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What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet?
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Interesting thought, but IMHO:
The problem with running OS X (as we know it) on a tablet is the user interface. OS X is designed to be used with a keyboard and mouse - not the kind of gesture-based controls that you'd want on a flatscreen, touch-enabled device.
Have you tried playing with any of the new "multitouch-enabled" PCs by HP & other manufacturers? Or using Windows on a TabletPC? It's awkward to try and control the OS & apps with a finger, when they were designed for a mouse/keyboard point & click environment.
Now, this did get me thinking ... what if you could use the Tablet to remotely control a Mac on your network, using the existing "Share Screen" / VNC feature built into OS X? Say you've got an iMac upstairs, and you're downstairs on the couch watching TV but you want to update a spreadsheet for work - just open up the iMac screen on the tablet, edit the spreadsheet quickly, and go back to whatever it was you were doing.
While I wouldn't want to use the regular Aqua UI on a tablet constantly, having occasional remote access to it might be nice.
This device will offer a few things current iPhones and MacBooks do not and can not offer to make it compelling.
1. A new interface paradigm.
2. Broadband in the hand. Not mere internet. Broadband. Multi-homing, multi-channel.
3. Multi-media in the hand. Audio of course, video of course, and "one more thing".
4. Full iTunes client. Download, stream (
), BROADCAST.
5. VoIP, Cell.
6. Pop-up keyboard, BT keyboard, maybe even projected or film keyboard. Keyboards are still in our lives.
7. V 3.0 voice recognition, the first year of which you use to train the device, it checking back in to the server ala Genius, so when 4.0 comes out it will be multi-lingual, multi-tonal, and person specific learning. Wouldn't it be easier to train people?
8. Client-Server everywhere.
Rocketman
1. A new interface paradigm.
2. Broadband in the hand. Not mere internet. Broadband. Multi-homing, multi-channel.
3. Multi-media in the hand. Audio of course, video of course, and "one more thing".
4. Full iTunes client. Download, stream (
), BROADCAST.5. VoIP, Cell.
6. Pop-up keyboard, BT keyboard, maybe even projected or film keyboard. Keyboards are still in our lives.
7. V 3.0 voice recognition, the first year of which you use to train the device, it checking back in to the server ala Genius, so when 4.0 comes out it will be multi-lingual, multi-tonal, and person specific learning. Wouldn't it be easier to train people?
8. Client-Server everywhere.
Rocketman
Widely announced in the news media that on Christmas Day Amazon sold more ebooks than physical books. All those new Kindles given as presents needing content.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iHUNxepICS3CN-dOYnLc-DRnOimQ
Of course, they will sell a few million of their tablets, but it won't be another iPod or iPhone. The iPod was bold and visionary, but a bit of a lucky shot. The iPhone filled a gap that had long been identified as such but had been executed improperly before (a useable smartphone). Which gap would the tablet fill? Apparently the gap of the convenient secondary home reading / surfing / video device.
We've seen a lot of tablets that tried to replace notebooks as consumer reading / multimedia devices. They were all ignored for good reasons. Nobody yearned for such a device. Notebooks are "good enough" for most people and tablets limit your options too much. I don't see the budget for two costly devices that do the same thing. Currently, netbooks fills the void of that convenient second home device. However, they are successful because they're cheap. If a tablet wants to succeed in that area, it has to offer a substantial benefit.
Either they have a completely unexpected game-changing ace up their sleeve (something like: perfect speech recognition combined with a gesture-recognizing webcam) or it won't be a game-changing device.
I do not believe in this "ace".
We've seen a lot of tablets that tried to replace notebooks as consumer reading / multimedia devices. They were all ignored for good reasons. Nobody yearned for such a device. Notebooks are "good enough" for most people and tablets limit your options too much. I don't see the budget for two costly devices that do the same thing. Currently, netbooks fills the void of that convenient second home device. However, they are successful because they're cheap. If a tablet wants to succeed in that area, it has to offer a substantial benefit.
Either they have a completely unexpected game-changing ace up their sleeve (something like: perfect speech recognition combined with a gesture-recognizing webcam) or it won't be a game-changing device.
I do not believe in this "ace".
I am yet to understand the need/use of Apple tablet!
