Apple Placing Orders for Tablet Components? Connectors, 10-Inch Screen

[Thex1138]

Cloud Computing 'Front End'

This device could also be a big player as a cloud computing front end...
With most of the software being at server side and only having the basic framework and user data in the device... as a starting point.

 

[megadon]

So is it possible to download torrents on this?
Or is all the stuff gonna be through an app store?

 

[kzin]

According to the report the company is likely to begin shipping in the 3rd quarter of 2010.

And last year, around this time, they were all saying "3rd quarter of 2009". And the year before...

I'll believe it when I see an official announcement from Apple.

 

[Usful Ijit]

3rd Quarter

3rd Quarter is April-May-June, so the article makes sense.

 

[kzin]

Nothing wrong with the iphone OS

Other than:
1) you can't install non-Apple-Approved apps on it (at least, not without jailbreaking it; if you have to break your device to access basic capabilities, that's not acceptable)
2) you can't access the underlying OS (which could be solved if #1 wasn't an issue)
3) you can't do true multi-tasking on it (don't give me the old saw "you don't need true multi-tasking, task switching is good enough!" ... you'll make yourself sound like a 1994 Mac OS fanboy)

specialized apps make it more usable than regular osX.

Usability is about the GUI, not the OS itself. Mac OS X could certainly use some adjustments, to make it ideal for a mid-range touch screen based device. But, Mac OS X is the correct model to start with. It allows the user to decide which apps are acceptable or not, not Apple. It allows you to utilize the full OS, and not just the upper layers. It allows true/full multi-tasking.

10" is a bit big though, i'm hoping for a smaller device.

10" is the perfect mid-range device size. Apple already has smaller-than-mid-range devices, and larger-than-mid-range devices. 10" is exactly the device size they need to release.

A 10" Mac Tablet, running a finger-friendly touch-screen-optimized version of Mac OS X ... or perhaps a 3rd flavor of OS X (Mac OS X, iPhone OS X, Tablet OS X; where Tablet OS X offers the best of both Mac and iPhone OS X), would be ideal.

 

[Ddyracer]

3rd Quarter is April-May-June, so the article makes sense.

Ummm. No. That is the second quarter. 3rd quarter would be jul-aug. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Compile 'em all]

3rd Quarter is April-May-June, so the article makes sense.

Q3 is apr/may/june?

*wipes brain matter off screen*

 

[Usful Ijit]

Ummm. No. That is the second quarter. 3rd quarter would be jul-aug. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Business is usually accounted for in a Fiscal Year, which begins its 1st quarter on Oct. 1, and ends on Dec. 31. 2nd quarter is Jan-Feb-Mar. So 3rd quarter is Apr-May-Jun.

 

[kzin]

-iPhone OS and Mac OS X are subsets of OS X, imagine a third way taking both sides into account.

Absolutely. But, as long as it allows me to:

1) install apps without oversight from Apple (ie. direct download and install, not limited to the iTunes store)
2) run apps in the background
3) use Bluetooth HID and FTP
4) use USB interface devices (keyboard, mouse, trackpad, trackball, etc.) and USB storage devices
5) has support for video out and/or remote desktop as the server* and/or Redfly

(* server meaning "display the tablet's screen onto my desktop computer running a VNC or remote desktop client/viewer")

-dual core ARM CPU with some homebrew magic makes sense for power efficiency (everybody will moan if it only has 2h of battery life) and help the tablet stay cool. Ever pushed an Atom netbook to its limits? Felt the heat? And it might be more powerful than an Atom.

An ARM based CPU would be a very good start, yes. And the underlying kernel and OS already run on ARM (on the iPhone and iPod Touch), so the hard part is already done. This "3rd variant of OS X" would only need to have its upper layers tailored to the CPU.

-Remember Steve Jobs insisting on the fact that OS X is CPU-independant by design during the Intel switch keynote? Recompiled relevant apps could still be adapted to a new GUI framework.

