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What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet?
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If it has a keyboard, works like a wacom tablet and runs photoshop smoothly + everything else we've been talking, i won't spend more than a $1.000 on it.
But If it also has an intel core 2 duo of 2.6 ghz or +, at least 4gb of ram and a 256mb video card, then i'm sold, even at $2.000.
I just need 50gb of free space, just for working on some files, so a fast ssd would be nice.
as this won't be happening, i'll wait, but still buy a 3.06 ghz mbp, as my macbook died last week and need a portable along with my mac pro.
But If it also has an intel core 2 duo of 2.6 ghz or +, at least 4gb of ram and a 256mb video card, then i'm sold, even at $2.000.
I just need 50gb of free space, just for working on some files, so a fast ssd would be nice.
as this won't be happening, i'll wait, but still buy a 3.06 ghz mbp, as my macbook died last week and need a portable along with my mac pro.
It will not be designed for business (as is the case with most Apple products)..
The MS Courier doesn't exist yet, and I would be very wary of a device like that from MS, since (whatever the demos and concepts look like) they just have a disastrous track record concerning user interfaces, which would be THE differentiating factor for these devices.
Remember that concepts always look great, and never look like the actual product (e.g. all car concepts...)
I think they said that about: Cellphones, Sony walkmen, horseless carriages, powdered wigs, shoes with pointy curled-up toes, etc, etc.
Not that anybody bothered.
It's so refreshing when forward-thinking people respond...
Forward thinking doesn't mean "always agree with Apple" though. There is as much evidence that this could be the next Apple TV or the next iPod in terms of success.
Personally, based on current tablet offerings and the demand for them, I'd go with very small niche of hype driven fanboys and then a flop.
It's easy enough to tweak products to fit one's needs. Take, for instance, the iPhone. Many people commented how cool it would be to access stuff like Word files and make minor revisions right from their phone. Sadly enough, it can't be done. Or can it? Just the other day while out in the field I had to revise an estimate done in Word. I whipped out my trusty iPhone and did just that. I remotely opened a document sitting on my desktop at the office, made the changes and emailed it right from my iPhone.
I see where you're going but...
I'm not so sure that every single product Apple releases has to be as profitable as the iPod or iPhone. I will be the first one to agree that, if it's even released, first-year sales for the iSlate will be nowhere near the iPhone but that doesn't mean it will be a flop. I define a "flop" as something that loses money and I don't think that will be the case for a device such as that which has been rumored.
Yeah but if true this means msft first ever pc and not oem. Interesting times.
...and therein lies the difference.
You see, netbooks are essentially small, underpowered laptops. They don't offer anything over-and-above laptops other than increased portability and that's not enough for most people to part with their money. Furthermore, that's why Apple has no interest in jumping into the netbook market.
I could be *way* off base but I see the iSlate as a revolutionary multimedia device that is geared towards entertainment (music, movies, pictures, comics, periodicals etc.) Yeah....it will be able to perform what we commonly consider netbook duties but that certainly won't be the focus. I guess what I'm saying is that just about every piece of technology has internet, email capabilities so that's not a big selling point. Kiind of like a steam iron. Sure, you can use it as a door stop (and may do so at times) but what makes it really special is the fact that, unlike anything else, it gets those nasty wrinkles out of your shirt! Hope that makes sense.
Think big! Maybe you don't have to type at all. Everything might be easily accessible via Gestures and Voice Control Input. The iPhone has already a very good and accurate working Voice Control inbuilt and with the new Slate, who knows, Apple might have set the bar even higher in terms of Speech Recognition Quality.
Well written, I share your opinion.
Come on! That's ok if you are not. Aren't we all from time to time?
First of all, as someone has already told you: No need to sorry for your lack of imagination. And besides, the new Tablet Device will not be like ANY smart phone. (Why you keep comparing the Slate with a smart phone anyway, I wonder) If you need to edit documents, then the Slate might be not the best choice for you.
I joined MacRumors back in the lead up to the release of the MacBook Air and was in that exact same 'floating voter' state you describe.
When the actual product specs came out, I realized it wasn't for me. There just wasn't enough of an advantage for my purposes to the marginally smaller size.
Now, I am in the same state with the tablet.
(Though it's not gonna take nearly as much to convince me to buy one this time. Even if, as some speculate, it's just a giant iPod Touch that doesn't require another cellphone contract, I will buy one first day just for the joy of surfing the net on a touch screen and playing with some of my favorite apps (I'm in love with Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor - - that is the first game to so thoroughly delight me in many a long year).)
I wasn't talking about netbooks, I said tablets. There are many current shipping tablets out there, contrary to what some Apple fans believe (no, Apple won't be the first to ship a Star Trek like Pad thingie)
Nokia N810 :
Samsung Q1 :
HP Tablet PC (IMO, the best one, best of both worlds, still wouldn't buy it) :
Archos line, first the 9" based on Windows 7, then the 5 based on Android :
There are others, but you get the point. There's already a lot of products out there. Single purpose e-readers, multi-purpose Media consumption tablets, etc.. A lot of the stuff said in this thread is already out there in terms of shipping products.
Of course, this is something Apples excels at. Wait till other players make all the mistakes, fix them, and then ship. However, Apple is good at doing this in booming markets with good consumer mindshare and plenty of growth, like the cellphone and MP3 player markets were when they introduced the iPhone and iPod. The tablet market is neither booming, nor really growing, nor does it really have good consumer mindshare. Hence why I think this will be a niche product.
