Notion Ink Smartpad 10.1 inch Tablet Announced Ahead of CES

[Chupa Chupa]

Project Gutenberg.

http://www.gutenberg.org

I guess you didn't read my entire post. At any rate Project Guterberg isn't a book publisher -- you know those hard things with paper in the middle. It's a web site that has free digital editions. I said in my post that digital versions are freely available from multiple sites.

 

[w00master]

It's hard to believe companies trying to beat each other to the punch with their latest model if they are not the future. Also hard to see why the book publishing industry is in such a panic about them if they don't see increasing sales if digital copies vs. hard copies. Or maybe you having seen the recent spate of publishers state they are delaying sales of e-Books for a few months to give hard copies a head start. Fact is people want digital books.

Then why doesn't Amazon release their sales figures? If they're selling like crazy, then why hide this? Makes absolutely no sense at all.

Ultimately, I'm still waiting for the killer feature for these tablets, Apple or whoever else. As of right now, I haven't seen one yet.

w00master

 

[KnightWRX]

I guess you didn't read my entire post. At any rate Project Guterberg isn't a book publisher -- you know those hard things with paper in the middle. It's a web site that has free digital editions. I said in my post that digital versions are freely available from multiple sites.

Where do you think the project got copies of the books ? From their main page :

We carry high quality items: Our books were previously published on paper by bona fide publishers and digitized by us with the help of thousands of volunteers.

 

[peterdevries]

Apple's too late?

How? No one's released anything yet. And if they have, it hasn't caught on. Dollar-to-donuts Apple knows exactly what it takes for a tablet to become as popular as Macs, iPods, iPhones, etc. The industry is waiting for Apple's tablet, not a nook, or Notion, or whatever else. These things dont have the things Apple brings to its products.

I absolutely agree. There are tablets on the market, but the only thing that they are unique for is a multitouch screen. Software is the usual, with maybe some minor tweaks. But the only thing that is different between a netbook, laptop and the current tablets are the way how the user inputs data. I can see why people are skeptical about devices with a value proposition that is "we ditched the keyboard for a software keyboard, but the rest is the same".

IMO the ONLY winning formula for a tablet would be a perfect marriage between the different input method AND the content that can be used on the device.

Whichever way you look at it, this is exactly what Apple did with the iPhone. The technology complements the software and viceversa.

Putting OS X on a macbook air without a keyboard will not cut it. The content AND the OS need to be adapted to the technology to make this work. And that for me is the reasoning why we would not see full OS X on a tablet, but a scaled down version, or if you will a scaled up version of iPhone OS.

 

[GQB]

apple has waited too long

Its never too late for 'right'.
No one will hear of this device, and when Apple announces, it will be page one everywhere. That's the difference.

As for 'why a tablet', it simple. Screen real-estate that many find lacking on a 3" screen. Not really complicated. It'll sell big.
Its not about being 'pocket-able', and I'll be more likely to buy if it DOESN'T have wireless. I don't need 'always available' for the uses this will provide.

 

[Disc Golfer]

It's not as if the iPod was the first high capacity mp3 player, is it?

 

[GQB]

Yeah yeah, "let's wait another 12 months". How many 12 months do we have to wait ? Nokia is a very big player.

And the Titanic was a very big ship.
Nokia's profits have tanked this year, just as Apple's have soared.
They may continue to dominate the crap phone market while it lasts, but they've lost the high end.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Project Gutenberg.

http://www.gutenberg.org



E-readers are also much cheaper than the rumored Apple tablet or other general purpose tablets.

The iPod is still just an iPod, the video part hasn't taken off as much as you think it as. And before the iPhone, there were other cellphones with music playing capabilities. Apple wasn't the first to do device consolidation, again, this is only true in the delusional apple fanboy universe.

The fact is, all the things the iPod does were highly popular and in demand before Apple shipped a product that did it. Tablets, not so much. E-readers might be gaining traction, but they are not general purpose tablets so you can't compare them. You need to look at the general purpose tablets out there to see what kind of success the platform is having.

I'm currently formatting several classics into PDF via LaTeX/XeTeX. When one ASCII text collection is > 5,000 pages it takes time.

Most, if not all, of Project Gutenberg's stuff is straight ASCII or mangled PDF.

 

[itsbarry]

Or Apple knows a tablet will never be as popular as a iPod or Mac or iPhone because tablets in and of themselves aren't popular items like the aformentionned ones were before Apple took a shot at them.

Steve isn't crazy either. He's not about the jump into a market that is a niche within a niche, especially if it doesn't look like it will be profitable.

And people have released tablets :

Nokia N810 :

Archos Android tablet :

Samsung has a full line up including the Q1U :

HP tried to do a notebook/tablet hybrid :

And none of these have really caught on (except maybe the Nokia N810, in certain Europeen countries, but it's not what you qualify a big hit).