It is. The underlying OS for OS X has had incarnations on:

• Motorola 68k family (NeXTstep 1, 2, 3, and 4)
• (a processor family whose name I have forgotten, that was going to be the basis of the the NeXT workstations post 68k family; cancelled when NeXT stopped being a hardware company)
• x86 family (NeXTstep 3, 4, and current Mac OS X)
• Sun Sparc family (NeXTstep 3 and 4)
• HP PA-RISC family (NeXTstep 3 ... maybe 4)
• Power PC family (early Mac OS X)
• ARM family (iPhone OS X)

CPUs already. Adding a new variant of ARM wouldn't be a colossal effort. And, luckily, NeXT's engineers did the right things, way back in the early 1990's, to ensure that adding CPU architectures wouldn't require a complete overhaul nor re-tooling of the platform. Even the recent "universal binary" feature of Mac OS X, as it transitioned from PowerPC to x86, wasn't a new feature at all. "OS X" has had that feature since the early 1990's, when you could use 1 NeXT platform to build, debug, and deploy a single "FAT" binary for 4 CPU platforms (68k, x86, Sparc, and HP PA).

Probably only Linux and NetBSD offer a wider range of hardware platform support than OS X's family of OSes has... and OS X's support is much more uniform and transparent than either Linux or NetBSD's.

 

[chadley_chad]

Apple this Apple that ...

Apple tablet: for **** sake change the record!!!!!

 

[peterdevries]

Business is usually accounted for in a Fiscal Year, which begins its 1st quarter on Oct. 1, and ends on Dec. 31. 2nd quarter is Jan-Feb-Mar. So 3rd quarter is Apr-May-Jun.

Only true for some companies. Many do their accounting and reporting in line with a normal calendar year.

When a company talks about products and introductions thereof to customers in terms of quarters, they refer to calendar years, not fiscal years.

So this:
Q1: Jan-Feb-Mar
Q2: Apr-May-Jun
Q3: Jul-Aug-Sep
Q4: Oct-Nov-Dec

 

[kzin]

Business is usually accounted for in a Fiscal Year, which begins its 1st quarter on Oct. 1, and ends on Dec. 31. 2nd quarter is Jan-Feb-Mar. So 3rd quarter is Apr-May-Jun.

Fiscal Years vary from organization to organization, there is no universal definition like "Fiscal Years begin on Oct 1st". But, they are much more common to start on July 1st or January 1st (with January 1st fiscal years matching the calendar year). Oct 1st is pretty odd-ball. At least with an April 1st start-of-fiscal-year, you just about match the tax deadline ... but even that's a bit of an odd-ball thing to find.

But, all of that is irrelevant. Fiscal Years are internal considerations. When talking about publicity dates, and product releases, it's almost always announced relative to the calendar year, not the company's internal fiscal year. Saying "so and so will release a product in 3Q", especially without saying "that company's 3Q", most likely means "July - Aug - Sept".

 

[Ori]

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)

I want one but I'd also like to know it's cababilities. Is it just an iPhone with a bigger screen?

Guess we just have to wait until Jan 27th for more info

God I hope not. I wouldn't buy just an iphone with a bigger screen. If it runs osx then that would be useful. Even then I am not sure what the market is for a tablet. I'm sure one exists, but not sure how I would use one.

 

[taltal]

Regarding the question of OS X vs. iPhone OS: I don't know if it is such a contradiction. Today, the iPhone sort-of "emulates" the iPod (you can 'run' your music you used to 'run' on your old iPod OS), and the iPhone Dev environment can emulate the iPhone OS on OS X already today.

The tablet might be running OS X with tablet enhancements, and allow running an iPhone OS emulator with additional fullscreen mode.

 

[JonB3Z]

Just because this supplier expects to ship connectors in Q3 doesn't necessarily mean the device itself will wait until then. It's possible that Apple ordered an initial set of connectors on a fast turnaround -- and thus at a high price -- and that this report is about a follow-on order with a longer lead time and lower price.

