Apple said to have settled on supplier for tablet display

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  • Reply 61 of 101
    olternautolternaut Posts: 1,376member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2 View Post


    I would bet money that you won't see flexible displays in mainstream products for much much longer than that. The killer application for flexible displays is "proper" (not alpha, not beta, not expensive and not klunky or thick), e-paper which is still a couple of years off even in the lab and probably longer before any kind of production.



    If we are lucky we will see some keener use a flexible display for a couple of one-off really expensive toys in the interim (that no one will buy), but mainstream products are a long ways off IMO.



    With that way of thinking, and if Apple didn't exist, you would have never seen the iphone in 2007! There would have been a continuation of one dumbazz excuse after another why the technology wasn't ready or the market wasn't ready.



    But if we are taking Apple's way of doing things into account I suspect we will be seeing such devices much sooner than you think. Although, we're still gonna have to wait a bit more.
  • Reply 62 of 101
    wobegonwobegon Posts: 764member
    I think an important question to ask is, when did we first hear about the MacBook Air, the Apple TV, and/or the iPhone?



    Those all represented totally new form factors, yet I don't remember hearing rumors about them until they were just about to be unveiled at Macworld. So I have a hard time believing these rumors about a tablet when all the sources leaking information are saying this won't be out until sometime in 2010!



    I also agree with others here, there is no market for tablet computers. People can say "well this is their answer to the netbook market" all they want, but in the end a tablet is NOT a netbook.
  • Reply 63 of 101
    olternautolternaut Posts: 1,376member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wobegon View Post


    I think an important question to ask is, when did we first hear about the MacBook Air, the Apple TV, and/or the iPhone?



    Those all represented totally new form factors, yet I don't remember hearing rumors about them until they were just about to be unveiled at Macworld. So I have a hard time believing these rumors about a tablet when all the sources leaking information are saying this won't be out until sometime in 2010!



    I also agree with others here, there is no market for tablet computers. People can say "well this is their answer to the netbook market" all they want, but in the end a tablet is NOT a netbook.



    When people talk about apple's "netbook" what they are really talking about is Apple's answer to the netbook. It will not necessarily take that form factor. Nor will the form factor of the "device" take the form of a traditional tablet.

    Frankly, no one has any idea what this device is going to be like so we all use terms that we are used to.

    I bet none of them are accurate.
  • Reply 64 of 101
    jb85jb85 Posts: 33member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tokolosh View Post


    Kathy Lee Gifford and Nike were contracting with companies running sweat shops... essentially pennies a day, child labor, dark basements and 7 days per week for 10-14 hours per day. Wintek's situation is unpaid overtime (but still union negotiated wages) and labor reductions without notice (and I assume without severance). These two situations are not the same. Both are unethical but on a degree of morality they don't rate even remotely similar. Be encouraged by the fact that the workers were even able to stage a protest... in the sweat shops there would be sweeping firings and a plethora of other children and adults would be brought in to do the same slave-like labor. Complaints would go ignored and be rug swept.



    Are Chinese company labor practices on par with those in the United States? No. But they are improving with time and attention. What we can't expect is for every developing nation to suddenly act like the United States or Great Britain. Each developing nation needs its own opportunity to grow through the same issues we went through in our industrial growth periods. What we can do is hope to help them through it faster but I am not sure boycotts are the way. We stop buying the products and it encourages companies to further seek cost cutting measures. Apple may in fact be a great source of help here... they have shown a will to aid in causes without regard for their bottom line. Perhaps they will attack this one but only time will tell. One thing is for sure... they can't be about every issue that hits the news stands or focus entirely on causes. That is not a sustainable business model.



    I agree!
  • Reply 65 of 101
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Olternaut View Post


    When people talk about apple's "netbook" what they are really talking about is Apple's answer to the netbook. It will not necessarily take that form factor. Nor will the form factor of the "device" take the form of a traditional tablet.

    Frankly, no one has any idea what this device is going to be like so we all use terms that we are used to.

    I bet none of them are accurate.



    Thank you! A refreshing, realistic perspective.



    We've heard Tim Cook already say that Apple has some interesting ideas for this sector. I dbout it'll take the classic form of a netbook as well.



    In fact, as you said, we really don't know what Apple has planned for this segment of the market, and what they roll out usually defies (pleasantly) expectations anyway.
  • Reply 66 of 101
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Where's Ireland?
  • Reply 67 of 101
    haggarhaggar Posts: 1,568member
    Apple will not make a video iPod. Nobody wants to watch video on an iPod.



    Apple should not allow third parties to create native iPhone applications. Nobody cares about native iPhone applications. Web apps are really SWEET.



    Apple will not add copy-paste to the iPhone. Nobody cares about copy and paste.



    Apple will not make a multi-button mouse.