Yeah I do too. I still don't see the tablet as a MacBook replacement though.
Then again Apple has done quite a few single revision models on their computer line.
Solidly written post, buddy, and points well taken.I wasn't talking about netbooks, I said tablets. There are many current shipping tablets out there, contrary to what some Apple fans believe (no, Apple won't be the first to ship a Star Trek like Pad thingie)
Nokia N810 :
Samsung Q1 :
HP Tablet PC (IMO, the best one, best of both worlds, still wouldn't buy it) :
Archos line, first the 9" based on Windows 7, then the 5 based on Android :
There are others, but you get the point. There's already a lot of products out there. Single purpose e-readers, multi-purpose Media consumption tablets, etc.. A lot of the stuff said in this thread is already out there in terms of shipping products.
Of course, this is something Apples excels at. Wait till other players make all the mistakes, fix them, and then ship. However, Apple is good at doing this in booming markets with good consumer mindshare and plenty of growth, like the cellphone and MP3 player markets were when they introduced the iPhone and iPod. The tablet market is neither booming, nor really growing, nor does it really have good consumer mindshare. Hence why I think this will be a niche product.
That said, the devices you listed are indeed tablets yet they lack a well-defined purpose other than being portable and gesture-driven. I mean, I can see people who own these devices as saying, "This is *really* cool. Errr....what do I do with it?" This is where the iSlate will be different. It will have a clearly defined purpose and furthermore, it will be tightly integrated with successful devices/business models like the iPod, iPhone, App Store, iTunes (iGuide?) and the like.
I tend to agree with you. Just like the ATV and the MBA. Will Apple sell this product, yes, do I think it will change markets like an iPod or iPhone, no.
You listed plenty of products that do what this Apple tablet is rumored to do. We're impressed with the smaller products (smartphones) which continue to push mobile technology, however in a larger format all of this becomes a lot less impressive.
Apple's biggest power is iTunes. That's what they will always have over its competition. And as long as this thing is attached to iTunes, and iTunes continues to provide more and more types of media and in new ways, this product will sell. At >$1000, I just hope I have the chance to have pen input on this...otherwise conceptually I like the idea of the courier for me better.
Apple will do with magazines and newspapers...
...what they did with music. The iTunes Store will become an online newsstand where people can subscribe to, and download, cool interactive magazine and newspaper titles. As well as access the web wirelessly.
It's the only killer app I can think of.
...what they did with music. The iTunes Store will become an online newsstand where people can subscribe to, and download, cool interactive magazine and newspaper titles. As well as access the web wirelessly.
It's the only killer app I can think of.
Of course, that's all conjecture. Can Apple redefine the tablets and give them a real purpose or will it end up as just another iTunes content consumption device, not really giving us more than the current offerings, except for a sleek no button look with a centralized media store (the current ones can already play music, video, ebooks, heck even run iTunes and thus the iTMS on the Windows ones) ?
Hence the iPod vs AppleTV comparisons. AppleTV is a flop, a bust if you will. It's nothing more than an iTunes consumption device, and a pretty poor one at that. A PS3 makes a better HTPC, supports all the same streaming options and more, and has blu-ray and games. Even without the games, the PS3 is a better AppleTV than the AppleTV. And at 299$ for a 120 GB option today, it's a better value too. The XBOX is heading the same direction except without blu-ray. Heck, just DVD support sends these flying way over the AppleTV. And no one can argue that the AppleTV is sleeker and has better aesthetics. Console makers have been king at this for a while, and the PS3 is "gorgeous". At least it's black, like every other electronics in my living room, so it doesn't clash to use the same language that the superficial crowd likes so much.
That is the big question, and contrary to a lot of what the foam at the mouth crowd here says, it remains a big question until it's announced, it has shipped, and people have used them for a few months. No matter what Steve Jobs says on stage, it will look amazing. He could be presenting a pile of turd sandwiches and I'm sure everyone would be going "ONE CLICK BUY!" on it the minute the presentation ends and the store comes up.
Most of the netbook buyers I see fall for this. HYPE is the name the game, units ship, get a sales boost, people realise they've just bought crap they won't use based on hype and then sell them on Kijiji or just toss them in a corner and return to full sized laptops.
"But it's smaller and more portable!" says the guy in my office that drags it around in a full laptop suitcase and always needs to plug it in.
And all of them have the same problems. They don't run the new SlateOS and therefore won't be successful, just as it was with all the so called smart phones, and when iPhone was released, suddenly all smart phone manufactures started to wake up from sleeping more than 10 years each and every smart phone is now trying to compete somehow with iPhone. So why is this? If the iPhone is so bad and have so less function as some people claim, then why all the others seeing the iPhone as something they have to compete with or trying to copy it?
Same will happen with iSlate. But all your examples you stated, are not running the soon upcoming SlateOS and with it, they will be lacking the ease of use and user experience all the others are craving for but unable to reach.
Generally I dont post oppositions to threads in this forum. However, this particular threads author is so incredibly presumptuous that I had to chime the proverbial gong. Whatever the Apple tablet device (slate) may be, or may not be; it will likely be something different. In typical Apple fashion, it well incorporate something the consumer and the self-proclaimed wizards were not anticipating.
Regards,
Regards,
I'm more concerned about the base retail price from Apple's online and retail stores.Education pricing + free iPod to fleaBay = $999 Macbook Pro back in July.