Has the apple slate been seen in the wild. Yes there are two videos showing the device. Both are from sources outside the states.
One video shows an individual interact with the unit (basic stuff nothing advanced seen in the video except for the design. it looks like there are three ports at the top which I suspect are for motion gestures since they do not fit the typical design apple has for cameras. The function was not displayed on the video but that is the only functionality that makes sense. also there is no center button. Is that to protect its identity similar to what detroit does with its cars or will it not have the center button? you can not see any apple icons on the display screen which I suspect is also an identity protection that apple has employed. The design is very slim and it is is 10 inches based on visual hand measurement from the video and how the individual holds the device. There is also a point when the individual interacts with a newspaper article but it was not like your typical web page it reminded me of harry porter with the interactive components in the column). There is also gyroscope function in the device. The video is short but it is very good quality. Unsure how they were able to film the device without anyone knowing.
The second video shows a guy holding the device and what looks like to be writing without a stylus. hard to tell how the writing comes out since the video is very shaky. looks like the individual has the hidden camera in a pocket. The person holding the slate writes twice on the device. the second time the person writes on the screen it looks like the person hit an icon and it placed the writing in typed form since the image on the screen did not look like written text.
The first video was done around august and released on the net in december 2009. The second video, I can not say when that was done. The typing functionality was not displayed in either video. The screen was definitely led but not oled. You can still see the flickering on the screen when the individual was playing on the capacitive screen. The demo unit had the same flickering screen problem that plagued the 2008 macbook unibodies screen. The os was definitely not OS X. It looked more like the iphone platform with some differences. There is cover flow functionality displayed in both videos. For the individuals that do not believe that the videos do not show the upcoming apple device, you will see fairly soon if the device matches the device in the videos. I did not make the videos nor do I know anyone involved with making the videos so do not ask how I know.
Do not ask me for the videos or their links. Google will help you find the videos. Both videos where definitely done in the UK but for some reason the first video is displayed on a french site.
That being said, device will probably have some functions that have wow factor but will it be a game changer. Probably not. Apple has made game changers. Iphone, os X, unibody MBP, and multitouch trackpad. This device however would go into the niche category. Just like the MB air, when you first see the device you will say that is nice. But just like the MB air, when you step back and actual think about the functionality, you will see that this device is just a cool gadget that will not provide you with more function that you already have. There will be those individuals that will defined the MB air like they will defend this device. But looking at it closely compare the macbook air to the regular macbook pro. They are both the same size/dimension. So for extra cost and the lose of one usb port and other ports and the superdrive, you get a skinnier/lighter laptop. Now if that 1-2 pounds is really that heavy for you then get the macbook air. if you need to mail your laptop to someone then get the macbook air. For the great majority of people if you are going to carry around the same size device then most people will ask for the macbook pro. Thus the reason for the poor sales of the macbook air. Now lets look at the apple slate. So you already carry around a iphone. So what will the slate do for you if it does not have the functions of a full fledge laptop/desktop os. Will you be able to connect it to a scanner, will be able to make pdf docs, will you be able to use adobe suite, can you use virtual box for windows, will you be able to do business software, etc.. The answer is probably not. the device is a more powerful iphone. It can provide enhanced iphone capability but the iphone can not do what a macbook, mac mini, imac, or mac pro can do. So why would anyone carry a device, that is an enhanced device that you already carry. The device is not small so that you can put it on a belt clip of in your pocket. so if you are going to carry the device there needs to be a reason for you to carry this device versus a macbook pro that is only a tad larger. Currently there is no good reason to pick this device versus the macbook pro. Not even the longer battery life. If you are going to carry something, then you are going to carry something that offers you the best functionality to weight ratio. Just like the macbook air lost the battle to macbook pro, this slate will loss the battle to the macbook pro (but there will still some devices sold). The fact that it has wireless/hspda connectivity will not help. You can tether your phone to your laptop so even that point is worthless.
One more heads up verizon will get the iphone with a smaller screen. Why you ask, because it will help those that have an iphone but have at&t it removes one reason not to get the slate with data plan from a different company that provides cellular coverage. The slate will be pushed on verizon since it has more coverage and more bandwidth unlike at&t who is struggling to keep up with the bandwidth that iphone users consume. The iphone porting also sweetens the deal for verizon to come to apples terms on subsidizing the slates sold to people that get the data plan. The iphone coming to verizon will hurt two companies at&t and nokia. First, there will be a switchers to verizon so that they can get the slate at a subsidized price and then there will be switchers that will move to verizon once they get the iphone since they really never cared for at&t service. Nokia will be hurt since it has started to go back in the cd ma phone business and it also has a good share of cd ma in india/asia which it will lose once qualcomm finally puts out its dual universal chipset. So if you are into stocks verizon might not be bad since by the middle of this year it might be above 40 or even higher where as right now it is in the 30s.
