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Report Claims Tablet is 'iPhone on Steroids', Runs on iPhone OS Kernel

Evangelion said:
Um, what exactly were you expecting? A device that runs Mac OS X? It has been more or less established by now that the tablet will NOT run Mac OS X.

Even if it's "just" iPhone on steroids it could still be a replacement for a laptop (although why would Apple design a product that would be more or less equivalent to their more expensive product-lines? Since this device will cost less than a MacBook, it's logical that it will also have less capabilities). Bigger screen and more powerful CPU means that it could run apps iPhone can not.
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Not much one can do with the form factor, if the main part of the device is a 10 inch screen.
So basically a MacBookAir Screen upside down, edges rounded and voila a larger iphone.

This will be a niche product and just not for everybody.

Can't wait to see all the complaints about what it can't do.

It's the OS that will define it's success.

My slogan:

An Apple tablet a day will keep Microsoft away!
 
ThunderSkunk said:
100%. In fact, if Apple does release one locked down with a useless iphone OS, I'll personally start the pot with a $5,000 donation to fund any hacker group that can get OS X running on it.
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Wouldn't it be easier to Hackintosh the HP device, if that's what you want?

Just a thought.
 
iPhone OS kernel

It sounds weird, if this guy saw the device, and says it runs on iPhone OS, this is the only point in common with what we currently know, does this mean the user interface is very different that he cannot refer to it without going to the base point of comparison ?

More thoughts on my blog:).
 
Anyone hoping for OS X on this thing hasn't thought it through at all - Apple makes millions through the AppStore - why throw that revenue stream away? The average Joe on the street isn't going to care about what OS this thing has, just about the flashy things you can do with it.

If you want OS X so badly, you will probably be able to use a remote desktop app (iPhone already has plenty) to connect to your Mac.
 
ThunderSkunk said:
100%. In fact, if Apple does release one locked down with a useless iphone OS, I'll personally start the pot with a $5,000 donation to fund any hacker group that can get OS X running on it.
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Steve will have Bono and Al Gore dispose of you... in an environmentally friendly way of course.
 
If the tablet is going to be running an incredibly fast arm cortex processor e.g: over 2.0ghz then that could be considered overkill. That is assuming they are talking about cortex a9.
 
Sounds like making of yet another Macbook Air like product to me - from a utility perspective.

It will be shiny, it will be well designed but most people will not buy it because it will lack a real keyboard, will not run regular OSX apps, will be costlier than a netbook, require a data plan etc.

I just can't seem to be able to come up with a credible use case for this device - Laptop/Netbook replacement - no as it doesn't have a keyboard and you can't put it on your lap and type, iPhone replacement - wouldn't I buy a iPod touch, why would I pay for yet another data plan etc.

OTOH if it comes with a free-for-life data plan like the Kindle people will go after it like crazy. But I am not optimistic about it - carriers won't be too happy about it and if at all it happens there would be crippling restrictions.

So. Meh. Unless Apple thought of something we can't - and that is clearly possible.
 
jfmartin said:
It sounds weird, if this guy saw the device, and says it runs on iPhone OS, this is the only point in common with what we currently know, does this mean the user interface is very different that he cannot refer to it without going to the base point of comparison ?

More thoughts on my blog:).
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I think it is a given that the UI will be different, we don't need full screen weather apps.
 
Evangelion said:
I think that the tablet will primarily be a "consumption-device", but I think that it will be way better at creating content than iPhone is. But if you expect that it will match a MacBook when it comes to ability to create stuff, you will be disappointed. Hell, netbooks are not as good at creating stuff as regural notebooks are, why would a slate be?
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I know this is getting old but it's a Super iPod Touch with a dash of Apple TV?
 
paradox00 said:
Just download one of the many screen sharing applications already on the App store and access your more powerful mac from anywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple provided a more elegant solution too. I'll take my $5000 in cash thank you.
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Hahaha, that'd be wild. I wonder how far and thin I could stretch my drawing experience...

