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Apple iTablet Mac Communicator?
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Hmmmm!
I agree, I can see your idea really taking off. Very light, small NAND drive, backed up to server at home and school, three copies in different locations, the OS our kids learn on would logically extend to their adult life who would go from OS X to windows? Breeding the Mac users of the future...
I agree, I can see your idea really taking off. Very light, small NAND drive, backed up to server at home and school, three copies in different locations, the OS our kids learn on would logically extend to their adult life who would go from OS X to windows? Breeding the Mac users of the future...
There are already a number of places where you can get download textbooks, but the selection is kind of touch and go. I don't think that portion of the industry sees much advantage in selling a downloadable calculus textbook through iTunes for $9.99 when the hard copy goes for $175+...
I would love to have something like this rumored tablet. I'm currently "lugging" my MBP around and not really complaining about the "measly" 4+ hours of battery life. But a lighter, more efficient, flash-drive based, optical-drive-free, touch-keyboard-equipped (a la iPhone) tablet with WiFi, and BT would be absolutely fantastic. With Back to My Mac, the drive wouldn't need to be any bigger than 64GB realistically. A Gig of RAM would be plenty (upgradeable, of course).
I would love to have something like this rumored tablet. I'm currently "lugging" my MBP around and not really complaining about the "measly" 4+ hours of battery life. But a lighter, more efficient, flash-drive based, optical-drive-free, touch-keyboard-equipped (a la iPhone) tablet with WiFi, and BT would be absolutely fantastic. With Back to My Mac, the drive wouldn't need to be any bigger than 64GB realistically. A Gig of RAM would be plenty (upgradeable, of course).
If you did it that way, for tablet people you'd waste thickness and weight on a keyboard. for laptop people, you'd waste $$ on a touchscreen. Nobody wins. Plus, weird hinges = blech. I've had so many problems with hinges on various electronic devices that simply open up, much less rotate 360 degrees. It's a slippery slope.......
Sad but true. As a prosumer, I've been getting the shaft since about the G5 days, as they started really craking up the price of the PowerMac/Mac Pro, and downsizing the power of the iMac. I used to be able to work well with an iMac. My last one has lasted me 6 years (G4) and I'm feeling less than confident about buying another one. I like customizable computers...
Breeding Mac-users of the future???! Tthen what's your excuse for where Mac users have been for the past 20 years? As long as I can remember, Macs have been the majority computer in schools. Only recently did I begin to see PCs on the scene... and that was just preceding the Mac-user boom we're now experiencing...
Had to play devil's advocate on that one...
Then sell the electronic version for $175 minus production costs and call it a day. Apple might not go for it, but there are other text retailers out there. Eventually all "books" will be electronic and bloated prices won't float for too long... but at the same time, textbooks have always been pricey. It's not like they're selling "Where's Waldo" for $80 or something...
-Clive
I work in a fairly high-tech environment, one that makes a point of working at the leading edge of visualization, computational and high bandwidth technology. As a result I live with top end macs, pcs, iphones, smartphones, blackberrys (not to mentions 500-node clusters and giga-pixel displays). I use a slate-style tablet for my day-to-day business, which includes managing email, calendars and task lists, reading or checking documents, using web browsers and making presentations. For the most part I do this without a keyboard, deferring to a conventional desktop or laptop for when I need that (or in a pinch a wireless keyboard for the slate).
I believe there is room for an iphone-style slate approximately the size of the Kindle (which I *haven't* tried!); using wireless and cellular data connection so it is always connected, providing the elegant and stable user interface the vista -based tablets or smartphones have not been able to achieve to date, and hopefully with the increased business functionality that the iPhone currently lacks (to paraphrase Churchill, I am no fan of Microsoft Exchange, but it's better than anything else out there for sync of email, calendar, contacts and tasks). Given the design capabilities at Apple, this would be thin, lightweight (no need for any spinning drives, just extend software like back to my mac). Handwriting recognition has gotten very good, but it is beatable (voice recognition or more predictive touch keyboard) to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if Apple didn't even bother with it (I just dont see Steve with a stylus!).
