I was a lot younger then and you seem to know more than me on some levels, so I give in to your knowledge. But I feel my initial point is still valid, to me - no one else has to agree, without Jobs Apple slowly stalled and almost went bankrupt. They were stagnant and didn't really grow, just played to satisfy it's niche buyers but seldom pulled in converts. I remember a lot of people were saying they may be sold or go under. They didn't bring Jobs back because things were going well, they brought him back because it was sink or swim and he gave them the best chance and returned them back to his original vision and quality demands. That was and is my point, with Jobs they they do more than succeed, they surpass and innovate on new levels. With Jobs they have been slowly converting new users which is important for brand and profit growth. With Jobs they have changed the tech world on many levels.
Jobs IS Apple to me and I do fear when he steps down permanently without the right person in place they will slowly revert to mid-late 90s all over again. And that I stand by firmly!
I would not be so quick to stand so firmly by speculations. I don't pretend to know what happens in a post-Steve Apple. A lot depends on who takes over. The management team is much improved from what it was during the '80s and '90s, so I don't believe that disaster is in any way imminent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alandail
we're straying off topic, but I think there is a difference. In 1985, Steve was forced out by people who thought he had the wrong vision for Apple. When he left, he took some people who shared his vision, the people left at Apple went in a different direction. All Steve did while away was build the technology needed to save Apple and that is at the heart of everything they do today.
This time around, when he steps down (which hopefully is a ways off), it won't be because the company wants to go in a different direction than he does. That should make a difference.
Steve was forced out by the man he'd hired to run the company. He convinced John Scully to become CEO because Apple was a mess, fiscally and management-wise. Jobs understood that much -- he said the company lacked "adult supervision." Scully was meant to be that adult. He deserves credit for righting the ship, and Apple was actually quite profitable during most of Scully's years as CEO. What he lacked was much technological vision, though it should be mentioned that he championed the Newton, a product which many to this day recall fondly. So it wasn't all bad, by any means. It could be argued that the guys who followed Scully, Ameilo and Spindler, were the clueless ones.
Steve didn't do anything while he was away which was intended to save Apple; how this worked out was coincidental at best. In fact he sold all but one of his shares of AAPL. He had totally cut his ties. Oddly enough, the company that he did try to build was not a success. Many commented at the time that he engineered the sale of NeXT to Apple as a way of bailing himself out of an embarrassing failure. Almost nobody at the time saw this acquisition as Apple's savior, and many many questions were raised about its wisdom, particularly as the plans for transitioning MacOS to a new generation dragged on for years. The fact that all of this worked out is a great story, but hardly a simple or clear one.
steve, please, please do not make a tablet like the others. We need something like napkins, engineer can draw the design on it, a small enough that can be pull out any time to record our flash of genius. Not those cold flat large booklets you can't even draw a line straight, less to do shade, lighting effect. We need the canvas of da Vinci with his tool set. We need the 3d projection of Michelangelo. ;-). We do not ask much, just the standard of Apple.
Oh! Napkins!
I've read a lot of posts about tablets on this and other forums. Yours caught my attention & got me thinking.
Random thoughts
A. Why are napkins so useful:
1) small, but infinitely expandable (fold out and/or use more of them)... as big as the "fit of inspiration" demands
2) accept input from [relatively] unrestricted means (pen, pencil, sharpie, sugar cubes, lemon twists, cherry stems, toothpicks, paint, nail polish, cherry juice)
3) handy
4) inexpensive
B. So what would da Vinci or Michelangelo (or Picasso or Einstein or John Madden or Willie Nelson) do with napkins?
1) always carry napkins with them (never know when a "fit" will hit" (or always hang out where napkins are present).
2) at least need to carry appropriate input tools to draw on napkins
3) you want to keep a diary of any inspirations (so must save them)
4) the media (napkins) and the input tools (pens, etc) are expendable
5) the ideas shown (the content) are what's invaluable
C. What do we have now that could replace napkins?
1) Mainframe, Server, floortop, desktop... Nah! (You find yourself looking for a pen and scrap of paper; and they're certainly not handy)
2) Portable, LapTop, Netbook... Not really! Useful for pulling references, etc, documenting, but inflexible input limits use for capturing and expressing a "fit of inspiration"
3) "Tablets of Today"... by implementation, just a special form of a portable or laptop... less restrictive for some uses, more restrictive for others; more input options; still, gets in the way of inspiration.
4) iphone... has the basic "napkin" idea right & handy, but too small and maybe underpowered
5) honestly, today, we have nothing that could replace napkins
So what would Steve Jobs do if he wanted to "build a better napkin" (with all of Apple's talent & resources at his disposal)?
Inexpensive
When you consider A.4 along with B.3, B.4 and B.5, the price of our BN (Better Napkin) is not the issue if it can capture/save/catalog/retrieve our inspirations. So, let's set aside, for the moment, "inexpensive" as a requirement.
Small, but Infinitely Expandable
The iPhone, with an app like sketches can do a pretty good job of A.1, but it is really too small to start with and the "napkin" (drawing paper) is not (really) infinitely expandable. Resizable windows aren't really the answer either. What is needed is an infinitely large "napkin" that can be intuitively panned, zoomed, sectioned/subset, referenced, jumped to... Pages does a pretty god job of this, Quartz Composer too. Combine Pages "Napkin Size" with, say, CoverFlow, for "Napkin Navigation" and we may be on to something. But the iPhone screen is too small (and thick for its surface area) to act as a napkin substitute.
Unrestricted Input
The iPhone's multitouch is a good start here. You can use a capacitive stylus and could alter the system software for more stylus precision. A BlueTooth Pen could provide pressure-sensitive input. An app like KoiPond illustrates a pleasant 3D effect, which could be used to provide 3D FingerPainting. Photos/videos and typed input could be added after the "fit" passes.
Handy
The iPhone meets almost everyone's requirement as a starting point for handy: size, weight, sufficient battery life, etc. Many consider a laptop or netbook to be a handy size, but they're not particularly useful as a BN. ClamShell and Switchable devices fail miserably as handy devices for capturing inspiration... they are too clumsy and too bulky.
What we have so far
The iPhone is a good place to start building a BN. But it is too small and maybe too underpowered to be used as a BN.
So what is the right size? These forums have bandied around 6", 7", 10", 13" and above... with some sizes, posters assert: too clumsy; must have clamshell to protect screen; must have a real kb; overlaps (and is inferior to) laptop use; iPhone OS enhanced makes [no] sense; must run full OS X (whatever that is).
