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Even though I have to type this response on an iPhone, I feel it is neccesary considering the sheer stupidity on display in this thread.
So I apologize for the lack of quotes, maybe occasional typo, but this just needs to be done.
I read through every single page of comments on this thread and I am perplexed by how people can justify throwing out their theories about the potential and uses for an Apple tablet, snooding off with a claim about how they don't see this appealing to a large market, or that they can't see themselves buying one because it doesn't add functionality to their existing roster of hardware.
"it would only satisfy niche consumers/ I can't think of anything I could use this for." Oh, seriously? Is that what you think? Congratulations; you are a moron.
Fortunately that nearsightedness doesn't translate into a diminished value to this upcoming device. Why is it that people who make those types of comments act like their illbegotten conclusion about the viability of an unreleased product is throwing a wrench into Apple's spokes? Like Apple is reading this thread and saying "Oh ****! We made a huge mistake!" How pompous.
Let's be totally clear here by reiterating the more educated comments that have made it into this discussion along with a little of my own insight.
I think it's safe to say The Mac tablet, according to the soundest logic and what we already know about Apple's intentions, will most likely run a modified version of the iPhone OS, and they've probably built the iPhone OS in anticipation of this device from the beginning. However I agree that it may implement a full cocoa touch platform, making it somewhere between OS X and iPhone OS.
There's no possible way that a 7-10 inch tablet is going to run a full fledged Snow Leopard. Can you imagine trying to move windows around or tap the tiny spotlight icon tucked away in the corner using touch control? No.
Producing anything close to the experience you recieve on an actual Laptop would be cannibalisitic for Apple. If this device is priced at a sub $999 pricepoint with decent enough internal hardware running Snow Leopard, the sheer fact alone that it is a touch screen would hypothetically cut into what I estimate to be 50 percent of the market for the Macbook and possibly even the MBP, because let's face it: there is a huge group of people out there who are buying laptops that far exceed the level of performance which that group realistically requires. A lot of the time they are just getting a laptop because they have the opportunity/ money ie going to college or maybe a birthday. It's this same group of people who probably don't own a video camera and have no real interest in iMovie, have no ambitions to use GarageBand to record music, and are part of a trend where the use of personal digital cameras, or at least carrying them on you, is steadily declining as their phone's camera capabilities are enhanced. The truth is that the vast majority of college students and (here's the hook
netbook users only use their computers for browsing the web, updating twitter and facebook, and catalogueing/ listening to music, and then maybe to type the occasional paper or blog entry. Now this next part is important...
It is in that way that Apple has already made it's replacement for the netbook. It's called the iPhone. It browses the net and can input text, the two main functions of a netbook. Except it does it better. Here's a comparison to demonstrate:
-Can access the web with a real browser
Netbook: yes
iPhone: yes
-Can download music and other media from iTunes
Netbook: yes
IPhone: yes
-features a keyboard you can actually use
Netbook: nope. (their keyboards are getting even smaller and more cramped! If you've ever tried to type on one of these you know it's a pain in the ass)
iPhone: yes (the fact that it's a virtual keyboard is what makes it work. You are aiming for a soft target that is flexible and has software powered intelligence.)
I'd like to insert a side note here. TACTILE FEEDBACK IN REGARDS TO SMARTPHONES IS COMPLETELY OVERRATED. Nobody using a blackberry keyboard can beat an iPhone user in typing speed unless they are on 100mg of Ritalin and are blessed with elfin hands. Having to click something requires an extra thought and it really only slows you down/reduces the ease. As I type this I don't even really have to think about it. I can't imagine typing this long of a post on any other phone.
Also you may think to yourself "this comparison isn't fair, because you are never gonna write something as long as a paper on this tablet". Well, you will if we find a way to connect a Bluetooth keyboard...
Let's resume
-has access to an ever-growing library of apps specifically tailored for the device that add situation specific functionality and endless entertainment, and which are vigorously tested and garaunteed to work on that device and not to mention virtually free of any risk of accidentally downloading a virus instead
Netbook: **** no
iPhone: Hell yes
-Accelerometer
Netbook: nada
iPhone: yes sir
Videoconferencing?
Netbook: ehhh kinda, sometimes, definitely not an experience as simple and robust as iChat
iPhone: no. But maybe on the mac tablet?