I believe there is room for an iphone-style slate approximately the size of the Kindle (which I *haven't* tried!); using wireless and cellular data connection so it is always connected, providing the elegant and stable user interface the vista -based tablets or smartphones have not been able to achieve to date, and hopefully with the increased business functionality that the iPhone currently lacks (to paraphrase Churchill, I am no fan of Microsoft Exchange, but it's better than anything else out there for sync of email, calendar, contacts and tasks). Given the design capabilities at Apple, this would be thin, lightweight (no need for any spinning drives, just extend software like back to my mac). Handwriting recognition has gotten very good, but it is beatable (voice recognition or more predictive touch keyboard) to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if Apple didn't even bother with it (I just dont see Steve with a stylus!).
Very well written Whidbeyben, I had not considered the tablet idea from that perspective and I can believe that would be a viable market. The fact that the Kindle is actually selling despite its shortcomings shows the market desire for such a product.
I've got to agree. whidbeyben's idea is great and makes sense.
I've got to burst your bubble though, Clive:
Europe still has a long way to go to have ever so many computers (no matter if PCs or Macs) in schools. And to be quite honest, the way the majority of teenagers (on this side of the pond) is behaving nowadays I think it's better that way. But that's another story
I've got to burst your bubble though, Clive:
I don't go to school anymore, but I'd be surprised to see Macs in the European equivalent of high schools. I think they're only THAT popular in schools in the USA.Clive at Five said:
Europe still has a long way to go to have ever so many computers (no matter if PCs or Macs) in schools. And to be quite honest, the way the majority of teenagers (on this side of the pond) is behaving nowadays I think it's better that way. But that's another story
And my point was that a certain brand of computer in the schools didn't have a noticeable effect on Mac-usage back in the 90s, so I don't see any reason why it would now that Apple is popular. Popularity alone will have that effect.
-Clive
There are several things that generate this demand. For one many of use would not be served well by owning a laptop as a primary machine, there are just too many limitations. So that means a portable machine becomes a secondary machine which means the expense and bulk of a laptop is even less appealing. Third; many of us are on our feet a good part of the work day running form job to job, a low cost and rugged way to access servers and other information systems would go a long way to helping out.What is it with this tablet-craze everybody is on
I wouldn't be surprised if many where. My current doctor never has his PDA far from his hand.
Well first let me make it clear that I want to see a family of such devices including one for the pocket. The current TOUCH is real close as far as hardware size only needing a slight growth in screen size and resolution.
But that is wishing for a pocket device. A larger device, assuming it remains close to Touch in thickness just saves you a lot of weight and space. Imagine how much space it would save in a brief case or even a automobile. In use though the big advantage is of course the larger screen, which as you age you will understand the overwhelming benefit.
In any event back to the issue of a vehicle, of any sort, using a laptop in such is not at all that handy. A tablet would greatly facilitate use there.
So far a pure tablet (without a keyboard) hasn't been very successful, so why should it be if apple slaps on theand puts osx on it? It still stays a strict "too big for your pocket and strictly point and click - no decent input possibilities"-device, or am I missing something?
Hey Now Touch is a pure tablet and very successful as is iPhone. Plus the tablets that have failed are the ones running a very poorly adapted Windows OS. Tablets for professional usage are actually booming, I see them all over the place. So why are professional tablets booming, because they offer up the best available way to get work done on the go.
Now the reasonable question is can Apple translate that goodness in the professional world to people in general, that is consumers? I say that yes they can based on certain realities / technologies that are currently with us.
First; is the internet which will only become more important and easy access to such will become critical. I very much see the internet completely replacing a good portion of the printed word in the future. The internet has already had a sharp impact on the newspaper industry. This doesn't even acknowledge all the other traditional net centric usages.
Second; is the reality of IP communications that include video phone type links. This will be a big driver for larger screen devices. The big factor here is to be able to do video coms without squinting.
