'Minor issues' could result in June launch for $999 Apple tablet - report - Page 3

$999 is rather cheap! I was ready to pay more.

Doesn't matter! I'll buy it!

I'm just staring at this exchange with a sense of childlike wonderment.

Much of what you wrote will come true.

What all of the Apple fans are forgetting, is that this device is not being made for only "us"... it's being designed for "them".... the "I'm a PC crowd"... or even those people that don't have a computer. The same people that are snatching up iPods and iPhones.

The fact is, is that Windows is "scary" for the average person... Linux even scarier. Basic computing tasks will be served up by this device far more elegantly, faster, and secure than a Windows counterpart.

Think about that "JooJoo" device, and with SJ and Apple tech making it 10-100 times better... and you have a hit product on your hand. Especially for the majority of the demographic these days, and that's the Baby-Boomers. An iPod Touch or iPhone is just too small.... and a full-blown Mac is too much for their needs.


No wonder. What has MS or Adobe brought to the table over the last 5 years? Just bloated software IMHO. Hopefully cutting the bloat from those respective firms will trickle down to their software philosophy(!)


You are SOOO wrong on that one! It won't "replace" anything in "your" life. It will "add" something though to many people's lives. Again: an easy to use, secure, and dare I say fun way to enjoy what the Internet has to offer, as well as all of the new modern entertainment, publishing platforms and media.

Last week here in Germany their was a major advisory, on all radio, TV, and newspapers... get this... to NOT use Internet Explorer "at all" due to the recent security threats. People are down-right terrified of Windows and the Internet in particular.

Many have a computer for the Internet only! It's these people that are going to consider the new Apple device... even if it is more expensive that a netbook or cheap laptop.

PEOPLE are just plain sick and tired of MS and the security and maintenance problems, trying to keep the damn system running... just to use Google, Facebook, and email once in awhile! Add a few fun apps for pictures, music, and video (iLife/iWork).... and you just included 95% of what "most" people use a computer for.

PS: The new "iBook"... iSlate... whatever... will be to computers, what the Wii was to the gaming industry: it will introduce to a whole new demographic, and open up a whole new segment of the population to "secure connectivity and computing and entertainment".

PSS: A saying sticks out in my mind relating to the intro of the Wii: "I never did, nor consider myself now... a "Gamer"... but I'm loving this!".
That was quoted from a 50+ year old.

He certainly was. Refused point blank to don the prescribed rose-tinted goggles on cue each time the Apple anthem was played. Even more unforgivable, he refused to put on the headphones and play the looped tape repeating 'Apple can do no wrong...Apple can do no wrong' whenever he went to bed.

Can I interest you in a slightly used bridge Sir?

Sure, only inexperienced gambler bets against everything, that Wu has said. That gambler loses because Wu's got some points from rather right source. Still what remains is laughing bag.

Well, all in all and in the final end, we all will benefit from the fact Wu will learn how to have predicted things right.



You know, Mr Wu... Battery life concerns all of us humble Apple consumers. But for Apple, it's indeed the minor issue. And new platform launch in Jun impacts the iPhone 4 launch and this is the major paradigm shift.
Now, serious forecasters don't expect the big time gap between the announce and the production start. Even March is very doubtful.


Ummm, my dear Mr. Wu.... Your point is hugely challenged by the fact that telcos are very concerned with new Apple's product. They can't hide that while trying quite hard. They wouldn't bother for WiFi, I guarantee you.

What I'd like to see is a a subsidised tablet for around £300. Not subsidised by a network operator; but by the rumoured iTunes television show rental model.

That way I can ditch my flakey Sky+ TV service, and get a decent VOD service from Apple on my iBook (iSlate, iWhatever), and my Apple TV, and my MacBook, and my iPod/iPhone.

Throw in all the expected eBook/eZine functionality, plus all the usual App Store goodies (including iLife and iWork 'Lite' verions), and you've got a game changing device and eco system.

Google talks Chrome OS, HTML5, and the future of software

The above is a great read. This is why the "premium" experience with an Apple tablet makes sense... as well as a low-end, good-enough version using cheap netbooks and ChromeOS. MS is shaking!

I agree its a good read and it reinforced what I thought since Chrome OS was first announced. Apple at the top taking the premium HW sales, Google at the massive bottom of the OS pyramid taking the cheap HW sales, and MS in the middle. Thought MS will still have the huge middle section of the consumer market and dominate the business market but theyll finally lose some marketshare and bottom line. With Apple only the PC vendors are really being hurt by their growth.

I do think Google is being too hush hush about the real reason for Chrome OS. I dont think its for netbooks or cheap PCs so much as getting Chrome OS in any and every internet-capable appliance. Home routers, modems, cable boxes, TVs etc. They will corner the market in emerging countries well before MS can get Windows in their hands do to the increased HW requirements.

I agree re: MS in the enterprise... but the consumer market is wide open. See my "average home users" experiences (and I believe it could be backed up by fact if I cared to Google it).


I'm still always curious why Linux (UNIX) in various forms hasn't caught on the last few years in the enterprise. Cheaper.... and considering you need IT personnel for Windows anyway...why not? I also agree Google will be developing Chrome for all sorts of gadgets. System on a chip. Same as Apple will be doing with PA Semi (possibly) with this tablet.

When it comes to consumer usage of a computer, you can add Germany to the "developing countries" list.