Well, you are all wrong... or, maybe you are all right. Maybe we need a device, software and apps that can fill our needs of the moment... and not get in the way of inspiration.
This was done with OLED in a rather thick enclosure. It appears that 2 OLEDs are used (dividing line) or a single OLED with a hard fold line (dead area) in the center. You might be able to do this with 2 edge-to-edge LCDs... like the 10" LEDs that Apple has ordered (rumor) in large quantities.
2) Now take a handy book size 8.5' x 5.5" ( the surface of a sheet of standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper folded in half).... mmm... 10" diagonal.
3) Oh, that surface could contain a smallish, but full QWERTY KB
4) We could have a clamshell with 2 (protected) 10" touch displays.
5) One could be used as a vertical display, the other as a horizontal touch (smallish) virtual QWTERY kb
6) Or we could fold it flat and have a 8 1/2 x 11 display/touch surface or about 14" diagonal screen
7) Used flat, it would be half as thick as a clamshell and could be quite handy for BN drawing with fingers or stylus (the, say 5/8", thickness would work well with a large display area ).
8) Also we could display a humongous virtual kb on the bottom part of the screen when in landscape mode
9) Locked in flat position, the device could be used vertically, or cradled in the arm as a clipboard-style tablet.
10) You could let the device run the OS X (bits) and apps that "make sense" for what you are doing at the moment.
11) For many uses, the device would be self-contained (handy) and include all you need for input: fingers and virtual keyboards.
12) for other use you might want to use a hard kb or a stylus. OK, Your choice!
13) the device could be used as an I/O accessory: a light table, tablet, customizable kb for a desktop or floortop computer.
If we're playing in Steve Jobs' sandbox, he could command his minions to try this "fold out" concept in various sizes from iPhone to, say, legal pad (or even larger). For our purposes, a better Napkin, the folded 8 1/2 x 11 is probably as big as we would need. Though, smaller sizes might make sense too.
Steve could "hands-on" experiment with these various-sized fold-outs and the software/apps to find the sweet spot (both hardware and software) for the BN.
It is interesting to mentally play the various scenarios on what you would do and how you would use the device. Would you use it as a clamshell or flat as a tablet? Would you use a small virtual keyboard or full-size virtual QWERTY? Primarily use the Virtual kb in landscape or portrait? Would you attach a hard kb and mouse? Why? When? Would you use a stylus, pen or hockey puck? What apps would make sense? iLife, iWork, Final Cut, Photoshop, Word, Excel? Aperture sure would!
The answer might just be be all of the above!
Back to that issue of "inexpensive" that we set aside for discussion. Given the above, what devices could be replaced (or not purchased) with a BN. How much additional value can be attached to the productivity and "things that weren't practical before) that are now possible with the BN?
How much is a BN worth to you?
What size BN do you want, Why?
Finally, BN doesn't quite roll off the tongue or convey what we're about. We need a better name!
What would you call it?
I kinda' like a name that summarizes what a BN is used for. I would call it:
That's dead dead wrong! You don't have to be an inventor to envision something.....and to want it. Not everybody on the planet is retarded despite what Steve Jobs likes to think. He's almost correct. But no, not everyone on the planet is unimaginative and unable to be visionary.
That's not his point. His point is for example the iPhone, you couldn't have wanted it cause a 3.5" multi-touch screened phone wasn't around. So despite great imagination it needed to exist before people could decide weather they wanted it or not. It's like a new model of a particular car, you can't say you want it before you see it, despite an abundance of great vision or imagination. Just like this tablet, it needs to exist before the vast majority of people can decide they like it (or not), or be wowed by it. It's got nothing to do with vision or imagination really. After all, it may not be designed to the specifications in your imagination.
He's not that exactly, what happens is his taste sets the direction generally I'd bet. And then his demand for perfection shapes that direction. He's also an idea guy, with a knack for knowing what the wrong path is before they take it. That's basically his skill set.
As Herb Kelleher said: it's better to be Irish then a genius. Like Herb, his skills are much more elusive than that of the average CEO, because they are in the genes.
Here's all that Rob Pegoraro will predict about an Apple tablet -- or an Apple netbook, which would fill a demonstrated need in the market:
1. Apple will price this thing at a level that seems borderline absurd next to existing hardware.
2. It will include at least one feature that most people had never thought to ask for.
3. It will leave out at least one feature that most people had considered essential.
4. Press coverage of its launch will feature at least one skeptical quote from an executive at a competing company that the quoted party may regret later.
5. People will line up in front of Apple's stores to buy it.
6. Buyers will be happy enough about their purchase that they will choose to overlook a missing capability or a performance issue.
7. The second version of the device will work a lot better than the first.
There's also the possibility that we're all wrong about this Apple tablet rumor and that Apple's venture into the "tablet space" will continue to be its well-established, quite popular iPod Touch.
My thinking is along those lines too, which is why I think it's going to replace the MacBook. That will be the 64GB SSD model. There will also be a 128GB SSD model for around $1,399. Profit margins will be out of this world.
It's very simple to me. Said iTablet would at least cost as much as an iphone which if you buy is about 6/700 bucks right now, so imagine they at least double all the stuff in it like screen size, hard drive, ram, processor blah blah blah - well I'd have to assume the price would almost double roughly. So that would be about 1200 bucks roughly unless it's subsidized but lets say it is you are still going to pay a premium for this thing but what exactly are you buying. This thing probably wouldn't have a keyboard so then what is the point of giving it all that extra power in it then? So then lets say it doesn't have all that extra power but it's just a bigger ipod well who wants to pay close to 1000 bucks for essentially a big ipod? Why not get a macbook and have a fully functional computer with a keyboard?
I just don't understand why you would make a tablet? Perhaps they perfected a really really good onscreen keyboard, i'd have to use it to be convinced because if I had to use the ipods on screen keyboard on what is essentially a netbook I can tell you I'm gonna go buy an msi wind u100 and hope they come out with a netbook one day. I don't care if it costs 600 bucks for essentially the same computer as long as its supported and they can figure out how to maximize battery life and hey a warranty is nice.