I see these as two big factors, out of many, where an easy to hand hold and very portable devices will be very attractive to consumers. It really is a communications tool and computer with an entirely different market than what the laptop market tries to fulfill. A laptop tries to emulate a desktop machine in a portable housing. What we want with a tablet is to get away from that emulation into a more useful way to computer interfaces. Especially when on the go.
Dave
Exactly!!! The tablet market has been struggling because the OS was designed for a different medium making the user experience awkward. Now is the time for Apple to step into the tablet arena because of the lead they have over the competition with the multi-touch UI.
For those of you who don't think Apple will make a tablet, I say, they already have....the iPhone and the iPod touch. Both of these were a nice way for Apple to test the market and workout a new technology. It is only a matter of time, I believe months not years, before you see larger tablets from Apple (7, 10, and 12 inch versions). Multi-touch is best used on a horizontal surface or a surface with a slight elevation. How long do you think you could multi-touch your monitor as it sits vertically before your arms got weary? The fact that Apple is pouring so much of their R&D dollars into multi-touch is evidence to me that a tablet is imminent.
ahh how life imitates art! ;-)
see
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/PADD
for a glimpse of who got there before Steve
see
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/PADD
for a glimpse of who got there before Steve
Attachments
It the Application, not Hardware for MacTablet to succeed.
As noted previously, the market for tablets is limited, and anyone can throw together the hardware for a tablet. My iTextbook idea would create a whole new paradigm for hardware, software and content integration that Apple would be ideally situated to implement. Apple wouldn't build a MacTablet if it relied on selling iPaperbacks on iTunes for $.99 a copy (although we might see this for the iPod Touch). Instead, working with the few dozens of textbook publishers in this country, and hundreds of educational institutions, Apple would negotiate licensing for textbook content on a per-iTextbook per year basis, taking a small percentage for their trouble. Right now school districts purchase hundreds of copies of any particular textbook that outdate and need to be replaced every couple of years. For universities, these texts would outdate as frequently as every 1-2 years. That's a lot of paper going to waste. The green thing to do is get rid of the paper and find an alternate way to deliver the content. For schools, if they licensed a textbook at $99 per copy per 2 years, they'd spend less money. Publishers would make a much larger profit margin without the hardback printing and distribution costs, Apple would take a percentage of the licensing fees for their role, and students would have access to up to date, dynamic and multimedia educational content that would be much more engaging than a 6 pound hard bound textbook. You can't highlight, bookmark, annotate, and Google search text on a Kindle. Truly a Win-Win-Win-Win situation that would justify bringing a MacTablet to market with the potential for several millions of units per year plus content licensing fees.
If after a few years and several millions of educational iTextbooks, we started seeing other vertical applications requiring tight content and hardware integration (i.e. Electronic Medical Records, commerce applications, etc.) that would be great for the Apple universe, although the markets for any of these other vertical applications would be tiny compared with education.
As noted previously, the market for tablets is limited, and anyone can throw together the hardware for a tablet. My iTextbook idea would create a whole new paradigm for hardware, software and content integration that Apple would be ideally situated to implement. Apple wouldn't build a MacTablet if it relied on selling iPaperbacks on iTunes for $.99 a copy (although we might see this for the iPod Touch). Instead, working with the few dozens of textbook publishers in this country, and hundreds of educational institutions, Apple would negotiate licensing for textbook content on a per-iTextbook per year basis, taking a small percentage for their trouble. Right now school districts purchase hundreds of copies of any particular textbook that outdate and need to be replaced every couple of years. For universities, these texts would outdate as frequently as every 1-2 years. That's a lot of paper going to waste. The green thing to do is get rid of the paper and find an alternate way to deliver the content. For schools, if they licensed a textbook at $99 per copy per 2 years, they'd spend less money. Publishers would make a much larger profit margin without the hardback printing and distribution costs, Apple would take a percentage of the licensing fees for their role, and students would have access to up to date, dynamic and multimedia educational content that would be much more engaging than a 6 pound hard bound textbook. You can't highlight, bookmark, annotate, and Google search text on a Kindle. Truly a Win-Win-Win-Win situation that would justify bringing a MacTablet to market with the potential for several millions of units per year plus content licensing fees.