-portability (and for that matter, functionality) of a cell phone
Netbook: nah
iPhone: yuh huh
So In my opinion, the iPhone already has these chumps beat. And when you throw in the iPod touch, it's just obvious that there is no room in this market for mini wannabe laptops with unusable keyboards that are designed and manufactured with a fraction of the care that Apple's products are.
That's why it makes complete sense that the tablet would just expand on the iPhone's capabilities utilizing a similar yet more powerful operating system rather than tool OS X to work with a touch screen (despite the fact that we've heard rumor about that exactly, but we would imagine that it couldn't possibly look or work exactly like the desktop version) because it's already been demonstrated- with the windows xp tablets or that HP touch screen, both of which no one bought- that an arrangement like that would have a slim chance of succeeding whilst competing directly with existing products from the same company.
For everyone that embarrassed themselves by claiming this new tablet would be useless, let me lay this phatness on you:
There is a product for DJs and electronic musicians called the jazzmutant Lemur, which is basically a 2000 dollar touch screen with a less than amazing display that shows different knobs and sliders and such which are linked through midi signals to music software, you get the picture. Look it up on YouTube, the group The Glitch Mob uses them prominently.
Let me repeat, i believe it costs 2000 dollars.
Now...
There's an app for iPhone, it's called touchOSC, and it provides realtime parameter controls for music software such as Ableton Live just like the Lemur, and it basically mimics the exact look and functionality of it too.
Imagine what happens when they port that app to the new tablet... I end up spending less than half the money on near identical copy of one of the coolest DJ controllers around, PLUS a better screen.
That right there should be enough to silence the haters.
Btw, all of this nonsense about fantastical technology somehow traveling back in time from four years into the future for an Apple product is really getting on my nerves. Facial recognition, gesture tracking, thousands of cameras behind the screen? Give me a ****ing break. A patent doesn't always mean imminent product.
You think just because Microsoft is jumping the gun by hyping up Natal way ahead of any forseeable application, that means we are going to see that kind of technology in mass marketed device that is being announced in one month?
Did you guys forget what VAPORWARE is? (remember Origami for instance? Or that bathtub/touchscreen table thing?) Microsoft purposefully preemptively bought up the technology behind Natal from a start up and threw a big publicity campaign behind it to bring all of the much needed attention to them and make it seem as if they are ahead of the curve so that investors and the general public opinion would just put all of their chips in microsoft's pot because nobody can compete with that mammoth of a company (except for Apple of course) which in turn bankrupts companies working on similar tech even though microsoft's version is nowhere near an actual product launch and is in a less than beta development status. That tech doesn't even work in low light! At some point microsoft will either deliver the product, or a cheapened, barely passable version of what they were promising, or just terminate the project, basically poisoning the market for that technology for no good reason when someone else could have done a better job if Microsoft didn't bully them out of business. Imagine asking an investor to buy into your project only to have them say to you "Nah, sorry Microsoft is already working on a copycat of this stuff, you'll never make it past 1,000 units." Essentially what MS is doing is taking out insurance on a technology that may or may not come to commercial fruition so that when it finally is ready, they have no competitors there, or if they don't end up releasing the product they have it still ready in case a smaller company wants to step up to the plate with it's own solution, bravely disregarding that Microsoft is poised and ready to crush their dreams at any moment.
So no, I don't predict any input tech on this tablet beyond multi-touch, perhaps on the backside as well. But I would really like to see that iMac type docking station we heard about a Long time ago, someone just posted the link a few posts back.
We all know that there will be two versions at least, one subsidized through a carrier contract and one with no 3g, both with wifi "n" protocol, one screen size only, multiple capacities...
But a real shocker would be the inclusion of an SD slot and a front facing iSight. But I'm daydreaming. These are definitely more likely now though than they would have seemed a year ago, if Apple wants to position this as part iPhone part small laptop.
This has gone on way too long. My point is, no one in this forum should be doubting whether Steve has a sound plan for this device and a very precise manifesto on how and for what it will be used and a long roadmap for the device's future. If you don't believe they stand to break in to a totally new market that transcends netbooks and laptops and make tons of money, then you might be in denial.
That's all I'm saying.
Sent from my jPhone, through an invisible binary maze in the nearosphere.
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