Usually, I am very excited about apple products but this time I am in fact worried for the "Tablet". I hope it's not just a bigger iphone!
I fully trust Steve Jobs vision and capability but as a techy person I really don't see a market for this tablet! I hope it does not end up just like "Macbook Air"!
Usually, I am very excited about apple products but this time I am in fact worried for the "Tablet". I hope it's not just a bigger iphone!
I fully trust Steve Jobs vision and capability but as a techy person I really don't see a market for this tablet! I hope it does not end up just like "Macbook Air"!
Don't get me wrong, I do not like netbooks myself, but a lot of people do and I can see why.
1. Netbooks are definitely fast enough for most tasks they are bought for (web surfing, emails, watching DivX videos, Skype). Yes, Flash is a bit of a laggy affair on them, but you can see how much people "need" Flash if you take into account they are buying iPhones and use them for web surfing.
2. HD is probably very low on the list for most netbook buyers. The screen is too small, you wouldn't see a difference anyway. Also, netbooks don't have built-in BluRay (and people know this when they're buying them) and HD on the web is just starting. No one buys a much more expensive device just to watch YOUTUBE videos in HD. The HD factor is still like 2-3 years down the road.
2a. You can already buy Ion-based netbooks that are well fit to play HD content. They don't play a major role though.The next Atom generation (due in a few weeks) is supposed to support HD acceleration, too. We'll have to see if they keep their promise.
3. True. We've seen attempts in that direction, but they all failed.
4. No it doesn't. Battery life compared to notebooks is awesome, that isn't just a recent development. Getting 7-8h out of a Samsung NC-10 is no big surprise. Don't expect a tablet to magically double or triple that battery life somehow, because the device would get too thick and heavy (i.e. unsexy).
5. Many of the first netbooks had crappy keyboards. Have you typed on the recent Samsung netbooks? Nice keyboards! Resolution will obviously not be substantially higher on a tablet, so I don't know why you bring this up. The one big advantage that remains in this department would be the touch screen.
My guess: CULV subnotebooks will take away substantial market share from netbooks, because they're still small and cheap and allow for more tasks since they're twice as powerful. Tablets? I'm sceptical. Probably too expensive to be a long-run success.
The killer app: Apple Remote Desktop
I've been saying it for over a year. The killer app for an Apple tablet is Apple Remote Desktop!
Yes, the tablet will replace the MacBook. Air-ier than the MacBook Air, runs iPhone apps, multi-touch. But it also takes a stylus for signatures and drawing. And any Bluetooth keyboard for writing. And a Bluetooth mouse for pointing if you want. The iPhone OS _is_ the Mac OS, with a replacement UI layer (Cocoa Touch) and an amazingly few things taken out. Some will be put back. Ink is an example, to handle stylus.
And it will run all iPhone apps. As an iPhone developer I can say apps can handle larger screens easily. They are made with the same user Interface Builder with the same size-adaptable mechanism controls and views. I'm sure my apps will work nicely, as will almost all apps. With a bigger screen and faster Apple-developed CPU chip, add multiple apps open in multiple windows, and you've got a machine that can replace many netbooks and laptops. There are already nice Stanza and Kindle apps for readers, expect many more, and things like iTunes LP support.
This thing will be great for reading, but that's not the killer. On a large, very flat thin screen, you want VIDEO. Stream movies over WiFi from your desktop, and from iTunes with its new streaming services to come. Stream Hulu, podcasts, movies and TV.
And Apple Remote Desktop, in a new incarnation. Not quite the desktop version, but built in and much more than Snow Leopard Screen Sharing. Make the tablet your second screen for your desktop. Let it connect very easily as the second screen or main screen for a headless AppleTV or Mac Mini. Make it run Boxee, Front Row, whatever, pulling video from that computer's hard drive or network connection. This is your remote viewing screen for your desktop computer OR just use it as your stand alone computer. Let it sync like and iPhone, loading itself up with podcasts, subscribed shows, rented movies.
The tablet will be an iViewer, able to run standalone, and as a remote screen to your home server, wired or wireless.
I've also been predicting 3G. The tablet will have a slot. Carriers can add a card to let it run on their data network. Buy a tablet in any store cardless, or from a carrier subsidized with a card and contract.
