Analyst: Apple Prepping February Tablet Production Ramp Ahead of March or April Release

[talkingfuture]

February I like.

$1000 I don't like.

It sounds like the date is the only bit that has (possibly) more to it than guesswork though.

 

[modit]

the device has to supported by 3G or something similar. No way apple will just have wifi.

i think 1000 is the unsubsidized price.

399-499 subsidized by ATT with 2 year contract 35/month data plan.

3G on something like that...hot damn!

Subsidized pricing = mass appeal.

 

[Billy Boo Bob]

For $1000, it better be a tablet computer of some sort. Without higher function than an iPT, it's going to shove in the market's asscrack.

My uneducated guess would be that out of the gate (waiting on new apps) it will be able to run iPhone/Touch apps in a layer. Something like widgets look when you invoke Dashboard. Probably with the ability to run more than one at a time. This will be a temp thing until a new SDK comes out for full screen functionality.

In the mean time, Apple will go ahead with some of their own apps to kick it off (along with maybe a very select few 3rd party apps and games).

I'm certain it will end up being a lot more than just an oversized iPod Touch. Open up some BlueTooth access and it can get interesting. I just wish my old fart brain could learn Cocoa Touch without going into meltdown mode. I've got some great app ideas (mostly fragments waiting on tests) jumbled around in the noggin'.

 

[guet]

I really don't get how anyone can believe that a device with an LCD or OLED screen can hope to redefine the e-reader market. Sure, a self-lit display is fine for reading the odd article, and reading a book is not impossible, but IMHO e-ink is unbeatable when it comes down to reading for several hours at a time. I don't see anything revolutionising this market segment until e-ink has matured and we have faster refresh rates and perhaps colour.

LCD has a lot going for it compared to e-ink, the only two advantages to e-ink are the increased battery life and (debatably) the real reflective reading experience™. I'd sacrifice those advantages for a real web browser, colour, video, and a truly multi-purpose tablet with multi-touch, as would most people.

LCD (and maybe later OLED) devices will replace books and newspapers, not e-ink, because books are on the way out anyway in a world where everything from a sentence to a novel can be published online and linked with other media. The book as a concept is due for a refresh, and when books become more dynamic, that'll happen.

 

[skubish]

For me to buy this it would have:
1. To be cheaper
2. Tether with my iPhone for no added cost.

For $1000 I would just buy a MB.

 

[adamw]

This is indeed great news (if true)... I am looking forward to an Apple tablet computer. I wonder what the specs may be?

 

[Billy Boo Bob]

the device has to supported by 3G or something similar. No way apple will just have wifi.

i think 1000 is the unsubsidized price.

399-499 subsidized by ATT with 2 year contract 35/month data plan.

Oh jeez I hope they don't go with exclusives this time. Keep in mind that one of the reasons they went exclusive was because AT&T (at the time Cingular) was the only one (so they say) willing to retool for Visual Voicemail. Unless they add the phone to this (of course being only headset of some set or speaker phone) they have no need to go exclusive.

And 3G does me no good. I'm in the boonies and we'll be lucky to even get 4G service when it gets going.

 

[Lesser Evets]

My uneducated guess would be that out of the gate (waiting on new apps) it will be able to run iPhone/Touch apps in a layer. Something like widgets look when you invoke Dashboard. Probably with the ability to run more than one at a time. This will be a temp thing until a new SDK comes out for full screen functionality.

In the mean time, Apple will go ahead with some of their own apps to kick it off (along with maybe a very select few 3rd party apps and games).

I'm certain it will end up being a lot more than just an oversized iPod Touch. Open up some BlueTooth access and it can get interesting. I just wish my old fart brain could learn Cocoa Touch without going into meltdown mode. I've got some great app ideas (mostly fragments waiting on tests) jumbled around in the noggin'.

This is, of course, a big ol' guess-hope-assumption.

I hope it can do lots and lots, but Apple is good at disappointing. Just look at how long it's taken for a tablet to get made. And it hasn't even been made yet.

 

[Garafraxa]

a coalition of magazine publishers just yesterday launched a joint venture to develop standards and business models for digital distribution of their content.

When I read about this elsewhere, I got the feeling that the publishers were doing this on there own, without Apple. Maybe they see how music distributers have been marginalized by the iTunes Store, and want to get ahead of Apple on this scene. Then again, if they try to do this in any way that ignores iPod or Tablet users, they will fail.

I bet Apple already has enough content providers (Marvel) on side to make this a success, and the others will come around once the model is proven... exactly the way it happened on the music side, and is currently happening with TV and movies.

 

[Billy Boo Bob]

This is, of course, a big ol' guess-hope-assumption.

Heh. Yeah. Thus the "Uneducated Guess". I don't try to claim to know what's going to happen. Well, other than the idea that Apple's not going out of business this year.

 

[Michael73]

So what is it?

I can't see adding another device to my bag so in my mind whatever this is will need to be a convergence device. That said, if it does combine iphone functionality, I can't see holding a 10.1" screen to the side of my head and I certainly don't want all my calls over a speaker in a tablet. The device surely won't have the punch of my MBP which reduces its overall usefulness. I'm just not sure what it is...a $1000 gaming device or e-reader or iPhone or personal video device or iPod touch?

 

[chelsel]

iPhone OS Please

As an iPhone developer, I have to say that I hope this runs the iPhone OS. And I bet that it does, for the simple fact that thousands of apps are already out there and optimized for a touch environment... whereas the apps for OS X have not been optimized for touch.

