What Apple should be building, tablet-wise
Imagine this... you come home from work, and on the kitchen counter is a picture frame, showing your son/dog/sailboat, drifting past in OS X screensaver style, blending to another picture of same son/dog/boat. You drop your stuff, and pick the frame up, out of its unobtrusive cradle. Tapping the picture with your finger, you dispel the screensaver, revealing a simple interface to your computer (your honkin' G4/G5 humming away in the basement/office/garage). Maybe it's Sherlock 4, maybe it's OS X Lite, but whatever it is, you've added the icons and modules you want. One tap, and your e-mail is listed. You scroll through a few, and decide to answer them later. Another tap calls up your TiVo's Now Playing list, and you switch to the TiVo's To Do list to see what's coming up tonight.
You make dinner, calling up a recipe on your "picture frame" at one point.
After dinner, you leave the frame in the kitchen, and go down/up/out to your G4/G5 and do some work, play some games, whatever.
Later, watching TiVo ('cause who watches TV anymore?) you pause the broadcast and pick up another picture frame (a second one, because they're pretty cheap) and look up the actor on IMDB. Satisfied, you pop out the stylus and write a quick e-mail to your sister, proving that Chachi really was on The Love Boat, and put the frame back down to continue your show. But you pick it back up and tap through a couple of airline flight prices, eventually deciding that you love your sister, but you'll visit her another time.
The next day, as you're leaving for work, you consider taking your kitchen picture frame with you. It'll connect to your wireless network at work, and you can connect to your computer at home via IP. But you remember that Sally said she might have a copy of the Sherlock 4/OS X Lite standalone software beta at work today, and you could just use that on your G5 at work instead.
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So. Take the rumored tablet in discussion now, and make it a G3 powered computer/remote screen. Put 802.11g in it, and give it a cradle for power/charging and a long battery life. Build Sherlock 4 as a new kind of Finder/Remote Desktop, to interface remotely with your expensive, big, fast desktop tower computer. Sell it for $500 and sell them to homes that already have a computer, and don't want another one, but would like to compute in the garage, the kitchen, in front of the TV. Oh, and rebuild OS X so that multiple users can log in remotely at the same time. Add grain of salt. Shake. Discuss.
- Denver Crawl
You make dinner, calling up a recipe on your "picture frame" at one point.
After dinner, you leave the frame in the kitchen, and go down/up/out to your G4/G5 and do some work, play some games, whatever.
Later, watching TiVo ('cause who watches TV anymore?) you pause the broadcast and pick up another picture frame (a second one, because they're pretty cheap) and look up the actor on IMDB. Satisfied, you pop out the stylus and write a quick e-mail to your sister, proving that Chachi really was on The Love Boat, and put the frame back down to continue your show. But you pick it back up and tap through a couple of airline flight prices, eventually deciding that you love your sister, but you'll visit her another time.
The next day, as you're leaving for work, you consider taking your kitchen picture frame with you. It'll connect to your wireless network at work, and you can connect to your computer at home via IP. But you remember that Sally said she might have a copy of the Sherlock 4/OS X Lite standalone software beta at work today, and you could just use that on your G5 at work instead.
=====
So. Take the rumored tablet in discussion now, and make it a G3 powered computer/remote screen. Put 802.11g in it, and give it a cradle for power/charging and a long battery life. Build Sherlock 4 as a new kind of Finder/Remote Desktop, to interface remotely with your expensive, big, fast desktop tower computer. Sell it for $500 and sell them to homes that already have a computer, and don't want another one, but would like to compute in the garage, the kitchen, in front of the TV. Oh, and rebuild OS X so that multiple users can log in remotely at the same time. Add grain of salt. Shake. Discuss.
- Denver Crawl
Comments
Originally posted by MCQ
Hm... only half skimming, but at $500 no. PDA's with wireless cost that much... you expect tablet technology to come at that price?
I totally agree.
The tablet form factor is non-optimal for most professional use. Laptops are more ergonomically suitable most of the time while Tablets are best suited for terse, mobile data entry. PDAs currently occupy this niche, used by nurses, delivery companies, and warehouse personel; all domains where limited data needs to be entered while standing.
For a consumer tablets to be successful, they must be cheap enough that people will buy them in addition to their current, fully function desktop or laptop.
With current technology, I don't think this price point is acheivable.
But my situation would be a bit different. As an architect and 3D modeler, I need lots of horsepower in my computer. So I have a G4 at work and one at home. But this means going thru hoops to keep files, bookmarks, email etc current on multiple machines. So I recently purchased a new 17" PowerBook to use for both work and home. I had to give up some processing capability (dual processors) for the convenience of portability. Idealy, this is how I would like Apple to solve my delima.
At work I use my dual G5 (IBM 970) PowerMac to design a new building. All the files remain on the OS X Server machine for everyone on the network to share. However, the 3D model and textures are local to reduce network traffic and speed up rendering times. All my project management is done on a second server running FileMaker Pro and custom databases.
