Apple Virtual Input Device on Touch Screen

[diego]

No, I believe the MacPad [and ALL of Apple's mobile offerings + iMac] will have built in iSight.

They'll push non-stationary video conferencing but NOT as in "Hey, walk around and stare at your MacPad at the same time!... THUMP!!!"

More like "You can now video conference in whatever room/office of your home/workplace you like."



Anything that uses Mac OS will have "Mac" in it, as stated by SJ at MWSF '06.

I am choosing to call it MacPad because with how much SJ has talked poorly of the current state of the PDA and the failure of the Tablet PC market, I know that they wouldn't dare call it either.

I just like MacPad because [to me] a "pad" is similar enough to a tablet that they can cross market it that way without calling it a tablet. Also, Pad spells "PDA" as well. And of course, you have to include "Mac".

So, MacPad. The tablet AND PDA killer.

Actually, Apple also patented a display with an integrated camera.

 

[antokin]

Everyone knows how to finger-paint...

The most basic and natural input method: fingers of your hand touching what you want to do on the screen. Doesn't get any simper that that. A person who never used a computer can stick a finger at the screen touching "YES" or "NO" - no mouse to learn or mouse to loose. It's the ultimate input device. Forget architecture or medicine - how about sitting on your couch ordering a movie? Nothing could beat a MacPad as the ultimate input device, especially after a few beers. A natural place for a tablet is in your living room. It's simple and completely obvious - Apple style.

 

[cyberddot]

MacPad

Sounds too much like MacPod? Hey I like it, but MacPad...that name is just waiting for some tasteless humor to strike it down in the media.

Bring on my MacKeyboard!

 

[Baenshu]

You know what would be a great idea for the new "maclet" tablet computer. If it is to have the touch screen keyboard, if they could make it work in conjuntion with the rumored Media Center Mac. Think of it, you could sit at your couch and remotely use the tablet as an interface to type emails and surf the web with a virtual keyboard and maybe touch sensitive buttons. Sort of like the touch pads they have now for high end home intertainment systems, but with a lot more funtion. Sort of an alternate remote for it. I think that could be very cool.

 

[boncellis]

Apple Integration

If they used images of Panther I would guess that this product will be a tablet PC, not a PDA...Anyway, it's an odd direction for Apple. Tablet PCs have very niche markets and it is generally accepted that they are a flop in the mainstream computer business. I'm sure Apple could make a far better product than what Microsoft & Co. made in the last couple of years but I still can't see who would need an Apple tablet more than a cheaper iBook or a video iPod.

Agreed. I'm excited to see what Apple could do with something like this, despite tablets being only somewhat successful--it really depends on what the user intends to do with it. For precisely that reason, I think Apple has in mind to integrate whatever the new product is with its existing line. From a design perspective rather than a purely technological standpoint, I think a tablet that integrates with or controls a desktop, syncs with the iPod, and has wireless and iSight built in could be more viable than the tablets on the market now, provided the form factor and design are properly incorporated.

If it can be done successfully, I think Apple is in the best position and has the right team to do it.

 

[boncellis]

You know what would be a great idea for the new "maclet" tablet computer. If it is to have the touch screen keyboard, if they could make it work in conjuntion with the rumored Media Center Mac. Think of it, you could sit at your couch and remotely use the tablet as an interface to type emails and surf the web with a virtual keyboard and maybe touch sensitive buttons. Sort of like the touch pads they have now for high end home intertainment systems, but with a lot more funtion. Sort of an alternate remote for it. I think that could be very cool.

You read my mind. What's more, I would definitely get it. I hope that, if such a device does come to fruition, it has a hard drive. How many cool phones, cameras, gaming devices, etc. would be that much better with an included HD?

 

[barstard]

Cool

This will be great. With all the recently seen patents it is bound to be very interesting. Let's see we've got Gestures, camera behind screen, touch screen with certain interface elements (ie keyboard and scroll-wheel type thing), and a couple more that I can't remember at the moment.

One thing we can be assured of. If Apple releases this then they will make it AMAZING! There is no way Apple would enter this market without releasing something super cool and droolworthy. And it will work better and be easier to use than ANYTHING else out there at the moment (well, I guess you'd expect that)or anything else in the next two years.

