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What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet?
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I think that it is how many readers can concurrently share. If you go through the pains for removing it from the other device (just like removing a book from your bookshelf to put it on a family member bookshelf) it works.
http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/21/kindlegate-confusion-abounds-regarding-kindle-download-policy/
But yeah is it quite more complicated that it really needs to be. It appears that the Kindle DRM system designed dealing with sharing almost as an afterthought.... because it is just way too clumsy.
No way...
Absolutely no way this thing has phone services as an option. Data services only. 3G and wifi. There is no reason to have phone services on a device that is not meant as a handset phone. It cost money for the R/D and the install. Another FCC application that Apple doesn't need to worry about, etc. Skype and other ViOP will suffice for those that need the phone.
As for that previously mentioned Nokia 770, if the Tablet is at all like that device then it will fail. The iPhone already made that device irrelevant.
Absolutely no way this thing has phone services as an option. Data services only. 3G and wifi. There is no reason to have phone services on a device that is not meant as a handset phone. It cost money for the R/D and the install. Another FCC application that Apple doesn't need to worry about, etc. Skype and other ViOP will suffice for those that need the phone.
As for that previously mentioned Nokia 770, if the Tablet is at all like that device then it will fail. The iPhone already made that device irrelevant.
This brings up a big issue. I certainly hope that there is a version of the iTablet that does not require mobile service. I live in an area with no cell phone coverage. (Much of the country still does not have coverage despite how it looks on those coverage maps - mountains are very effective at blocking cell tower signals.) I almost never am in a cell phone area. Even if I was I still wouldn't want cell phone for my data.
I have Wi-Fi for connectivity. We need to have the option to opt out of cell phone. I won't buy a iTablet that requires me to waste additional money every month on services. I don't mind paying more for prepaid or service-less iTablet just as I paid more to buy an iPod Touch than I would have paid for an iPhone up front.
Cheers
-Walter
Really?? Are there iPhone browser alternatives that aren't based on mobile Safari/webkit engine? Alternative media Players? Can I sync my iPhone with something other than iTunes? And note I didn't say anything about Mac/Snow Leopard - although given a chance now, I am not so sure Apple wouldn't choose to lock Mac OS down as well.
Pelorus said:
Yes, the Apple's "official" answer to the FCC inquiry was that the Google Voice was rejected for UI elements that would "confuse" the users with built in phone dialer. But of course, it's complete nonsense because there are plenty of approved voice apps that are made very similarly to GV Mobile, etc. It's pretty obvious that Apple is scared of Google and competitive threat their free services present to Apple's vision.
But in any case, I don't really care about what the reasons are for Apple's rejection of one app or the other. I am a grown up, and I should be able to make my own decisions about what apps to install or not install on a piece of electronics that I own. I do not need a nanny control-freak corporation (i.e. Apple) to tell me what apps I can or cannot run.. or what will or will not "confuse" me.
ELScorcho9 said:
Well, I will be one of them, and I am sure I won't be alone. Also, as Android and other open / non-locked down alternatives pick up the market and mind share - Apple's restrictive and controlling schemes will face further pressure and ultimately cost them more lost customers.
I just had an oddball idea. What if it's simply like the Redfly companion device available for other phones?
In other words, it's just a large portable wireless touchscreen display, with no intelligence of its own, so you still need to own either an iPhone or iPod touch... or heck, even a desktop Mac.
Talk about a multiple sales generator.
(This might have been brought up before, at least for some Apple devices. Apologies if so.)
In other words, it's just a large portable wireless touchscreen display, with no intelligence of its own, so you still need to own either an iPhone or iPod touch... or heck, even a desktop Mac.
Talk about a multiple sales generator.
(This might have been brought up before, at least for some Apple devices. Apologies if so.)
KnightWRX said:
If the Tablet will support 3G data capabilities - it will be able to act as a cell phone. You will be able to run SIP/VoIP apps over 3G, without traditional voice plan.
My personal prediction is that the Tablet will not support any 3G/data. It will be Wifi/802.11x only device.
Then the rumors of it being e-reader focussed must be untrue - it would be insane to enter that market now and compete with devices that have ubiquitous (and, mind you, free) connectivity for downloading books.
I think after 770 posts on this topic,I believe we've run into this issue: we're trying to define this "iSlate" tablet computer with yesterday's computing paradigms.
Exactly! This is what I've thought all along over the past several months as these tablet talks have been discussed more and more. I just think that there's something especially unique about this thing that nobody has really hit on yet. I think it's something to do with the UI and interaction....
Must have 3G...
My vote is definitely for 3G. It fits into Apple's desire to sell you media in more places than wifi hot spots. Apple is in this for the money and that delivery system must include almost everywhere downloading.
My vote is definitely for 3G. It fits into Apple's desire to sell you media in more places than wifi hot spots. Apple is in this for the money and that delivery system must include almost everywhere downloading.
actually they're pretty sure that 99% of people will click on sone malware once intheir life.
If the AppStore is the 'cost' of malware prevention, I pay it gladly.
