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I think the most salient comment in the whole article was the "Customers don't know what they want." That really rings true and it kind of defines true innovation. I just wonder how many of the naysayers who lambasted the idea of the iPod when it first came out now own one.

Agreed on the saliency.

And as far as naysayers now using iPods - nearly every... single... one of 'em.
Tho I bet there's one stubborn SOB that proudly uses their Walkman.

People are funny.
 
Innovative Approaches to the Tablet

I would love to see something innovative from Apple in the tablet market as I believe people secretly want the touch screen functionality but it just hasn't been implemented correctly as of yet. I'd love to see something such as a 12" MacBook Pro with a fully detachable screen. It could communicate with the other half via some kind of High Speed Wireless technology (WUSB for example). :)

I have seen the swivel screen tablet/notebook hybrids at work but they are far too chunky, ugly and impractical. I think a detachable (LED?) screen is a slightly more natural progression from the existing computer setups we have used for so long. It would be extremely lightweight and far more effective as something you can hold in your hands.

You could use the MacBook for word processing and then simply whip off the screen, place the base back in to the laptop bag and do a bit of drawing/design work directly on the screen. Especially with that Multi-Point technology listed in Apples patent filings.

You could go further by integrating a Flash Drive into the screen for buffering/temporary storage that could sync with the base wirelessly or when you reconnect the screen and the base together.

There are a few fresh angles to approach the tablet computer and Apple could turn the currently niche market into something very exciting. It doesn't mean it's going to happen though unfortunately. :(
 
I would love to see something innovative from Apple in the tablet market as I believe people secretly want the touch screen functionality but it just hasn't been implemented correctly as of yet. I'd love to see something such as a 12" MacBook Pro with a fully detachable screen. It could communicate with the other half via some kind of High Speed Wireless technology (WUSB for example). :)

I have seen the swivel screen tablet/notebook hybrids at work but they are far too chunky, ugly and impractical. I think a detachable (LED?) screen is a slightly more natural progression from the existing computer setups we have used for so long. It would be extremely lightweight and far more effective as something you can hold in your hands.

You could use the MacBook for word processing and then simply whip off the screen, place the base back in to the laptop bag and do a bit of drawing/design work directly on the screen. Especially with that Multi-Point technology listed in Apples patent filings.

You could go further by integrating a Flash Drive into the screen for buffering/temporary storage that could sync with the base wirelessly or when you reconnect the screen and the base together.

There are a few fresh angles to approach the tablet computer and Apple could turn the currently niche market into something very exciting. It doesn't mean it's going to happen though unfortunately. :(


Interesting but then you would need battery power for your monitor when it detached which would make it thicker and most people wouldn't like that. Maybe they would I don't know, but communication w/ the other half and power consumption is an issue if they could do that.
 
Interesting but then you would need battery power for your monitor when it detached which would make it thicker and most people wouldn't like that. Maybe they would I don't know, but communication w/ the other half and power consumption is an issue if they could do that.

There definately would be huge issues but Apples engineering team can perform magic now and again. ;) - It all boils down to me loving the idea of a touch screen but never seeing it implemented correctly. It's a major major issue. The Video iPod (or MacPhone) will probably kick start it off in the Mac sector though.

I imagine the detachable screen as a huge 12" iPod Nano. Im sure you could get it as thin as the Nano with some clever file syncing and power recharging when connected to the MacBook Base.
 
I imagine the detachable screen as a huge 12" iPod Nano. Im sure you could get it as thin as the Nano with some clever file syncing and power recharging when connected to the MacBook Base.
My take on it is similar to yours except I take it a step further. Put the battery and everything else behind the display like a Mini iMac (or Macro iPod) w/battery, so the lower part of the "case" is essentially just a keyboard. touch sensitivity could be an option, but not necessary.

Use the KB if you want to or use a remote for media applications.

B
 
My take on it is similar to yours except I take it a step further. Put the battery and everything else behind the display like a Mini iMac (or Macro iPod) w/battery, so the lower part of the "case" is essentially just a keyboard. touch sensitivity could be an option, but not necessary.