Damn, I just spent my money on this new iMac. I hopee it is not released too soon, or I will REALLY be skint.

barstard.

 

[YourHippocampus]

Very cool indeed! It would be quite revolutionary for Apple to somehow do away with the physical keyboard as we know it, yet I don't know how practical or accepted that would become. The other logical use would indeed be for a tablet, however I just don't see that as being a very likely product from Apple in the near future.

Perhaps we'll get some more hints at WWDC. Maybe this is something revolutionary we will see in Leopard for all we know

So how could they do away with the physical keyboard and it NOT be a tablet?!?!?!?!?!

 

[Thataboy]

My guess... Apple plans to introduce a sub-notebook line, but without a keyboard. They will call it the MacBook mini. I'd guess 9-10" diagonal, built in iSight, wifi, bluetooth, USB2, micro-drive (like those found in iPods), no firewire, no optical drive... a low-power single core chip... with Ink/stylus plus virtual-keyboard input.

I'd guess $699-$799 price point. If you want a more powerful notebook, with optical drive, faster hard drive, expandable memory, keyboard, firewire, dual core... you get a MacBook (iBook).

The MacBook mini would be perfect for students who mainly just need IM, internet, word processing, iTunes. Apple could sell a portable folding bluetooth keyboard for those people who want to take extensive notes.

I can't see Apple starting a whole new line (e.g., a MacPad). I also can't see why this would be useful functionality in a MacBook that has a keyboard.

 

[Newton]

so obviously

I guess: Apple is, again, revolutionizing the industry as they did over 20 Years ago with the GUI with the Desktop Metaphore and the mouse.
But time has changed and so has the kind and amount of Data we are working with today. I mean, who ist typing large amounts of text this days anyway?
And, Microsoft with his new OS (what is it called again...?!) is getting closer and closer and we need somthing NEW!

Just put the pieces together:

• Inkwell and Gestures
• Point'n'klick/Drag'n'drop
• Resolution indipendent Display rendering (comming with OS X 10.5)
• The Newton Team (still working at Apple)
• Quartz
• Multi Touch Trackpad
• Experiences with own Displays
• Patents for some kind of Display/Camera device
• The ability of Apple of thinking across the borderlines (why having a keyboard and mouse if you don't need them...)

And then watch the Video of the Multi Touch Display again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-y3ZNaCqs

Thank you Steve for reading this.

 

[MacQuest]

My guess... Apple plans to introduce a sub-notebook line, but without a keyboard. They will call it the MacBook mini. I'd guess 9-10" diagonal, built in iSight, wifi, bluetooth, USB2, micro-drive (like those found in iPods), no firewire, no optical drive... a low-power single core chip... with Ink/stylus plus virtual-keyboard input.

I'd guess $699-$799 price point. If you want a more powerful notebook, with optical drive, faster hard drive, expandable memory, keyboard, firewire, dual core... you get a MacBook (iBook).

The MacBook mini would be perfect for students who mainly just need IM, internet, word processing, iTunes. Apple could sell a portable folding bluetooth keyboard for those people who want to take extensive notes.

I completely agree with everything you've said here with the exception of the naming which I explain in my next comment.

I can't see Apple starting a whole new line (e.g., a MacPad). I also can't see why this would be useful functionality in a MacBook that has a keyboard.

I can't see Apple calling a product with a completely different form factor than that of a notebook, a MacBook. As in i believe the MacPad would be open faced and wouldn't have anything more "functional" than possibly a simple protective lid or cover, not a screen. Therefore it wouldn't be called a MacBook.

I'm thinking a larger [9"x12" for full 100% scale page view with a 1/4" border allowance all the way around] PDAish form factor that you can use with one hand if needed [the way you hold a clipboard when standing up], Mac OS X functionality, multi-touch point / gesture / virtual keyboard input, and in NO WAY competes with any Mac computer, but rather compliments them AND possibly your home devices [or media centric Mac mini / new product].

