What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet?

[grooveattack]

i think this tablet has got its cross hairs square on the macbook air. What is that really for? surfing? watching movies? etc. bang on what this tablet could be aimed at.

Rather than knocking off the macbook i would be more worried about the macbook air.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

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.

Again, that it might have good voice control input capability seems plausible. But that will only work well in a dictation situation... you and your Tablet... alone. You're not going to be sitting in a meeting or lecture and voice inputing the notes you want to take, while the person leading the meeting or lecture is also talking... and while 3 other people nearby are also voicing the notes they want to capture into their Tablet.

And these Star Trek Tricorder fantasies are even worse. If it is a tricorder, you'll just ask it to capture the lecture or meeting in its entirety, then transcribe the highlights (notes you personally need from it), cross reference them against the "master database", then use AI to theorize how to solve some complex problem... all while scanning the insides of an injured friend so that you can see they have a hair line fracture of their right Tibia.... etc. I'm not seeing a Star Trek Tricorder coming for $799 or so.

 

[Speedy2]

Eat in to? It'll replace the Macbook. Why do you think Apple brought the 13" Macbook into the Macbook Pro family.

Simple: the aluminium MB had been wrongly named from the beginning and had fractured their formerly very clean product line-up. They quickly corrected that mistake. There is no "strategy" behind that.

The tablet sure as hell will not replace any Macbook, simply because it cannot and it would be foolish to try and replace one highly profitable piece of hardware with another that cost a LOT of money to develop.

 

[xhambonex]

Dear Mac lovers,

Subtle changes in the iTunes application/store leads to one conclusion (IMHO): with the tablet, Apple will bring an alternative for the e-book readers and will start another revolution....

They started differentiation in the iTunes store with regards to iTunesU
The iTunesU section can deliver rich content in PDF, PODCAST, VODCAST, Audio and Video.

The tablet could well be a student's ultimate lecture/notebook. The tablet becomes the tool for (interactive) reading and doing homework and iTunesU in the center of it. It will kill the eBook readers before they become mass-market ;-)

I'll bet a bottle of good wine on this...

I'm assuming you're betting on pen input...personally I don't see this taking over the college market without pen input, handwriting recognition, something like that.

Personally I feel like all they need to do is make a digital notebook, optional pen input hook it to the iTunes store (with its new tablet specific content), maybe a MDP or Light Peak output, good battery life, give it WiFi and call it a day.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

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 is THE key observation about how big of a hit this thing might be. Long before iPod, much of the world longed for a small package way to carry around a lot of their favorite songs. Long before iPhone, much of the world wanted a better cell phone device that blended a few other devices in an elegant way into one package. You might say the markets for both of those launches were quite hot for them, and that timing was excellent for such a release. In both cases, Apple didn't have to create the market or the market need... just offer an excellent solution for a glaring market need.

What is the glaring market need to be fulfilled by this Tablet product?

Don't get me wrong, I too am in the in the market for a new portable computer right now (time to retire an old PowerBook). I strongly believe a MacBook Pro is going to be the thing to buy, but I can wait a few more weeks to see if this thing could somehow cover the same mix of needs good enough, that it might be preferable to a new laptop.

As I keep thinking it through, I keep picturing the same (new) content via iTunes being available on that MacBook (or even that Powerbook) too, so it doesn't seem like all these new e-magazine subscriptions would be locked into an exclusive via a Tablet. It seems plausible that it will be thinner and lighter than the MacBook, but how big of a deal is that if it trades off a lot of capabilities? It seems likely it will be a cheaper than a MacBook, but when you use such stuff for work, even a thousand dollar+ difference isn't that big of a deal spread over a few years (use) time. What could be the big hook?

And before someone says it is just another product to buy WITH that Macbook, I have a hard time picturing BOTH getting tucked into the travel bag. Tucking a small iPod in with a laptop is not a big deal. Tucking a 10" screen in with another bigger screen product seems like a lot of bulk and weight to carry around when perhaps either could cover the bases for any given trip.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

...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.

But why would we need to buy a Tablet to buy and view new kinds of content sold in the iTunes store? Why not just consume that content on other iTunes-capable hardware we already have? What about the Tablet makes consumption of this particular kind of content so great that we will want to spend hundreds (I'm guessing $799) to get it that way, rather than use a lot less than that $799 to buy that same content and enjoy it on our laptops, etc?