If after a few years and several millions of educational iTextbooks, we started seeing other vertical applications requiring tight content and hardware integration (i.e. Electronic Medical Records, commerce applications, etc.) that would be great for the Apple universe, although the markets for any of these other vertical applications would be tiny compared with education.
Excellent idea.
The eBooks sold on iTunes that are for schools could have media instead of just images on the pages. The media could be based off Quicktime.
This would be an awesome thing, but it has to be more than a reader. Has to have online, music, video, etc capabilities. But I'm sure you feel the same way too.
It has to be good enough for many people to want, not just schools.
It's only been in the last decade that computers have really surged in schools.
Lots of schools had macs.... really old macs, or dated IBM systems. So while I know a lot of people are fans of the old Mac OS, it lacked the selling point of OSX to the masses. We learned Lotus 123 and Word Perfect for DOS in the mid 90's. And my school was high tech for its time!
Are ancient first gen Macs were used mainly for the school paper and nothing else.
My experience with Macs in school made me swear I'd NEVER own one. That was pre-OSX. OSX sucked me in, love at first sight.
While I'd agree with you that it has had no effect, there is a reason. Now PC's dominate schools. If a school has money to buy systems, they just are not buying Macs. Apple will post articles when they do land a big account, but they really do need to be more aggressive with the education market again.
I think a tablet for education is horrible. (Kids would destroy them.) However, Apple should invest some much needed R&D into a killer education setup, partner with the leading text book publishers, and design education based software that would really offer a super seamless approach to it all.
My nephew's school has gone laptop based. (They now need basic computer skills for kindgeraten: point and click mouse, keyboard navigation). It's a neat set up, but there are so many holes and limitations to it. Apple could surely show up everything that is out there already.
edit: wanted to clarify that they do not have lap tops at the k-7 grade level. They get their lap tops in 8th grade. And they have Dell's :-(
So, I'm an amatuer laptop musician. I see huge potential for this tablet! Currently, m-audio produces a wide range on external hardware such as midi controllers. The problem is that the midi becomes obsolete as the software advances and the midi is usually not too adaptive to multiple programs. As things are right now, professional musicians have some real techy nerds in their pockets that design and construct controllers for them as the software improves. Musicians rely on this stuff if they plan on writing preformance based compositions. In fact, it has been quite some time since I've seen an electronic musician preform without the glowing white apple obstructing my view of his hands. If you told me that a tablet with touch control was available I would say "FINALLY, a midi I'm not afraid to buy!" If you check out beatportal ( a spin-off site of beatport.com) you can watch multiple links to video footage of iphone users hacking the phone to do just this. The problem is, they all look like atari 2600 controllers with colecovision graphics. I'm punped about this prospect and think it is high time!
You'd be surprised. What the publishers want are sales. They don't care in what format. The big issue for them these days is the used text market. That's one reason why texts go through so many editions so quickly -- they need to keep up the demand for the new copies as they get no profit from the sale of a used text.
Electronic texts, especially those tied to a specific device (much the way iTunes ties songs to a specific device) ... that'd be a different story. Much easier to keep selling new texts that way.
As an aside, a good deal of the high cost of science and math texts is the expense involved in printing a high number of color images and formulae. Again, e-publishing would help bring down those costs. I doubt you'd see a $9.99 biology text, but you may well see one sell for $29.99.
The school I went to had each student buy a laptop from grade five onwards (this is in Australia, to clarify grade 5 = 9 or 10 years old) and then a new one in year 7 (start of highschool for us) and then in year 10. There are about 2000 kids and teachers at that school with laptops. From this year they replaced the laptops with tablets with little stands and wireless keyboards. I'd say it's a reasonable indication of things that might come.