Use the KB if you want to or use a remote for media applications.

B


Why bother with a kybd at all when Leopard has had rumors of a dock-resident keyboard? Tap lower left corner, tap "keyboard lock" softkey, type away.:D
 
what a great article. the writer really presented a clever approach and has a great way of bringing it all together.
 
You hit it on the head

Tablets will always remain a niche computer that no one ever really wants. Yea, it's neat to be able to take with with you and such, but when you realize that they are usually crippled compared to a portable that could be much, much thinner and lighter, then what's the point?

I, like a poster above, am holding off on deciding what smartphone I want until I see what Apple releases next week. Granted, if the "iPhone" doesn't have Wi-Fi built in, I won't be getting it as the Windows Mobile Treo that Cingular is going to start selling does.

I am one of those weird people that would like one ...... so long as it is not crippled!!!
It has to have the power of a MacBook Pro or what ever else there is at the time.

As to phone.... I want something like a PDA not just a normal phone. Key for me will be full integration with my mac.
 
I always feel its a bad idea to enter a crowded mobile phone market. lets wait and see if market will embrace or ditch apple's mobile phone, after all, buyers now want more functions in their phones, not just great design.

I'm still looking for a phone that doesn't take pictures of the inside of my pocket. I went for a flip phone so i wouldn't have to remember to lock my keypad. Now there are keys on the side that won't lock.

I for one would like a cell phone without frill. Or at least one that's annoyance-free.
 
Well, Steve got the Tablet right - its still niche market today.

Blackberry - well, they are more popular today than in 2002 - but its not the blackberry itself, its the *messaging*. Any smartphone ( Symbian etc ) can do anything that the BB can do - its nothing special. Any iPhone should have excellent messaging abilities - but that messaging ( text, graphics, video ) will have to be compatible with existing phones - otherwise there's not much point ( a lot of phones now have BB compatibility such as SE Pxxx range and Nokia's E-Series ). That messaging already exists - SMS, MMS ( MMS - which has still yet to become popular ) so its all about the applications and phone interface. Sleek design with sleek applications.

Good integration with Macs - Syncing and good range of built in apps. Of course, Music too. Most importantly, ease of use.

Any iPhone should have a good SDK to encourage third party developers. You get a good development base, your on to a winner.

THERE WONT BE ANY IPHONE (yet)
 
I would love to see something innovative from Apple in the tablet market as I believe people secretly want the touch screen functionality but it just hasn't been implemented correctly as of yet. I'd love to see something such as a 12" MacBook Pro with a fully detachable screen. It could communicate with the other half via some kind of High Speed Wireless technology (WUSB for example). :)

I have seen the swivel screen tablet/notebook hybrids at work but they are far too chunky, ugly and impractical. I think a detachable (LED?) screen is a slightly more natural progression from the existing computer setups we have used for so long. It would be extremely lightweight and far more effective as something you can hold in your hands.

You could use the MacBook for word processing and then simply whip off the screen, place the base back in to the laptop bag and do a bit of drawing/design work directly on the screen. Especially with that Multi-Point technology listed in Apples patent filings.

You could go further by integrating a Flash Drive into the screen for buffering/temporary storage that could sync with the base wirelessly or when you reconnect the screen and the base together.

There are a few fresh angles to approach the tablet computer and Apple could turn the currently niche market into something very exciting. It doesn't mean it's going to happen though unfortunately. :(

You've got a really interesting idea with the detacheable tablet. Why not take it one step further? A tablet without the base.

It doesn't need to be a full computer. A simple processor, and ipod-size harddrive with no music support. Wireless and optional built in GPS.

It could communicate to a computer through WiFi for syncing or getting live data.

You could read the newspaper or an ebook, have slightly better support for entering info than a palm pilot. But not compete with a computer. That could be a drastically lower price-point. And it wouldn't be the same market that palm's live in.

How about connecting to a projector for doing presentations? GPS for GIS applications. Medical applications could stream live data.