 

[carmenodie]

Don't be so dramatic! This a product(suppose) by a product company. Slate-like pcs have been around for years. I ,and I'm certain you have too, have seen so many people in the classroom with a tablet pc.
The difference this rumored Apple tablet will have is software Apple has made from the ground up. That is their fortay.This is in stark contrast to all that rebranded pc crap by vendors out there that rely on off the shelf software and hype to sell their stuff. If this tablet surfaces in the next few weeks and if it is a hit the entire industry will jump on it.
You'll see the all to familiar You Tube video of some geek with his version of the Apple tablet's OS on some generic tablet and his version of whatever software swag Apple has in theirs. You know I'm right.
Then of course the inevitable( a moment of silence):

THE APPLE TABLET KILLERS!


And so it begins.

 

[Speedy2]

That is simply just false.

If you limit businesses to bean counting. But the whole world is full of creative professionals and lots of them are using a MAC.

"Business" in this respect doesn't refer to small design companies or freelancers, but actual big companies. Except for small areas (e.g. some corporate iPhone use, but Blackberries are so much bigger in this area), Apple simply doesn't exist is this sector, they don't want to.

 

[DanielSw]

That is THE key observation about how big of a hit this thing might be. Long before iPod, much of the world longed for a small package way to carry around a lot of their favorite songs. Long before iPhone, much of the world wanted a better cell phone device that blended a few other devices in an elegant way into one package. You might say the markets for both of those launches were quite hot for them, and that timing was excellent for such a release. In both cases, Apple didn't have to create the market or the market need... just offer an excellent solution for a glaring market need.

What is the glaring marketing need to be fulfilled by this Tablet product?

Don't get me wrong, I too am in the in the market for a new portable computer right now (time to retire an old PowerBook). I strongly believe a MacBook Pro is going to be the thing to buy, but I can wait a few more weeks to see if this thing could somehow cover the same mix of needs good enough, that it might be preferable to a new laptop.

As I keep thinking it through, I keep picturing the same (new) content via iTunes being available on that MacBook (or even that Powerbook) too, so it doesn't seem like all this new e-magazine subscriptions would be locked into an exclusive via a Tablet. It seems plausible that it will be thinner and lighter than the MacBook, but how big of a deal is that if it trades off a lot of capabilities? It seems likely it will be a cheaper than a MacBook, but when you use such stuff for work, even a thousand difference isn't that big of a deal over a few years time. What could be the big hook?

And before someone says it is just another product to buy WITH that Macbook, I have a hard time picturing BOTH getting tucked into the travel bag. Tucking a small iPod in with a laptop is not a big deal. Tucking a 10" screen in with another bigger screen product seems like a lot of bulk and weight to carry around when perhaps either could cover the bases.

One thing related to eBooks that hasn't gotten much discussion is the potential for "rich media". OS X has all the underpinnings for very rich media support for this tablet. Interactive 3D imagery coupled with gestures--perhaps they'll reveal an enhanced set--coupled with sound, etc. would seem to make for a great new medium for education at all levels: schools, corporate, self-improvement, etc. Advertising, entertainment, travelogues, instruction manuals all would benefit from such a new medium.

A tablet form factor would be more portable than a laptop and eliminate the need for a lot of back pack lugging around of expensive paper books.

 

[skinnylegs]

I can't wait to go back and re-read some of the comments made in this thread after the device is released. And it *will* be released...

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Don't be so dramatic! This a product(suppose) by a product company. Slate-like pcs have been around for years. I ,and I'm certain you have too, have seen so many people in the classroom with a tablet pc.
The difference this rumored Apple tablet will have is software Apple has made from the ground up. That is their fortay.This is in stark contrast to all that rebranded pc crap by vendors out there that rely on off the shelf software and hype to sell their stuff. If this tablet surfaces in the next few weeks and if it is a hit the entire industry will jump on it.
You'll see the all to familiar You Tube video of some geek with his version of the Apple tablet's OS on some generic tablet and his version of whatever software swag Apple has in theirs. You know I'm right.
Then of course the inevitable( a moment of silence):

THE APPLE TABLET KILLERS!

And so it begins.

Maybe, but I also see the future of Jobs telling us how cool this new thing is... about (small)% of Apple fanboys posting they ordered one first day, can't wait, etc... the press core writing slobbering articles about how great it is, game changer, etc... another crowd griping about price vs. what is included... another crowd bashing it because it doesn't include ____________... another crowd looking forward to the next version "when they might get it right"... another crowd unhappy they can't effectively do everything they can do on their desktop on this device... another crowd saying they'll just buy a laptop instead... and some idiot posting "powerbook G5 next tue" or "but it feels snappier".