You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

Touchscreen phones didn't take off until Apple made one.

MP3 players didn't take off until Apple made one.

Pretty much, Apple shows others "how it's done", then they follow suit.

Nothing has even began with tablets. How many people have YOU seen walking around with those devices that you mentioned. Not many, I bet.

 

[w00master]

You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

Touchscreen phones didn't take off until Apple made one.

MP3 players didn't take off until Apple made one.

Pretty much, Apple shows others "how it's done", then they follow suit.

Nothing has even began with tablets. How many people have YOU seen walking around with those devices that you mentioned. Not many, I bet.

Except for AppleTV...

But my point still stands, in each of Apple's successes (iPod, iPhone, etc.) there's always been a killer reason/app/function. What would the Tablet's killer function/app/whatever be?

w00master

 

[firewood]

Except for the fact that there are dozens of tablets already on the market. Guess why you never see anyone around with them.

I've seen lots of tablets around. The first successful one was the PalmPilot. It (and its follow-ons) sold in the several 10's of millions. Lots of businessmen carried them. And currently there's the iPod Touch (also more than 10 million sold. And it's not just a PMP; I've seen many in use with no music on them.) Neither of these successful device families tried to be a PC. Both these device families had a developer community of many 10's of thousands.

As for reading on tablets, not only did a company selling ebooks for PalmPilots do fairly well, but rumor is that Amazon is selling boatloads of books, not for Kindle hardware, but for the Kindle app on Apple handheld tablet devices.

So here's a game plan. Shrinking down a PC to a tablet form factor has failed. Many times. And although the top-line sales look interesting, there's very little bottom-line big money profit to be made from shrinking a PC down into a netbook form factor. How about growing up a baby tablet like a PalmPilot or iPod Touch into something easier with which to read and browse the net?

Palm seems to be a clueless blunderer, and has killed off their own once hugely successful market niche and brand. Maybe Apple will be smarter?

 

[NeuralControl]

The specs list is great. If the OS and UI are as good and the price is right, this should be a great hit. Of course price is going to be a tremendous issue. People are not willing to drop nearly as much money for a secondary device as their primary computer.

 

[mox358]

a different take

I tend to think of the "iTablet" as more of a one-way street. The purpose of the device will be more information delivery and simple input. It shouldn't, and won't, replace a laptop or desktop - it will be a complimentary product. Sitting on the couch or in your recliner is where the tablet shines, the places where laptops feel very awkward, and where laptops are overkill.

Imagine a tablet that with bluetooth, wifi, maybe even infared, you could use in your living room to get news headlines, weather, check your latest facebook updates, twitter updates, etc... You won't be creating content on the device as much as consuming it. The tablet, coupled with it's own App Store, provides manufacturers of other devices the opportunity to create simple remote control apps. Your TV, DVD/BR player, stereo. Simple interfaces controlled from one screen, while all the while you're reading & watching other media. The book/magazine download feature is just icing on the cake. Instead of 1000 songs in your pocket now you get 1,000,000 magazines in your backpack.

I guess I just see the tablet in a different light - I don't want one to replace my computer. I want one because I believe it can simplify the other rooms of my house where I don't need a full fledged computer, but where it would be awesome to have more computing than an iPhone can provide.

 

[125037]

^ Well stated.

 

[spillproof]

(By the way, just got back from Avatar IMAX 3D. When is Apple making 3D displays?)

The computer screens in Avatar were amazing. I really want those hand held screen tablet things they used.

 

[DMann]

I absolutely agree. There are tablets on the market, but the only thing that they are unique for is a multitouch screen. Software is the usual, with maybe some minor tweaks. But the only thing that is different between a netbook, laptop and the current tablets are the way how the user inputs data. I can see why people are skeptical about devices with a value proposition that is "we ditched the keyboard for a software keyboard, but the rest is the same".

IMO the ONLY winning formula for a tablet would be a perfect marriage between the different input method AND the content that can be used on the device.

Whichever way you look at it, this is exactly what Apple did with the iPhone. The technology complements the software and viceversa.

Putting OS X on a macbook air without a keyboard will not cut it. The content AND the OS need to be adapted to the technology to make this work. And that for me is the reasoning why we would not see full OS X on a tablet, but a scaled down version, or if you will a scaled up version of iPhone OS.

Agreed - logistically speaking, simplicity and ease of use would be the key selling points for a newly designed tablet, and an evolution of the iPhone OS X (scaled up version) would sensibly fit the bill.

With a larger battery and the likelihood of multi-core processors, the GUI would be poised to be developed radically, as multi-tasking would no longer be as much of an issue.

