Apple Tablet Operating System Claims: 'A Good Bit of New Sexy'

[cmaier]

May guess is that with tablet we will be using the same App Store and just like with iPhone OS 3.0 new apps will be tablet compatible (fullscreen mode) with two modes one for iPhone and one for tablet. If you download that app on iPhone that app will run in iPhone mode, if on tablet - tablet mode. And older apps will run like widgets. But with Apple you never know until they smack you with pure brilliance in a way you would never think of.

I think apps will have to set a BOOL in their info.plist that states they are tablet-compliant, otherwise they are run in "iPhone mode" (either windowed or scaled to fill the screen, not sure which). If the BOOl is set, then the app runs full screen/full resolution.

 

[iMacmatician]

My guess with a slight twist on yours is that apps will have two new 'modes' other than landscape and vertical. Now you will have windowed mode which will be in the iPhone dimensions, and then a full screen tablet mode. Developers will have to turn on and code for this functionality like they need to do for landscape. Some kind of gesture will make it switch between these two modes when the app runs on the tablet while it will be locked to the iPhone dimension mode when the app is on an iPhone.

I've also been predicting a split-screen view for 2/4/etc. apps displayed simultaneously on the display.

 

[cmaier]

I've also been predicting a split-screen view for 2/4/etc. apps displayed simultaneously on the display.

I think they'll stick to one at a time, with some new gesture to move between them (or to trigger something like expose to select which one you want). They want simplicity, and viewing one app at a time is the way they'll go.

 

[vini-vidi-vici]

Agreed. Eye and head tracking is extremely impractical for a mobile device in particular. I find it bad enough using TrackIR in a flight sim where I turn my head but strain my eyes to keep it on the focus point on a single 23" monitor. And constant eye refocusing is just headache inducing.

Good design and innovation is not trying to shovel in futuristic concepts where they are not needed.

Well, just because you've used some poor cumbersome interface in the past, doesn't mean that the next generation will be no good. these are all problems that can be solved with good software & ergonomic design.

Such a design would solve a practical problem - when you use a touchscreen, you're covering part of the viewing surface.

Good eye/face tracking need not be headache inducing, it can augment whatever you might do with your hands - almost like having a third hand. I think typing via eyes would be tiring (i.e. looking at each letter), but navigating web pages or other applications would be dreamlike - almost as if the device knows what you're thinking... knows what you're looking at. There could be a button you toggle, right where you grip the device which turns on/off face tracking. Don't want it? use your fingers...

I use a wacom pad, and actually prefer that on my desktop to a touchscreen because my hand isn't in the way. After a while you get used to the way it works differently than a mouse (i.e. 1:1 mapping of the screen), and you can do things that previously weren't possible with a mouse. I do still use a mouse for some applications, but my computing experience is much richer with the option of the wacom pad. Same would go for a well-implemented eye/face tracking interface.

 

[cmaier]

Well, just because you've used some poor cumbersome interface in the past, doesn't mean that the next generation will be no good. these are all problems that can be solved with good software & ergonomic design.

Such a design would solve a practical problem - when you use a touchscreen, you're covering part of the viewing surface.

Good eye/face tracking need not be headache inducing, it can augment whatever you might do with your hands - almost like having a third hand. I think typing via eyes would be tiring (i.e. looking at each letter), but navigating web pages or other applications would be dreamlike - almost as if the device knows what you're thinking... knows what you're looking at. There could be a button you toggle, right where you grip the device which turns on/off face tracking. Don't want it? use your fingers...

I use a wacom pad, and actually prefer that on my desktop to a touchscreen because my hand isn't in the way. After a while you get used to the way it works differently than a mouse (i.e. 1:1 mapping of the screen), and you can do things that previously weren't possible with a mouse. I do still use a mouse for some applications, but my computing experience is much richer with the option of the wacom pad. Same would go for a well-implemented eye/face tracking interface.

I agree with the wacom part, but not the rest. The reason wacom works is that you are genetically engineered/evolved/magically endowed with the capability to use your hands to manipulate the environment around you. You are not designed to use your eyes to manipulate things.

 

[McGiord]

You serious? You think remote Screen Sharing is a substitute for running real apps?

Give you a quick example.. I am a Network Engineer by trade, and I frequently need a packet capture app called Cocoa Packet Analyzer, which I have on my MBA. I doubt I will be able to do run a packet cap app on a Tablet, and remote Screen Sharing is of no use. The list can easily go on.

Sadly is the business model like AT&T and will have to genearate instant revenue for each unit sold...

Seriously I hope it will not be like that!