From... Tablet -> - running VNC -> through a tethered -> Jailbroken iPhone -> all those internet protocol services -> Mac Pro back at the office -> running the Hacked (only way it works) Autodesk Inventor (2GB program) -> on a Timecode-Hacked (again only way...) XP Pro -> VMWare Fusion.

My brain hurts.

I think I'll try it on my iPhone. :)
 
cppguy said:
At the minimum I need a wacom-like stylus, and a note taking app similar to MS OneNote for sketching. A tablet is only interesting to me if it completely replaces paper in my life.

Either way, I seriously doubt the Apple tablet will be able to run Photoshop. It doesn't look like I can retire my Fujitsu tablet PC anytime soon.
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I totaly agree! Replacing pen and paper would be the main aspect of a slate tablet pc. OneNote is actually realy nice, used it for years on my HP TC1100, a comparable programm on a Apple Tablet, 5-7 hr battery live and it would be THE device.

No paper! Its the 21st century :)
 
WeegieMac said:
I would still have preferred to see the tablet running a full version of Mac OS X, rather than the iPhone OS.

Not everyone wants "a giant iPhone", and the iPhone itself already does everything it sets out to do very well.
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Makes no sense for Apple at all. If the device runs Mac OS X, then most sales only serve to cannibalize a sale of an Apple laptop or desktop since it just another Mac and certainly not a mass market new MID/eReader/happy endings machine.

Running the iPhone OS or a derivative of it, now you have a mass market device that you can sell to Windows users. They already have an iPod or iPhone and wouldn't think twice about a new Apple gadget. I'd market it under the iPod brand---iPod slate.

Oh yeah, this new gadget also runs all the apps from the app store and will spur development of new apps and new developers. [/Marketing 101]


ThunderSkunk said:
100%. In fact, if Apple does release one locked down with a useless iphone OS, I'll personally start the pot with a $5,000 donation to fund any hacker group that can get OS X running on it.
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Never happen.
 
tiguk said:
Wouldn't it be easier to Hackintosh the HP device, if that's what you want?

Just a thought.
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Could, if drivers ever became available for all the components. I tried it with a Motion Computing slate, and through any install, parts of it were always left non-functional. One guy made headlines when he did it on the very nice LE1700 a couple years ago, but it took him a ton of time coding and when he got it, he took his ball and went home and didn't share it with anyone.

A proper Apple device, running the proper Apple OS, getting to use the software we all know and love, Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoslop, Corel, CaptureOne, etc, etc... would be ideal. If Apple makes the hardware, and makes the software, but won't put them together, I'll gladly pay someone to do it. ...And not Axiotron, for gods sake. Three years of working on that friggin prototype, and still nothing to show.
 
kdarling said:
Seriously, sounds like one reason why rumors say it's got a steep learning curve. Remember the Courier concept videos? Powerful gestures, but a lot to learn.
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*Goes off to watch Microsoft Courier concept videos...*

Wow... the UI looks beautiful but it is incredibly complicated. The same pinch gesture seems to be used for several unrelated tasks. It would be a serious case of having to read the manual.

I can't see Apple doing it like that. One of their most important traits is their tendency to make the UI discoverable - things work in an intuitive way that whenever possible mimics the physics of real life. So in the iPhone, for example, the pinch gesture zooms in a way that feels like you are stretching/squashing the image; swiping moves what is under your finger (with naturalistic momentum, inertia and bounce). Even the more complicated examples, such as cut-copy-paste are carefully thought out to be as self-explanatory as possible, without having to hunt through menus.

The Courier looks like they have copied all the eye-candy but missed out why it was there in the first place.
 
colmaclean said:
Anyone hoping for OS X on this thing hasn't thought it through at all - Apple makes millions through the AppStore - why throw that revenue stream away? The average Joe on the street isn't going to care about what OS this thing has, just about the flashy things you can do with it.

