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the iWalk that would not die...

SJ/Apple may be annoying ...

... but they are not mind-numbingly stupid ... they have a pretty good grasp of parts of the market and they are trying to hit a moving target ... sometimes they miss ...

As others have pointed out, ubiquitous and mobile access - to the Internet, to one's desktop/digital hub, etc. - are a huge trend in this industry. To remain competitive, Apple needs to move in this direction. PDAs are not the only way to go ... they were a few years ago, then that niche fell victim to its own success and stagnation set in.

It is this stagnation that Steve Jobs rejected with his oft-quoted "no PDAs" comment ...

Timothy is correct about the detriment to Apple should Apple be ignoring this trend. I don't think they are. OK, I desperately hope they aren't. If Apple hasn't released a product aligned with this trend, it's because it isn't ready for prime time yet. And, to be fair, they've had other things to work on and - all in all - I'm pretty happy with the results ... Apple is achieving considerable technological goals on a relatively regular schedule and they're doing it in a fiscally responsible manner. Releasing a product before it's ready is something with which Apple has had some experience (fortunately, not recently), so I don't begrudge them a little time ...

So, when something is eventually released, it will just work. It likely will distinguish itself from the current PDA niche is some marketable fashion, but it will probably "walk like a PDA and quack like a PDA". The most popular themes, for such a product, I've seen are:

1. Standalone tablet device - touch-sensitive LCD
2. Detachable tablet device that also "docks" with a more stationary Mac at home/office to become a display (how many of us use a display when we're away from our Macs?) and auto-syncs files with the stationary Mac
3. OQO-like device with a smaller display that docks with a home/office Mac and uses its display
4. Tablet device - standalone or detachable - that is not touch-sensitive, but uses an Apple stylus that is similar to an Anoto pen for Inkwell/Wacom-style input onto paper that is mirrored to the tablet for archiving and interactivity

All of these are described as using 802.11, Firewire, Bluetooth, Inkwell, and - of course - OS X ... some include ways to interoperate - to some degree to attract their users - with the Windows world ...

For all I know, maybe Apple plans to meet this trend with a line of OS X-powered clothing ... a G5 belt, with polymer batteries in your shoes, Airport-compatible antenna threads interwoven in shirts, a ring that mimics a 3D glove/mouse/chord keyboard, and a high resolution, no-flicker pair of LCD Ray-Bans ...

Whatever they eventually release - and they *will* release something - it will be easy to claim it's not a PDA ... PDAs are so 1990s anyway ...

Now, given all that ... Apple, would you please, pretty please let us know that you are, at least, working on such a product? I really, really need a couple of them ASAP to support my family's daily lives ... it's hard to continue to resist other ubiquitous and mobile devices when you are so silent about this ...
 
the point

Marv,

I think everyone but Eye agrees with you. I was trying to say not to believe everything Apple says, AudiA4 made it much better,

I think the Apple brand should be out there as long as the products are on message, or a Steve says, "true to themselves" and not the return of that Performa crap.
 
Kansaigaijin,

Are you in Japan or is that just your handle? Just curious.

On another note, I'd like to make the distinction that I was referrring to the Mac OS whereas everyone else is speaking of Apple creating a PDA product. I think is was in poor judgement for Apple not to consider the OQO device as another way to market the Mac OS. Whether device sells or not Apple would have gained another platform. As it stands now, MS just got one more product they can point to and say EVERYONE USES WINDOWS.

So unless Apple has plans for making a similar device of thier own, the decision was stupid.

Tired of beating this dead horse so I'll leave this thread alone for now.
 
If Apple is going to release anything like that it will be a cell phone or a net/phone iApp www.iphone.org still points to www.apple.com Steve did say alot that their will be no PDA BUT!!
he also said at Macworld SF that today was the death of the CRT
and they released the eMac?? I hate to say it but you can't rely on what Steve says.
 
Why the OQO will sell.

The OQO (if they *really* are going to manufacture it) will be a killer system.

Think about it: 1 GHz in the Palm of your hand, with a colour screen and more inputs and outputs then you can shake a stick at.

From mounting a couple to a wall as webservers to a video iPod... At around $1000, this machine is going to be hot.

Mac OS or not, iWalk or not, OQO is a winner. Go for it OQO!
 
Yes I am in Japan

no I don't think it is a good idea to launch product only to have them fail.

since someone asked I will use another Japanese co for an example: Honda returned to formula 1 and is not doing too well. apparently they would rather show reliability than power and speed. They don't want people seeing their engines blow up on TV.

Cubes are nice and they are holding their value here in Japan but most non-Mac lovers think of them as a big flop, not the very cool thing they are. My mother in-law wants a computer, must be a laptop because the house is just too small.

OQO? flash in the pan
 
Imagine that device running OSX Jaguar! With Rendezvous and Airport it would be recognized by your network (or others). With Ink you would not need a keyboard. With iChat you would be in touch. All the abilities of iBook and iPod, plus Blackberry and Palm to an order of magnitude!

I can see it!!

Eye cannot!!
 
built in zoom in Jag

come on thats a dead giveaway..a pda(or what ever you choose to call it) would benefit greatly from this feature. ITS A NO BRAINER..
Slugger
 
pointing to the eMac as a sign that the CRT is in fact, not dead, is a little misleading.

i'm don't think Steve-o was being quite so black and white on the matter. he didn't say "we will never, ever, produce another CRT". what he likely meant was that the CRT no longer factored into apple's display plan. and it would likely still be that way had everyone not collectively jizzed over the release of the much bally-hooed eMac (as hideous as that thing is). suffice to say that it was unlikely they intended to offer it to the public originally...and probably did so because of the positive response from people. even the little note on their website is almost appologetic "i'm sorry, but now you can buy one...again, sorry."

is apple going to release a cellphone/pda/digitalcamera/model/actor ? i doubt it. will the release a PDA thing eventually? yeah. soon? nah. when they iron out the details of bluetooth, and it starts shipping as standard equipment in every machine - then you'll probably see them start working back into the direction of wireless devices. i don't think you'll ever see a cellphone from them though - not for a long while. companies can't just release zany products because a few people think it would be really cool. apple will also not release a blue-tooth enabled fridge (iFreeze) that syncs with your personal grocery assistant (iShop), and why? because they're not Willy Wonka's Computer Factory churning out dubious digital delights. if they're going to enter yet another consumer market, they're going to do it slowly, and they're going to it with a bit of glamour, a bit of sex, and a few advances thrown in.

they're not going to make the same mistakes twice (one would hope).
 
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