This is so not going to happen. You need to dial down your expectations a bit.
It will be either the same OS as the iPhone or a version of the same thing. in other words we will be lucky if it sports a file system. It will not run apps in Windows, or run OS X desktop class apps and will be more of a synced device than a "full on" computer.
I'd be happy if it costs under a $1000 and lets me write and draw on it. Anything more is gravy.
If you want to write and draw just buy a moleskin!
I doubt a file system is that much to ask for. It could run in a single-application mode of sorts, but I'd imagine variants of mail, address book, iWork (maybe not iLife) would be available. I hope the new product, whatever it is, comes closer to iPhone like levels of utility than that of the Apple TV.
The prospect of it not being a "full on" computer... are you assuming it will be tied to iTunes?
You will not, guarantee not see flash on the tablet. There are so many reasons; you should just do your research and discover why and thank god it won't.
Flash not being on the iPhone is one thing, but people will be pissed if they can't play Farmville on their tablet.
I don't see anything there as a must, except for video out, which it will obviously have. Full OSX and USB isn't required for a keynote presentation.
How to do a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation without full Mac OS X? And I mean a true one from NATIVE ".key" and from NATIVE ".ppt" files. As far as I know, that cannot be done from the iPhone or iPod touch because requires a full Mac OS X. On the other hand, USB is required for wireless presentation remotes like the Keyspan-by-Tripp Lite Remote control:
How to do a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation without full Mac OS X? And I mean a true one from NATIVE ".key" and from NATIVE ".ppt" files. As far as I know, that cannot be done from the iPhone or iPod touch because requires a full Mac OS X. Thanks.
I'm not sure what is meant by "full" OSX but certainly Apple could produce a player version of Keynote that would not require the desktop version of the OS to run. In fact if I had to guess, this is what I'd guess they are going to do for the tablet. At least this much.
Computers are getting smaller, phones are getting more powerful, printed paper is slowly obsoleting... Here's my humble predictions of Apples take on this form factor. Like the Apple TV and it's spot dead in the middle of TVs and Computers, they will be slow and conservative in order to steer this device into a functional middle spot and not pigeon hole it into a soon to be forgotten niche (cough, kindle, cough). Steve has way too much vision for that...
Function - obviously, replacing paper. The size, timing and available technology are just right for this. Movies and web surfing via wifi (at least) seems like a no-brainer as well. Complete openness for 3rd party apps? No way, the iPhone has been way too successful and profitable for that.
OS - Lets give Apple more credit than just slapping Mac OS X or the iPhone OS on this and hoping for the best. Functionally it would be somewhere between the two; just like the form factor is. From an openness perspective I would imagine Apple embracing the iPhones restricted environment for numerous reasons. 1) profit from App Store offerings 2) controlling the quality/offerings allows them to steer the devices role once unleashed 3) controlling the environment tightly (ie: very limited, or no multitasking) would, much like the iPhone keep battery life reasonable. Like the iPhone, if multitasking were allowed, 3rd party apps would gratuitously use that, and battery life would plummet, giving the device a bad reputation. Strict control, when properly wielded can be used for the overall good of the device, arguably, as it does with the iPhone.
Backwards compatibility - What would the benefit for Apple be of compatibility with iPhone/Touch apps? They would render like shit and it would compete against new offerings for this device. It only makes sense to me that there would be a new App Store, perhaps in the future with some level of crossover, perhaps not. And OS X apps? That would be an even bigger mess... I suspect it will be a "be happy with what it ships with" and then some 3rd party apps might start trickling out, just like the iPhone. And you know we'll all be real happy with what it ships with
Pixel Density/Resolution - iPhone is 163ppi, Macbook/Pros are in the 110-130 range, Apple desktop displays in the 95-110 range. The closer you hold it to your face the more dense you want it. Assuming the tablet would be held somewhere between iPhone / laptop distance, a pixel range around 140-145 would be consistent with a 1280x720 10.2" display (9" x 5"). 720p is "good enough", would offer power consumption benefits over anything higher and is consistent with iTunes store offerings and available bandwidth. A physical size around 9 x 5 would be purse friendly and portable on a whole 'nother level compared to a laptop.
