New York Times Editor Refers to 'Impending Apple Slate'

[DarkKnightNine]

How about Zinio

I wonder what Zinio has to say about all of this buzz over the Apple tablet. If all the rumors are true, it would make Apple and Zinio head-to-head competitors in delivering digital newspapers, books and magazines. I've been a fan and member of Zinio for many years but find their Mac support slow. The Windows version of the Zinio Reader has always had much improved new features and speed upgrades months and sometimes even years ahead of the Mac version, so I'm not surprised Apple has stepped in to take things into their own hands. Much like back when most new feature rich mp3 players were only being made compatible for the Windows platform, Apple stepped in and made the iPod. If the same scenario rings true here, it will be an interesting next few months indeed. Can't wait to see what bombshell Apple drops on digital readable media.

 

[wolfpackfan]

I'm hoping the Apple Tablet that comes out is marketed towards more computing (like a laptop) and less iPod-like.

I have to say, I really don't think that's going to happen. Apple doesn't need another portable computer with the MB and MBP already being sold. They are going to do everything they can to leverage iTunes and the App Store I bet. And that means a Tablet version of the Touch. Plus they are going to have to keep the price in the $500-700 range and they would never come out with a portable computer based device in that price range. It would kill the need for the MB and MBP.

 

[huntercr]

Slate would be a great name for such a device. After the oh-so-lame moniker "iPhone," Apple needs something more distinctive for its next device. The "iGadget" meme is growing tiresome.

If they name this thing (if it exists) the iTablet, I'll puke.

I was kinda of a fan of calling it the iPad or the iBook ( since they got rid of that name already ), but I suppose iPad would get somehow turned into a maxipad joke. ( I can see the comments about the "red" edition ipad now)

Slate would be cool.

iPhone was done out of name recognition... my god everyone in the tech world was using the word iPhone years before the real one came out. How could you not name it that?

 

[sammich]

Say 'iSlate' a few times fast.

The next Apple hit is called 'iSolate'.

 

[ChrisA]

The product will be called Slate. You heard it here first!

Not "Apple Slate" the correct spelling is "Apple's late".

 

[wizard]

Except that that word is already trade marked if I remember correctly

It won't be called Apple iTablet or Apple iSlate, and what he said wasn't Apple slate, it was Apple Slate. The product will be called Slate. You heard it here first!

I'm pretty sure at one time there was a company selling computers with that word. Somebody else likely owns them now but I would imagine the name is already taken.

Dave

 

[ChrisA]

....they are going to have to keep the price in the $500-700 range....

I might agree. They would sell for about that.

But then I get the newspaper now for about $7 a month.

If I went digital I'd first have to pay $500-$700 up front and then I'd bet the subscription cost is more than $7.

With the paper version I get a "free" 24 inch high resolution display, actually I get a couple hundred of these display devices. for $700 I get a little 10" screen.

I guess it's the same with telephones. When I was a kid people used to put a dime in a pay phone. Now they pay $100 per month contracts for a phone. So way NOT pay $700 to read the news paper?

 

[Drag'nGT]

I have to say, I really don't think that's going to happen. Apple doesn't need another portable computer with the MB and MBP already being sold. They are going to do everything they can to leverage iTunes and the App Store I bet. And that means a Tablet version of the Touch. Plus they are going to have to keep the price in the $500-700 range and they would never come out with a portable computer based device in that price range. It would kill the need for the MB and MBP.

Until someone figures out a hack to load OSX on it.

 

[wizard]

This could very well be the case!

I don't mean to douse water on this flame, but I work with a lot of publishers, and they are all very scared of the Apple tablet.

More to the point they are scarred of technology, the net and the apathy people have to their liberal slant. For the most part the newspaper industry simply isn't balanced in its reporting so people turn to other media that is less regulated. By regulated here I mean by the subversive left.

They're scared that this mystery device will come along and blindside them like it did with the music industry.

Most newspaper are barely making it now. What they fear is a the final shot to the temple that will finish them off. It is not that the tablet is a wonderful new technology, it isn't from what we know now, but that it makes the electronic media that much more accessible. Its the little extra push that somebody leaning over a cliff needs to end it all.