When I travel to a consultant's office for a meeting, I take my tablet with me along with a copy of the CAD files for reference. Meeting notes are taken down on the iPad for later exporting into the FileMaker database.
Once I get home I could connect the iPad to the home G5 PowerMac and work on a personal project. Keeping the files on the iPad's hard drive makes them available during the day at the office if I find time to work on this project. I can access the office servers via IP and could work on office projects at home also.
We browsing and email would be done on the iPad sitting next in the docking station next to the PowerMac. This allows me to keep contacts, email, bookmarks, personal files etc. up to date. I could see the iPad as storing the home folder for both my work and home PowerMacs so I have those files with me all the time (like only one set of iTunes music). Plus now I only have to carry this pad everywhere and not a full PowerBook. And for Apple's bottom line, it means I buy an iPad, and two G5 PowerMacs instead of the one 17" PowerBook I recently bought.
I also like your idea of surfing the web while watching TV.
I would buy one. But then I have a Palm and believe in the PDA thing. I would love for it to do more than it does now. I don't want to carry a PowerBook, iPod, phone, Palm, etc. Let me carry a phone and an iPad and let them talk together via Bluetooth.
I would think this idea would fly.
TBoxman
I, for one, would love to have a remote screen. Two. Three, when my kid is old enough to want his own portal into the family G6 tower (he's three weeks old now, so it'll be a while, G7 maybe?).
Don't get hung up on the tablet. That's just a form factor.
- Denver
Originally posted by Denver Crawl
So tablets are a horrible idea destined to fail. Wouldn't you like to have the ability to browse the web (to pick one possibility) from your armchair, without having to roll your tower over?
Yeah, almost all of us would love to own a tablet.
The problem is: Tablets cost too much for home users but aren't a suitable form factor for most business tasks.
Hmmm... sounds like a Cube
Originally posted by MCQ
The biggest flaw with your logic is that Apple just can't sell one at $500 so that a household could buy several of them. Heck, they're selling 20GB iPods for $500. You honestly think that Apple would sell a tablet (which, remember that on the PC side which already has tablets, have much slimmer margins and even then tablets sell at a minimum $1299) with integrated 802.11g and a G3 processor for $500?
Maybe that's why the post is in "Future Hardware" because in the future Apple will be able to hit the $500 price point. The question is whether or not this is a good idea for a consumer, household device.
And as I understand it, this tablet-esque device isn't really a tablet in the PC sense. It is not a portable computer -- not a laptop in a different form factor. It is a smart screen designed to leverage the storage space and processing power of a central computer. So just as Apple is able to deliver the iPod, an amazing digital device, focused on the "storage" aspect of the personal computing experience -- at the $500 price point no less. I think there is also room for a device centered on the home wireless network. Why should I have to run up to my office to check movie times? Or grab a phone number? These are not computationally intensive tasks. They do not require many gigabytes of storage. If the correct tradeoffs are made, another amazing digital device can emerge.
if you pick it up out of the cradle, why do you have to tap it to get the bloody screen saver off? now thats stupid
why do you even have to pick it up?
if I had such a device I would wipe my ass with it before setting it alight and sending it spinning out my window towards the trashcan frisbee-style
Pres
Quite apart from travelling around, say you're at home (or in a coffee shop or other wifi enabled place like that) and you want to know where all the supermarkets are in an area? Just use the Yellow Pages over the Airport-connected internet and your local street map shows them all.
Take that idea and run with it and you have a whole new use for tablets which just could be the killer app that makes them appeal to people...
So amaze me!
HP/Compaq introduced one last year, and MS the year before that. Have you seen anyone who actually owns one? PDAs, MP3 players and the like were big hits and within a year of their introduction it seemed everyone I knew had one.
The Mac-faithful here will say 'but Apple will do it right' and maybe there is something to that arguement. Afterall they have developed Inkwell.
Still, I think a tablet computer is one of those ideas that looks great on paper but there just isn't a need.
My $0.02? I don't need an $800 picture frame. Or a laptop with no keyboard, or a PDA that won't fit in my pocket. No tablet for me.
Their price is a limiter. Naturally you are not going to see them as much or as widely as iPods because the Windows based tablets are seven to ten times the price of an iPod.
Also different device: MP3 players and PDAs* are single function specific devices, while the tablets are an attempt to replace traditional laptop computers and their general computer use capability.
You're comparing grapes and oranges here. (And declaring the oranges as lemons because you, personally, haven't seen anyone use them).
*Yes, I know PDAs are whizzy neat things that can play games and play MP3s as well as PIM functions, but my Palm IIIx is collecting dust because I only, really used it for PIM and then I got my T68 and that was that.
Screed
I had a chance to use compaq tablet for a month, and i think it sucks :-)
I just don't see the point. Give me 12" PB and it beats any tablet.