Dragon's voice dictation app seems to already have made substantial strides in voice recognition for text input, and I imagine that this would be further implemented toward voice navigation, as well.

2010 seems to be promising.

 

[DMann]

Pigs don't sweat. That's why they roll around in the mud.

Quite true, however, cross breeds, of the likes of Steve Ballmer seem to, seem to define the exception.

 

[Bafflefish]

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.

Netbooks have failed to attract the masses? Sales figures seem to say otherwise, lol.

Now if the netbook market has failed because Apple hasn't entered it, well, there are probably thousands of posts concerning that topic, so yeah, for another thread.

 

[TMay]

actually, Apple needs a sacrificial sheep

Well, Apple missed making a splash.

"Apple is rumored to be bringing a tablet of roughly the same size to market later in 2010."

They should have already announced release for January 2010. How long have they been working on the device? Only 7+ years.

If you look at Apple's successes, Apple NEVER want to lead a nascent market. Apple prefer to let another entity suffer the bleeding edge and then come into the market with a finely tuned product. I would even argue that Apple is probably getting a bit twitchy waiting for this to happen.

If the Smartpad turns our to be a decent product, so much the better, but from my perspective, it's too thick, too heavy and NOT YET SHIPPING to be much of a threat.

I would add that the feature list is impressive, but integration is everything, and my expectations aren't high for the Smartpad. That would go for the ex-Michael Arrington device as well.

 

[125037]

Quite true, however, cross breeds, of the likes of Steve Ballmer seem to, seem to define the exception.

Haha. I'm usually not literal or a smart*ss, however, I just had to say it.

 

[Bafflefish]

You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

Touchscreen phones didn't take off until Apple made one.

MP3 players didn't take off until Apple made one.

Pretty much, Apple shows others "how it's done", then they follow suit.

Nothing has even began with tablets. How many people have YOU seen walking around with those devices that you mentioned. Not many, I bet.

Touchscreen phones were becoming more and more popular. It's simply that the iPhone brought a whole new level of public attention to them. So in that regard, the iPhone did help to drive the market.

MP3 players were popular long before Apple released the iPod. Not sure where you're coming up with that.

I don't think it's necessarily a case that Apple shows "how its done", but rather they carefully see what's slowly trending towards higher popularity, and improve upon it, and it becomes popular (partly due to the fact it's an Apple product). Don't get me wrong, Apple does do an excellent job with many of its products, but reading these forums would make someone think that Apple makes no mistakes and that every Apple product is wildly successful in its market (AppleTV anyone?)

And regarding the issue with a Tablet, you kinda made KnightWRX's point for him. How many people have you seen with a tablet? I've seen one. Generally you're paying a lot more for considerably lower performing hardware, because so much of the cost is associated with the screen. Thus, you either have to have a lower-performance system, to try and cut costs wherever possible, or otherwise price it fairly high and thus it becomes a niche product (basically it'll be the Mac Book Air all over again, only to a greater extent). Given Apple's lust with high profit margins, it's very unlikely you'd see them release anything but a mediocre-performance tablet, probably something like an iPhone with a large screen. If that were to happen, a netbook will sadly still be more desirable.

No, Knight's point is that Apple usually has entered into markets that were already popular or that are becoming popular (MP3 players and "smart phones"), they improve upon existing ideas and release their own product to much fanfare. Since the tablet computing market is fairly underwhelming at the moment, why would Apple enter it? Part of the reason why the iPod became successful was because it took an already popular concept, and made it easier for people to use (via the combination of the iPod and iTunes). With smartphones, which were also becoming popular, Apple once again improved upon existing designs in a market that was growing, and released what was, at the time, essentially a superior product. But the tablet PC market is neither wildly successful nor quickly growing in popularity.

Now with the netbook market, Apple could make a splash. But as has been mentioned numerous times previously, it's a market Apple has no desire to enter.

 

[Bafflefish]

Then why doesn't Amazon release their sales figures? If they're selling like crazy, then why hide this? Makes absolutely no sense at all.

It's funny, Amazon will do press releases talking about record sales for the Kindle, but yet they never actually reveal what those record sales numbers were, or how many Kindles total have been sold.

I've seen several people with Kindles now, but I'd be curious to see just how many have actually been sold.

 

[125037]

I've seen several people with Kindles now

I've never seen anyone with a Kindle.

 

[cmaier]

I've never seen anyone with a Kindle.

I've seen them on airplanes. One would only expect to see them places where people read - it's not like people are going to be carrying them around on the street to read while walking.

 

[La Porta]

1024x600 is a bit ridiculous. There is no reason that it shouldn't be standard 1024x768. Reminds me of old PowerBooks that had a fake "full screen" display of 640x400. This thing will either hack off the bottom of pictures or have to display them not full screen.