That's what the tablet will be.
I've been saying it for over a year. The killer app for an Apple tablet is Apple Remote Desktop!
Yes, the tablet will replace the MacBook. Air-ier than the MacBook Air, runs iPhone apps, multi-touch. But it also takes a stylus for signatures and drawing. And any Bluetooth keyboard for writing. And a Bluetooth mouse for pointing if you want. The iPhone OS _is_ the Mac OS, with a replacement UI layer (Cocoa Touch) and an amazingly few things taken out. Some will be put back. Ink is an example, to handle stylus.
And it will run all iPhone apps. As an iPhone developer I can say apps can handle larger screens easily. They are made with the same user Interface Builder with the same size-adaptable mechanism controls and views. I'm sure my apps will work nicely, as will almost all apps. With a bigger screen and faster Apple-developed CPU chip, add multiple apps open in multiple windows, and you've got a machine that can replace many netbooks and laptops. There are already nice Stanza and Kindle apps for readers, expect many more, and things like iTunes LP support.
This thing will be great for reading, but that's not the killer. On a large, very flat thin screen, you want VIDEO. Stream movies over WiFi from your desktop, and from iTunes with its new streaming services to come. Stream Hulu, podcasts, movies and TV.
And Apple Remote Desktop, in a new incarnation. Not quite the desktop version, but built in and much more than Snow Leopard Screen Sharing. Make the tablet your second screen for your desktop. Let it connect very easily as the second screen or main screen for a headless AppleTV or Mac Mini. Make it run Boxee, Front Row, whatever, pulling video from that computer's hard drive or network connection. This is your remote viewing screen for your desktop computer OR just use it as your stand alone computer. Let it sync like and iPhone, loading itself up with podcasts, subscribed shows, rented movies.
The tablet will be an iViewer, able to run standalone, and as a remote screen to your home server, wired or wireless.
I've also been predicting 3G. The tablet will have a slot. Carriers can add a card to let it run on their data network. Buy a tablet in any store cardless, or from a carrier subsidized with a card and contract.
That's what the tablet will be.
It was a huge story, not sure how you missed it. Larger than how many ebooks sold is that the Kindle was the most gifted item in Amazon *history*.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1369429&
The iTablet's eventual goal will be to serve as a seamless extension of your other Apple devices. It will either carry on it, or have fast access to, any of your content on any of your Apple products such as Macs, iPods, iTV, and iPhone. We're talking apps, programs, files, bookmarks, and media content. Watch and see... That is exactly where Apple is going with this. It may take a few iterations, but that is the end game.
Forest, meet trees. Trees, this is Forest.
A great majority of what is done with computers these days is limited to surfing the web and handling basic communications like emails, letters.
Whilst the computer-savvy readers of macrumors.com might not believe it, and while Mr. Jobs once looked down upon it, I believe that the lions' share of normal humans who use computers really do just want something to make it easier to read their paper in the bathroom - at least in a metaphorical sense. I also think Jobs has come to realize that lots of people do read on the john and, quite frankly, their money is just as green as anyone's.
The tablet is nothing less than a replacement for the basic home user's desktop computer and basic home user's laptop computer.
There are millions, nay, tens of millions of people who want to do nothing more that check out the latest showbiz gossip, answer a few emails and fool around with their flickr accounts and similar items. They don't want to make movies or create iPhoto books or write novels or design logos. They want to not have to get out in the cold rain to pick up a soggy newspaper or magazine, and that is worth something - quite a lot (as newspaper subscriptions are more than $100 a year in most places).
Sure, Apple will still make and sell its workstations (desktop and notebook), but this product is the thing everyone who says they want "just a basic, low-end PC" is really looking for. Only they don't yet know just how badly-badly-badly they will want it.
Of course, there is the fact it is also a Mac, an iPod, plays iPod/iPhone games, runs apps, would be a great vertically-integrated dispatch unit (medical, professional, industrial data, etc). But that's just icing.
John Gruber. ha.
--
If you think universal health care is a good idea, go ahead and divide by zero.
A great majority of what is done with computers these days is limited to surfing the web and handling basic communications like emails, letters.
