - and then some nifty Slates to access it and i'll be a happy (broke) camper!
Because then they wouldn't be grasping at straws to find an "ultimate purpose" for what is probably a general computing device.
Actually, you may want to re-read my post. I *said* that for stuff that interests me (like good novels), it gets the job done nicely. My problem is that National Geographic or virtually any other magazine (including dare I say Playboy) would not have much visual impact displayed on a Kindle. Capesh?
So, if you want to read books on an electronic device and that's *all* you want to do, have at it. That said, I'm pretty sure sales of Kindles have not been that robust precisely because of what I have just described.
...and since everybody is bagging on you, you might want to learn how to spell your beloved uncle's last name.
It's a neologism formed from "inebriation" and "innovation".
That's what happens when you post while hungover from the New Year's Eve parties!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Sure, but if you are going to go there, why not have little arms come out of the Tablet, and play the instrument pitch- and time-perfect (better than she can play it)? Or, have it capture her playback, process it, then play it for the audience corrected for the subtle errors she made in imperfect human playback?
But it seems highly unlikely that the musicians will have to supply their own Tablet for this purpose (the Orchestra is not going to want the visual presentation of the group to be mismatched). So if the Orchestra company is supplying this kind of solution, they're not going to want it used for a lot of other things. And they're probably not going to want the musicians taking these Tablets home either. So, it seems like it would be cheaper and more uniform to buy larger, dedicated screens to accomplish the same objective.
I don't want to pick on this specific, very narrow application for a tablet too much... for any given musician, it's a fine idea- a great use for their own Tablet. But even there, they could probably find a much better incarnation of this solution on a dedicated, larger screen. And last I heard, orchestral musicians often face tight finances.
Bottom line: like many "the Tablet could be..." ideas, this is a fine one, but there are many other ways to accomplish the same with existing laptops, and similar. What about this Tablet makes it "must have" for the masses (especially for masses who might already have a good laptop and an iPhone or iPod Touch)?
The Cube and the Macbook Air were "very cool" at first too, but cool only gets a certain amount of buyers... often not the masses.