It's very simple to me. Said iTablet would at least cost as much as an iphone which if you buy is about 6/700 bucks right now, so imagine they at least double all the stuff in it like screen size, hard drive, ram, processor blah blah blah - well I'd have to assume the price would almost double roughly. So that would be about 1200 bucks roughly unless it's subsidized but lets say it is you are still going to pay a premium for this thing but what exactly are you buying. This thing probably wouldn't have a keyboard so then what is the point of giving it all that extra power in it then? So then lets say it doesn't have all that extra power but it's just a bigger ipod well who wants to pay close to 1000 bucks for essentially a big ipod? Why not get a macbook and have a fully functional computer with a keyboard?
I just don't understand why you would make a tablet? Perhaps they perfected a really really good onscreen keyboard, i'd have to use it to be convinced because if I had to use the ipods on screen keyboard on what is essentially a netbook I can tell you I'm gonna go buy an msi wind u100 and hope they come out with a netbook one day. I don't care if it costs 600 bucks for essentially the same computer as long as its supported and they can figure out how to maximize battery life and hey a warranty is nice.
Doubling everything doesn't double the price. Size is also a commodity, the more stuff you want to fit in a space, the smaller each component has to be. Small components are expensive. When you add size, you add space and looser space requirements lower the cost of each component. If you need an example, look at the costs of a 3.5" hard drive and a 2.5" hard drive. That works to offset any increase in cost due to increasing the specs. I highly doubt that this tablet will cost more than any macbook, the price esitimates rumor sites are coing up with are in the $700-800 range. I think that is reasonable and a subsidy might drive the prices down to the $400-500 range.
As for why make a tablet? I'll give you a hint. It won't just be a big iPod, even if it runs iPhone OS. Think outside the box a little. No one knows what it will be but there are plenty of options for Apple to pursue.
He's not that exactly, what happens is his taste sets the direction generally I'd bet. And then his demand for perfection shapes that direction. He's also an idea guy, with a knack for knowing what the wrong path is before they take it. That's basically his skill set.
As Herb Kelleher said: it's better to be Irish then a genius. Like Herb, his skills are much more elusive than that of the average CEO, because they are in the genes.
But ultimately, the product has to satisfy Jobs before it is released. And this differentiates Apple.
In so many companies, the chiefs kick off the project. They say what they want, and hand it down to chief engineers. In turn they hand it to engineers to execute it. Then the engineers hand it to QA guys. With each step, the team has less authority and less power.
Everyone wants to get the thing out of the door. Everyone looks more at the ship dates than the quality. No one ever says no. Everyone passes the parcel. And on a fixed schedule, corporate peristalsis squeezes out their efforts out onto the market. Often unfinished, often unfit for purpose.
Apple is different. Jobs stands between the engineers and the market. If the product isn't good enough for Jobs, it isn't good enough for the public. He will terminate the product if it fails to meet his expectations. Effectively the most powerful officer in the company oversees quality of the finished product.
This is not how Microsoft does things. It is not how Sony operates.
does anyone think Steve will call it the "iNewton"....LOL We all know how he loved those things. I still have mine somewhere at home.
P.S. If any of you have sites a friend of mine would greatly appreciate everyone posting a link to this video on Youtube showing what he found in a can of Starbucks coffee.... Way GROSS
If they come out with a 10" screen, there has to be a smaller version between the itouch and the 10" for complete portability. The 10" is something I would like to have for home entertainment, something a few inches smaller that could easily fit in a back pocket or wouldn't be too cumbersome to carry around in my hand.
I also think this is why snow leopard is being developed as it takes up a smaller footprint (obviously the tablet will have limited HD space) and is lighter and faster than the traditional OSX. Snow Leopard along with the recent enhancements to itunes and safari pretty much comprises what I would consider a near perfect touch operating system.
I don't see Apple going much higher than $500 for any size tablet, keeping in mind customers will most likely have to purchase a 3G contract as well.
I say $299 for the small, and $399 for the large, subsidized by ATT with a 3G plan. ATT just recently started selling a sony touch screen e-reader, I believe the Apple tablet will be the competitor.
This is not a sensible countexample/counterargument. We haven't used out houses, in the west, for centuries. People were always looking for a better technogical way to ameliorate this since time imemorial, and some managed indoor planning even before bc. On the contrary the book form has always been practical hence its continued use. It's not that people didn't have the resources and means to make smaller books or magazines.
It's a tried and true formula.
To say 10 inches isn't portable enough while 75% of the population carry this form factor around and find comfortable to use and convenient to carry is a falacy.
Even more so when most will agree that 10 inches is the minimum size that one requires to read a book with any ease, forget journal papers that require even more size that the market will eventually cater for, see the irex ereader for example as at least the best stab at that.
It's not a question of whether or not 10 inches is portable enough. I'm sure it is. However, consider some points in resposnse. FIrst of all, even some hard-cover books don't utilize a 10-inch diagonal area for displaying their content. I picked up one of my hard-cover books and measured 8.75 inches diagonal. I measured a softcover book and iit checked in at 7.75 inches. One of my paperbacks 6.75 inches. Sony's reader uses a 6-inch screen. These are all examples of items that are specifically intended to be used for reading and none of them reach that 10-inch minimum that you suggest is universally regarded as a necessity. For decades countless millions have happily devoured written material ranging from the worst pulp fiction to the finest of literature using devices (for lack of a better term) sporting "screens" measuring below that significant (to you) 10 inches. I don't even have a problem reading on a Touch and my eyesight ain't what it used to be.
Secondly, it's the cost that is a problem with going any larger than is necessary to get the job done. The device needs to be significantly beefed up to handle a drastic leap up from the current screen on the Touch and existing iPod content would translate poorly to such a screen whereas it could successfully scale up to something less ambitious.
A larger version of the Touch that could work well enough with existing content would be a product customers would find more useful right from the start.
The current Touch makes sense in that it has allowed Apple to develop similar technology for two devices, i.e. the iPhone and the Touch. That wouldn't be possible if the form factor was unsuitable for a smart phone. I don't think it makes sense for Apple to conjure up a device that is such a departure from the Touch that it will not be cost-effective. This would only cause the thing to be so expensive that most will not consider purchasing one. There is no market for a glorified Touch selling at Macbook prices. Double the screen real estate of the Touch and you have an affordable device much better suited to certain functions like reading, surfing, etc. Triple the size of the screen real estate on the other hand and you introduce a lot of problems that in my estimation are not worth putting up with considering the questionable gains that would result.
Secondly, it's the cost that is a problem with going any larger than is necessary to get the job done. The device needs to be significantly beefed up to handle a drastic leap up from the current screen on the Touch and existing iPod content would translate poorly to such a screen whereas it could successfully scale up to something less ambitious.