    Apple will never switch to Intel processors.
  • Reply 68 of 101
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post


    Apple will not make a video iPod. Nobody wants to watch video on an iPod.



    Apple should not allow third parties to create native iPhone applications. Nobody cares about native iPhone applications. Web apps are really SWEET.



    Apple will not add copy-paste to the iPhone. Nobody cares about copy and paste.



    Apple will not make a multi-button mouse.



    Apple will never switch to Intel processors.



    Are you quoting solipism again?
  • Reply 69 of 101
    olternautolternaut Posts: 1,376member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Where's Ireland?



    Yeah where is he? He should be chiming in on this thread.



    In lighter news, I've just picked up my road bike which had a total drivetrain upgrade. I decided to covert it to full campy with new Chorus derailleurs front and rear, brand new FSA SLK-light carbon fiber crankset, high end bike chain and had my rolf prima vigor RS rear wheel redished to accept campy.

    As well, I got a centaur cassette for the rolf wheel as well as an extra one for the mavic training wheel......which was campy converted as well.



    Only cost me $1200.00 for the project. I'm all set for my memorial day weekend. Now I can forget all about the iTablet news till next week.
  • Reply 70 of 101
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    If Apple can find a market for a tablet then there is probably one, but I think that if there is a tablet device it will be a 10? net-book-like device with a swivel screen that can also double as a tablet. That would make it a very expensive netbook and may appeal to both groups despite the cost. Seems unlikely, but If there is a tablet I think that is way it would have to be.



    Color e-Ink would be great. That is a device I would love to have if the display was the size of a standard magazine and with a high enough resolution and colours to literally replace magazines, but that is for another thread when that finally becomes a semi-realistic rumour.



    your dream machine is not a tablet .its a ugly swivel something bug like netbookish . kindled

    I suggest you watch the ten commandments , those are tablets in Moses hands !!!
  • Reply 71 of 101
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GCS View Post


    The damn Green Peace hippies don't care about the slug either - they care about controling your life and returning to the 14th century (something they have in common with the People of Peace).



    As for AAPL's product - what about a smaller MacBook Air which would also fit the quoted supplier items?



    i think you have it right .

    its does seem like a mini air book is coming



    >>>>>>

    what is a green peace hippie ???
  • Reply 72 of 101
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    edit too many posts in a row

    sorry
  • Reply 73 of 101
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2 View Post


    Well, since all this is really in the realm of fantasy for the moment, I will put forward my idea of a "killer app," and that is ....



    Writing.



    If such a device can effectively be used to write on, why would anyone carry around a gigantic laptop to do the same thing? Pushed further, what if it had a book store similar to the app store on the iPhone? It's almost impossible to get anything published nowadays unless you publish it yourself or "know someone." A book store would mean that individuals could "publish" works to this store and sell them to others just like app developers can do now with apps.



    All of a sudden publishers, printers etc. are staring at obsolescence.



    I have absolutely no evidence that this is what Apple is thinking and no proof that it would work, it's just my private fantasy (being a writer) and I think it would be cool.



    ok ok ok

    all the things you say it can do and i think maybe

    doctors could use a tablet

    maybe with real time a/v chats and such concerning medical stuff ./. and artists and lawyers .and the mom at the baech with the kids

    hmm i hope they do make one
  • Reply 74 of 101
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chris_CA View Post


    And?



    I have emails to prove that I...

    - won the lottery

    - won a 60" plasma television & vacation

    - will receive 15% of $18 million from somone in Uganda



    Well, in that case cash the lottery money for your ticket to Uganda... because I came back from Taiwan only yesterday, and with good news about the next iPhone for in our magazine.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chris_CA View Post


    Besides, what does it matter if they actually have them now or not?

    Many contracts are signed with intent to deliver something not yet produced.



    I never said that they won't have 10" touch screens in the (near) future. I only mentioned that WinTek doesn't have them right now!
  • Reply 75 of 101
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,004member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wobegon View Post


    I think an important question to ask is, when did we first hear about the MacBook Air, the Apple TV, and/or the iPhone?



    Are you kidding?

    I don't remember much about the Apple TV--never has interested me. The MBA had some buz I suppose. But the iPhone--people had been talking about it for years. When the Motorola crap phone with some iTunes integration was announced, there was a collective groan "This is the iPhone we have all been waiting for??" It was a while before iPhone buzz started up again, but long before its announcement.



    Quote:

    I also agree with others here, there is no market for tablet computers. People can say "well this is their answer to the netbook market" all they want, but in the end a tablet is NOT a netbook.



    I don't see the market either, though I can see myself wanting one if it has the right price/power ratio. But I don't think you can dismiss the "answer to netbook" argument so blithely. Netbooks exist because many people want something portable that accesses the net and email and is cheap. The netbook form factor is a result of familiarity and lack of imagination--they took what already existed, stripped it down and made it cheap.