If the product is really announced at the end of January, my bet is it will be available before the end of April.

 

[Usful Ijit]

Fiscal Years vary from organization to organization, there is no universal definition like "Fiscal Years begin on Oct 1st". But, they are much more common to start on July 1st or January 1st (with January 1st fiscal years matching the calendar year). Oct 1st is pretty odd-ball. At least with an April 1st start-of-fiscal-year, you just about match the tax deadline ... but even that's a bit of an odd-ball thing to find.

But, all of that is irrelevant. Fiscal Years are internal considerations. When talking about publicity dates, and product releases, it's almost always announced relative to the calendar year, not the company's internal fiscal year. Saying "so and so will release a product in 3Q", especially without saying "that company's 3Q", most likely means "July - Aug - Sept".

Actually, an Oct. start to a fiscal year is fairly common, rather than oddball. In my original post I said the article made sense, not that it was true. I don't claim to have insider knowledge of the deal. Also, the article states that the manufacturer will ship to Apple in the 3rd quarter, not Apple shipping a finished tablet to the consumer. Hence my speculation on fiscal instead of calendar years ( Calendar definitely makes more sense on a consumer press release, as most people think in terms of calendar year). Again, all that I have written regarding the article's content is pure speculation.

P.S. - Apple's fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

 

[stagi]

10" would be great and I bet they won't have anything out before Q3. Announcement in Jan and maybe shipping in Sept?

 

[SactoGuy18]

Here's the question: what kind of connector will the Apple tablet computer use? The standard iPod dock connector is a given (thanks to the fact it can serve both battery charging and data transfer functions), but I also see a Mini DisplayPort connector and maybe 1-2 USB 2.0 ports, too.

 

[kzin]

I think we can safely say Apple are going to be releasing a tablet/slate/touchscreen device, surely? I think we have gone past the rumour mill as there's so much evidence to back up claims. Kinda. lol.

I am presently typing this on a MBP which cost me £1,300 and I'm looking at it thinking, what do I use this thing for? The answer is basically to go on the internet. I think I have opened word twice in all the time I've had it. Oh, and photoshop for messing with family pics. And watching films.

With this in mind it strikes me that a tablet would be absolutely perfect for me. I could sell the MBP for hopefully the same price as a new tablet. I wonder how many other people are in this boat? I mean, what percentage of people who have desktops/expensive mac laptops actually use them to their full potential? Or is it more the fact that people simply use them as glorified web browsers? Google Chrome OS is a classic example of big tech companies recognising this also.

Amen. And this is why Apple needs to enter into the mid-range device market.

Laptops are dinosaurs. They're a relic of the days when everyone wanted/needed to run everything on their mobile computer. They are the ultimate expression of the "luggable computer", that started with those Kaypro and Compaq computers back in the early 1980's. But the use case/model has played out.

With the web, and especially with cloud computing and "web 2.0", most people just aren't needing to have that kind of compute model anymore. A "laptop" is over-kill. Heck, for many users, a full-blown desktop computer is overkill. A netbook and/or nettop is all most people need for the bulk of what they need their computer to do UNLESS they're in a niche (high end photoshop users, etc). Or for high end games, which isn't what everyone wants/needs, either.

Right now, Apple hasn't addressed this group of people. Even the iMac is, these days, over-kill, for the nettop crowd. The mac-mini is closer, but a little too expensive. The iPhone/iPod-Touch is too small. The Macbook is too large. (and, after a lot of testing of different devices, IMO, the netbook/laptop/clamshell is the wrong format for a mid-range device; it's a relic of the laptop era -- at best, convertible-tablet is the ony acceptable format of netbook/clamshell for the mid-range devices, the ideal is a tablet with USB and Bluetooth for external full size keyboards). Apple needs something in between the iPhone and the Macbook.