I'm a big Apple fan myself... and I'd love this thing to be a dazzler... but it sure doesn't seem to be an intuitive hit in the making as things seemed ahead of the iPod and iPhone launches. The imaginations for what it will do seem to be running wild- well beyond what I remember ahead of the iPhone rollout... but doesn't that always lead to mass disappointment when the self-created hype falls short of what can actually be delivered?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

One thing related to eBooks that hasn't gotten much discussion is the potential for "rich media". OS X has all the underpinnings for very rich media support for this tablet. Interactive 3D imagery coupled with gestures--perhaps they'll reveal an enhanced set--coupled with sound, etc. would seem to make for a great new medium for education at all levels: schools, corporate, self-improvement, etc. Advertising, entertainment, travelogues, instruction manuals all would benefit from such a new medium. A tablet form factor would be more portable than a laptop and eliminate the need for a lot of back pack lugging of expensive books around.

I'm believing that is in the general vicinity of where it has to be, which gets back to the concept of a bigger screen iPod Touch/iPhone, vs. many of these much bigger ideas of what it might be able to do. Then, the question is, does the market choose to pay up for that thin device that is a little more than an iPod Touch rather than absorb that same kind of media via the laptops and similar they may already have?

It's not going to be like the iPod, where- on the very first day- you could easily scan in a bunch of print media you already own to make it very useful without paying anything more. If stuff like e-magazines is going to be the "killer app", you're not going to be scanning in paper magazines you already own... everything is going to have additional subscription costs. And like I posted earlier, I'm not picturing publishers of things like magazines or college textbooks rolling over and selling the e-versions of their products super cheap. Very, very simply, it it ends up being mostly a fancy media/multimedia player (big screen iPod Touch +), it is going to involve a concept of first paying up for this device so that then you can pay up again for the print media content to read/watch on this device. Instead of getting ripped off by buying a paper textbook for $120, you now pay (my guess) $799 for this Tablet and then the $120 for the e-version of that textbook. How great is that?

 

[apolloa]

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.

It's not lack of imagination, it's being sensible, you have got to be some serious thick stupid idiot to hail a device that can't even edit a word doc that as I already said can be done on just about any smart phone, so why not use your imagination, guess how much this thing will cost, then ask yourself if you would buy it if it can't perform the same tasks plus more then any other netbook or smart phone can? I bet your telling yourself yes!! I mean you seem to think I lack imagination to expect a device to perform simple editing tasks for a potential $600 plus price tag

No need to apologise for your lack of imagination.

Thanks, but you desperately need to apologise for your total and complete lack of any intelligence considering your rather pathetic response. Your a pure genius sir.

 

[bretm]

That is THE key observation about how big of a hit this thing might be. Long before iPod, much of the world longed for a small package way to carry around a lot of their favorite songs. Long before iPhone, much of the world wanted a better cell phone device that blended a few other devices in an elegant way into one package. You might say the markets for both of those launches were quite hot for them, and that timing was excellent for such a release. In both cases, Apple didn't have to create the market or the market need... just offer an excellent solution for a glaring market need.

What is the glaring market need to be fulfilled by this Tablet product?

Don't get me wrong, I too am in the in the market for a new portable computer right now (time to retire an old PowerBook). I strongly believe a MacBook Pro is going to be the thing to buy, but I can wait a few more weeks to see if this thing could somehow cover the same mix of needs good enough, that it might be preferable to a new laptop.

As I keep thinking it through, I keep picturing the same (new) content via iTunes being available on that MacBook (or even that Powerbook) too, so it doesn't seem like all these new e-magazine subscriptions would be locked into an exclusive via a Tablet. It seems plausible that it will be thinner and lighter than the MacBook, but how big of a deal is that if it trades off a lot of capabilities? It seems likely it will be a cheaper than a MacBook, but when you use such stuff for work, even a thousand dollar+ difference isn't that big of a deal spread over a few years (use) time. What could be the big hook?

And before someone says it is just another product to buy WITH that Macbook, I have a hard time picturing BOTH getting tucked into the travel bag. Tucking a small iPod in with a laptop is not a big deal. Tucking a 10" screen in with another bigger screen product seems like a lot of bulk and weight to carry around when perhaps either could cover the bases for any given trip.

It has to take aim at the netbook market. Yes, more expensive, but simpler, easier, and better. I'm pretty sure Apple can pull that off. I truly like the idea of the 2011 One Laptop per Child. A thin, folding touchscreen that can be ultilized like a notebook, or a tablet.

