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Apple 'iSlate' Trademark and What is a 'Magic Slate'?
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Forgot to listen TWIT. My main concerns with this being a cloud device:
-How powerful is it?
-Apple currently has nothing in the cloud for this device except MobileMe and the App Store (no subscription for music, movies & TV deals in place)
Specific deets weren't mentions, just the usual "big picture" stuff, but I'd say it would have to be powerful enough to play 720p HD without getting too hot or hiccuping.
As for music subs, Apple did just buy LaLa, so that is in place. From what I took away from TWIT, and posts in the Mac rumor world, Apple has deals with book companies too., and I'm guessing TV and Movie as well. Also don't forget about the huge server farm Apple is building in NC. So I'd say Apple is well positioned.
I don't think it will be a 100% cloud device. The world isn't ready for that just yet.
A real phenomenon
The chronic grumblers and naysayers are convinced that Apple's success is based upon some sort of deception or clever marketing or blind following on the part of us Kool-aid drinkers.
Not so. Not so at all.
Apple, Inc. and its success is an example of American free enterprise at its best. And Steve Jobs deserves the lion's share of credit for being its founder, leader, and its goal setter. At the same time, the prodigious Apple team of executives, employees, contractors, suppliers, VARs, etc. have proven their value through their consistent, dedicated, and coordinated production.
This success is also due in no small part to strategic planning--in all Apple's divisions and departments. None of its unique products "just happened" out of the blue.
Perhaps there was a good deal of calculated risk accompanying the iPhone project. But on the other hand, it seems obvious from its overall inspired design that it was pretty much bound to be a success.
So now, with all of that success, this new product is finally imminent. Apple has had the distinct advantage of having its finger on the pulse of various media and technology industries, and has learned a lot of valuable lessons, collected up a lot of successful actions, etc., so that it has yet another very good chance of being successful with another new product.
I think the sheer number of posts on this and other related article threads is a reliable indicator of the general interest in this new device, as well as an index of expectation about the relative genius of its design.
Apple has proven again and again its ability to change and improve people's lives through their uses of its products. There's no reason to believe that this new product won't have similar effects.
I'm very excited and I'm not going to apologize for feeling so.
The chronic grumblers and naysayers are convinced that Apple's success is based upon some sort of deception or clever marketing or blind following on the part of us Kool-aid drinkers.
Not so. Not so at all.
Apple, Inc. and its success is an example of American free enterprise at its best. And Steve Jobs deserves the lion's share of credit for being its founder, leader, and its goal setter. At the same time, the prodigious Apple team of executives, employees, contractors, suppliers, VARs, etc. have proven their value through their consistent, dedicated, and coordinated production.
This success is also due in no small part to strategic planning--in all Apple's divisions and departments. None of its unique products "just happened" out of the blue.
Perhaps there was a good deal of calculated risk accompanying the iPhone project. But on the other hand, it seems obvious from its overall inspired design that it was pretty much bound to be a success.
So now, with all of that success, this new product is finally imminent. Apple has had the distinct advantage of having its finger on the pulse of various media and technology industries, and has learned a lot of valuable lessons, collected up a lot of successful actions, etc., so that it has yet another very good chance of being successful with another new product.
I think the sheer number of posts on this and other related article threads is a reliable indicator of the general interest in this new device, as well as an index of expectation about the relative genius of its design.
Apple has proven again and again its ability to change and improve people's lives through their uses of its products. There's no reason to believe that this new product won't have similar effects.
I'm very excited and I'm not going to apologize for feeling so.
iSlate... the name announce anti-Pro devices and thats equals non power Mac users buying one, this is for kids that want a bigger iPod touch or Old guys that want to read their books in full color. people that wish for a Mac tablet for professional uses as we do with MacBooks are going to be very mad with this new toy. perhaps that why Apple erased the Computer from it's name... maybe they are going to build nice tech TOYS for younger generations to come.... remember the PIN PIN? Apple was dreaming with toys since the beginning.... 