It needs to either be a tablet, or have a tablet mode. It needs to be more than a "big iPod Touch". It needs to be, like a netbook, as flexible and open as a laptop/desktop, just less powerful.

 

[itsbarry]

The people that keep saying "I don't want another iPhone OS device" need to think. The tablet will be APP DRIVEN. Apps on the iPhone are a certain way due to the iPhone's screen size and processing power. The tablet will be much more powerful with a larger screen. Apps will be quite different than you think.

In other words, let Apple do the thinking when it comes to the tablet. They have better ideas than you, trust me.

 

[kzin]

Here's the question: what kind of connector will the Apple tablet computer use? The standard iPod dock connector is a given (thanks to the fact it can serve both battery charging and data transfer functions), but I also see a Mini DisplayPort connector and maybe 1-2 USB 2.0 ports, too.

I'm hoping for at least 2 USB ports (would prefer 3 or 4), with support for user interface devices and storage devices, a mini displayport connector, a 3.5mm headphone/ear-bud jack, a SIM card slot (for data;and optional, not required), and a docking port (standard iPod or not).

 

[itsbarry]

It needs to either be a tablet, or have a tablet mode. It needs to be more than a "big iPod Touch". It needs to be, like a netbook, as flexible and open as a laptop/desktop, just less powerful.

Who wants a "less powerful" laptop? That's like saying "I want a less faster Lamborghini". The MacBook Air is less powerful than the MacBook, and people complained about that. Why make something to run desktop applications weak as hell?

It should use the iPhone OS (Apple should just call it OSX for now on) and let the apps be way more powerful than what can run on the iPhone. Oh yeah, through in multitasking.

 

[kzin]

They have better ideas than you, trust me.

No. They don't. They just have more resources than me.

 

[foobarbaz]

3) you can't do true multi-tasking on it (don't give me the old saw "you don't need true multi-tasking, task switching is good enough!" ... you'll make yourself sound like a 1994 Mac OS fanboy)

You don't need true multi-tasking on a phone. The iPhone OS is perfectly capable of multi tasking, there is just no UI to allow switching and killing of programs, etc.

This is a deliberate design choice for a phone, where screen estate is limited and battery life is king. Using iPhone OS as the basis for the iSlate doesn't limit this in any way. It's just a question of whether they allow it or not.

But, Mac OS X is the correct model to start with. It allows the user to decide which apps are acceptable or not, not Apple. It allows you to utilize the full OS, and not just the upper layers. It allows true/full multi-tasking.

Again, that is just a business decision. Apple claims the restrictions on the iphone are necessary to protect the networks. That excuse doesn't work on a tablet, if it doesn't have 3G... They could easily allow execution of unsigned apps on an iSlate even with iPhone OS, just as they could easily prevent it on regular OSX.


The decision between iPhone OS and OSX is technical! iPhone OS is absolutely better suited for a multi-touch tablet, and iPhone apps will be more easily adjusted to the iSlate than regular mouse and keyboard expecting apps!

Don't mix up the political AppStore/signed code infrastructure desicion with the OS decision. The iPhone OS is so perfect for this device, it's a no-brainer. If it feels restricted and useless, there are other reasons for that.

 

[kzin]

Who wants a "less powerful" laptop?

Everyone who ever bought a netbook. Including me.

That's like saying "I want a less faster Lamborghini".

I'd be fine with a Countach that didn't have a v12. And had a MUCH lower price tag, to go with it.

The MacBook Air is less powerful than the MacBook, and people complained about that.

The MBA is not (not even close) a netbook. Netbooks, as a rule, are less powerful than laptops, not just smaller. Do your homework.

Why make something to run desktop applications weak as hell?

Because you want the flexibility to run the wide range of random apps and utilities that are available for desktop computers, but you don't need the power to run high end/niche apps.

It should use the iPhone OS

No, it should not.