Existing iPhone OS programs could also run in a windowed mode, taking up the same number of pixels they currently occupy. Most don't have a need to run full screen on a larger device.
As far as reading goes, I agree that you don't need a 10" screen. Although with an LCD screen you might want the font a little larger than with eink or paper. Another consideration would be textbooks. If Apple chooses to push those, the larger size would make sense. Of course an Apple tablet wouldn't be a dedicated ereader, so there would be other factors in determining the optimal screen size (which really varies from individual to individual anyway). I think peoples ideas that there may be multiple sizes of the tablet may eventually come true, however I don't buy the 10" running OSX and 6" running iPhone OS idea. They would run the same OS to avoid confusing the consumer.
you must be confused. a 10" screen is not 10 inches wide. A 10" screen is roughly 5x8.5.
No confusion:
A 10" screen is 10.2" in diagonal and about 8.8" wide by 5.25" tall
Hardback books are about 6" x 9"
Paperback books are about 4" x 6"
A 7" display is about 5" x 7.5"
A 7" netbook is around 6" x 9".
The 9.7" Amazon DX is 7.2" x 10.4" is about the same size as 10" netbook dimensions: 10.3" x 7.2"
Both larger than average hardbacks.
The PSP is 2.81" x 6.63" with a 3.8" screen (3.74"x2.12")
The iPhone has a 3.6" screen. With the same bezel size you might be able to do a 7" screen at around 5.25" in width and around 8-9" in height.
That's about the limit of what you want.
Quote:
A 10 inch machine in an iTouch form factor would be nowhere near as wide as a kindle dx as apple doesn't use so much space on the side of the screen. It'd be about as wide as a kindle, or about as wide as an iPhone turned on it's side. and an iPhone turned on it's side fits in most pockets.
A 10" panel is over 5" wide so it's probably at least an inch wider than an iPhone on its side and given the height not pocketable.
Either way, a 7" display has at least as much usable display area as a paperback. There's lots of folks reading paperbacks so they are obviously not too small for reading.
Existing iPhone OS programs could also run in a windowed mode, taking up the same number of pixels they currently occupy. Most don't have a need to run full screen on a larger device.
As far as reading goes, I agree that you don't need a 10" screen. Although with an LCD screen you might want the font a little larger than with eink or paper. Another consideration would be textbooks. If Apple chooses to push those, the larger size would make sense. Of course an Apple tablet wouldn't be a dedicated ereader, so there would be other factors in determining the optimal screen size (which really varies from individual to individual anyway). I think peoples ideas that there may be multiple sizes of the tablet may eventually come true, however I don't buy the 10" running OSX and 6" running iPhone OS idea. They would run the same OS to avoid confusing the consumer.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a larger screen?
Re textbooks, I haven't been a student for a very long time but I do recall living on a budget. Seems to me that if the price of a somewhat larger tablet (10 " rather than 7" for instance) is significantly higher, that is a meaningful consideration for the average student. Don't forget, also, that a somewhat smaller screen would likely be less of a concern for a student who would tend to be younger than it would be for those of us who have deteriorated vision up close.
Certainly it's possible that Apple might eventually offer tablets in both the 10" and 6" ranges but the former is likely to be a pricey, niche product and the latter more affordable and popular. My guess is that of the two, Apple is likely to introduce the smaller device first. If that goes well, then a larger tablet at a later date when the cost of this technology will be somewhat lower, is a possibility. But that second product, costing about the same, unsubsidized, as a Macbook is not something many of us will consider buying. There is a point where a cool device is too expensive to be purchased on a whim and stacked up against a Macbook or even a Macbook Pro, the larger tablet is going to be a hard sell.
As for which OS any of these devices will be running, it will be interesting to find out just how efficient Snow Leopard is. If it's efficient enough at some point the technology in the 10" device might well have the horsepower to run it properly. At that point, the tweaking needed to run OS X on the tablet might well be quite minor.
For comparisons sake I took the lid off of an old 12" powerbook of mine. Detached is about a 1/2" think and feels just about right holding it like a clipboard. Might be a little big so 10" sounds about right to me.
I'm a big fan of the bendable OLED but I think that would be for later versions. Thank you to whomever posted the youtube links to those clips.
What's with the "portable" issue anyway. You guys find it cumbersome to carry around letter sized paper and/ pads? Really? That just sounds stupid since we've been carrying around spiral pads for about 100 years now.
Also we've all seen this but Apple's vision of a tablet device years ago looks pretty sizable to me. LOL Thank god it already looks better than the "knowledge navigator".
Clamshell netbook that converts to a tablet format...presumably at MBA thickness. Combined with an updated Inkwell it would be killer.
I was actually wondering the other day if someone had come up with a design like that. I can't see Apple doing a swivel hinge, so if they wanted a laptop that folded down to a tablet, they would have to do something like that. I still think the tablet they are currently working on will be keyboard less though.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a larger screen?
Re textbooks, I haven't been a student for a very long time but I do recall living on a budget. Seems to me that if the price of a somewhat larger tablet (10 " rather than 7" for instance) is significantly higher, that is a meaningful consideration for the average student. Don't forget, also, that a somewhat smaller screen would likely be less of a concern for a student who would tend to be younger than it would be for those of us who have deteriorated vision up close.
Certainly it's possible that Apple might eventually offer tablets in both the 10" and 6" ranges but the former is likely to be a pricey, niche product and the latter more affordable and popular. My guess is that of the two, Apple is likely to introduce the smaller device first. If that goes well, then a larger tablet at a later date when the cost of this technology will be somewhat lower, is a possibility. But that second product, costing about the same, unsubsidized, as a Macbook is not something many of us will consider buying. There is a point where a cool device is too expensive to be purchased on a whim and stacked up against a Macbook or even a Macbook Pro, the larger tablet is going to be a hard sell.
As for which OS any of these devices will be running, it will be interesting to find out just how efficient Snow Leopard is. If it's efficient enough at some point the technology in the 10" device might well have the horsepower to run it properly. At that point, the tweaking needed to run OS X on the tablet might well be quite minor.
Do you run everything on your home computer maximized? A tablet, even running iPhone OS would multitask, you wouldn't want everything to be full screen. I definitely don't need my weather app to be full screen... Certain apps would work better full screen and they could either just scale up (and possibly look poor as you suggest) or have new tablet versions written.
