The Spymac story sounds bogus. In particular the line that the tablet is for people"...who do not require the power or diversity of Apple's current portable offerings."
To me this implies that a tablet would be the least powerful of all Apple portables...even the iBook. Please tell me what a machine that is outpaced by an iBook is good for? E-mail maybe? Surfing the web? Stripped down Internet devices have been tried before and failed. Remember 3COM's Audrey? That thing was powerful and cheap, but had such narrow capabilites that it was a big failure.
If Apple is working on a tablet (which I doubt, but I've been wrong before), I can't imagine it being less powerful than 'Apple's current portable offerings.' Spymac is just blowing smoke.
This all seems eerily like the buzz before the new iMac. I think whatever Apple does, it'll catch us ALL off guard. Did ANYONE suspect the design that Apple came up with for the current iMac? I think as much as we try to speculate, Apple will go well above and beyond our expectations. Personally, I would love to have a handheld/iPod-like tablet.
New computers won't turn around our marketshare dilemna. Apple has been on target in its stores and switch campaigns. The regular consumer has more or less not heard of 970 or all coming stuff coming out. The only thing hardware wise to make people switch are cutting prices of the current base models. Its too bad that we've back ourselves into a corner as being the premiere computing platform, like mercedes benze is the premiere auto company.
Just as a fact: just because someone owns a Mac does NOT mean that they are interested in Apple's Top Secret R&D, etc. If you buy an iBook, that does not make you a cult member; That is the consumer's choice. Most people buy Macs because they don't want to think about computers more than they have to, and Apple lets them do just that. But us geeks... But I would buy a tablet, as long as it was:
- $700
-a 600mhz+ G3
-full color display
-airport and bluetooth
-runs of the shelf software as well as an equally equipped iBook does
-4 hours+ battery life
That would be faster than the computer I'm using now!
AND: It has to be obvious that it is an Apple tabet.
The PC market has proved Tablet PC a success. The manufacturers have been caught short in their sales estimates and there's a wait from most manufacturers to get one.
Simply not manufacturing enough of a product to meet demand is no indication of whether the product is successful.
Success? I don't think any PC manufacturer has ever turned a single penny of profit from tablet computing. They also lost hundreds of millions during the windows CE era. A couple more years of pocket PC hardware and these manufacturers might break even... might.
I think it makes sense for Apple to release the tablet thing as it will do exactly what the iPod has done... make them a shed load of cash during a time when the PowerMacs are being passed over in the hope an upgrade.
The numbers speak for themselves, Apple have 40% marketshare in portable digital music players! and with just one product!
The tablet has the potential for them to grab a big fat section of the market and get some good income from the people who love there toys!
If they give it the potential to become more than just a computer. i.e it could replace the iPod if you could put it in a mode where you can turn off the display and play MP3s from the hd.....the remote they already have would work... you'd still be able to use it as an external drive, but you could also use it in conjunction with a WiFi point or a bluetooth mobile to surf remotely, use it as a remote control for iTunes from your desktop via bluetooth, to control household devices....or netboot your macs hard disk and work on your normal setup while on the sofa...
It could be what the PC tablets just won't be by being small enough to carry and not so feature bloated that the cost is too high....
Anyone remember this thread? I thought the "iScribe" picture in the post by Masker was cool as hell. It would probably have to be smaller than the picture depicts though.
(Yes, it does look almost the same as the 'iTablet' picture on SpyMac)
Comments
To me this implies that a tablet would be the least powerful of all Apple portables...even the iBook. Please tell me what a machine that is outpaced by an iBook is good for? E-mail maybe? Surfing the web? Stripped down Internet devices have been tried before and failed. Remember 3COM's Audrey? That thing was powerful and cheap, but had such narrow capabilites that it was a big failure.
If Apple is working on a tablet (which I doubt, but I've been wrong before), I can't imagine it being less powerful than 'Apple's current portable offerings.' Spymac is just blowing smoke.
- $700
-a 600mhz+ G3
-full color display
-airport and bluetooth
-runs of the shelf software as well as an equally equipped iBook does
-4 hours+ battery life
That would be faster than the computer I'm using now!
AND: It has to be obvious that it is an Apple tabet.
Originally posted by michaelb
The PC market has proved Tablet PC a success. The manufacturers have been caught short in their sales estimates and there's a wait from most manufacturers to get one.
Simply not manufacturing enough of a product to meet demand is no indication of whether the product is successful.
Success? I don't think any PC manufacturer has ever turned a single penny of profit from tablet computing. They also lost hundreds of millions during the windows CE era. A couple more years of pocket PC hardware and these manufacturers might break even... might.
The numbers speak for themselves, Apple have 40% marketshare in portable digital music players! and with just one product!
The tablet has the potential for them to grab a big fat section of the market and get some good income from the people who love there toys!
If they give it the potential to become more than just a computer. i.e it could replace the iPod if you could put it in a mode where you can turn off the display and play MP3s from the hd.....the remote they already have would work... you'd still be able to use it as an external drive, but you could also use it in conjunction with a WiFi point or a bluetooth mobile to surf remotely, use it as a remote control for iTunes from your desktop via bluetooth, to control household devices....or netboot your macs hard disk and work on your normal setup while on the sofa...
It could be what the PC tablets just won't be by being small enough to carry and not so feature bloated that the cost is too high....
I'm back in optimist mode, damn!
(Yes, it does look almost the same as the 'iTablet' picture on SpyMac)