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Apple Tablet Coming in 2010?
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Two feature requests
Please give it a nice big OLED display and ruggedize the thing like a Toughbook.
Please give it a nice big OLED display and ruggedize the thing like a Toughbook.
I would consider something like this as dramatically different, but I wouldn't expect it to be priced in the $500-$700 range:
![macbook-touch-beta-20.jpg]()
A Tablet? Are you serious?
Let's think about the many other attempts from non-apple manufacturers to sell tablets and how they failed?
A tablet is so cumbersome to handle. How do you hold it, using your right hand? left? Place it in your lap? On the table? But then your view does not fall perpendicular to the screen. How would you type? Using both hands?
I am sure apple is smarter than that, and all their products have been innovative and kick ass, they wouldn't do just a tablet... maybe a two screen tablet/netbook using a touch screen interface that can be also used for a touch screen keyboard? I don't know?! But just a simple tablet would suck even if it comes from apple!
Anyways, I had to throw in my 2 cents...
Let's think about the many other attempts from non-apple manufacturers to sell tablets and how they failed?
A tablet is so cumbersome to handle. How do you hold it, using your right hand? left? Place it in your lap? On the table? But then your view does not fall perpendicular to the screen. How would you type? Using both hands?
I am sure apple is smarter than that, and all their products have been innovative and kick ass, they wouldn't do just a tablet... maybe a two screen tablet/netbook using a touch screen interface that can be also used for a touch screen keyboard? I don't know?! But just a simple tablet would suck even if it comes from apple!
Anyways, I had to throw in my 2 cents...
ROTFL
Thank you, I needed that.
I am disappointed about the wait, but if the aim is to make a better product, I am glad they are taking their time.
But I'm telling you! In all seriousness, I'll buy one of these in a heartbeat. Instead of lugging around my MacBook Pro and iPhone, I'll just throw this bad boy in my briefcase and be on my way. Also cool would be all the apps that will be written for it. I can see myself laying on my couch drinking a cold one and controlling my AV rack and HDTV with this thing while I'm reading the WSJ and ordering a pizza while arguing with my girl friend on the phone. I can assume that shortly these things may become available to my iPhone with 3.0, but the experience would be so much more enjoyable with a nice tablet.
Yes, clamshell to protect the screen (you're not going to put a 9" tablet in a belt case) and regular keys for typing. Glass keys for touch typing on an iPod or iPhone is fine for texting and short emails but not on anything larger (I could be wrong). Glass trackpad for gesturing is great also.
As cool as an Apple tablet may sound, I do not think it's the right choice for Apple. Unless they revolutionize the meaning of the tablet as they have done in the past with other products.
Whatever it is, Apple should do a great job on it, no doubts. Let's just hope the pricing will be better.
Whatever it is, Apple should do a great job on it, no doubts. Let's just hope the pricing will be better.
Yeah, more like the $50,000-$700,000 range (five to six digits on purpose) based on the current state of flexible colour OLED tech.
While on the surface, I don't like the idea of fragmenting OS X into three versions, they could end up very close under the hood (Snow Leopard-based) as well as in the development arena (Xcode with mostly common APIs). And if a tablet ever comes, there really IS a need for something in between Mac OS X and iPhone OS X as we now know them.
The iPhone works so well because it doesn't try to shoehorn a desktop OS and UI into a 3" screen. Apps are MEANT to run at that size, and interaction is of a new touch-centric kind that works great. Meanwhile, current tablets work so badly because they do try to shoehorn a mouse-and-keyboard OS and UI into a stylus interface.
Trying to make the iPhone OS work "as is" for a bigger tablet could be a mistake: the apps SHOULD be different for a different screen size, and the productivity/power could be closer to a desktop Mac, so why waste that? Only you want real touch-interaction that's designed for touch alone (which Mac OS X is not).
So.... a third branch sounds plausible to me. A new OS branch and a new device family (no stylus required) that makes tablets actually useful to the general public--finally.
I'd hope the tablet offered a full OS X mode for running desktop apps in a pinch... but it might be a mistake to release that mode too soon: it would give developers less reason to make REAL Apple tablet apps. And we've seen what great things devs can do with a new platform when they really target that platform's strengths.
The iPhone works so well because it doesn't try to shoehorn a desktop OS and UI into a 3" screen. Apps are MEANT to run at that size, and interaction is of a new touch-centric kind that works great. Meanwhile, current tablets work so badly because they do try to shoehorn a mouse-and-keyboard OS and UI into a stylus interface.
Trying to make the iPhone OS work "as is" for a bigger tablet could be a mistake: the apps SHOULD be different for a different screen size, and the productivity/power could be closer to a desktop Mac, so why waste that? Only you want real touch-interaction that's designed for touch alone (which Mac OS X is not).
So.... a third branch sounds plausible to me. A new OS branch and a new device family (no stylus required) that makes tablets actually useful to the general public--finally.
I'd hope the tablet offered a full OS X mode for running desktop apps in a pinch... but it might be a mistake to release that mode too soon: it would give developers less reason to make REAL Apple tablet apps. And we've seen what great things devs can do with a new platform when they really target that platform's strengths.
What ever you (Apple) do...
Just revive "Newton" brand!
I'll be among the 1st one to buy it... As long as it can fill the gap between iPhone/iPod Touch and MacBook Pro...
Just revive "Newton" brand!
I'll be among the 1st one to buy it... As long as it can fill the gap between iPhone/iPod Touch and MacBook Pro...
Never going to happen
At $500-700 this would destroy apple's profit margin on the macbook!! How do these idiots even get to talk to people? Why do we listen? Guys it is simple economics and apple is the master of these prices. Ipod gets people who want apple and a cool device in the $150-300 range. Iphone gets the people that can afford a monthly bill of $100. Macbook gets the consumer that wants a laptop for $1000-1200 on average. The rest is gravy for apple. Why on earth would they release something that would steal all the profit from their macbook laptop? They wouldn't do this. It has nothing to do with quality vs quantity and all that crap.