Anyway, it will take some sort of simple but elegant innovation to fight the netbook market. Perhaps it will run iWork 10 tablet edition or something to make it useful and of course web and email, etc.

What I've learned is that we are horrible at speculating when it comes to Apple's big inventions.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

I'm believing that is in the general vicinity of where it has to be, which gets back to the concept of a bigger screen iPod Touch/iPhone, vs. many of these much bigger ideas of what it might be able to do. Then, the question is, does the market choose to pay up for that thin device that is a little more than an iPod Touch rather than absorb that same kind of media via the laptops and similar they may already have?

It's not going to be like the iPod, where- on the very first day- you could easily scan in a bunch of print media you already own to make it very useful without paying anything more. If stuff like e-magazines is going to be the "killer app", you're not going to be scanning in paper magazines you already own... everything is going to have additional subscription costs. And like I posted earlier, I'm not picturing publishers of things like magazines or college textbooks rolling over and selling the e-versions of their products super cheap. Very, very simply, it it ends up being mostly a fancy media/multimedia player (big screen iPod Touch +), it is going to involve a concept of first paying up for this device so that then you can pay up again for the print media content to read/watch on this device. Instead of getting ripped off by buying a paper textbook for $120, you now pay (my guess) $799 for this Tablet and then the $120 for the e-version of that textbook. How great is that?

http://www.coursesmart.com/

Textbook publishers aren't totally against it.... but there are issues. A lot of the ones i've seen are "rentals" for a class timeframe. Which bites - i'd expect a bigger discount if the book "expired" in 9 months.

AND, isn't CA still planning on only having eTexts in their classrooms? no more book buying - that was one way they saved the budget. Bet Steve JUMPED on that to help the state out.

I actually could be tempted to cut apart some of my DD's books and scan them in myself. Especially if i got a decent enough deal on them used. I'm tired of her never having the right book with her.....

 

[SpitzerCR]

Pen input, and some sort of modem for carriers would make me buy it.

Long story short i go place to place and check paper work for accuracy. IT WOULD BE GREAT to make quick notes and view my site that has the list of paperwork that is incorrect as i travel from place to place.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

It has to take aim at the netbook market. Yes, more expensive, but simpler, easier, and better. I'm pretty sure Apple can pull that off. I truly like the idea of the 2011 One Laptop per Child. A thin, folding touchscreen that can be ultilized like a notebook, or a tablet.

Anyway, it will take some sort of simple but elegant innovation to fight the netbook market. Perhaps it will run iWork 10 tablet edition or something to make it useful and of course web and email, etc.

What I've learned is that we are horrible at speculating when it comes to Apple's big inventions.

I agree, but then take it a step forward. If we get iWork '10, how are you going to practically do much work in Pages? Is your head cocked almost straight down so that you can see the screen on which you are typing? Or are your wrists bent way back (unnaturally) so that your screen and keyboard can hang at eye-level? Sure, we might talk our text into it when we are alone, but that won't work well in group affairs. Stylus and handwriting seems so "old".

I want to believe it will be richly capable for uses like an iWork '10. But while it's easy to toss that out, it is much harder to picture the practical aspects of it used in these kinds of ways. The more I think about it, the more it seems suited to consumption (of various forms of content) over production (of original content)... more of a great (bigger screen) player/viewer/ebook vs. a potential alternative to a laptop for anyone who produces much content.

Hopefully, Apple will wow us with something that reaches beyond my imagination along these lines. I want to buy a very portable- but very powerful device to replace a Powerbook. Even with all the dreaming in this thread, I strongly suspect the better option will be a Macbook Pro, but I can wait and see if somehow this Tablet is way more than I expect.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

http://www.coursesmart.com/

Textbook publishers aren't totally against it.... but there are issues. A lot of the ones i've seen are "rentals" for a class timeframe. Which bites - i'd expect a bigger discount if the book "expired" in 9 months.

AND, isn't CA still planning on only having eTexts in their classrooms? no more book buying - that was one way they saved the budget. Bet Steve JUMPED on that to help the state out.

I actually could be tempted to cut apart some of my DD's books and scan them in myself. Especially if i got a decent enough deal on them used. I'm tired of her never having the right book with her.....

I'm sorry... let me clarify. I have NO DOUBT at all that publishers will be interested in new ways to sell more of their books, magazines, etc. I have great doubt that just because a Tablet will exist, that they'll suddenly cut their own (profit) throats because now they don't have to print & distribute some of those publications on paper anymore. Just look at the other media we already have available in the iTunes store to get the point: are iTunes digital movies cheaper than DVD versions? are TV show seasons less than you can get them elsewhere? Etc.