If you want OS X so badly, you will probably be able to use a remote desktop app (iPhone already has plenty) to connect to your Mac.
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I've thought it through a lot. The idea that Apple would lose all this revenue from being able to sideload apps is ridiculous. 95% of the customers would stay within the App Store. The other 5% , like myself, would still be using the App Store more than half the time. This about having some measure of openness and choice.

As for all the remarks about Mac OSX on a tablet, that's really not what the people were asking for. Mac OSX should have been redesigned to take adavntage of the touchscreen. Yes it would be a large undertaking but so was this tablet. This thing has been rumored for a decade.

As it is, this thing is a "toy". It replaces nothing.
 
kironin said:
Well then it's definitely not a replacement for a basic Macbook. It's a toy. A 3rd device, not a phone, and not a computer. Not interested.
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I concur. All interest has been lost. :( The lack of a full fledged OS was the killer. :/
 
apple with new device on arm cortex a8, while Qualcom is talking about arm cortex a9 @ 1.3Ghz, Nvidia released a dual core a9 and marvell is talking about a quad-core a9. That doesn't sound real for me.

PS: Only possible if they are slowly developing the ship at PA Semi, which would be a step back to give 2 spets foward... but PA Semi has never developed GPU.
 
Anyone surprised by any of this hasn't been paying attention to the rumor mill (or, perhaps, to common sense, especially with regard to the OS choice).

Anyone who thinks this is all there is to the story hasn't been paying attention to Apple for the last decade.

parapup said:
So. Meh. Unless Apple thought of something we can't - and that is clearly possible.
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And that is the crux. What secret sauce did Apple put into the package to elevate it beyond a bathroom web-surfing machine? Given how long Jobs has held this product back, we can reasonably suspect that they have finally figured something out that we haven't. The "on steroids" comment could include an awful lot of stuff that we're not imagining right now, and wondering what this might be is the fascinating part of this whole thing. If it really is just a big iPod Touch then I agree it will likely not be a big success, but I don't expect that to be the case.

Still, I think Gruber nailed it when he said (approximately) that the tablet will do less than we expect, but what it does it will do insanely well.
 
Eidorian said:
I know this is getting old but it's a Super iPod Touch with a dash of Apple TV?
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All it means is that it's running the ARM/iPhone version of OS X.

It doesn't necessarily mean that it uses the iPhone shell with a black screen full of of tiny icons. Nor the full Mac OS X desktop with no adaptation.
They must have designed an interface that makes sense on that screen size.

Better have a fast ARM processor with a super low power consumption: it stays cool and runs longer. The graphics engine can also be used as an OpenCL coprocessor. Worth adapting the right apps.
 
How is it that people NEVER learn from the past....ugh

Everyone who says that this will just be "a large iPhone" remind me exactly of the same people who said that the iPhone was just going to be an iPod with an earpiece and number pad.

You guys always run through this same cycle before an Apple announcement, and just never seem to learn to just WAIT until Apple announces the thing before making complete assumptions about something VERY FEW people actually know about.
 
Ultranote said:
All it means is that it's running the ARM/iPhone version of OS X.

It doesn't necessarily mean that it uses the iPhone shell with a black screen full of of tiny icons. Nor the full Mac OS X desktop with no adaptation.
They must have designed an interface that makes sense on that screen size.

Better have a fast ARM processor with a super low power consumption: it stays cool and runs longer. The graphics engine can also be used as an OpenCL coprocessor. Worth adapting the right apps.
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In my opinion, Apple will ONLY release a vastly modified version of OS X if it's a totally new and breakthrough performance; otherwise it's just not wise to repeat the same mistakes of the mid-90s and launch a whole bunch of different products with their different lines of production and support needs...

The tablet will EITHER have OS X or iPhone OS with a different UI...no distinct kernel or APIs.
 
neilw said:
What secret sauce did Apple put into the package to elevate it beyond a bathroom web-surfing machine?
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The ultimate question. :D

I'm still hoping there will be SOMETHING that will help change my mind when it's released. But so far, it looks like another semi-useful toy.
 
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