Apple Talking to Australian Media Companies About Tablet?

[Stuart in Oz]

Some of the more innovative and practical uses I can think of:

- You walk into a university lecture, everyone pulls out their slate, the professor's notes and slides stream to your slate as he/she lectures.

- Junior school students get their worksheets from the teacher on the slate instead of on paper. ("Now class, press your times-tables button and let's practice!")

- Service engineers in the field will love it - easier than cradling an open laptop as they stand over the broken washing machine/photocopier/NMR machine.

- Doctors on rounds, viewing medical imagery, patient records and scheduling as they stand at the foot of the bed.

- Field logistics, military and civilian.

 

[krnageskillz]

well, here's an interesting tidbit from the article:

"Similar talks were under way with Amazon over the Kindle e-book reader but these broke down after the media executives baulked at giving Amazon 70 per cent of the revenue.

By contrast, Apple's model has been to give developers 70 per cent of the revenue and to keep a 30 per cent cut. It is expected a similar deal will be offered to media companies."

If this is true then are very smart because if you sell for example software would you want to forced to give or whoever a 70% cut in revenue? I think not.

Who says that it will be a tablet? It could be a iTouch with a bigger screen or the rumor mills could be going crazy over nothing.

 

[MikeDTyke]

From a business stance you are correct, they should get a job elsewhere.

Given the current unemployment rates Apple should have no problem finding and maintaining staff.

To lose 16% of your profit hurts more stockholders then it will help part-timmers.

You may not recall that only few years ago Apple was not a profitable company with a stock price around $10.

It doesn't take much to ruin a company. Spending money where you don't need to, when you don't have to makes no sense.

One of the key values i've noticed of the store staff is they tend to have a deep knowledge of the products and genuine interest in selling you the right thing. Compared to say PC World which is nothing more than a box shifter. It's obvious that Apple makes more of an effort to train staff. This is a valuable way of retaining quality employess.

Apple is all about the quality play whether its the design of their machines or the staff they employ. What you suggest keeps them in the field of box shifters who don't give a sh*t about their staff.

They can afford it, and it's still cheaper than a pay raise for all retail staff.

M.

 

[MikeDTyke]

Going along with your line of rational, you would have a person lugging around a device that cannot be carried in a pocket, that is too big to type with two hands if carried, that cannot print (if equipped with the iPhone OS) on its own, a device that is too large to listen to your music on the go.

You even state it would be to big. So in essence you make the point that it is a glorified e-reader. To big for a phone, to cumbersome for a music player, no advantage over a netbook for portable computing.

As a matter or reality it would not be nearly as functional as a netbook for portable computing. Could you imagine sitting in a hotel room trying to type a report or work on a spreadsheet with a tablet computer?

You truly are closed minded.

 

[morgan payne]

it would be cool if apple had a deal with a media company cuz then things like foxtel, planet three and heaps of tv shows could be accessed

 

[RazHyena]

Just release the tablet already. C'mon....


Oh yes....and shame on Apple for giving their employees health insurance. I mean....how absolutely terrible.

 

[gunraidan]

This Tablet has pretty much been all but confirmed for some time now.

 

[twoodcc]

i sure hope they are. i can't wait for this tablet

 

[kdarling]

Some of the more innovative and practical uses I can think of:

(snip)

Sounds a bit like the Microsoft 2019 Future Vision Video.

 

[SactoGuy18]

This Tablet has pretty much been all but confirmed for some time now.

I think Apple has pretty much "frozen" the case design for the tablet computer, the innards of this machine may not yet been decided.

Will Apple use an "improved" ARM CPU based on the PA Semiconductor patents Apple now holds? Or will Apple use the Intel Atom N450 CPU with the "Pine Trail" chipset? They can go either direction, since Intel has said the Atom N450 CPU/Pine Trail chipset combination will be very power-efficient.

 

[MikeDTyke]

I think Apple has pretty much "frozen" the case design for the tablet computer, the innards of this machine may not yet been decided.

Will Apple use an "improved" ARM CPU based on the PA Semiconductor patents Apple now holds? Or will Apple use the Intel Atom N450 CPU with the "Pine Trail" chipset? They can go either direction, since Intel has said the Atom N450 CPU/Pine Trail chipset combination will be very power-efficient.

You can't just design a 'case' and then decide what cpu to shove in. Whilst they will have built mockups to get a feel for ergonomics, look and feel. The final design isn't final till your circuit board and it's thermal footprint is complete.

The N450 isn't even in the rumoured timescale for this product, is nowhere near competitive on battery life, is still going to need a fan and it makes no sense as this will be an iPhone OS variant, NOT a Mac OS X product... i cannot say this enough. THIS WILL NOT RUN the desktop version of OS X, not even with cocoa touch ported across. It is an iPhone class device and the next whiner who bitches they won't buy it cos they can't run photoshop/word/excel whatever can take a running jump. This is NOT a tablet PC.

This device may sit in a similar category to netbooks, but do not think for one second this is a computer in the traditional sense. It is an embedded appliance which may get an app store and will have a superset of the iPhone/iPod Touch feature set.

When this thing is launched you lot are bitching about all the stupid minority features and requirements you oh so desperately need, and how you'll sit on your money til Apple makes it right. The rest of the world will be plunking down cash like its going out of fashion to buy this thing. You know what, they're right you're wrong.

Sorry guys, this was the straw that tipped me over the edge. I just can't take any more ill informed fantasy spew about the tablet any longer.

 

[Vulpinemac]

You can't just design a 'case' and then decide what cpu to shove in. <snip>
... THIS WILL NOT RUN the desktop version of OS X, not even with cocoa touch ported across. It is an iPhone class device and the next whiner who bitches they won't buy it cos they can't run photoshop/word/excel whatever can take a running jump. This is NOT a tablet PC.

This device may sit in a similar category to netbooks, but do not think for one second this is a computer in the traditional sense. It is an embedded appliance which may get an app store and will have a superset of the iPhone/iPod Touch feature set.
<snip>

Sorry guys, this was the straw that tipped me over the edge. I just can't take any more ill informed fantasy spew about the tablet any longer.

You seem to be making a lot of absolute statements in your rant, when honestly you don't know any more than the rest of us what will be in the Apple device. Until we know, your statements are just as speculative as anyone else's. You can make 'informed' guesses based on what is known about it and from patents that seem to be related, but for all you know, this thing could be exactly what you say it is NOT.

Here's the thing: Apple has been known to take established technologies and provide them in such a manner that it becomes far more user-friendly and functional than its predecessors. Look at the iMac; look at the iPod; look at the iPhone itself. They all had predecessors in one way or another, and in every case, the Apple product has had a major influence on subsequent hardware from other manufacturers. I expect the Apple Tablet (or iBook or whatever they call it) will change the game yet again. Until it's announced, none of us will really know.