If the device is 9"x12"ish, maybe the whole camera behind/ within the screen patent thing would allow for a quick "snapshot" scan of single page documents? Hmmm... then you can go to your computer [preferrably a Mac of course ] to do anything more than just read the scanned document, like OCR and edit it.

Think "PDA and Tablet PC done right" and creating a whole new market like the iPod/iTunes combo did. Except now it will be the MacPod & vPod/iMovie [service] combo, when movies become available through Apple.

Now I'm really leaning towards MacPod. Right now we basically have the Mac and Pod divisions at Apple, maybe the MacPod will bridge the gap between the two while at the same time raising consumer awareness of both.

Maybe the [removeable?] lid/cover, when flipped open, will have the gesture symbols on the inner side to help train people on using gestures? [something i just thought of since I'm envisioning PDA flip lids...just throwing it out there].

When the iPod was first introduced in '01, SJ said that the iPod would be the first in a line of digital lifestyle devices. The vPod and it's larger indoor use brother, the MacPad [maybe it will be MacPod] will be the next digital lifestyle devices.

I believe that Apple is looking to out-innovate Sony in the home entertainment market.

 

[Huin]

Or... could we expect a dual-screen laptop?
The tought just occurred to me, why not replace te current bottom half of a PowerBook for a touch-screen? It would provide a lot more freedom of use! Otherwise it's pretty inconvenient to use your main screen for both displaying, aswell as typing?

Anyway, think about it! : )

 

[eji]

All things considered, the MacPad prediction sounds like the most likely. And as long as they're using the images of OS X in this particular patent application as actual size, and not just as representative OS placeholders, then this looks more like a tablet than a PDA.

Which is unfortunate, in a way, because I think Apple needs something at the smartphone/PDA level for the average consumer. These folks want something like their existing mobiles/cells/Handys/PSPs, but next-gen. Tablets are still at the geek/corporate level and probably will remain so for some time.

Having said that, though, Apple might like to have something that competes with ultra-small laptops (I think I've seen them in Sony's VAIO models). So maybe putting the tablet before the PDA isn't such a poor idea.

 

[MacQuest]

All things considered, the MacPad prediction sounds like the most likely. And as long as they're using the images of OS X in this particular patent application as actual size, and not just as representative OS placeholders, then this looks more like a tablet than a PDA.

Which is unfortunate, in a way, because I think Apple needs something at the smartphone/PDA level for the average consumer. These folks want something like their existing mobiles/cells/Handys/PSPs, but next-gen. Tablets are still at the geek/corporate level and probably will remain so for some time.

Having said that, though, Apple might like to have something that competes with ultra-small laptops (I think I've seen them in Sony's VAIO models). So maybe putting the tablet before the PDA isn't such a poor idea.

It may look like a [much thinner] tablet, but it'll be nothing like one and be nowhere in that price range. It'll be in the sub $800 price range and it won't even be marketed as a computer.

The MacPod will be the "must have" home entertainment device companion [i.e., Mac mini]/controller that let's non-proficient computer users [proficient users will want it as well though] do "computery" things.

It will be a networked [WiFi, Infrared, Bluetooth? - probably not... use the computer] component with viewing [webpages, email, iChat video conferencing, etc.], controlling [Front Row?], ordering/playback [iTunes/iMovie services], and BASIC data entry capabilities [so that it won't conflict with ANY Mac computer sales].

The MacPod will be more of a management/viewing device than an altering/storage device. That part will be left for the Macintosh computers.

I think the virtual keyboard will be for VERY simple/minimal use, like for entering search words, web urls, email addresses, etc. Gestures, inkwell, and multi-point touch manipulation will be the big features and take center stage.

I see no reason why Apple wouldn't release the now [fairly obvious] "vPod', this "MacPod", AND their own Treo/Blackberry killer phone [when they team up with Cingular as an MVNO].

What I mean is, a lot of people seem to think that Apple will only do one thing. I'm thinking they'll expand the Pod division, the Mac division, and [further] break into both the home entertainment and mobile phone markets as well.

I think that anytime now [but especially in March, probably nearing Apple's 30th anniversary on April 1st and allowing time for MacBook Pro stock and sales to take off] and between MWSF '07 we're gonna get BOMBARDED by Apple. Especially going into the holiday season.