Cliff
http://www.phonetransact.com

 

[Billy Boo Bob]

When I read about this elsewhere, I got the feeling that the publishers were doing this on there own, without Apple. Maybe they see how music distributers have been marginalized by the iTunes Store, and want to get ahead of Apple on this scene. Then again, if they try to do this in any way that ignores iPod or Tablet users, they will fail.

Again, a guess, but I would think that they want to do this in order to dictate some (technical) terms instead of Apple dictating the terms, in order to make sure that things don't go Apple Exclusive. I could see them saying "This is how it works. Now you can make your device capable of doing it our way or not. It's up to you."

 

[sjo]

research note from Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Yair Reiner predicting based on industry checks that Apple will begin mass production of its much-rumored tablet computer in February ahead of a launch in late March or April.

is this first report based on industry checks concerning apple tablet computer?

 

[powers74]

delays

Just look at how long it's taken for a tablet to get made. And it hasn't even been made yet.

Oh, jeez, I know - and the ridiculous thing is Steve could walk in Monday and be like:

"We don't have a product. I mean I'm not in love with this thing at all. I simply... I just don't want to have sex with this thing. And what the newspapers have going is complete garbage - looks like we're going to have to do that ourselves too and don't even get me started on those tools over at AT&T. Sorry to drop this on you folks, but we've got to go back to square one"

Besides at a grand, it's a couple years out for me anyway, so I don't really care, but it would be cool to see the thing.... assuming it's a real thing....

Again, a guess, but I would think that they want to do this in order to dictate some (technical) terms instead of Apple dictating the terms, in order to make sure that things don't go Apple Exclusive. I could see them saying "This is how it works. Now you can make your device capable of doing it our way or not. It's up to you."

Which they won't, and the papers will then have no choice but to do it Apples way after all.

 

[nxent]

hmm... i think for this device to truly be successful apple will need a special partnership with a 3g data provider (e.g, verizon, att). but opposite the one with iphone... meaning, instead of att paying apple for each iphone sold, apple pays verizon (hopefully) for each tablet sold and, in exchange, the tablet has 'free' 3G data access over it's lifetime - similar to the kindle, no?(and thus justifying the $1000 price tag)

 

[jouster]

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) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

$1000 seems like way too much. Maybe Alex Albrecht was right, though.



Not that it'll matter to me if it has a 10" screen. I'm not interested if it doesn't fit in my pocket.

 

[derek1984]

I'd consider it only if it offers these two things:

1. Snow Leopard OS

2. 3G. And since I already have an iPhone, not an additional charge per month.

Only way I will consider buying this.

 

[bastard]

iTablet

I'm guessing that the monthly subscription fees will translate over to the device. Your magazines and newspapers will all be on the tablet. Pay 30 cents to the apple store for the day's New York Times. This'll revive the industry; which it desperately needs.

 

[mr.steevo]

Does not compute

I don't "get" e-readers. How long can you expect a reader to last assuming it doesn't break. Five years? Eight years? After than you can be sure that it just won't work due to technological "improvements" Think the original iBook. Or any computer from the 80's. I have software and text that I wrote on my Texas Instrument TI-99/4A, but I will never be able to access it ever again because the technology to read it broke.

Meanwhile I have 79 cent paperbacks sitting next to me that were written in the 1960's that I can pick up and read anytime I want.

I love surfing the web for information, and have played a game from time to time, but I really don't understand how something like a computer, which is in itself a temporary item, can replace the longevity of paper and ink. Maybe these readers will appeal mostly to the magazine/newspaper consumer, but I can not see it replace a book.

s.

 

[gibbz]

I'd consider it only if it offers these two things:

1. Snow Leopard OS

2. 3G. And since I already have an iPhone, not an additional charge per month.

Only way I will consider buying this.

1.) Maybe
2.) DOn't hold your breath

 

[powers74]

Os

I'd consider it only if it offers these two things:

1. Snow Leopard OS

2. 3G. And since I already have an iPhone, not an additional charge per month.

Only way I will consider buying this.

Yeah, some kind of baby OS is going to be a pretty tough sell on me. Sadly, I think if it were to run full-on SL, it's going to replace, or at least be in the same pricerange as the MBA. I would really, really need to be able to run at least a couple Pro graphics apps.

 

[jzuena]

The big thing I took from this is that Amazon splits e-book sales 50/50. No wonder they don't care if you buy a Kindle or use the Kindle app on an iPhone. They will be pissed if Apple comes in at 70/30 and will have to offer the same deal for publishers to stay with them as well once their current contracts expire, as well as to get any titles they don't already have.

 

[jamesryanbell]

Seriously, the tablet again??

It's just a color Newton, nothing more...

No one really knows exactly what it is yet. If Jobs has put all of this time and money into it, I'm sure it'll be awesome like everything else is these days.

 

[mBox]

I"ve never had a problem reading on any Palm device i've had for hours at a time, and the same is proving true on the Touch. I've only spent a few minutes with a kindle, it was easy on the eyes - but i read at night and in bed and don't want a light on.

I could use one of these - now - but $1000 will mean i probably go with a laptop. It's gotta be really really good for me to go tablet at that price.

At first I didnt really think much of this possible option. I figured it was another attemp at new tech from Apple. Then lately I tried reading manuals and even magazines and realised (at my age) that my eyes are not doing so well with printed material. I know I better go get them checked but I spend so much time in front of a computer that Im prepped and ready for this new tech. Im used to the small print thanks to my iPhone and I do like reading in Safari via iPhone.
I have a Uni MBP and I find it cumbersome to read at times.
Weird I can spend hours working in After Effects or Maya on it but as a reading tool not so well