    Some people already assert that the iPhone/iTouch line has obviated their need for a netbook. If apple can come up with a tablet that is cheep enough and good enough on surfing the web and writing email, then I suppose it can be Apple's answer to the netbook whether you see it or not... I'm not saying that I am certain of Apple's success if they enter this market, but I'm not ready to write them off before I see what they have been working on...
  • Reply 76 of 101
    enzosenzos Posts: 344member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    ok ok ok

    all the things you say it can do and i think maybe

    doctors could use a tablet

    maybe with real time a/v chats and such concerning medical stuff ./. and artists and lawyers .and the mom at the baech with the kids

    hmm i hope they do make one



    When I was working as a research scientist I would loved a multi-touch tablet computer to take the place of the lab notepad, &c. Presumably, it would dock onto a proper keypad for serious data and text entry but otherwise - with full Unix underneath - it would be all the computer you need. And if the price were right, it would quickly find its way into millions of back-packs/handbags/satchels on school and uni campuses everywhere. Indeed, I find it a more compelling product than the iPhone-sized device.



    A quick test suggests, however, that the perfect size for the lab and hospital would be about 8" diagonal because 10" is a tad big for lab-coat pockets.
  • Reply 77 of 101
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Apple lost a great niche when they discontinued the small form factor of the 12" PowerBook.



    I'm still happily using my 12" final gen iBook! Great little machine - but couldn't have much higher res and still be useable, so a trade-off in visual real estate. 10" makes me think a new Appleish solution will be based on gestural control and other parts of the mobile OS - really allowing easy, smooth, fast, scroollig and panning - with hybrids of scaled up iPhone apps (and mobile apps, e.g., something between big screen facebook and mobile facebook) and re-designed-for-greater-touch-control productivity apps if they're after a mass market.



    Haven't used a netbook, but wonder how MS Internet Explorer on XP functions with a 10" screen? Not too impressive in any way I can imagine - and probably harder to navigate long/wide sites as elegantly as an iPhone already does.



    And I was intringued by this post below which I think is consonant with what I'm saying.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2 View Post


    I don't know if I can lay out a business model, but I can make a brief argument why if Apple comes out with a tablet, that it might succeed even though all others before it have failed.



    The classic tablet PC is just a laptop with a touch screen and a pen. The laptop size ones are as heavy as your average laptop and thus horrible to hold in the crook of your arm. The OS is the same mouse-based OS that is on a regular PC, but you use the pen as the mouse so very simple things like roll-overs and right-clicks immediately become complex actions instead of the intuitive things they are on the average PC desktop. The big bonus is drawing, and handwriting, but the device is so big and clunky that these advantages are almost cancelled out in everyday use.



    In my experience, the only times when a PC tablet is a "perfect fit" is when the device itself is supported, (you are on the couch with your knees up, you are using a table in a meeting, etc.), and one is either drawing, or writing. Almost everything else is a pain, and dragging the thing around is a pain. The only tablet type devices that have any utility at all really are the small form factor ones like Newton, Palm, etc. and those have actually done rather well despite severe limitations of power and the inability to use standard formats, software, or connectivity.



    An Apple tablet (as rumoured), would immediately do away with most of these concerns.
    • The OS is made expressly for the device, and for fingers (and possibly pens), not mice.

    • The device itself is only as big as it needs to be and is more or less pocketable.

    • It can be held in one hand easily, and typed on easily and quickly.

    • It would use standard file formats, memory, connectivity etc.

    So just by virtue of it's mobile OS-X genes, it will be better than most tablets, with the exception of actual writing and drawing, the one thing the current tablets do better than almost anything else. Even without being the best at pen input though, an Apple tablet is a very different proposition than any of the modbooks or other tablets that preceded it.



    Also, there has been a rumour for a while now based on an Apple patent application, that Apple has some magic up it's sleeve to solve the whole pen/stylus issue. This would make the device an absolute home run, but I wouldn't hold your breath as it's a pretty far out idea.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post


    A convertible tablet, which is a laptop with a touchscreen that rotates around and folds all the way down over the keyboard, would be more useful than a screen-only device.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    I'll eat my hat and your hat! Not gonna happen!



    There is just no likely way to really solve this dilemma: a company that keeps simplifying the forms of its products: no switches, no Sim cards, no flash, no battery changing, e.g., is not about to break form and build something so mechanically complicated and Rube Goldberg-like in concept - nor anything with a thick footprint.