And tablets are not more portable. Character recognition technology has a loooong way to go, so you need an external keyboard to use one, plus if you want to use CD, another external device to carry around, so if u think about it 12"PB is more portable.
Apple will not make $500, tablet, no way in hell :-)
What's the point?
Originally posted by preston
if you pick it up out of the cradle, why do you have to tap it to get the bloody screen saver off? now thats stupid
Pres
So now you're bitching about implementation details of a device that doesn't even exist? I think you do need a tablet to wipe your ass...you've got something on your mouth.
And maybe you just want to pass the "device" (we won't call it a tablet anymore) to a friend on the other side of the couch, so they can see the pictures of the dog/boat/baby. But you know those details can always be worked out later, or maybe (just maybe) Apple could provide a preference, which would allow you to decide the behavior. OMFG!!!
Originally posted by preston
why do you even have to pick it up?
Who said you had to pick anything up? Again, you're tilting at windmills.
Originally posted by piwozniak
Hi,
I had a chance to use compaq tablet for a month, and i think it sucks :-)
I just don't see the point. Give me 12" PB and it beats any tablet.
And tablets are not more portable. Character recognition technology has a loooong way to go, so you need an external keyboard to use one, plus if you want to use CD, another external device to carry around, so if u think about it 12"PB is more portable.
Apple will not make $500, tablet, no way in hell :-)
What's the point?
Again, in this discussion, we're not talking about a tablet that is a laptop replacement. I too have used a PC tablet. I too thought, "Hey, that's novel, but there's no way in hell I would take that over a 12" PB." Okay? I agree that tablets are no more portable, but Denver and I are talking about a device that would rarely leave the house if at all. Portablility concerns are limited to the question, "How easily can I move it from the kitchen to the living room?"
Character recognition is still a problem ("Eat up, Martha!?"), but hopefully Inkwell is much better than MS' solution (if only because of the Newton trials). But you know, it probably wouldn't be that hard to add a USB port, so if you wanted to write your novel in front of the TV, you could just plug in a keyboard.
Think about it this way. At the dawn of time, you know the late '70s and early '80s, the Internet came about because it was cheaper for folks to share computing time than have their own computer. This is the idea we want to bring to your home -- for you -- and the kids -- most definitely for the kids. Instead of limiting the computing power of your latest, greatest tower to your office, we think every room in the house should be able to slake its computing thirst on the bit-spewing hose that is the 970 or two 970s or 4 or 8 or you get the idea.
The problem with the tablet computer (besides the OCR and CD and such) is precisely the fact that it is another computer. Suddenly, I have another machine that I have to sync files with -- this does not make my life easier. My life should be easier. The "device" makes my life easier because I can control my computer from various locations about the house -- kind of like a really cool remote control.
Instead of integrating these things (something winblows media center tries to do), have dedicated devices for particular task, controlled by one single brain (your mac), In this scenario your mac can communicate with audio/video components scattered around your house, control lights, phones, all that electronic gizmos.
All you will need is SIMPLE 'remote like device', keyword is simple, small, providing you with some sort of feedback, PDA size.
Imagine you are sitting in front of your TV, you can change channels, pause it, record, all that stuff using one 'remote'. You want to listen to the music, your mac will stream it to dedicated device (receiver) in your living room.
Want to dim the lights, no problemo your mac will do that for u too.
But if you want to do photoshop work, play games, etc, you will need some 'oomph' to handle such a tasks, and this you will do on your comp.
Imagine how much $$$ apple can make by releasing dedicated digital hub devices....
Would you buy apple receiver capable of receiving audio/video images from your mac and displaying them on your tv, or receiving music and playing it through your speakers?
i would buy it.
Look at that picture-frame idea, why would i want to spend $500 on a decent size LCD, some sort of cpu/gpu equipped device, while i can watch my pictures on my tv? all wireless.
Why would i listen to my music through some tiny speakers, when i already have hifi system?
Instead of creating one device capable of audio/video/internet/whoknowswhatelse, utilize existing ones, by adding apple digital hub modules to them, or create digital hub appliances :-)
These things can be cheaper than your existing audio/video stuff as they will be basically dumb terminals for interacting with your 'digital-hub brain mac'
And i would love to have an option of watching my DVD in any room i have a tv in without buying separate dvd players
And i just realized that perhaps we are talking about the same thing.
Just not a tablet like expensive device, something simple, easy to use.
that idea sucks... it sucks so huge that I am a suckier person just from reading it... its horrible, honestly... like you suck so bad.
Yes you made my day.
I'm glad ya'll have $500 to spend on a tablet for browsing from your chair. Some people live on less than $1 a day. Food for thought.
What we REALLY need is for Apple engineer a screen on the PowerBook that bends around all the way and is an optional touchscreen (because I would think that would add to the price quite a bit.) The PowerBook 12" with this kind of screen would be more than adequate as a tablet.