You are making way too big of a deal about the cost difference between the two sizes. As a recent student, I would personally take the the larger size even if it cost $100 or $150 more. Optimal size is debatable of course, but the price argument doesn't do it for me. The internal components would be the same, save for a larger battery, so most of the additional cost would be the larger screen. Maybe the larger size would also lower engineering costs because you wouldn't have to optimize the use of available space as well. The tablet costing as much as a macbook is just speculation on your part. Rumor sites with potentially more information available to them peg the cost lower than that (unless macbooks are dropping to the $700 range) for a 10" model. Of course in the end, it is all speculation.
Comments
I was a lot younger then and you seem to know more than me on some levels, so I give in to your knowledge. But I feel my initial point is still valid, to me - no one else has to agree, without Jobs Apple slowly stalled and almost went bankrupt. They were stagnant and didn't really grow, just played to satisfy it's niche buyers but seldom pulled in converts. I remember a lot of people were saying they may be sold or go under. They didn't bring Jobs back because things were going well, they brought him back because it was sink or swim and he gave them the best chance and returned them back to his original vision and quality demands. That was and is my point, with Jobs they they do more than succeed, they surpass and innovate on new levels. With Jobs they have been slowly converting new users which is important for brand and profit growth. With Jobs they have changed the tech world on many levels.
Jobs IS Apple to me and I do fear when he steps down permanently without the right person in place they will slowly revert to mid-late 90s all over again. And that I stand by firmly!
I would not be so quick to stand so firmly by speculations. I don't pretend to know what happens in a post-Steve Apple. A lot depends on who takes over. The management team is much improved from what it was during the '80s and '90s, so I don't believe that disaster is in any way imminent.
we're straying off topic, but I think there is a difference. In 1985, Steve was forced out by people who thought he had the wrong vision for Apple. When he left, he took some people who shared his vision, the people left at Apple went in a different direction. All Steve did while away was build the technology needed to save Apple and that is at the heart of everything they do today.
This time around, when he steps down (which hopefully is a ways off), it won't be because the company wants to go in a different direction than he does. That should make a difference.
Steve was forced out by the man he'd hired to run the company. He convinced John Scully to become CEO because Apple was a mess, fiscally and management-wise. Jobs understood that much -- he said the company lacked "adult supervision." Scully was meant to be that adult. He deserves credit for righting the ship, and Apple was actually quite profitable during most of Scully's years as CEO. What he lacked was much technological vision, though it should be mentioned that he championed the Newton, a product which many to this day recall fondly. So it wasn't all bad, by any means. It could be argued that the guys who followed Scully, Ameilo and Spindler, were the clueless ones.
Steve didn't do anything while he was away which was intended to save Apple; how this worked out was coincidental at best. In fact he sold all but one of his shares of AAPL. He had totally cut his ties. Oddly enough, the company that he did try to build was not a success. Many commented at the time that he engineered the sale of NeXT to Apple as a way of bailing himself out of an embarrassing failure. Almost nobody at the time saw this acquisition as Apple's savior, and many many questions were raised about its wisdom, particularly as the plans for transitioning MacOS to a new generation dragged on for years. The fact that all of this worked out is a great story, but hardly a simple or clear one.
steve, please, please do not make a tablet like the others. We need something like napkins, engineer can draw the design on it, a small enough that can be pull out any time to record our flash of genius. Not those cold flat large booklets you can't even draw a line straight, less to do shade, lighting effect. We need the canvas of da Vinci with his tool set. We need the 3d projection of Michelangelo. ;-). We do not ask much, just the standard of Apple.
Oh! Napkins!
I've read a lot of posts about tablets on this and other forums. Yours caught my attention & got me thinking.
Random thoughts
A. Why are napkins so useful:
1) small, but infinitely expandable (fold out and/or use more of them)... as big as the "fit of inspiration" demands
2) accept input from [relatively] unrestricted means (pen, pencil, sharpie, sugar cubes, lemon twists, cherry stems, toothpicks, paint, nail polish, cherry juice)
3) handy
4) inexpensive
B. So what would da Vinci or Michelangelo (or Picasso or Einstein or John Madden or Willie Nelson) do with napkins?
1) always carry napkins with them (never know when a "fit" will hit" (or always hang out where napkins are present).
2) at least need to carry appropriate input tools to draw on napkins
3) you want to keep a diary of any inspirations (so must save them)
4) the media (napkins) and the input tools (pens, etc) are expendable
5) the ideas shown (the content) are what's invaluable
C. What do we have now that could replace napkins?
1) Mainframe, Server, floortop, desktop... Nah! (You find yourself looking for a pen and scrap of paper; and they're certainly not handy)
2) Portable, LapTop, Netbook... Not really! Useful for pulling references, etc, documenting, but inflexible input limits use for capturing and expressing a "fit of inspiration"
3) "Tablets of Today"... by implementation, just a special form of a portable or laptop... less restrictive for some uses, more restrictive for others; more input options; still, gets in the way of inspiration.
4) iphone... has the basic "napkin" idea right & handy, but too small and maybe underpowered
5) honestly, today, we have nothing that could replace napkins
So what would Steve Jobs do if he wanted to "build a better napkin" (with all of Apple's talent & resources at his disposal)?
Inexpensive
When you consider A.4 along with B.3, B.4 and B.5, the price of our BN (Better Napkin) is not the issue if it can capture/save/catalog/retrieve our inspirations. So, let's set aside, for the moment, "inexpensive" as a requirement.
Small, but Infinitely Expandable
The iPhone, with an app like sketches can do a pretty good job of A.1, but it is really too small to start with and the "napkin" (drawing paper) is not (really) infinitely expandable. Resizable windows aren't really the answer either. What is needed is an infinitely large "napkin" that can be intuitively panned, zoomed, sectioned/subset, referenced, jumped to... Pages does a pretty god job of this, Quartz Composer too. Combine Pages "Napkin Size" with, say, CoverFlow, for "Napkin Navigation" and we may be on to something. But the iPhone screen is too small (and thick for its surface area) to act as a napkin substitute.
Unrestricted Input
The iPhone's multitouch is a good start here. You can use a capacitive stylus and could alter the system software for more stylus precision. A BlueTooth Pen could provide pressure-sensitive input. An app like KoiPond illustrates a pleasant 3D effect, which could be used to provide 3D FingerPainting. Photos/videos and typed input could be added after the "fit" passes.
Handy
The iPhone meets almost everyone's requirement as a starting point for handy: size, weight, sufficient battery life, etc. Many consider a laptop or netbook to be a handy size, but they're not particularly useful as a BN. ClamShell and Switchable devices fail miserably as handy devices for capturing inspiration... they are too clumsy and too bulky.