    Speaking of which, btw, does anyone else remember the IBM "Butterfly keyboard" small laptop (for the time)? The coolest, most whimsical design thing ever to come out of Armonk by leagues (not that it had many cool or whimsical things to compete with for the title, given IBM's buttoned down all biz culture, but cool nonetheless). It was amazing to watch a full-sized keyboard unfold out of the notebook when the lid opened, especially the first time, even if you knew about it and were expecting it. It made you think the most amazing s**t was just around the corner. And much has been, but damn, some's still just a promise always a bit down the road for decades now. And the machine, after an initial rush of publicity was never a big seller and there were no followup models.



    So with that in mind, and the ticklish compromises that must be made to create something more useful by mobs than as an amazing design exercise....



    On the other hand, mass numbers of humans are not going to choose to write regularly or at length on any virtual keyboard I've tried - especially many tasks beyond word processing, e.g., critical spreadsheet entry and database fields and being both unpocketable AND without a keyboard really not likely a mass market device. Also, not even as a super iPod. One person is better able to cope with a 4" screen than two or three are likely to be "immersed" in a a 10" one.....



    So is the elusive sucker a modular "system" with optional wireless keyboard and possibly others (mouse, optical drives, etc)? Not likely to sell milllions either. Unless it's a somewhat recognizeable scaled down notebook factor totally integrated with the multi-touch control ethos of an iPhone (with drawing/handwriting possibiities), video Skyper and conferencer (ad hoc meetings from any wireless and/or cellular connection), minimal bezel real estate so truly not much bigger than its screen, and can come in nicely turned out and equipped for around $700 ($800 tops).



    Halfway between evolutionary and revolutionary could be the sweet spot???



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2 View Post


    Well, since all this is really in the realm of fantasy for the moment, I will put forward my idea of a "killer app," and that is ....



    Writing.



    If such a device can effectively be used to write on, why would anyone carry around a gigantic laptop to do the same thing? Pushed further, what if it had a book store similar to the app store on the iPhone? It's almost impossible to get anything published nowadays unless you publish it yourself or "know someone." A book store would mean that individuals could "publish" works to this store and sell them to others just like app developers can do now with apps.



    All of a sudden publishers, printers etc. are staring at obsolescence.



    Do keep dreamin' y'all..... ...too many interesting ideas in this thread to comment on 'em all. Lotsa thinkin' goin' on. But there's a diff between dreaming and fantasizing about what's possible in 2009-10:

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stuffe View Post


    Multitouch colour E-Ink is the holy grail of this sort of device for me.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2 View Post


    If we are lucky we will see some keener use a flexible display for a couple of one-off really expensive toys in the interim (that no one will buy), but mainstream products are a long ways off IMO.



    I'll quote SpamSandwich again:

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    I'll eat my hat and your hat! Not gonna happen!



    In fact I think I'll save this and put it into a lot of my posts, LOL!!
  • Reply 78 of 101
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by enzos View Post


    When I was working as a research scientist I would loved a multi-touch tablet computer to take the place of the lab notepad, &c. Presumably, it would dock onto a proper keypad for serious data and text entry but otherwise - with full Unix underneath - it would be all the computer you need. And if the price were right, it would quickly find its way into millions of back-packs/handbags/satchels on school and uni campuses everywhere. Indeed, I find it a more compelling product than the iPhone-sized device.



    A quick test suggests, however, that the perfect size for the lab and hospital would be about 8" diagonal because 10" is a tad big for lab-coat pockets.



    Sounds good dude . you may not need a separate keyboard because you will be able to type right on the screen .Multi touch stuff etc .

    I guess the doctor would enter info one handed . Or the doc could record a patient describing his/her ailment .



    Also for lawyers and legal stuff . You can have someone filmed agreeing to something and then said person could sign his sig. right on the screen .



    8 in sounds just right .
  • Reply 79 of 101
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    your dream machine is not a tablet .its a ugly swivel something bug like netbookish . kindled

    I suggest you watch the ten commandments , those are tablets in Moses hands !!!



    1) What part of my statement suggested any combination was my "dream machine"?



    2) A viable market is made up by the few. Unless Apple is going to focus heavily on commercial there is no viable consumer market for a tablet that is just a tablet.



    3) Was the Moses comment you being witty? Besides the term tablet I don't see a connection between the first and second parts of your post.
  • Reply 80 of 101
    gregalexandergregalexander Posts: 1,400member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GCS View Post


    what about a smaller MacBook Air which would also fit the quoted supplier items?



    The MBA is already as small as it can be. (for now)



    However, Apple could base the internals on the iPhone - with bumped up ARM processing - and provide a much thinner/lighter 10" "iBook Air". Touch screen of course. I expect it could easily do everything the iPhone does, including the movie editing we've heard rumoured for the iPhone. Throw in pages and it could be very useful.



    Not a netbook as we know it - it wouldn't run regular Mac programs But a small notebook, light and power efficient, for surfing the web and word processing etc... could be interesting.
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