Cost - High, but not too high. I hate to state the obvious, not to mention ambiguous. But I suspect Apples high initial offering price of the iPhone was a very conscious strategy. Remember the buzz? Remember the geek-magnet draw of such a premium priced phone? First impression are important, and the reputation of the iPhone being a super-premium phone "in a league of it's own" exists to this day, when you can get one for $99 - hardly a premium price. So why wouldn't they start high?
CPU - You don't need all that much power these days to run a browser and some hardware-assisted h.264 720p decoding. Decent battery life and a super thin enclosure would be far more important. Theres nothing to gain by overpowering this device, especially since app offerings at first will be meager. There's always the second generation and beyond for that.
When's the last time Apple debuted a new product in 'several different models'?
Almost every time. There will probably be different memory configurations and possibly (although unlikely IMO) different screen sizes - and there may be a 3G version with a contract and one without. Personally I don't know why Apple would want to limit its customer base in that manner.
Also the 'high end' graphics people are getting hung up on: I think it's likely the display will have a very high pixel density to make reading as comfortable as possible - I think we'll see 720p resolution as standard. But as for 'high end' GPU, well in theory the iPhone has this already - to function as a tablet, media player and eReader, it just really needs a decoder as good as the one in the Apple TV for 720p H.264 playback... so a something about as powerful as a mid-range GPU from 2006 (like the 7300).
How to do a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation without full Mac OS X? And I mean a true one from NATIVE ".key" and from NATIVE ".ppt" files. As far as I know, that cannot be done from the iPhone or iPod touch because requires a full Mac OS X. On the other hand, USB is required for wireless presentation remotes like the Keyspan-by-Tripp Lite Remote control:
You need an app to run keynotes and powerpoints, not an OS. Last I heard there was something called the App store. A tablet would get these Apps either direct from Apple or through the App store.
Those particular remotes are far from a requirement. You could likely use an iPhone in its place (Apple would like that) or any other bluetooth remote. You could possibly use the IR Apple Remote. Lastly the iPhone SDK already supports devices connecting through the dock connector, so you would just need a dongle with a dock connector instead of usb for any other remote.
Now you could argue that your current remote wont work without a new dongle if it doesn't come with usb, but you were stating such things as absolute requirements, and they quite simply are not.
Your needs are simply wants. Full OSX and USB are not required for a powerpoint presentation. You want them because they are what you use now.
Computers are getting smaller, phones are getting more powerful, printed paper is slowly obsoleting... Here's my humble predictions of Apples take on this form factor. Like the Apple TV and it's spot dead in the middle of TVs and Computers, they will be slow and conservative in order to steer this device into a functional middle spot and not pigeon hole it into a soon to be forgotten niche (cough, kindle, cough). Steve has way too much vision for that?
Here's a new thought. We haven't heard a thing recently about iWork.com -- it's still in beta form, and still free. Apple's cone of silence on the development of this service is conspicuous. Could it be that the slate will be tied into iWork.com in some way? If we're wondering how Apple plans on providing some level of productivity application support on a slate device, could this be the way?
DiDo may be simply repeating what others have said but that does not imply that the tech isn't available for some of the feature sets described.
First it is pretty much a given that through PA Semi Apple will have a custom SoC in the tablet. Given publically available information from the likes of ARM and Imagination we can see the potential for a huge performance boost over the current iPhone/Touch implementations. With Cortex and Imaginations new graphic cores I have little doubt that the performance would be anything less than impressive. Consider that Imaginations latest IP allows an implemented to tailor the number of cores the GPU will use and that each core is more powerful than the current iPhones. Imagin 8 of these cores on the SoC.