I think after 770 posts on this topic,
Exactly - most people in this thread are arguing tooth and nail about how this will or won't work based on yesterday's paradigm and devices.
The car is a no-brainer today, but at the time people just wanted faster horses, and couldn't imagine how that stupid car thing would be anything but a fad - besides, it won't fit in their barn stall, it won't run it on hay, their saddles won't fit, prairie wagons tip over all the time, Trigger the stallion still gets them to the general store and back just fine, etc. etc. etc.
Not saying the mystery tablet will be as important as the automobile, but this is a comical 800-post example of "thinking inside the box".
Whatever. Let's come back in 6 months and see who mustered the tiniest bit of non-linear thinking.
I am not sure that cell data "whispernet" type connectivity is a real requirement for an eReader. You surely don't need always-on data for book reading purposes. For book purchases/downloading purposes - WiFi access is more than adequate.
Cars going back to the original Daimler-Benz, curved-dash Oldsmobile, and original Ford Model A? Maybe. Cars in the 2010 model year? I demand proof that phone access is limited to Bluetooth connections to cell phones in the majority of cars.
My car allows me to connect its sound system to my cellphone via Bluetooth. It is also OnStar®-equipped giving its passengers cellphone access over a second carrier, Verizon. Remember that this was mentioned in the context of GM cars. Virtually every GM car sold in the US is OnStar®-equipped. Many of GM's competitorsparticularly those from Asiaalso use OnStar® or a competitive system.
The bottomline is that many automobiles today including mine are effectively giant cellphones.
I absolutely agree.
it's worth mentioning that the width of the latest American muscle car relates to the width of Boston carriage axles which in turn relates to worn ruts in stone roads in Europe laid down by the Roman Empire.
The Tablet is the muscle car. And it will have built upon an incredible legacy.
If you seriously believe that Apple's primary reason to lock down iPhone/iPod to their App Store is to protect you from malware.. you are naive at best.
Reduced display choice is good for graphics programmers and interface programmers.
Reduced SKU's is good for production costs and in-stock experience and margins.
Limited ranges of software capabilities allows better debugging and security of what they have with "only" thousands of employees, is practical.
There are some limits and issues at the margins, but Apple is after 96% of the addressable market, not 99.44%.
In case you are checking my math, that gives them a large growth potential in market share and a much smaller growth capacity in overall industry profit share.
Rocketman
That's nice, but the market disagrees with you. The only ebook solutions that have achieved anything resembling success have 3G. Sony was in the market for years but got killed when Amazon (and now B&N) added 3G connectivity. The ability to make impulse purchases is a key to monetizing these things, as well.
I didn't say it was their primary reason, that's your straw man.
Primary reason, as has been trotted out here many times, is to make money (by providing a rich ecosystem so that you'd be crazy not to buy from it).
Malware prevention is a benefit too. And Apple is one of the few companies to deliver on Trusted Computing and they did so on their non-legacy platform.
IPhone and Tablet are evidently two nails in the final coffin of the old way of the Mac
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
If I'm right- that it can also be an optional iPhone- I would expect this (that you don't have to buy mobile service to buy this device). That's also contributing to my guess of $799 (an unsubsidized price). If you are willing to buy service, that's how I think we get the "shockingly low" price recently rumored...
"shocking low price*"
Fine print:
*with 2-year 3G contract.
I'm just hoping- expecting actually- that it won't be locked to just AT&T, but be open to other carriers since it wouldn't be an iPhone product (instead, it's a Tablet that happens to have 3G functionality as an option).
That remains my guess. And if so, I might be interested in the rumored 7" version since that would be a phone that is a better fit for my larger hands... and I could see a 7" device and a laptop working pretty well in the travel bag.
First off, the cell data capabilities you see on Kindle isn't really general purpose 3G. It's restricted to downloading books only. I can't imagine Apple supporting this type of connectivity on the Tablet.
General-purpose 3G data is ridden with all sorts of complications that Apple will want to avoid. Just my prediction.
I'm not disagreeing with you. If you go back to my post, I said, essentially, "if there isn't 3G, then it isn't intended to be a kindle killer." Either it's a kindle killer, in which case it has 3G, or it isn't, in which case it may or may not have 3G.
Bolded part just proved my point exactly. If your car is a giant cellphone (instead of just a BT headset) and your Tablet is a cellphone, you'll still have a handset cellphone.
That's because a cellphone that doesn't fit in your pocket is not practical. No one wants to have to go out to the car or carry a bag just to have phone service when you can have a handset in your pocket.
This was my point. You tried to argue around it, and ended up proving it. BTW, I know of OnStar, but most cars aren't OnStar equipped. You mentionned GM, I didn't.
Voice cellphone functionality on a tablet PC doesn't make any sense. At all.
There isn't a reduced display choice, because the other resolutions exist on different models. So interface programmers still have to code for the varying sizes; we just get shafted on our number of options available.
I'll cough up an extra dollar for a separate barcode.
This has absolutely zero relevance to anything. The software has to work on different resolutions on different models already. See number one.
Fail.