What we have so far
The iPhone is a good place to start building a BN. But it is too small and maybe too underpowered to be used as a BN.
So what is the right size? These forums have bandied around 6", 7", 10", 13" and above... with some sizes, posters assert: too clumsy; must have clamshell to protect screen; must have a real kb; overlaps (and is inferior to) laptop use; iPhone OS enhanced makes [no] sense; must run full OS X (whatever that is).
Well, you are all wrong... or, maybe you are all right. Maybe we need a device, software and apps that can fill our needs of the moment... and not get in the way of inspiration.
1) Look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qat9FeJ6qIg
This was done with OLED in a rather thick enclosure. It appears that 2 OLEDs are used (dividing line) or a single OLED with a hard fold line (dead area) in the center. You might be able to do this with 2 edge-to-edge LCDs... like the 10" LEDs that Apple has ordered (rumor) in large quantities.
2) Now take a handy book size 8.5' x 5.5" ( the surface of a sheet of standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper folded in half).... mmm... 10" diagonal.
3) Oh, that surface could contain a smallish, but full QWERTY KB
4) We could have a clamshell with 2 (protected) 10" touch displays.
5) One could be used as a vertical display, the other as a horizontal touch (smallish) virtual QWTERY kb
6) Or we could fold it flat and have a 8 1/2 x 11 display/touch surface or about 14" diagonal screen
7) Used flat, it would be half as thick as a clamshell and could be quite handy for BN drawing with fingers or stylus (the, say 5/8", thickness would work well with a large display area ).
8) Also we could display a humongous virtual kb on the bottom part of the screen when in landscape mode
9) Locked in flat position, the device could be used vertically, or cradled in the arm as a clipboard-style tablet.
10) You could let the device run the OS X (bits) and apps that "make sense" for what you are doing at the moment.
11) For many uses, the device would be self-contained (handy) and include all you need for input: fingers and virtual keyboards.
12) for other use you might want to use a hard kb or a stylus. OK, Your choice!
13) the device could be used as an I/O accessory: a light table, tablet, customizable kb for a desktop or floortop computer.
If we're playing in Steve Jobs' sandbox, he could command his minions to try this "fold out" concept in various sizes from iPhone to, say, legal pad (or even larger). For our purposes, a better Napkin, the folded 8 1/2 x 11 is probably as big as we would need. Though, smaller sizes might make sense too.
Steve could "hands-on" experiment with these various-sized fold-outs and the software/apps to find the sweet spot (both hardware and software) for the BN.
It is interesting to mentally play the various scenarios on what you would do and how you would use the device. Would you use it as a clamshell or flat as a tablet? Would you use a small virtual keyboard or full-size virtual QWERTY? Primarily use the Virtual kb in landscape or portrait? Would you attach a hard kb and mouse? Why? When? Would you use a stylus, pen or hockey puck? What apps would make sense? iLife, iWork, Final Cut, Photoshop, Word, Excel? Aperture sure would!
The answer might just be be all of the above!
Back to that issue of "inexpensive" that we set aside for discussion. Given the above, what devices could be replaced (or not purchased) with a BN. How much additional value can be attached to the productivity and "things that weren't practical before) that are now possible with the BN?
How much is a BN worth to you?
What size BN do you want, Why?
Finally, BN doesn't quite roll off the tongue or convey what we're about. We need a better name!
What would you call it?
I kinda' like a name that summarizes what a BN is used for. I would call it:
ie
an acronym for Inspiration Expression!
*
That's dead dead wrong! You don't have to be an inventor to envision something.....and to want it. Not everybody on the planet is retarded despite what Steve Jobs likes to think. He's almost correct. But no, not everyone on the planet is unimaginative and unable to be visionary.
That's not his point. His point is for example the iPhone, you couldn't have wanted it cause a 3.5" multi-touch screened phone wasn't around. So despite great imagination it needed to exist before people could decide weather they wanted it or not. It's like a new model of a particular car, you can't say you want it before you see it, despite an abundance of great vision or imagination. Just like this tablet, it needs to exist before the vast majority of people can decide they like it (or not), or be wowed by it. It's got nothing to do with vision or imagination really. After all, it may not be designed to the specifications in your imagination.
What Jobs is, is the Quality Assurance guy.
He's not that exactly, what happens is his taste sets the direction generally I'd bet. And then his demand for perfection shapes that direction. He's also an idea guy, with a knack for knowing what the wrong path is before they take it. That's basically his skill set.
As Herb Kelleher said: it's better to be Irish then a genius. Like Herb, his skills are much more elusive than that of the average CEO, because they are in the genes.
1. Apple will price this thing at a level that seems borderline absurd next to existing hardware.
2. It will include at least one feature that most people had never thought to ask for.
3. It will leave out at least one feature that most people had considered essential.
4. Press coverage of its launch will feature at least one skeptical quote from an executive at a competing company that the quoted party may regret later.
5. People will line up in front of Apple's stores to buy it.
6. Buyers will be happy enough about their purchase that they will choose to overlook a missing capability or a performance issue.
7. The second version of the device will work a lot better than the first.
There's also the possibility that we're all wrong about this Apple tablet rumor and that Apple's venture into the "tablet space" will continue to be its well-established, quite popular iPod Touch.
For the rest of the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...503146_pf.html
I just don't understand why you would make a tablet? Perhaps they perfected a really really good onscreen keyboard, i'd have to use it to be convinced because if I had to use the ipods on screen keyboard on what is essentially a netbook I can tell you I'm gonna go buy an msi wind u100 and hope they come out with a netbook one day. I don't care if it costs 600 bucks for essentially the same computer as long as its supported and they can figure out how to maximize battery life and hey a warranty is nice.
It's very simple to me. Said iTablet would at least cost as much as an iphone which if you buy is about 6/700 bucks right now, so imagine they at least double all the stuff in it like screen size, hard drive, ram, processor blah blah blah - well I'd have to assume the price would almost double roughly. So that would be about 1200 bucks roughly unless it's subsidized but lets say it is you are still going to pay a premium for this thing but what exactly are you buying. This thing probably wouldn't have a keyboard so then what is the point of giving it all that extra power in it then? So then lets say it doesn't have all that extra power but it's just a bigger ipod well who wants to pay close to 1000 bucks for essentially a big ipod? Why not get a macbook and have a fully functional computer with a keyboard?
