Notion Ink Smartpad 10.1 inch Tablet Announced Ahead of CES

[Pilgrim1099]

Talkingnewmedia,

What you have said is very much exactly why Apple is doing the tablet product. You're correct that Conde Nast and other 'big media' publishers are lining up to provide digital reading content for consumers, especially the fact Marvel Comics will apparently get involved.

Marvel--->Disney---->Steve Jobs. There's your connection.

I suspect it will be named iBook, in theory, because that name has been retired a long time ago and it makes a lot of sense to bring it back based on the tablet's primary role relating to the publishing industry.

But do keep in mind that it is rumored to cost $1,000 to their premium standards and not catering to the 'el cheapo' crowd. I really believe that the price alone shows that this device is definitely multi-media in aspect, being able to do other applications besides reading and web browsing.

The iphone OS or full-on Mac OS X would be inappropriate because the tablet must run on a unique OS and keep the UI simple enough to work with. I believe it'll be a hybrid of iphone and Mac OSes but stripped down to conserve RAM and battery consumption. That's the one thing a LOT of people are forgetting which is a very important factor to consider.

I do really think that eventually this tablet will be used for digital artists because the Tablet PCs have been used in that profession in the last several years and I don't see why not the "iBook". With a pen stylus, it'll do the job nicely for 'on the go' productivity or professional illustration/design work. The files can then be wirelessly downloaded or ported into the Mac for more fleshing out.

Don't think of any possible Apple tablet in isolation -- that is, that it will just another computer doing the usual things -- like the MacBook Air. A lot of other companies are lining up to support the tablet.

From the perspective of the media world, new usable tablets (or readers) will be necessary if there is going to be a true alternative to print. A tablet makes sense because few people want to buy a reader just to read books or magazines. Such devices add too much cost to what would normally be an insignificant purchase (a book costs a couple of bucks and does not need a "device" -- while a Kindle may make reading easier because it can store multiple publications, it still adds a significant cost to the equation).

Additionally, the traditional magazine is going to evolve into the multimedia magazine in a way many visualized a few years ago. Remember when it was all the rage to include a CD with the magazine? At first this had a certain "cool" factor, but it petered out because of the cost (in the end, the cost was put on the backs of the advertisers who often had demos included on the CD).

I doubt tablets and readers will kill off the traditional magazine completely -- print is still a very useful vehicle and is, of course, very reader friendly. But big publishers like Hearst, Condè Nast and others are betting that people will adopt the tablet the way they took to the smart phone. (Phones have a couple killer apps like texting, so I can see why people may think tablets need a new killer app, as well. Publishers are hoping that reading their products will be the killer app -- I have my doubts about that, though.)

2010 may well be the year of the tablet the way 2007 (and 2008 and 2009) was the year of the smart phone. But, of course, we'll see . . .

 

[Pilgrim1099]

XeshaBlu,

Apple has to do that because if they don't provide this kind of feature on the tablet, a lot of professional designers/artists will give Apple a big FU and switch to Windows where there is more support from Adobe and other software publishers. Yes, I'm aware Adobe supports OS X, but for how long?

So far, I use my Wacom tablet these days and it works nicely, but there are times I wish I can just take it out 'on the go' and sit at a coffee bistro down the street and work on it continuously without being stuck in my studio all day. Apple would have to be this incredibly short-sighted and stupid to not do it. After all, is'nt this why they continue to make Mac Pros for digital professionals in film, photography, design, etc? They need to take good care of that market.

I'm a digital illustrator and would snap one of them up if Corel or a publisher produces a tablet app for painting/drawing. Imagine Autodesk Sketchbook Pro on it. I know it exists on other tablet PCs but on Apple's new device would be simply killer.

Especially if you're an Art Director or book editor, you can use the pen to edit the pages and jot down editing notes and shoot off PDFs back to the designer via wi-fi and actually see the 'actual size' dimensions of the documents that are to be published on the tablet or web. It's a perfect solution.

For $1,000 that is rumored to be the price, I'd have to say it is definitely more than just a tablet but a portable computer to boot. But if they can lower the price, then they have my attention.

Too right, but nobody is listening to the vast artists market that would comprise the most logical use of a tablet. Except maybe - hopefully! - Apple?

Even the lack of pressure sensitvity/stylus input could be worked around with gestures, especially if two-handed gestures were supported. Imagine finger painting with gestures, or 3d sculpting with gestures! Combined with the ability to work anywhere you want; every artist in the world would want one of these.

 

[Eric-PTEK]

P.S. Also note the big ctrl-alt-del on top of this thing (the reset button so to speak for windows users to get them out of a system freeze say), probably the most important button on a windows system...this again, has got to be ironic....

It is, becuase that is how you login to a Windows PC belonging to a domain, how you bring up the task manager, etc...

Give people enough time and they will gladly display their ignorance.