At $500-700 this would destroy apple's profit margin on the macbook!! How do these idiots even get to talk to people? Why do we listen? Guys it is simple economics and apple is the master of these prices. Ipod gets people who want apple and a cool device in the $150-300 range. Iphone gets the people that can afford a monthly bill of $100. Macbook gets the consumer that wants a laptop for $1000-1200 on average. The rest is gravy for apple. Why on earth would they release something that would steal all the profit from their macbook laptop? They wouldn't do this. It has nothing to do with quality vs quantity and all that crap.
I would love a a4 ish tablet device with a color e-ink or OLED display that i can write on naturally. I want no buttons and no ports just a pen device and perhaps use of that webcam in a screen patent.
Give it a good audio in and a good sound out and we finally have the digital tablet that microsoft promised in 2000 and the oems so disappointed us with these laptop hybrids. I don't want a 2 inch thick laptop with a touch screen, i want a 25 - 40 mm thick digital notepad that can also be used for reading books and perhaps have a interface for writing on top of the pages to take notes and automatically build the notes up into a document with the references.
Or to open up photoshop and just draw as i would on paper and have it as a smart pad to my main machine. Easy access to the web and wireless world but i don't need it to be able to access every file just preform functions i expect from a notepad but better.
Give it a good audio in and a good sound out and we finally have the digital tablet that microsoft promised in 2000 and the oems so disappointed us with these laptop hybrids. I don't want a 2 inch thick laptop with a touch screen, i want a 25 - 40 mm thick digital notepad that can also be used for reading books and perhaps have a interface for writing on top of the pages to take notes and automatically build the notes up into a document with the references.
Or to open up photoshop and just draw as i would on paper and have it as a smart pad to my main machine. Easy access to the web and wireless world but i don't need it to be able to access every file just preform functions i expect from a notepad but better.
Exactly, why apple would never sell this in a million years!! Instead of buying the macboook pro $2,000 and the iphone $600 (for apple) you just bought a $700 computer! Never going to happen. Apple would lose way too much money.
Whenever it's a slow Mac news cycle, an iTablet rumor is always good for some attention. As always I'll believe it when I see it.
And the argument would be about how you never pay full attention to her...?
The idea of a media controller with online capability is pretty interesting. I found that to be the shortcomings of a central media centre/computing device; how it's a distraction to viewing to have to pull out of a movie to check a download or pull up an imdb page.
I have no doubt that it`s coming, i just think why would they be waiting for a custom ARM chip from PA Semi?
Whether or not such a chip exists yet, there`s plenty of other manufacturers (samsung & TI for example) which can provide cortex ARMs in the 1GHz range which would more than happily run the iPhone OS + a number of apps simultaneously.
Ok perhaps it wouldn`t be quite as integrated as a custom SoC but then they would have a much bigger space for a system board and large (relative to iPod touch) battery.
There`s patents dating back to 2006 from Apple working on tablets. The iPhone OS would do the job right now. The only things they`d need to actually work on are a replacement for springboard, a corresponding larger template in interface builder and perhaps the ability to contain existing iPhone apps within a window or smoothly enlarge them. Assuming the tablet has a larger resolution. Throw in an enhanced Preview.app with ebook support and you`re golden.
M.
Whether or not such a chip exists yet, there`s plenty of other manufacturers (samsung & TI for example) which can provide cortex ARMs in the 1GHz range which would more than happily run the iPhone OS + a number of apps simultaneously.
Ok perhaps it wouldn`t be quite as integrated as a custom SoC but then they would have a much bigger space for a system board and large (relative to iPod touch) battery.
There`s patents dating back to 2006 from Apple working on tablets. The iPhone OS would do the job right now. The only things they`d need to actually work on are a replacement for springboard, a corresponding larger template in interface builder and perhaps the ability to contain existing iPhone apps within a window or smoothly enlarge them. Assuming the tablet has a larger resolution. Throw in an enhanced Preview.app with ebook support and you`re golden.
M.
I know, what happened to this huge fact!!!This doesn't make sense.
What is Apple doing with millions of 10" touch screens?? I was thinking new device released/announced at WWDC.
I bet something is being released and will use the OS X iphone OS. This way device will have thousands of apps already made for it.. would be a very good business decision.
Exactly. For instance a TableView can only have 1 column. On a device larger than the iPhone it could very well support multiple columns. So yes, I could see a "big brother" SDK based off the iPhone's UI to handle this size of device.
I had been thinking about the release date prior to this article and there`s only 2 dates this year they`d do it.
WWDC - Ideal to get developer support for the new resolution/capabilities of this new platform. Also pre back to school and this would be a key student device.
September iPod refresh - Position it as a high end iPod and keep it away from the iPhone launch at WWDC. This makes less sense as i don`t really see this gelling as a high end iPod.
If it is going to be next year then i`d be expecting some revolutionary hardware developments ie. a transflective screen perhaps similar to the OLPC where a reflective ebook mode allows low power usage. Or a new input method, voice/handwriting requiring the power a dual core arm processor could provide.
WWDC - Ideal to get developer support for the new resolution/capabilities of this new platform. Also pre back to school and this would be a key student device.
September iPod refresh - Position it as a high end iPod and keep it away from the iPhone launch at WWDC. This makes less sense as i don`t really see this gelling as a high end iPod.
If it is going to be next year then i`d be expecting some revolutionary hardware developments ie. a transflective screen perhaps similar to the OLPC where a reflective ebook mode allows low power usage. Or a new input method, voice/handwriting requiring the power a dual core arm processor could provide.