I just don't understand why you would make a tablet? Perhaps they perfected a really really good onscreen keyboard, i'd have to use it to be convinced because if I had to use the ipods on screen keyboard on what is essentially a netbook I can tell you I'm gonna go buy an msi wind u100 and hope they come out with a netbook one day. I don't care if it costs 600 bucks for essentially the same computer as long as its supported and they can figure out how to maximize battery life and hey a warranty is nice.
Doubling everything doesn't double the price. Size is also a commodity, the more stuff you want to fit in a space, the smaller each component has to be. Small components are expensive. When you add size, you add space and looser space requirements lower the cost of each component. If you need an example, look at the costs of a 3.5" hard drive and a 2.5" hard drive. That works to offset any increase in cost due to increasing the specs. I highly doubt that this tablet will cost more than any macbook, the price esitimates rumor sites are coing up with are in the $700-800 range. I think that is reasonable and a subsidy might drive the prices down to the $400-500 range.
As for why make a tablet? I'll give you a hint. It won't just be a big iPod, even if it runs iPhone OS. Think outside the box a little. No one knows what it will be but there are plenty of options for Apple to pursue.
He's not that exactly, what happens is his taste sets the direction generally I'd bet. And then his demand for perfection shapes that direction. He's also an idea guy, with a knack for knowing what the wrong path is before they take it. That's basically his skill set.
As Herb Kelleher said: it's better to be Irish then a genius. Like Herb, his skills are much more elusive than that of the average CEO, because they are in the genes.
But ultimately, the product has to satisfy Jobs before it is released. And this differentiates Apple.
In so many companies, the chiefs kick off the project. They say what they want, and hand it down to chief engineers. In turn they hand it to engineers to execute it. Then the engineers hand it to QA guys. With each step, the team has less authority and less power.
Everyone wants to get the thing out of the door. Everyone looks more at the ship dates than the quality. No one ever says no. Everyone passes the parcel. And on a fixed schedule, corporate peristalsis squeezes out their efforts out onto the market. Often unfinished, often unfit for purpose.
Apple is different. Jobs stands between the engineers and the market. If the product isn't good enough for Jobs, it isn't good enough for the public. He will terminate the product if it fails to meet his expectations. Effectively the most powerful officer in the company oversees quality of the finished product.
This is not how Microsoft does things. It is not how Sony operates.
C.
P.S. If any of you have sites a friend of mine would greatly appreciate everyone posting a link to this video on Youtube showing what he found in a can of Starbucks coffee.... Way GROSS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385pohwjSf8
Thanks,
Z
I also think this is why snow leopard is being developed as it takes up a smaller footprint (obviously the tablet will have limited HD space) and is lighter and faster than the traditional OSX. Snow Leopard along with the recent enhancements to itunes and safari pretty much comprises what I would consider a near perfect touch operating system.
I don't see Apple going much higher than $500 for any size tablet, keeping in mind customers will most likely have to purchase a 3G contract as well.
I say $299 for the small, and $399 for the large, subsidized by ATT with a 3G plan. ATT just recently started selling a sony touch screen e-reader, I believe the Apple tablet will be the competitor.
This is not a sensible countexample/counterargument. We haven't used out houses, in the west, for centuries. People were always looking for a better technogical way to ameliorate this since time imemorial, and some managed indoor planning even before bc. On the contrary the book form has always been practical hence its continued use. It's not that people didn't have the resources and means to make smaller books or magazines.
It's a tried and true formula.
To say 10 inches isn't portable enough while 75% of the population carry this form factor around and find comfortable to use and convenient to carry is a falacy.
Even more so when most will agree that 10 inches is the minimum size that one requires to read a book with any ease, forget journal papers that require even more size that the market will eventually cater for, see the irex ereader for example as at least the best stab at that.
It's not a question of whether or not 10 inches is portable enough. I'm sure it is. However, consider some points in resposnse. FIrst of all, even some hard-cover books don't utilize a 10-inch diagonal area for displaying their content. I picked up one of my hard-cover books and measured 8.75 inches diagonal. I measured a softcover book and iit checked in at 7.75 inches. One of my paperbacks 6.75 inches. Sony's reader uses a 6-inch screen. These are all examples of items that are specifically intended to be used for reading and none of them reach that 10-inch minimum that you suggest is universally regarded as a necessity. For decades countless millions have happily devoured written material ranging from the worst pulp fiction to the finest of literature using devices (for lack of a better term) sporting "screens" measuring below that significant (to you) 10 inches. I don't even have a problem reading on a Touch and my eyesight ain't what it used to be.
Secondly, it's the cost that is a problem with going any larger than is necessary to get the job done. The device needs to be significantly beefed up to handle a drastic leap up from the current screen on the Touch and existing iPod content would translate poorly to such a screen whereas it could successfully scale up to something less ambitious.
A larger version of the Touch that could work well enough with existing content would be a product customers would find more useful right from the start.
The current Touch makes sense in that it has allowed Apple to develop similar technology for two devices, i.e. the iPhone and the Touch. That wouldn't be possible if the form factor was unsuitable for a smart phone. I don't think it makes sense for Apple to conjure up a device that is such a departure from the Touch that it will not be cost-effective. This would only cause the thing to be so expensive that most will not consider purchasing one. There is no market for a glorified Touch selling at Macbook prices. Double the screen real estate of the Touch and you have an affordable device much better suited to certain functions like reading, surfing, etc. Triple the size of the screen real estate on the other hand and you introduce a lot of problems that in my estimation are not worth putting up with considering the questionable gains that would result.
Secondly, it's the cost that is a problem with going any larger than is necessary to get the job done. The device needs to be significantly beefed up to handle a drastic leap up from the current screen on the Touch and existing iPod content would translate poorly to such a screen whereas it could successfully scale up to something less ambitious.
Existing iPhone OS programs could also run in a windowed mode, taking up the same number of pixels they currently occupy. Most don't have a need to run full screen on a larger device.
As far as reading goes, I agree that you don't need a 10" screen. Although with an LCD screen you might want the font a little larger than with eink or paper. Another consideration would be textbooks. If Apple chooses to push those, the larger size would make sense. Of course an Apple tablet wouldn't be a dedicated ereader, so there would be other factors in determining the optimal screen size (which really varies from individual to individual anyway). I think peoples ideas that there may be multiple sizes of the tablet may eventually come true, however I don't buy the 10" running OSX and 6" running iPhone OS idea. They would run the same OS to avoid confusing the consumer.