 

[John.B]

... But with Apple you never know until they smack you with pure brilliance in a way you would never think of.

In a sea of thoughtful posts, IMO this stands out as the best.

 

[charliehustle]

So we gotta jailbreak?.... Mehhh I pass on big iPhone. Bored of 3gs already.

 

[megadon]

By the sounds of it, this thing is going to be pretty big. Meaning it's obviously not gonna fit in my pocket. So if I gotta lug something around,might as well take my laptop.

If I need quick Internet, I got my iPhone.

This thing is gonna sell like the MacBook air or apple tv. Way too much hype if you ask me.

 

[Cander]

Well, just because you've used some poor cumbersome interface in the past, doesn't mean that the next generation will be no good. these are all problems that can be solved with good software & ergonomic design.

Software and ergonomic design can't change the fact that turning your head still requires you to keep your eyes locked on the device.

 

[Terminal.app]

Not sure if want.

 

[lilo777]

Well, just because you've used some poor cumbersome interface in the past, doesn't mean that the next generation will be no good. these are all problems that can be solved with good software & ergonomic design.

Such a design would solve a practical problem - when you use a touchscreen, you're covering part of the viewing surface.

Good eye/face tracking need not be headache inducing, it can augment whatever you might do with your hands - almost like having a third hand. I think typing via eyes would be tiring (i.e. looking at each letter), but navigating web pages or other applications would be dreamlike - almost as if the device knows what you're thinking... knows what you're looking at. There could be a button you toggle, right where you grip the device which turns on/off face tracking. Don't want it? use your fingers...

I use a wacom pad, and actually prefer that on my desktop to a touchscreen because my hand isn't in the way. After a while you get used to the way it works differently than a mouse (i.e. 1:1 mapping of the screen), and you can do things that previously weren't possible with a mouse. I do still use a mouse for some applications, but my computing experience is much richer with the option of the wacom pad. Same would go for a well-implemented eye/face tracking interface.

It looks like only Apple fans want to have some really weird device with weird interface. I do not see such a desire anywhere else but on Apple forums. Why would that be? It is clear that no such thing would ever work and yet people keep proposing it. I suspect that some Apple fans want Apple to come up with something that nobody has regardless of how stupid it sounds.

 

[charlituna]

First off Apple only controls app it offers on its store. As has been pointed out repeatedly there are alternatives. Putting your head in the sand and denying this doesn't make it any less a fact.

yes and no.

if a not apple store happens to use the official apple installer then you are likely okay.

but if it does not then you have to jail break the phone to get the app to install. and that act voids your warranty. your phone bricks or otherwise breaks and there's signs of jailbreaking and Apple can send you on your way without a new phone or any tech work done.

so in that roundabout way they do control what can be put on your phone

 

[hitekalex]

It looks like only Apple fans want to have some really weird device with weird interface. I do not see such a desire anywhere else but on Apple forums. Why would that be? It is clear that no such thing would ever work and yet people keep proposing it. I suspect that some Apple fans want Apple to come up with something that nobody has regardless of how stupid it sounds.

Luckily Apple is not known to implement gimmick features. Despite their reputation for innovation & variety of seemingly oddball patents they file, Apple is actually a quite conservative company.. and as such they are very selective about what they actually put out in front of their customers.

So if history is any indication, I wouldn't worry about Apple putting out something as gimmicky and awkward as eye tracking interface.. or whatever other crazy things people come up with on these forums..

 

[harley3k]

By the sounds of it, this thing is going to be pretty big. Meaning it's obviously not gonna fit in my pocket. So if I gotta lug something around,might as well take my laptop.

If I need quick Internet, I got my iPhone.

This thing is gonna sell like the MacBook air or apple tv. Way too much hype if you ask me.

People probably said the same thing about netbooks.

I think my opinion is the same as yours though...but I remain open to possibility of being surprised. It wouldn't be the first time Apple made me think, "I gotta have that."

 

[charlituna]

Luckily Apple is not known to implement gimmick features.

Some folks might argue that point. they would say that things like an SD card slot is very gimmicky. After all, you can just plug your camera or a card reader right into the computer with a USB to MiniUSB. No need for its own slot.

The trick, I think, is that Apple is careful with their gimmicks. They choose, or try to choose, the things that will be less gimmick in the future. Downloading TV shows and Movies was pretty much a gimmick when they started. Now (thanks in part to Apple) it's on the verge of killing cable. That SD slot is taking on new importance thanks to things like
http://hd.engadget.com/2009/01/10/warner-and-paramount-sign-up-for-movies-on-sd-cards/ and so on.