Most of all it could be light <2lbs, and inexpensive compared to a laptop.
 
Hi,

People are STILL wanting a friggen tablet? Are you serious?

Its a niche market, thats all I can see it as, ever being.

Are people STILL NOT GETTING IT? Graphic Artists DRAW. They DRAW. Right now, they draw ON PAPER. A Tablet Mac would be a GODSEND for almost every professional artist I know of.

I could care less about the medical industry, about the business sector, about people who only use the computer to lookit teh googles. I want a Mac I can DRAW ON.

-Chilton
 
your telling me that a tablet PC is going to be anything but a stupid niche?


Try to use one as you would your own desktop or even a laptop.

you cant, the logistics for everyday use is just not there.

Put a tablet in your backpack after class, it gets scratched to hell from other things inside there, a normal laptop has a lid.

Hold a tablet and try to write something, as you would a clipboard, most people use their lap and not hold it up in one arm.

maybe my perception of a tablet is different from what could possibly be designed, but a floating screen that is touch sensitive just doesnt seem feasible or useful for the masses.

the question is really, WHY do you need a tablet?

I fail to find any real need, unless they become so indestructible and weightless and cheap that youd be stupid not to own one.

i never thought MP3 players were a niche market, the WalkMan invented the portable music market decades ago, MP3 is a progression of formats. A tablet is a form factor change only, one I doubt will ever take off on the levels of replacing laptops.
Have you ever tried working a physics problem out on a computer?

Drawing a simple diagram of a see-saw?

Those are impossible to do and the idea of a tablet is to allow for the final plunge of work into the virtual world. PDA and smaller laptops have allowed almost all forms of information to be stored, processed, moved, and used very easily and efficiently everywhere virtually. Except if you want to hand write, which helps for taking notes and making diagrams. I'm this close to going all virtual at college. All my books are in searchable PDF. All my notes record the lecture audio wise with text. The only thing I am missing is a way to get diagrams in on the fun.

Here is a simple one.... signatures on a computer.

Correcting a paper. Kinda hard and arduous now... but a lot quicker using a tablet. The only problem before was lack of multi-touch that made a keyboard amust. Yet, with multi-touch you can now have a dynamic on screen keyboard a la Origami that means you could have a slate tablet that never fails.


And to the guy that says a slate tablet would scratch up in a school bag. I put my laptop even though it has a lid in a case cause its fragile. You think I would do anyless for a tablet? And if its in a case its not goin scratch.
 
I'm willing to bet that Apple, in it's shortsightedness, will probably, without even having to, release the iPhone initially in the US only - despite the fact that Europe and E Asia are infinitely larger phone markets, with an audience much more fine tuned to the cutting edge of the market.

No phone manufacturer in their right minds releases a handset in the US first - it's usually the EU and Japan/Taiwan first, then China, then the US.

But Apple's not a phone manager, and stubbornly lives in the world of 18th Century trade where they assume you've always got to ship to the US first, because it takes so long for those damn galleys to cross the atlantic!
 
I agree that a tablet would not work for Apple

I had a top-of-the-line Toshiba tablet not long ago for work and I was not impressed. Only really worked for specific tasks and the rest of the time it was annoying to use vs. a standard notebook. Even the convertible ones seemed to be a compromise. So it does not surprise me that Apple is steering clear of this market....
 
as for the Graphic Artists ...

Are people STILL NOT GETTING IT? Graphic Artists DRAW. They DRAW. Right now, they draw ON PAPER.

....

I want a Mac I can DRAW ON.

They're not portable (for normal definitions of "portable) and are accessories to your Mac/PC, but Wacom does do some serious graphics tablets...

As much as I'd like to replace the spiral bound notebook on my desk with a digital tablet, the tech does seem a bit awkward (from playing with PDAs and PC tablets). Apple could change that; but I'm guessing it'd then cost too much.

My guess is we may see a touchscreen device of sorts - at least as a glorified remote and at most a PDA but no way near a tablet PC.
 
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