In that 9 month time span, all of this, along with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's release by MWSF '07 will overshadow the launch of m$ vista so badly, it won't even be funny.

Macintosh computers, mobile Pod devices, home & work Mac/Pod devices, MacPhones[?] and Apple services [iTunes/iMovie/mobile phone service provider] will be EVERYWHERE!

Mwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

 

[ezekielrage_99]

All jokes aside I really think we are in for some BIG Apple releases, with there 30th Birthday and all Apple will make it a worth wild celebration.

I've been hearing rumors of a Newton type of PDA or a Tablet PC personally it wouldn't surprise me if we do see something like that released shortly.

I would like to see Apple release a PDA with the added features of an iPod and that would sync really nicely to my iBook

And new PowerBooks or something Apple next Tuesday

 

[dernhelm]

Another possibility...

...is that apple WAS working on a PDA/Tablet, but decided to scrap it. The flurry of patent releases is the fallout of the postmortem after shelving. "Well, we don't have a product, but we got a few good patentable ideas, that's at least something."


But of course, that type of speculation is no where near as interesting as a pending Apple tablet device, so - BRING IT ON! Whooo Hoooo!

 

[dernhelm]

Or... could we expect a dual-screen laptop?
The tought just occurred to me, why not replace te current bottom half of a PowerBook for a touch-screen? It would provide a lot more freedom of use! Otherwise it's pretty inconvenient to use your main screen for both displaying, aswell as typing?

Anyway, think about it! : )

Interesting... Like the Nintendo DS, only for your portable laptop. I tell you, I have two 20" screens at work, and now I sometimes find my 'little' 17" LCD monitor in my laptop very restricting. Usually, dual screens are left-right. not top-bottom, but hey, maybe the idea has merit. Then again, nah - typing on a device with no tactile feedback would be awful...

 

[dernhelm]

I guess: Apple is, again, revolutionizing the industry as they did over 20 Years ago with the GUI with the Desktop Metaphore and the mouse.
But time has changed and so has the kind and amount of Data we are working with today. I mean, who ist typing large amounts of text this days anyway?
And, Microsoft with his new OS (what is it called again...?!) is getting closer and closer and we need somthing NEW!

Just put the pieces together:

• Inkwell and Gestures
• Point'n'klick/Drag'n'drop
• Resolution indipendent Display rendering (comming with OS X 10.5)
• The Newton Team (still working at Apple)
• Quartz
• Multi Touch Trackpad
• Experiences with own Displays
• Patents for some kind of Display/Camera device
• The ability of Apple of thinking across the borderlines (why having a keyboard and mouse if you don't need them...)

And then watch the Video of the Multi Touch Display again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-y3ZNaCqs

Thank you Steve for reading this.

Definitely a cool video. If Apple does produce a device like this (which is a long shot at best), they will do so in a way that you will not need a trackpad. mouse, or stylus. You will interact with it by voice, and by touch. If you can remember back to the original mac, you had to do almost everything with the mouse, they didn't even include keyboard shortcut commands. Even though they eventually relented on that, I can see Steve pulling something similar again.

If apple can break our dependance on the mouse/trackpad with a newer better paradigm - I'm all for it. It would allow them to produce a sleek minimalist device with no stylus to loose, and no periipheral junk to lug around. The only issue would be the apps. They'd have to be custom made (or at least custom skinned) for the interface. You wouldn't want something like MS Word where you are choosing menu items with your finger instead of a stylus, that would defeat the point...

 

[mpw]

Just a point to those posting that the image is Jaguar not Tiger, shows an iChat AV window, is full MacOS etc. etc. THis is just a patent application so the images are only there to help describe the application.

Those images will just be stock screen grabs used as examples the final product, if there is one might use a completely different screen shape and OS, may not include a window based GUI etc. but 'will' include some form of screen based keyboard graphic. Just like a Palm PDA/smartphone.

I'm hoping for a smartphone with a 5" screen and seperate BT/IR keyboard to replace my Palm.

Apple could do it and take a big bite of the cellphone pie with a truely killer product, but it HAS to work well with MS Windows as well as OSX. Nobody but Apple is in such a good position to own the smartphone market.