Whilst the computer-savvy readers of macrumors.com might not believe it, and while Mr. Jobs once looked down upon it, I believe that the lions' share of normal humans who use computers really do just want something to make it easier to read their paper in the bathroom - at least in a metaphorical sense. I also think Jobs has come to realize that lots of people do read on the john and, quite frankly, their money is just as green as anyone's.
The tablet is nothing less than a replacement for the basic home user's desktop computer and basic home user's laptop computer.
There are millions, nay, tens of millions of people who want to do nothing more that check out the latest showbiz gossip, answer a few emails and fool around with their flickr accounts and similar items. They don't want to make movies or create iPhoto books or write novels or design logos. They want to not have to get out in the cold rain to pick up a soggy newspaper or magazine, and that is worth something - quite a lot (as newspaper subscriptions are more than $100 a year in most places).
Sure, Apple will still make and sell its workstations (desktop and notebook), but this product is the thing everyone who says they want "just a basic, low-end PC" is really looking for. Only they don't yet know just how badly-badly-badly they will want it.
Of course, there is the fact it is also a Mac, an iPod, plays iPod/iPhone games, runs apps, would be a great vertically-integrated dispatch unit (medical, professional, industrial data, etc). But that's just icing.
John Gruber. ha.
--
If you think universal health care is a good idea, go ahead and divide by zero.
That is exactly what I am thinking. The MBA got a lot of wows and ahs when it was released and sold well at the beginning, but it wasn't really an innovation and the buzz has completely died down now. Even here on MR I don't see people going crazy for new MBA revisions (people just cry for new MBs + MBPs). Considering that I still hardly see any MBAs being carried around (instead, I see gazillions of 13" MBPs) and considering that Apple stopped talking about it after 6 months, I can only assume that it doesn't sell in very high numbers anymore.
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One thing that it also will become is again a gamechanger for games. Not only as a device with a larger screen (read: way more usable than an iPod/iPhone) but also as a console in combination with large home cinema screens and 21/27" iMacs. I'm sure that will revolutionalize the way games are played on big screens. Nintendo an Sony an the likes will take another hit.
One thing that it also will become is again a gamechanger for games. Not only as a device with a larger screen (read: way more usable than an iPod/iPhone) but also as a console in combination with large home cinema screens and 21/27" iMacs. I'm sure that will revolutionalize the way games are played on big screens. Nintendo an Sony an the likes will take another hit.
+1 On all of the above. "Print media" will be totally redefined/reinvented by this device. I see business people in meetings with nothing but these slate devices. Taking notes, sharing ideas and reports through a presentation network. Downloading PDFs from a meeting server. A paradigm shift.
Recall Commander Riker bringing a report to Captain Pikard on the bridge of the Enterprise? What was that thin shiny device? The prototype.
Dale
Maybe the tablet will replace the Air... and have two touch screens, like a Nintendo DS, instead of a screen and a keyboard. One of the screens could be the keyboard as and when it's needed. Just a thought.
Of course none of us see the potential or ultimate use of a Tablet, but one thing that makes Apple great is their ability to design and market something that will become integral and important, something that we soon won't be able to live without whether we know it or not. The iPhone was truly revolutionary, and the millions that have one couldn't imagine life without it, and that's what I think the Tablet will be like, to an extent.
Without the iPhone, there would be no Apps, millions wouldn't be tweeting from their phones daily, there would be no 3G network that there is now.
And three years ago, who imagined life like this excluding the innovators and engineers at Apple? Incredible how a single company can affect the whole world whether people realize it or not.
Without the iPhone, there would be no Apps, millions wouldn't be tweeting from their phones daily, there would be no 3G network that there is now.
And three years ago, who imagined life like this excluding the innovators and engineers at Apple? Incredible how a single company can affect the whole world whether people realize it or not.
Yes the buzz has died down, but the MBA (revision C in particular) remains an all around awesome computer.. incredibly portable, powerful, sexy and plain pleasure to use. Who needs "tablet" when you have an MBA.
Well, they "sold" three to me. And they have actually made them available in a number of countries two or three months ago or so.
Aside from what is it even good for, there's another thing I don't understand about tablets.
If it's got a laptop size screen, then it must have a touch screen with a virtual keyboard. If it had a physical keyboard, then it would just be another shape of laptop, right?