If they come out with a 10" screen, there has to be a smaller version between the itouch and the 10" for complete portability.
Why? Aren't the iPhone/iPod touch not portable enough for you?
you must be confused. a 10" screen is not 10 inches wide. A 10" screen is roughly 5x8.5.
No confusion:
A 10" screen is 10.2" in diagonal and about 8.8" wide by 5.25" tall
Hardback books are about 6" x 9"
Paperback books are about 4" x 6"
A 7" display is about 5" x 7.5"
A 7" netbook is around 6" x 9".
The 9.7" Amazon DX is 7.2" x 10.4" is about the same size as 10" netbook dimensions: 10.3" x 7.2"
Both larger than average hardbacks.
The PSP is 2.81" x 6.63" with a 3.8" screen (3.74"x2.12")
The iPhone has a 3.6" screen. With the same bezel size you might be able to do a 7" screen at around 5.25" in width and around 8-9" in height.
That's about the limit of what you want.
A 10 inch machine in an iTouch form factor would be nowhere near as wide as a kindle dx as apple doesn't use so much space on the side of the screen. It'd be about as wide as a kindle, or about as wide as an iPhone turned on it's side. and an iPhone turned on it's side fits in most pockets.
A 10" panel is over 5" wide so it's probably at least an inch wider than an iPhone on its side and given the height not pocketable.
Either way, a 7" display has at least as much usable display area as a paperback. There's lots of folks reading paperbacks so they are obviously not too small for reading.
Existing iPhone OS programs could also run in a windowed mode, taking up the same number of pixels they currently occupy. Most don't have a need to run full screen on a larger device.
As far as reading goes, I agree that you don't need a 10" screen. Although with an LCD screen you might want the font a little larger than with eink or paper. Another consideration would be textbooks. If Apple chooses to push those, the larger size would make sense. Of course an Apple tablet wouldn't be a dedicated ereader, so there would be other factors in determining the optimal screen size (which really varies from individual to individual anyway). I think peoples ideas that there may be multiple sizes of the tablet may eventually come true, however I don't buy the 10" running OSX and 6" running iPhone OS idea. They would run the same OS to avoid confusing the consumer.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a larger screen?
Re textbooks, I haven't been a student for a very long time but I do recall living on a budget. Seems to me that if the price of a somewhat larger tablet (10 " rather than 7" for instance) is significantly higher, that is a meaningful consideration for the average student. Don't forget, also, that a somewhat smaller screen would likely be less of a concern for a student who would tend to be younger than it would be for those of us who have deteriorated vision up close.
Certainly it's possible that Apple might eventually offer tablets in both the 10" and 6" ranges but the former is likely to be a pricey, niche product and the latter more affordable and popular. My guess is that of the two, Apple is likely to introduce the smaller device first. If that goes well, then a larger tablet at a later date when the cost of this technology will be somewhat lower, is a possibility. But that second product, costing about the same, unsubsidized, as a Macbook is not something many of us will consider buying. There is a point where a cool device is too expensive to be purchased on a whim and stacked up against a Macbook or even a Macbook Pro, the larger tablet is going to be a hard sell.
As for which OS any of these devices will be running, it will be interesting to find out just how efficient Snow Leopard is. If it's efficient enough at some point the technology in the 10" device might well have the horsepower to run it properly. At that point, the tweaking needed to run OS X on the tablet might well be quite minor.
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2008/07/1...ok-tablet.html
Clamshell netbook that converts to a tablet format...presumably at MBA thickness. Combined with an updated Inkwell it would be killer.
I'm a big fan of the bendable OLED but I think that would be for later versions. Thank you to whomever posted the youtube links to those clips.
What's with the "portable" issue anyway. You guys find it cumbersome to carry around letter sized paper and/ pads? Really? That just sounds stupid since we've been carrying around spiral pads for about 100 years now.
Also we've all seen this but Apple's vision of a tablet device years ago looks pretty sizable to me. LOL Thank god it already looks better than the "knowledge navigator".
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...94928842683632
For a 10" device I hope it's something like this:
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/2008/07/1...ok-tablet.html
Clamshell netbook that converts to a tablet format...presumably at MBA thickness. Combined with an updated Inkwell it would be killer.
I was actually wondering the other day if someone had come up with a design like that. I can't see Apple doing a swivel hinge, so if they wanted a laptop that folded down to a tablet, they would have to do something like that. I still think the tablet they are currently working on will be keyboard less though.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a larger screen?
Re textbooks, I haven't been a student for a very long time but I do recall living on a budget. Seems to me that if the price of a somewhat larger tablet (10 " rather than 7" for instance) is significantly higher, that is a meaningful consideration for the average student. Don't forget, also, that a somewhat smaller screen would likely be less of a concern for a student who would tend to be younger than it would be for those of us who have deteriorated vision up close.
Certainly it's possible that Apple might eventually offer tablets in both the 10" and 6" ranges but the former is likely to be a pricey, niche product and the latter more affordable and popular. My guess is that of the two, Apple is likely to introduce the smaller device first. If that goes well, then a larger tablet at a later date when the cost of this technology will be somewhat lower, is a possibility. But that second product, costing about the same, unsubsidized, as a Macbook is not something many of us will consider buying. There is a point where a cool device is too expensive to be purchased on a whim and stacked up against a Macbook or even a Macbook Pro, the larger tablet is going to be a hard sell.
As for which OS any of these devices will be running, it will be interesting to find out just how efficient Snow Leopard is. If it's efficient enough at some point the technology in the 10" device might well have the horsepower to run it properly. At that point, the tweaking needed to run OS X on the tablet might well be quite minor.
Do you run everything on your home computer maximized? A tablet, even running iPhone OS would multitask, you wouldn't want everything to be full screen. I definitely don't need my weather app to be full screen... Certain apps would work better full screen and they could either just scale up (and possibly look poor as you suggest) or have new tablet versions written.
You are making way too big of a deal about the cost difference between the two sizes. As a recent student, I would personally take the the larger size even if it cost $100 or $150 more. Optimal size is debatable of course, but the price argument doesn't do it for me. The internal components would be the same, save for a larger battery, so most of the additional cost would be the larger screen. Maybe the larger size would also lower engineering costs because you wouldn't have to optimize the use of available space as well. The tablet costing as much as a macbook is just speculation on your part. Rumor sites with potentially more information available to them peg the cost lower than that (unless macbooks are dropping to the $700 range) for a 10" model. Of course in the end, it is all speculation.