 

[MisterMe]

Some folks might argue that point. they would say that things like an SD card slot is very gimmicky. ...

So you're saying that on your planet Apple was the first computer company to include an SD card slot on its computer? Wow! On Earth, Apple was fashionably late. Printer companies included SD and other memory card slots years go. Wintel laptop and desktop computer manufacturers also incorporated such slots in their computers. IIRC, Apple didn't get around to including these slots on their computers until 2009.

 

[cmaier]

So you're saying that on your planet Apple was the first computer company to include an SD card slot on its computer? Wow! On Earth, Apple was fashionably late. Printer companies included SD and other memory card slots years go. Wintel laptop and desktop computer manufacturers also incorporated such slots in their computers. IIRC, Apple didn't get around to including these slots on their computers until 2009.

And at the expense of far more versatile expresscard slots (I have a $10 flashcard reader in mine that works great, and which I swap for an aircard when needed)

 

[vini-vidi-vici]

think bold...

Luckily Apple is not known to implement gimmick features. Despite their reputation for innovation & variety of seemingly oddball patents they file, Apple is actually a quite conservative company.. and as such they are very selective about what they actually put out in front of their customers.

So if history is any indication, I wouldn't worry about Apple putting out something as gimmicky and awkward as eye tracking interface.. or whatever other crazy things people come up with on these forums..

Gimmicks like... oh, that weird interface device that was only used by a few nerds and called a "mouse"? Have you ever tried to use one of those things? it's impossible to figure out what your doing with the thing - it takes forever to "click" on things. The keyboard works perfectly fine, and is so much faster.

Or, how about a clunky touch screen. Those things have never worked well. You certainly can't use one to type.

Or, how about a phone with no buttons. Who the heck would buy that?

Virtually every modern product and design concept started as some kind of oddball notion or gimmick. The key is getting it right. Before long yesterday's wacky idea is tomorrows "normal".

What drives innovation isn't what people "need", rather what people "want". There is very little we need - food, water, sleep, air... If Apple is able to come up with a device that can interpret what you want to do by looking at you, and it works smoothly and well... People will want it.

 

[twoodcc]

i just sure hope that a lot of the current apps will work with it

 

[gibbz]

i just sure hope that a lot of the current apps will work with it

I'm sure they will via updates

 

[MikhailT]

I'm sure they will via updates

Good thing you didn't say free.

Those updates might not be for free for tablets. The devs aren't obligated to provide free updates nor will they be required to port their apps to the tablet. So no sure thing there that any apps on iPhone will work on the slate.

What about the app store, Apple has to separate the tablet apps and the iPhone apps, so it'll be interesting to see how they manage to do that if the apps can work on both devices.

 

[NT1440]

Good thing you didn't say free.

Those updates might not be for free for tablets. The devs aren't obligated to provide free updates nor will they be required to port their apps to the tablet. So no sure thing there that any apps on iPhone will work on the slate.

What about the app store, Apple has to separate the tablet apps and the iPhone apps, so it'll be interesting to see how they manage to do that if the apps can work on both devices.

Required, no, but any dev who isn't an idiot will immediately convert their apps so that they can hit their new market.

 

[cmaier]

Required, no, but any dev who isn't an idiot will immediately convert their apps so that they can hit their new market.

I think a small fraction of apps will be converted - most developers make very little money even on their iPhone apps, and this will (for the foreseeable future) be an even smaller market. To the extent an additional fee can be charged for little conversion effort, that will help. To the extent the tablet app pricepoints end up being higher than iphone app prices, even more so.

 

[MikhailT]

I think a small fraction of apps will be converted - most developers make very little money even on their iPhone apps, and this will (for the foreseeable future) be an even smaller market. To the extent an additional fee can be charged for little conversion effort, that will help. To the extent the tablet app pricepoints end up being higher than iphone app prices, even more so.

The tablet app having higher price point than iPhone version is within reasons; smaller markets and higher resources required to produce such such apps. While I can see 20$ apps on iPhone, I don't see productivity apps increasing that much, especially apps that'll work in sync with the iPhone. People might not want to get the tablet apps if it involves paying more and for the apps that they already own on iPhone.

So the question is will Apple introduce a special payment method that'll allow the devs to link tablet apps to their iphone apps and discount the price accordingly? Suppose somebody own OmniFocus on their iPhones, the dev can push a message saying "Would you like to buy the islate version of Omnifocus for just 5$", user press yes and the slate just automatically downloads the app for you and sync up via Wifi if they see you using iPhone.