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Notion Ink Smartpad 10.1 inch Tablet Announced Ahead of CES
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page three?
"MacRumors" should change its name to "TechRumours" or "PossibleCompetition." This article should be Page 2 and even that is stretching it.
page three?
That's revisionist history at its best. First, the iPhone is not much smarter than the "dumb" phones. This is extensively discussed in that other thread about the Japanese market.
The fact is, the iPhone is simply a cellphone with a few features other phones have (and had way before Apple made the first iPhone). Web, e-mail, cameras, apps, games weren't limited to Blackberries before the iPhone.
Also, no, MP3 players were really on the way up and were already very popular when the iPod came out. The 128 MB devices were everywhere and were selling really well.
Also, the iPod wasn't an instant hit, not because like you say it was limited to geeks (it wasn't), but because it initially didn't ship with Windows drivers at all. You needed a Mac to have an iPod.
Well I would think Apple is aiming at $499. Next price step up from the iPod Touch
After all they said they can't yet make a computer under $500 that they where happy to release. So we know they are trying. They've also said the iPhone came out of the Internet pad project. So again they were trying to build some thing, and could well be the device that couldn't hit the under $500 mark. We know Apple builds to price points.
So if these guys launch before Apple I'd guess they aim say $600 on release but be building with $400ish price point in mind. So they had room to move once they had competition.
I've seen people around with them: students. They were all using the exact same model. For my part, I use pen tablets (e.g. Wacom) instead. I've been doing so for a while. The ability to copy diagrams and graphs while still retaining the speed and clarity of typed words is fantastic.
The hardware was pretty well established, but has still made advances. The first tablet I used was terrible; I now use a Wacom Bamboo that is a total pleasure to use, starting from the fact that the pen nib against the tablet doesn't feel like plastic on plastic to the pen that doesn't require a AAA battery.
The software has gone through the most radical changes, and it's still not quite "there" yet. Using a pen tablet to take notes through Windows XP and Microsoft Word was terrible. I switched over to OS X around that time and used Ink with Word - it just works better (although Ink isn't new and hasn't been actively developed, I think; Apple was apparently far ahead of Microsoft in this area). A quick test with Windows Vista and Microsoft OneNote shows that it's a very viable combination, as well.
Many classmates have seen my usage of the pen tablet and approached me over it. I know that one person has bought the exact model of tablet that I use as a result of being so impressed by what I was doing. For some it just never occurred to them that they could pair this technology in such a way, and that it isn't terribly difficult to do.
Of course, a true tablet will likely be a greater hit with the masses. People want to draw on their screen - they probably don't want to put in the time to get used to having their writing location and where their writing appears be separated (and it is an adjustment). For the students, just create a small keyboard that can easily fit into a backpack and plug into the tablet when needed and you're set.
As long as the cost isn't too high and the software is good, it'll be a hit in education. Other sectors will likely find a use for it, too. It's all about the integration and about getting the word out that this product exists (and then showing a few uses for it, because not everyone cares to think of how to implement neat technology into their lives).
Apple has one single model of phone (not counting the various revisions that model has gone through). They're new to the market yet still seem to be maintaining their hype, and they're locked to a single carrier (in the United States and in other countries where doing so is legal). Apple may not be blowing Nokia away in terms of raw marketshare, but by many other metrics you could make the claim that Apple blew everyone away and you'd be right.
Nokia makes a very wide range of devices (many of which are very nice) and they're well entrenched in the world market. They have good reason to be nervous about the iPhone, though. Symbian (their phone operating system) is pretty ugly, and when I moved from a Windows Mobile phone to a Nokia phone I felt like I was going from a true "smartphone" to a "smartphone" that stayed behind a few grades. I've never used an iPhone, but the main rave about it is the interface. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Apple diversifies their phone lineup and they're no longer locked to single carriers.
Right you are on this account, I remember the introduction of the iPod like it was yesterday. It was initially for Mac only and it was quite steep in price compared for the storage one got. Then it was updated and still no Windows support. Finally it was released to the Windows community and the price dropped from there onwards and it took off gradually. No over night success here. Remember the Cube.
Wait, what ? Wrong tablet bub. These tablets that were talking about are Internet devices with a screen. A Wacom bamboo is an input device.
At least try to follow the conversion before commenting. I have a Wacom Bamboo pen and touch myself and use it quite extensively.
Right you are on this account, I remember the introduction of the iPod like it was yesterday. It was initially for Mac only and it was quite steep in price compared for the storage one got. Then it was updated and still no Windows support. Finally it was released to the Windows community and the price dropped from there onwards and it took off gradually. No over night success here. Remember the Cube.
I remember buying one for windows - they came pre-formatted either for windows or mac. I had to buy a mac one and re-format it, and use winamp with some gunky plug-in to synch. Replaced by Creative mp3 player that looked like a portable CD player.