Now that number of cores guess above comes out of thin Air. What Apple has to do is to tailor the maximum power draw of the system board to some arrbitrary level that meets certain design goals. What ultimately makes it onto the SoC will be controlled by the maximum power allowed. The iPhone can max out at 2.5 watts running everything hard. I'm going to suggest that Apple will want to keep total power under 7 watts. That is a lot but much of that would go to back lighting a large screen. So maybe the SoC and main board are allocated five watts. That effectively doubles iPhone max power draw. Given the latest semiconductor technology that is going to be one nice tablet.
If the rumors about a ten inch tablet are true that provides a lot of room for a battery. I won't guess at run times but it won't be bad. Consider that the logic board won't be much larger than what is in the Touch or iPhone. A big battery plus an ARM SoC using a low power tech will equal long run times.
As to the screen there is a reasonable possibility that it will support 720P. I'm not down with super high resolutions though. 1080P would be nice but extremely small pixels require aGgressive back lighting. Supper high pixel density works against long battery life, a good portion of that due to driving the back light.
Of course that is LCD screen related but new tech like OLED and TMOS are nice. Even here there are bad trade offs. For example black text on a white background is very expensive power wise. No matter which way Apple goes a large display implies high power usage. It is also where innovation is possible, it will be interesting to see if Apple moves some of the more interesting tech out of a lab onto a tablet.
As to multiple size devices it would be a very wise move on Apples part to have two different sizes at launch. Mainly because, as we all know size matters, of the dramatically different needs in the market place
The OS will be derived from or a superset of iPhone OS. It will though take on many of Mac OSes features such as the Dock. The Dock will provide access to multitasking even on a device with one app per screen. While at a low level there is little difference between iPhone OS and Mac OS a tablet needs an interface much closer to iPhones that a Mac.
Running Powerpoint or other presentation programs on this device would be a waste of time in my mind. I just don't get the point!
I actually wonder if this will be a tablet in the traditional sense. The one thing that is bad about a tablet is that big exposed screen. Fracture city if you ask me. I could see Apple addressing this in a number of different ways. One would be the holly Grail of the folding screen. Another would be via a transparent material other than glass. The cheap approach is pecan with a hardener applied. We could get something along the lines of transparent Aluminum. This is however another place for Apple to innovate and solve the problem of the breakable screen.
What is interesting isthat every body here seems to poo poo what is possible with respect to electronics and performance yet misses the far more demanding challeges. The electronics isn't the problem between ARM, PA Semi and Imagination there shouldn't be a problem at all.
One of the most obvious raisons d'être for the tablet I can think of is to take on the net book market.
The other huge market potential and one I have a suspicion the device might be aimed at, is the medical field.
Like the iphone it does so much more than just the internet, not having flash isn't going to be a problem in my opinion. Especially if it supports HTML5 and things like LP's. We're really talking about shaping perceptions and I'm not so sure the users first instinct is going to be "how am I getting short changed in my web experience".
Regarding the medical market... I agree 100%. Every nurse and doctor I know carries an iphone. When they can get a tablet it seems a no brainer. I'm sure the traditional corporate world would be a bigger challenge than specifically the medical field.
The Iphone OS is pretty capable. Take the NASA chemical sensor App for example or the iphone diabetes app. Both utilize external sensors and custom software and what Apple had to do was provide a killer device and a solid Devkit. What can't the iphone OS do exactly? When it's got a better CPU and GFX chip it will be cutting edge for sure.
On that note, most of what MacRonin was talking about, the iphone can already do I think that was his point...
Quote:
10" hi-rez touchscreen (multi-touch with fingers & stylus capable), Tegra 2 inside, 'Touch-ified' Mac OS X (and all of the accompanying apps; Mail, Address Book, Safari, Preview, iTunes, QuickTime X, etc. ...), iLife, iWork, mobile video iChat capable, iTunes-centric App Store, Apple Remote Desktop; I would SO buy one of these...!