There's a number of posts of people imagining that they'll save hundreds of dollars on stuff like college textbooks because they'll get the e-version via this new Tablet. No they won't. The publishers aren't going to dramatically cut prices- and profits- to sell their books, magazines, etc this way. Industries have had plenty of time to see what happens when an industry (the music industry) gets themselves completely under Apple's thumb. That's why all the other media industries are working so hard in support of many other (non Apple) distribution channels, rather than take the generally cheaper, somewhat easier path of simply selling it all through iTunes.

 

[bobob]

Sorry but I still can't see what possible use this thing if it exists will have, oh and I am typing just fine on my laptop at present thanks, that's aimed at the person who thinks it will be easier to type on a 7" elevated touch screen device then a full laptop keyboard!! hahahahaha

No need to apologize for your lack of imagination.

Thanks, but you desperately need to apologise for your total and complete lack of any intelligence considering your rather pathetic response. Your a pure genius sir.

Time will tell.

 

[KnightWRX]

Of course it's conjecture. That is what this entire thread is intended to be. If you are not looking for conjecture or hype then why come to a site with the name Rumors as part of its name? What is Nokia really known for now -- supplying the work with quality, but boring, inexpensive phones. No one gets excited when Nokia announces anything new.

No, this thread wasn't about conjecture, it was about speculation.

Speculation :

"Apple's tablet will bring ebooks to the iTMS and will be Apple's preferred method to consume them. They will market this".

Conjecture :

"Apple's tablet will be the best thing to read ebooks! Apple can't fail because the iSlate OS is going to be the best of its kind!".

See the difference ? This thread was about the tablets purpose, not some tablet hype machine.

 

[717]

i think this tablet has got its cross hairs square on the macbook air. What is that really for? surfing? watching movies? etc. bang on what this tablet could be aimed at.

Rather than knocking off the macbook i would be more worried about the macbook air.

I agree. But will it have a real keyboard or a touchscreen, or both? I could see a iMac form factor with the keyboard on the chin.

 

[SandynJosh]

OS X has all the underpinnings for very rich media support for this tablet... bla bla bla...

...except that all indications are that the "table" will not be running OS X.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

No, this thread wasn't about conjecture, it was about speculation.

Speculation :

"Apple's tablet will bring ebooks to the iTMS and will be Apple's preferred method to consume them. They will market this".

Conjecture :

"Apple's tablet will be the best thing to read ebooks! Apple can't fail because the iSlate OS is going to be the best of its kind!".

See the difference ? This thread was about the tablets purpose, not some tablet hype machine.

Sorry you are quibbling at the edges to make a point, which you really don't do. I'm hardly member of the grammar police, but you are the one raising the difference, of which there really is none between the two words.

Defintion of conjecture:

2 a : inference from defective or presumptive evidence b : a conclusion deduced by surmise or guesswork c : a proposition (as in mathematics) before it has been proved or disproved

Definition of speculate:

1 a : to meditate on or ponder a subject : reflect b : to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively
2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially : to buy or sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations
transitive verb
1 : to take to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence : theorize
2 : to be curious or doubtful about : wonder <speculates whether it will rain all vacation>

And finally a look a "conjecture," at Thesaurus.com finds, yes, conjecture and speculation are synonyms

 

[ThunderSkunk]

See the difference ? This thread was about the tablets purpose, not some tablet hype machine.

Not that it matters, since after five hundred posts and repeated retellings of why and how tablets are useful and to whom, shortsighted ninnies still pop in to cluck about with that old myopic chestnut: "Yea. I don't understand why anyone would want one either. And because of my inability to... friggin read, I will not just honestly say that I can't see why apple would build one, but pretend to know things I don't, and emphatically proclaim that lo, indeed, Apple will not build one."

Every post on this topic is either based entirely on wishful thinking and worse.

Fluff.

I do have uses for one, and I do want one. ...but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Pelorus]

i think this tablet has got its cross hairs square on the macbook air. What is that really for? surfing? watching movies? etc. bang on what this tablet could be aimed at.

Rather than knocking off the macbook i would be more worried about the macbook air.

I agree absolutely. The Air was mis-targetted. Some people (like me) used it as a main machine. The Tablet will be the second/third Apple machine for many people. It will be like the iPhone/iPod - it's possible to use it standalone but you'll miss out.

When it's the first machine in a household, it'll provide a Halo effect.