This matches what I think it's going to be. All the people wanting an MB/MBP replacement in a tablet are going to be disappointed. Look at how many Kindles/Nooks sold over the holiday season and they have a ton of shortcomings. Apple wants in on that growing market.
uhmm... I just want to point out the failure of G4 Cube, the Macintosh TV, The Flower and dalmatian iMac versions, the firewire iPod, and so on... (Apple TV anyone?) there are products that doesn't work. it just that Apple doesn't shout it on stage. but a lot of products simply didn't make it. maybe it's time that think twice with this iSlate/failure/controled tablet as the iPhone is now/soon jailbreaked by nerds/new shiny toy. don't you think?
There's a dissonance between these two sentences.
Groups like Médecins Sans Frontières, the Red Cross/Red Crescent, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others think of something more than an MP3 player with more memory when they try to "improve people's lives". Food. Clean water. Medical treatment. Education. Things like that.
Apple is superb at convincing people that they need to show their credit cards to buy new shiny things on the Internetz. "Improving people's lives" - oh, puh-leaze!
Lot of belief in secret deals and complicated answers around here. No one's heard of Occam's Razor?
And I just want to point out that failures accompany any enterprise. It is what is done about them that counts. Recent failures? I can't think of any.
If this is an e-reader or a non-standalone device it will be a flop or very niche product. There is no way a lot of people are going to pay for an oversized iPhone that replaces nothing. Like I said if it doesn't have iTunes, iLife and a way to backup it is a meaningless device. A majority of Mac users for years have been buying laptops and won't be satisfied.
It's obviously not just an "e-reader." What's a "stand alone device?" My iPhone never has to sync except to get new music on it at this point.
I'd argue that given the inherent limitations of the likely device (form factor, processing power, memory, etc.), it had better NOT be a stand-alone device - it had better be a companion device. It should rely on a connection to the cloud or a linking to a desktop or laptop, to take my files and data along with me when I don't want to carry my "big" machine because I'm going to be spending my time consuming rather than creating content.
True to form, you are embellishing Microsoft's accomplishments while downplaying Apples. As someone who has been an avid reader of Macrumors for years, I have yet to read anything from you that doesn't insult/bash/tarnish Apple in any way. As many have asked, why are you here?
Millions of iPod and iPhone customers had never bought a Mac before. You don't grow new markets by merely replacing the stuff people already had. And people shopping for a faster horse didn't think the first automobiles would satisfy them. Didn't stop Henry Ford.
I completely agree. I have maintained for quite some time now that the iSlate will be the first to debut an iSight and iChat, and then after that it will finally come to the iPhone.
Another reason I am so excited to see it. Not only hardware wise, but the OS will be the future of the iPhone OS as well!
There is no way that you can say that these products are failures.
MobileMe: obviously this is still a growing product that Apple keeps investing time and resources in. To judge whether this is a failure you need a lot more info. Is it less successful than competing services by Google? Maybe, because others are free, but MobileMe is for me a fuss free useful addition that costs me some money but saves me annoying configuration and installation of third party programs.
iPod Shuffle: no way to say that this is a failure without sales data and development cost data. Granted I don't see a lot of people with these around, but then again I can imagine that this thing didn't take the same kind of money to develop as a unibody MBP.
Apple TV: definitely a product with limitations that are more determined by software than hardware. In features and flexibility it can't compete with other products within the same market. But as with MobileMe, it is a great product for those people that want fuss-free, no configuration and easy movie watching. Again, no judgement possible on failure or success without sales data. I think it is save to say that the product at the moment does not eat a lot of Apple's resources, so cost is quite low.
Store review policy: not a product, and it is obvious that this is still evolving. In addition, remember that Apple was/is the first real company with a successful app store. They are learning.. Slowly but surely. In addition, not only because of these policies, the app store is the most successful one around, with no app store even in the process of catching up.
these may not be failures, but they're certainly failure-ish. "less successful then the competition," as you describe below, is actually a pretty good definition for "failure.". And arguing that things are still a growing product is not a good defense- mobe me has been around a long time, for example, and has yet to gain any traction. Your other arguments soun like NBC and Leno - his ratings suck but he's cheap. Well, making a small profit while selling less than the competition is pretty failure-ish to me. And then you describe one of the products by saying "it can't compete."
and after all that, you really maintain "there is no way I can call these things a failure?". Your prove they are failures by saying they have crappy features and/or no one buys them
and after all that, you really maintain "there is no way I can call these things a failure?". Your prove they are failures by saying they have crappy features and/or no one buys them