... less the form factor itself and desktop apps, but we're honestly not that far away from that either. Didn't MSFT already say they are working on Office for iphone OS? I already use "remote desktop" on the iphone. There are a growing number of great and very powerful photo and video and drawing apps which require quite a bit of power, not to mention bigger games. Have you seen ReelDirector? Christ you can edit, add transitions and text. The games are absurd, who ever imagined the iphone would "replace" nintendo or sony. If the iphone can run it, a tablet will only do it better.
I don't think having flash will "cripple" the tablet as some have said nor do I think Flash or web surfing are the "raisons d'être" to own the tablet. Apple is going to look to differentiate themselves and while web surfing is key, yes but if I were the salesman I would be confident I could make the pitch and sale even if the browser didn't support flash.
Here's a new thought. We haven't heard a thing recently about iWork.com -- it's still in beta form, and still free. Apple's cone of silence on the development of this service is conspicuous. Could it be that the slate will be tied into iWork.com in some way? If we're wondering how Apple plans on providing some level of productivity application support on a slate device, could this be the way?
That would be cool, but bear in mind that it could also simply be another case of Apple's unnerving habit of throwing cool tech out there and seemingly losing interest.
And generally about a possible tablet:
Surely the model here is the iPhone? Just as with smart phones, we have a market full of not particularly engaging, not especially successful (outside of some specialized niches) products, and a lot of skepticism that Apple can bring anything useful to that market.
What Apple did with the iPhone (as has been mentioned) was rethink the entire experience from the ground up by considering what people (many people, not some subset of geeks or road warriors) might want to do with a ubiquitously connected, ubiquitously present handheld device. Then they set about polishing the experience of that device, ruthlessly paring away "features" that might interfere with that experience, making it as easy and pleasurable to use as possible.
The result was a device that literally transformed (show of hands of anyone who thinks Droid or Pre or WinMo 7 would exist as they are if not for the iPhone) the market it entered. And thereby rendering moot any questions about why anyone would want another smart phone, much less from the makers of a minority desktop OS with pricing and control issues.
We have heard that Jobs kept putting this project on hold because he couldn't see why he would need the products he was being shown. Given that, and what we know about how Apple operates, it seems like the only thing we can know for sure about an Apple tablet device (assuming such even exists) is that it will start with some questions about what it is for, and go from there.
It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to assume that an Apple tablet will at least attempt to do for the "ubiquitously connected hand held media pad thing" market what they have, in fact, done for the smart phone market-- make a device that rethinks the fundamentals, and possibly creating in the process a new class of device that delights its users in ways that no one really expected.
Beyond that, I don't think it's really productive to speculate about particulars of OS or form factor or price, because it will surely be judged in the market as more than the sum of its parts. After all, it would have been possible to pick apart the iPhone as a non-starter just by focusing on specs or features, thereby completely missing the point.
The tablet market is dead there is no game to change.
Excellent analysis with much insight provided, especially given explosion of new tablet products as of late, windows getting more touch friendly, the improvements in text recognition and touchscreen displays, and the large amount of hype surrounding an apple tablet. The tablet market is definitely dead. Spot on.
Excellent analysis with much insight provided, especially given explosion of new tablet products as of late, windows getting more touch friendly, the improvements in text recognition and touchscreen displays, and the large amount of hype surrounding an apple tablet. The tablet market is definitely dead. Spot on.
/s
Tablet products as of late? HP use to have a Tablet not sure if they do anymore because no one bought it. E-readers like Kindle and Sony are not very popular.
Give me an example of a hot selling tablet. This tablet would have to appeal to Windows users to be widely popular, just like the iPod and iPhone. If its only popular with Apple users then its going to go the way of Apple TV.
So please tell me what Tablet currently on the market is selling like crazy
Excellent analysis with much insight provided, especially given explosion of new tablet products as of late, windows getting more touch friendly, the improvements in text recognition and touchscreen displays, and the large amount of hype surrounding an apple tablet. The tablet market is definitely dead. Spot on.