(Actually, my theory is that they didn't want to restructure the school fees since a laptop when I was there costs about the same as a tablet now
)
yeah. I really dont think that the "iTablet" is even something to think about.
and it really doesnt sound like something i would want to go get
The tablet will be intended for the average consumer and not the professionals. Anyone picking up this itablet for the first time will be able to use it flawlessly and without training. Thats the whole mac thing, easy to pick up. It just works and still has the ability to do the tasks pros need. This is something grandma might like to talk to her grandson in ichat. And maybe edit photos by touching them and play music with ease. To you or I this is just another gadget. But to grandma this is a computer she can use.
And yet it still appeals to the pro end when working with photos, motion graphics or music editing. This allows more innovation with live editing in any of those areas.
And yet it still appeals to the pro end when working with photos, motion graphics or music editing. This allows more innovation with live editing in any of those areas.
Well yes and no. The units will be attractive to consumers but they will also be attractive to professionals. Mainly for the same reasons, that is very portable, easy to use and strong communications ability. At least in the smaller scale devices the demands of the professional and the consumer intersect.
OK so we are thinking the same. Contrary to a large number of peoples thinking there are professionals that need a device that is easy to use and doesn't get in the way. In essence that is what the iPhone does well and why many professionals have adopted it even if it is missing a thing or two off the so called corporate check list.
Much the same can be said for all sorts of professionals. Be it a doctor or nurse, a field engineer, surveyor, pilot, or even a pit manager in Vegas. They all need something portable that allows them to focus on the task at hand.
Here is the funny thing I don't even consider any of the above the types of pros that need or could rationally use such a device. Tablets in my estimation are not for graphics, photography or the like. For one thing a properly size tablet would be too small. Another issue is that tablets should be optimized for handheld use and that makes such tasks difficult.
In any event we have what 13 days to go. After which we all fall into a bit of depression for not getting what we want.
Dave
Of course, its the MacWorld tradition. We all wish and predict, it doesn't come, and we are sort of sad inside, haha.
Anyhow, as for the Mac Communicator concept, I agree with everything here and what's been said thus far except for the bit about photography. I consider myself a semi-pro photographer and I would love to have a really efficient touch interface to use when working with pictures. It just makes sense in my mind and I could see lots of other similarly minded photographers using this for the same purposes.
But totally right with the motion graphics and stuff, a device like this I don't think would be able to work with stuff like that, like Maya, Motion, and After Effects type stuff.
Anyhow, if this thing turns out to be true, it will probably replace my aging PowerBook G4. Got to love the knack that most Mac users have for finding excuses in getting new Apple technology. I love the line from the Cult of Mac book that says, "they shouldn't call it Mac, they should call it Crack."
That pretty much sums it up.
Well I'm neither a pro nor semi pro but did shoot a lot of medium format at one time. Frankly haven't really gotten into digital editing but in my mind see a problem with the hand on screen approach. Number one is the hand covers up to much screen real estate. The second issue is there is little screen area to work with in the first place.
But that is editing. What I could see such devices as being very handy for is field use with a digital setup. The idea being that a larger screen would show you more useful information in determining what you want to accomplish, audit pictures taken and other non fine editing tasks.
Well that is of course one perspective. I just see a lot of difficulty in using such devices for fine editing.
If I go this route it will be the first Apple product I've owned since I gave up on my Mac Plus. It is actually a bit of a shame that the only company with the potential to deliver what I would like is Apple. Good for Apple I suppose.
Well...... After a bit of an extremely sour existence with Apple after the demises of my Mac Plus I have yet to get that attached to PC. For years Apple demonstrated fully that they where less than perfect as far as being a computing platform. It is good to see them turned around and it is very good to see them innovating again. That I like. What is sad is that no body else is.
In the case of the tablet I've yet to see a product from anybody that truly matches my vision of a computing platform for the hand. Basically there is nothing but Apple today bringing new product to the market with mass appeal.
Dave