 

[JRM PowerPod]

...is that apple WAS working on a PDA/Tablet, but decided to scrap it. The flurry of patent releases is the fallout of the postmortem after shelving. "Well, we don't have a product, but we got a few good patentable ideas, that's at least something."


But of course, that type of speculation is no where near as interesting as a pending Apple tablet device, so - BRING IT ON! Whooo Hoooo!

Such comments are not allowed in this forum

I still believe in Santa

 

[~Shard~]

So how could they do away with the physical keyboard and it NOT be a tablet?!?!?!?!?!

If a "virtual keyboard" (and possibly mouse) was built into Leopard and your PowerMac only consistsed of the tower and the display, you would consider that a tablet?!? Good luck lugging that thing around.

 

[(L)]

Well, I do think something's coming. I'm not into tablets in terms of having no physical keyboard and writing with a plastic stick and all, but I think it'd be awesome to lose the trackpad and just go with a touchable screen, getting rid of the cursor, being able to select not one but multiple points on the screen simultaneously, like that zoom thing in the video a while back. Of course, I already see problems even with that - close/minimize/zoom buttons, for example, would be too small for my fat fingers. That sort of difficulty begs the question "Would that touchscreen really be useful then?". Useful, in allowing new interface functions, sure, but at the end of the day not being able to do things is what stops people dead in their tracks. That, or believing it is like that, is what keeps so many Winders users stuck in mediocrity. But, Mac OS X is anything but mediocre, with or without a touchscreen.

However, if you follow my logic, no matter how good the touch screen is, alongside a physical keyboard and mouse it could conceivably be "cool" but not much of an improvement. (I'd much rather see better, brighter, less grainy screens (as Apple has been slowly catching up) on the laptops.) Anyway, that kind of limits it to a device with no real keyboard, yet a screen large enough for one, and no trackpad (using instead a plastic stick, or make every interactive element huge) - well, shucks. That's either a tablet or a new kind of tablet. The latter would be neat. Still, ultimately I am more excited about the technology in small screens (iPods, PDAs, cell phones, cameras, etc) without a keyboard to begin with, just because a touchscreen keyboard is a "new" way of doing an old thing, but some of the other stuff is entirely new.

Oh yeah. Has anyone else taken a liking to the @&! key? That would be great on a Windows keyboard. You know, like "Oh this screwed up piece of (hits @&! key, windows reboots)".

 

[baddaddy]

Just a couple of quick (and very random) thoughts.

1)If the keys on the screen are the same size as on a conventional keyboard then this device is about 8x11, or roughly the size of a peice of printer paper. Wayyyyy to big to be an ipod or pda, while it will do what the same functions if has to be designed to do more.

2) If you look at the apps shown you see that this thing must be wireless, with safari and aol on the doc, along with itunes and iphoto, but idvd and imovie are missing. I know that doesn't mean it won't have them, but it does make me wonder if this is a mac lite device, without heavy processing power or dvd burner.


3) These look a lot like a printed screen, if so that means it is a working prototype. That means that despite apples recent add looking for someone that would design stylus based apps, this is a lot farther down the pipeline than that. Perhaps this is a tablet plus, and the stylus app would be...dare I say it, SON OF NEWTON!

Any thoughts??

Baddaddy

 

[KREX725]

Here it is people the Apple P.A.D.D (Personal Access Display Device)

Oddly that was exactly the same thing that first came to my mind too.

 

[ccrandall77]

As much as I'd like to see an Apple PDA, I don't think it'll ever happen unless 1.) it's rolled into an iPod as an extra (like the PIM apps on the iPods now) or 2.) if it's part of an Apple smartphone.

These patents, however, look like they are geared more towards a table. This type of virtual keyboard would be too small on a PDA screen and Palm and WinCE have had similar virtual keyboards that work with a stylus for years.

That all said, I wish they'd just come out with that rumored video iPod with touchscreen and open the platform some so anyone can make applications for it. I don't understand why companies don't do stuff like this... homebrew is what makes the PSP more attractive than the DS for many geeks. Imagine the same ability with encouragement from Apple in the form of an SDK that links into XCode.