In any event this will lead to massive layoffs in the publishing industry, especially in physical production. One the plus side far fewer trees will die to feed the pulp mills. In every cloud their is a silver lining and I think the environmental impact will be huge.

But in reality, they have no idea... they're just scared... nobody has any concrete details. And they're all trying to position their businesses to be able to distribute to new devices, including the tablet they don't know exists...

The publishing industry is very very sick right now, especially newspapers. It wouldn't take much to kill off many publications.

As to books, electronic publication enables a huge advantage to start ups and alternative approaches to publishing electronics offers. So yeah they are scarred as some don't have a chance in hell of adapting to the new ways of doing things. Especially when electronic publishing distills the value of a publication down to its contents. It will be much harder to attract customers through traditional methods.

so... maybe this guy has details that nobody else has, but I think he's just like all the other publishers... that they assume an apple tablet is imminent... and that it is going to shake up the publishing industry

Of course that might not be the case even if Apple is targeting that industry directly. You only need to look at the Kindle and Sony readers to see that consumer acceptance is not a given. Even with the best of Digital Ink and compact hardware many people just prefer paper these days.

Beyond that Apple has a history of taking a good idea and really screwing it up. AIR being a good example. There is nothing to prevent Apple from screwing up this machine too. The potential is there but I'm leaning in the direction of something really different. The tablet could very well be a book, that is a folding screen device. It is clear with the purchase of PA Semi that Apple took charge of the electronics end, but we have heard little concrete about the screen. For some time I've had trouble wrapping m head around the feasibility of a 10" screen so an alternative would inspire.

Also with respect to screens there is a lot of research going on. Possible things in the future include high speed digital Ink, TMOS screens, OLED, and a host of others. For example TMOS is rumored to be better than OLED in many respects including power usage.


Dave


Dave

 

[wizard]

I don't think he has the slightest understanding of CPU technology!

If you don't want an ARM CPU, buy a MacBook Air.

Seriously! The fact is the only reasonable choice for this platform is ARM. It is the only thing that has the low power usage and performance to drive a svelte device with long battery life.

In any event if the original poster thinks this will be a device to run Mac apps one he clearly doesn't have his head in the right place. X86 apps simply will not happen on this device. Touch is significantly different from the usual Mac input methods as to be incompatible.

Besides what is more important running an x86 app of a thing device with long battery life? iTouch and iPhone pretty much answer that question.


Dave

 

[kdarling]

Why do people persist in pushing this caricature of Steve Jobs as a petty, raging tyrant?

Perhaps because articles still come out from insider leaks. Like the opening of Wired's piece about the iPhone:

The demo was not going well. Again.

It was a late morning in the fall of 2006. Almost a year earlier, Steve Jobs had tasked about 200 of Apple's top engineers with creating the iPhone.

Yet here, in Apple's boardroom, it was clear that the prototype was still a disaster. It wasn't just buggy, it flat-out didn't work. The phone dropped calls constantly, the battery stopped charging before it was full, data and applications routinely became corrupted and unusable. The list of problems seemed endless.

At the end of the demo, Jobs fixed the dozen or so people in the room with a level stare and said, "We don't have a product yet."

The effect was even more terrifying than one of Jobs' trademark tantrums.

When the Apple chief screamed at his staff, it was scary but familiar.

This time, his relative calm was unnerving. "It was one of the few times at Apple when I got a chill," says someone who was in the meeting.

It would be nice if his brush with death calmed him down a bit, but the latest reports from Apple insiders say that a lot of the fun went back out of HQ when Jobs returned to work after his six months away.

 

[wizard]

More powerful than what?

No, they're right, Apple needs to put a more powerful cpu in there.

There isn't anything out there that is more powerful considering the energy used. Further the A9 series out performs Intel's ATOM and can be built into a SoC with up to four cores. That is some serious power. Not to mention a good SoC design delegates a portion of the workload to dedicated units, such as GPU's and communications processors.

Frankly it is silly to dismiss ARM before Apple delivers anything. The potential there is performance measured in multiple ways.