I don't get what you're actually going to do with a Tablet, even Apple's.
I mean iPhone makes sense to get your calls, emails, etc, and through on a few fun items. It can be taken with you.
However, a tablet, you aren't going to pull out of your pocket everywhere you go, and yet it's not practical for word processing and the like.
So what in the world do you use it for???
I mean iPhone makes sense to get your calls, emails, etc, and through on a few fun items. It can be taken with you.
However, a tablet, you aren't going to pull out of your pocket everywhere you go, and yet it's not practical for word processing and the like.
So what in the world do you use it for???
Yes all these things technically existed well before Apple had crack at them. For the general public they might as well have not existed even if the phone they replaced with the iPhone had all those features and even more that they just never used. Either they didn't know or the device felt so alien to them that the idea it had lots of tricky things it could do as well didn't even occur to them.
You could show people features but it all seemed to hard, to annoying to them to even be considered mucking around with "That" stuff. You would be just another geek in their life to help with the "real" computer problems they had after that.
The Japanese Market is probably the Geekist national market (and we love them for that) but that really just doesn't translate to the mind of mainstream western cultures, who mostly believe it wasn't done till they do it and have been revising history like that for centuries.
Apple seems very happy to trade on that.
I'd use it when traveling on business. I could use it to read documents and do light editing, play movies on the plane, stream slingplayers from my hotel, surf the web, respond to emails, etc., GPS when renting a car, play keynote/powerpoint presentations, and it's easier to carry than a laptop. Of course, all that assumes the device is going to be what I think it is.
You're again living in a delusional world. E-mail, Web and cameras on phones were in use way before the iPhone. Apps and games also, calendaring, etc... By normal folk. It's not hard to figure out even Sony's dumb phone OS.
Seriously, stop thinking the iPhone is some kind of god's gift to humanity. It's not even the top seller nor is it the best phone around. It's a good product that has pros and cons. It sells well, but doesn't blow away anyone (RIM had more growth last quarter than Apple did, and more market share).
How do I enable 802.11n on the iPhone or iPod Touch again ?
I was thinking the same. If Apple is going to release a tablet I hope to god they use "N" for wifi. "G" isn't cutting it anymore esp if you want to watch streamed HD movies flawlessly.
Except for the fact that, even with the advances in lower power consumption, lower thermal output and higher computing, these still won't be capable of the performance levels of current tablets.
From the looks of it, you'd essentially be looking at paying a considerable premium for a device that performs like a netbook, trading in the physical keyboard for a larger screen.
Um, what? MP3 players were already becoming popular long before the iPod was released (or even before it had been announced). In fact, the iPod didn't even truly take off until Apple finally provided Windows support. Even then, I'd say it was more the combination of the iPod and iTunes that drove the iPod's success. Most of the other music management options used by MP3 players at the time were fairly lackluster.
Edit - Yep, KnightWRX beat me to the part about the iPod initially not having Windows compatibility, lol. There was MusicMatch for the second-generation iPod, but yeah, I didn't know anyone who used that.
The iPhone is already available from multiple carriers in numerous markets across the world. It will be interesting though to see what occurs if/when Apple goes to a multi-carrier model in the US.
That was probably the third generation of iPod (around 2003), which is when Apple first began shipping the iPods labeled either for PC or Mac.
The first generation was Mac-only, and the second generation was Mac-only out of the box, but you could use MusicMatch with Windows to transfer music to it (ugh, MusicMatch though...)
Tablets will find usage in education, as secondary computers (I think they'll kill netbooks), as book/magazine readers, retail operations, and the sooner the better in the medical field. Using these things to do electronic forms in the medical industry should well be a killer app. I think it'll take some time for the fogies in the medical world to adapt though.
Personally, I'll get one as soon as one has software that'll let me shoot my dslr tethered so I can preview the images on one of these things.
Personally, I'll get one as soon as one has software that'll let me shoot my dslr tethered so I can preview the images on one of these things.
exactly what i was thinking as well.
if apple is really planning on competing with e-readers like the Kindle with their tablet they should have announced their product before Christmas - the Amazon Kindle has posted the highest monthly sales yet and we are only 3 weeks into this month.
many would have held out for the apple tablet but now will be owning a Kindle, or Nook, or Sony e-reader...
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16 hrs? Holy flippin' cow!
16 hrs? Holy flippin' cow!
Highest monthly sales, but no one knows the numbers. Apple doesn't like entering a market until the market is ready. It's seldom a good idea to be first into a market - being a close second allows you to learn from everyone else's mistakes.
agree - which is just killing me to wait for the apple tablet wondering if they really can re-invent that market and make something actually desirable by the masses - where both tablets and netbooks have failed.