Big companies like Apple and Google putting happy faces on UNIX... you have to wonder why MS sticks with that horrible underlying, DLL, COM, ActiveX and registry garbage. I would guess it's their death-grip (and death-knell) regarding legacy stuff.

Your thoughts "Soli"?

NICE


9

If it's true that it's going to originally sell for $1000, then apple has a long way to go to drop that to get the average jane and joes to buy it. If you're expecting a slash of 50% I think you might have misjudged it.

...hmmm... the whole idea and excitement about "cloud-computing" took a nose-dive on my part.

I have to take a look at integrating Twitter for one of my clients, between the Design and Sales departments, and my firm... and it says, ..."too many Whales, and SMS is not available".

I can see their faces when I tell 'em that one for an excuse... in German!!!!!

SO whats your real point smarty pants ??
we have no life ??
how low does that make you ??

commenting on us slugs ?? a fanbois pc ??

i mean even posting on a tired worn out boring 700 x tablet topic that has 5000 posts about every tiny bit of a product that has not even hit the shelves ...


apple will price it just out of reach $899-1099
and hold that price for 5 yrs while adding ever faster and better innards every 9 months

dozens of industries will adopt this cool toy and make thier own

gamers will freak out with a portable gaming tab that holds hundreds of silly 2 dollar games and word quizs

porn will also have a field day

schools will give this tablet or a lite drone version filled with 10 text books and background info on all that childs yrs courses

lawyers doctors and indian chiefs will buy this and need this like all their toys

scores a upon thousands of scores who buy it and let it sit un=used
like all those roller blades sitting in dust filled cubby holes

commuters the world over will park their cars and love their train rides once again

dick tracey will smile in his grave

a nano video watch phone band is next


oh and yes fanbois will buy it because any thing apple is a must buy

i genuis will have to leave his dark basement and avoid momma to reach the apple store
kidding


9

u're f...g blasting rhetorician, Demosthenes of those damn sad modern times, our cher nyer!

It had better come with at least a 2.4 duo, FireWire, dedicated gpu, an os that runs any movie type eg for tv show, flash for tv online, and keyboard input for that price. In fact at any price I wonder if it will be crippled as to lock you to iTunes tv. Paying for something that's free. Hmmm

Yeah, but you're a fanboy.

If there is only one version announced (that's a big "if") and the price point is $999, the tablet will be a non-starter. On the other hand, if there are two or three models to choose from - base, step-up, ultra - then $999 would arguably be acceptable for the high-end model if enough additional features warrant such a price boost.

Please, Apple, show me the magic.

I would not buy it, period. I have no interest in carrying around a 10" device.

That is a complete misinterpretation of computing and, specifically, enterprise computing. The fact is that UNIX did catch on with the enterprise. In the hierarchy of computers, the enterprise was dominated by big iron from such companies as IBM and its descendants of System 360. Smaller units ran midrange computers from such companies as DEC, Data General, and others. IBM was also huge in this space. DEC with its VAX family was massive. UNIX experienced some penetration of the raised floor facilities, but its forté was the engineering workstation. From there, it migrated to take over the server closet. The advent of the Internet was a boon to UNIX and the companies that relied on it like Sun, SGI, and HP. Windows bubbled-up through the ooze from the desktop to take over small servers. From the small servers, it displaced bigger servers.

One of the major reasons that Windows took over was that the enterprise had already hired throngs of staff to maintain the carload lots of Windows PCs that they had in use. Those Windows hordes convinced their superiors that using the same OS in the server room as on the desktop was a good idea. CFOs were seduced by the come-on price of hardware required to run Windows.

For those of us old enough to remember, there was a time when the firm's computer was a reliable as sunrise. There was a story out a few years ago of a UNIX server that a university had forgotten about. They didn't know where it was. When the server was located after three years, it had not lost a single packet. My firm's enterprise computers run Windows. Oh, I long for those days of yore.

Thanks for the info... but I should have been more pointed as to say "the client" or "desktop" software and systems. Yes, I am quite aware that the backroom stuff still runs UNIX variants. I have 2 clients (still) on AS400's. Works well for them... and is reliable "as sunrise". A large number of the workers still use Win2000... for those very reasons.

Sure. Just send me its dimensions to make sure it is wide enough from my private jet


Aren't we all?

Windows is great for the Enterprise. Linux has the problem of not being user friendly while Mac OS X has the problem of being tied to one HW vendor. Despite all the flaws of Windows is secure in business for a long time to come.

Chrome OS is the first non-Windows OS that may get any headway in client computers in the Enterprise but it wont be much. Internet or web-based intranet terminals. For example, use for filling out web-based application for company in HR.

I can't remember Wu EVER getting anything right!

Certainly not. Steve (Jobs) is probably a jerk in real life, there I said it.

Probably? He sure seems like a pompous, arrogant, pedantic megalomanic to me. Of course, that is the kind of person I want running a company like Apple.

If that what it costs to turn a hefty profit, then sure, but they dont usually price their products into the same categories. With many already thinking it will have Mac OS X and act as a replacement for MacBook, which makes no sense to me, I think that no more than $899 is much more likely.

It's 666 upside down. I need not say more.

lol - the price might be down to $999.99 in two years. Good luck!

The One Grand mark was mentioned with a 7 inch screen - now they're saying bigger (which is what I've been hearing all along - 10"). I hope it isn't so but I've been told $1500 is going to be the baseline price.

If we hear $1200 any time soon it'll be $1500 by June.