Dave

 

[wizard]

Because somebody has to drive a project to completion.

.................
It would be nice if his brush with death calmed him down a bit, but the latest reports from Apple insiders say that a lot of the fun went back out of HQ when Jobs returned to work after his six months away.

Isn't that pretty much what a good CEO does? Make sure that everybody has their ducks in a row and are working to a common goal.



Dave

 

[pooryou]

I'll believe this when I see it. These rumors have been going for like 10 years and it still doesn't seem like a viable product with any kind of 'killer app'.

 

[wizard]

Names for this tablet/slate.

I went looking for the names of different apples (the fruit) that we could pick from to name this new device. I found this site: http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/ which gives us more names to choose from than we know what to do with.

A few of my favorites:

1. Fuji - that would likely create all sorts of legal issues
2. Blaze - a great name for a fast device clearing new trails in the technology landscape.
3. Buff - because a day in the buff beats just about anything.
4. Discovery - as in a device that allows for adventure and discovery.
5. Lindamac - I've heard somebodies wife is named Linda, could be wrong here.
6. Newtown Pippin - come on guys you know what this sounds like.

I'm running out of time, so I have a challenge. Everybody should pick their favorite names from the list and try to justify them. This could be very interesting as the list is large and interesting.

Dave

 

[ata]

I think 'II' is a sequel better left on titles like "Home Alone" and "Weekend at Bernies."

Newton II: Electric Boogaloo

 

[cms2]

Same here. Apple really needs to get away from its i[name] system. iPod, iPhone, iTouch, iMac.... It gets old and displays a lack of creativity, which is not what Apple is known for. (in general)

I kind of agree, but at the same time think that you don't throw away a successful branding technique lightly. The iMac is iconic [iConic? ]. It's been in Apple's best interest to build on it for a while now. The flip side is that everything gets stale after a while...

 

[hiimamac]

I think the great unknown here is whether this guy has been negotiating content deals with Apple and really knows about it or whether he is assuming it will be on it's way from the sheer volume of rumours like everyone else.

I was thinking the same thing - I think we also need to tip our hats to MSFT, I mean, they come out with Win 7 and ad's that talk about prices so Apple turns around, cuts prices, puts quad in an iMac, then they release a video about the unit called the Courier, and now we have this.

In the long run, we all win.
As consumers and professional's.

 

[awmazz]

The first three google results for 'appleslate.com' are from 2007 and 2008 - basically, rumoured Apple Slate coming soon? So nothing new today, not even the name.

Even the rumoured iPhone-style look to it is nothing new if you look at the 2005 patent Apple filed for it. If you ask me, the iPhone took its design from the Slate:

 

[awmazz]

I think the great unknown here is whether this guy has been negotiating content deals with Apple and really knows about it or whether he is assuming it will be on it's way from the sheer volume of rumours like everyone else.

I doubt a person in his position would not know if it comes down to negotiating content deals as he would be directly involved in the decision making process. He also used the word 'impending', which is pretty definitive and totally different to the constant 'rumored' or 'possible' we 're hearing everywhere else. Not a word he would be using if he didn't know.

Whoa, I just had a deja vu moment. Something about what I just wrote reminded me of just before the iPhone launch, when that was still a rumour too.

 

[MorphingDragon]

More money for the masses to waste on.

 

[ata]

I'll believe this when I see it. These rumors have been going for like 10 years and it still doesn't seem like a viable product with any kind of 'killer app'.

There were iPhone rumours for about that long before they actually introduced it

I hear Steve Jobs likes the Henry Ford quote, "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." He's not going to wait for a "killer app" to present itself, or for a specific market demand; I bet they go ahead with it in the timeframe that's been discussed, and the eventual killer app turns out to be something nobody saw coming.

 

[uraniumwilly]

I'd love the slate to have the Encyclopedia Britannica and the entire library of the Great Books of the Western World. Gold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World

 

[mac88]

I'll believe it if and when it comes out.

 

[rotorblade69]

Full article and video here.

Sounds like someone is worried about their job at a company whose product is dying.