The virtual keyboard using a touch screen on the iPhone works very well largely because the iPhone is small enough to hold while reaching all of the keys with one's thumbs without having to move your hands or change your grip. The light touch required for activation is key to speedy typing this way.
Conversley, a conventional physical keyboard works very well because you can rest your hands and fingers on the keys without accidentally activating them since they need much more pressure than the weight of your fingers to be activated. Resting your fingers on the keys is the secret to speedy typing with physical keyboards.
So, my question is how will an effective virtual keyboard be implemented on a full size touch screen? At first thought it seems like the keys will be too far apart to reach quickly without resting your fingers on the keyboard, bit resting on the keyboard will cause too many inadvertant key presses.
I think an effective resution to this paradox is key to a tablet device being useful at all. Presumably some type of display that requires some amount of physical pressure and deflection of the virtually displayed keys would be the solution.
It will be interesting to see if Apple has come up with an effective and intuitive solution for this problem. If not, the rumored tablet will be a failure. If so, maybe it will be of some interest even if I can't think what it is good for.
If it's got a laptop size screen, then it must have a touch screen with a virtual keyboard. If it had a physical keyboard, then it would just be another shape of laptop, right?
The virtual keyboard using a touch screen on the iPhone works very well largely because the iPhone is small enough to hold while reaching all of the keys with one's thumbs without having to move your hands or change your grip. The light touch required for activation is key to speedy typing this way.
Conversley, a conventional physical keyboard works very well because you can rest your hands and fingers on the keys without accidentally activating them since they need much more pressure than the weight of your fingers to be activated. Resting your fingers on the keys is the secret to speedy typing with physical keyboards.
So, my question is how will an effective virtual keyboard be implemented on a full size touch screen? At first thought it seems like the keys will be too far apart to reach quickly without resting your fingers on the keyboard, bit resting on the keyboard will cause too many inadvertant key presses.
I think an effective resution to this paradox is key to a tablet device being useful at all. Presumably some type of display that requires some amount of physical pressure and deflection of the virtually displayed keys would be the solution.
It will be interesting to see if Apple has come up with an effective and intuitive solution for this problem. If not, the rumored tablet will be a failure. If so, maybe it will be of some interest even if I can't think what it is good for.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
I think it's all about the product that will otherwise fade into oblivion: the iPod. Whether it's iPod derivative (iPod slate, or ePod) or is announced as a replacement or complement to the iPod line up, I think it will be in the iPod category, simultaneously redefining what an iPod is, which they will say already began with the iPod touch. iPod touch is the most dynamic product they have but it's in a category that will fade as iPhone grows. They have to jump on capitalizing the iPod name and grow it. Just my opinion/prediction.
After all, it's been almost 10 years since the first iPod.....
After all, it's been almost 10 years since the first iPod.....
I'm surprised that no one has picked up on some portion of this post linking the tablet with Wacom tablets. I was going to say something similar. While certain folks may be right about what the true purpose of the Apple tablet will be, I do think that it will be like an untethered Wacom Cintiq (no separate computer required). That may not be it's primary function, but it's going to a be a kick-ass feature. I do think that it will accept multi-touch gestures (of course), but I have a sneaking suspicion that it will indeed also accept stylus input. My gut tells me that the Ink software has been greatly underutilized up until now, and that the Ink team has been working away towards a huge spotlight moment when this new tablet is unveiled.
I recently bought a new home where I need to sign loads of paperwork that involved faxing, scanning, and emailing or faxing back. It seemed so archaic. Digital signatures will take a big step forward with a device that allows you to actually sign a digital document without an arduous process that few are willing to bother with. I'm sure Apple has thought all of this through extremely well, and folks will be amazed at how this new device becomes a necessity before we know it.
Jaws dropped when the iPhone was first shown and it was also an eye-popping rev of the beloved iPod. I sense a similar "surprise" that no one saw coming when this thing is what many suspected it would be (ebook reader, large-format content window, etc.), but that it also does this other thing (serves as a mind-blowing input device) in a way that makes people say, "why didn't *I* think of that!"
It bears notice that nowhere does Amazon.com actually say how many Kindles were sold. In its press release linked above, Amazon.com cleverly worded the release to obscure the fact that it released no sales figures for the Kindle.