He does have a point. It?s not dead, but it is stagnant. Same thing for the smartphone market before Apple jumped in.
Even Win7?s multi-touch capabilities are still working off the absurd idea of using a desktop OS for a tablet device. It seems only logical that Apple will create a Tablet OS somewhere between the iPhone and Mac OSes, designed specifically for the device. MS seems out of that game with Android and Maemo the closest to play catch up once Apple announces their mythical tablet.
Comments
... I don't see that as being doable without flash. A semi-internet capable device just won't excite.
What?
... but on the other hand, fulfilling their wishes would likely require leading edge hardware, something Apple doesn't normally do.
WTF?
This is so not going to happen. You need to dial down your expectations a bit.
It will be either the same OS as the iPhone or a version of the same thing. in other words we will be lucky if it sports a file system. It will not run apps in Windows, or run OS X desktop class apps and will be more of a synced device than a "full on" computer.
I'd be happy if it costs under a $1000 and lets me write and draw on it. Anything more is gravy.
If you want to write and draw just buy a moleskin!
I doubt a file system is that much to ask for. It could run in a single-application mode of sorts, but I'd imagine variants of mail, address book, iWork (maybe not iLife) would be available. I hope the new product, whatever it is, comes closer to iPhone like levels of utility than that of the Apple TV.
The prospect of it not being a "full on" computer... are you assuming it will be tied to iTunes?
You will not, guarantee not see flash on the tablet. There are so many reasons; you should just do your research and discover why and thank god it won't.
Flash not being on the iPhone is one thing, but people will be pissed if they can't play Farmville on their tablet.
I don't see anything there as a must, except for video out, which it will obviously have. Full OSX and USB isn't required for a keynote presentation.
How to do a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation without full Mac OS X? And I mean a true one from NATIVE ".key" and from NATIVE ".ppt" files. As far as I know, that cannot be done from the iPhone or iPod touch because requires a full Mac OS X. On the other hand, USB is required for wireless presentation remotes like the Keyspan-by-Tripp Lite Remote control:
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products...D=517&EID=2988
How to do a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation without full Mac OS X? And I mean a true one from NATIVE ".key" and from NATIVE ".ppt" files. As far as I know, that cannot be done from the iPhone or iPod touch because requires a full Mac OS X. Thanks.
I'm not sure what is meant by "full" OSX but certainly Apple could produce a player version of Keynote that would not require the desktop version of the OS to run. In fact if I had to guess, this is what I'd guess they are going to do for the tablet. At least this much.
Function - obviously, replacing paper. The size, timing and available technology are just right for this. Movies and web surfing via wifi (at least) seems like a no-brainer as well. Complete openness for 3rd party apps? No way, the iPhone has been way too successful and profitable for that.
OS - Lets give Apple more credit than just slapping Mac OS X or the iPhone OS on this and hoping for the best. Functionally it would be somewhere between the two; just like the form factor is. From an openness perspective I would imagine Apple embracing the iPhones restricted environment for numerous reasons. 1) profit from App Store offerings 2) controlling the quality/offerings allows them to steer the devices role once unleashed 3) controlling the environment tightly (ie: very limited, or no multitasking) would, much like the iPhone keep battery life reasonable. Like the iPhone, if multitasking were allowed, 3rd party apps would gratuitously use that, and battery life would plummet, giving the device a bad reputation. Strict control, when properly wielded can be used for the overall good of the device, arguably, as it does with the iPhone.
Backwards compatibility - What would the benefit for Apple be of compatibility with iPhone/Touch apps? They would render like shit and it would compete against new offerings for this device. It only makes sense to me that there would be a new App Store, perhaps in the future with some level of crossover, perhaps not. And OS X apps? That would be an even bigger mess... I suspect it will be a "be happy with what it ships with" and then some 3rd party apps might start trickling out, just like the iPhone. And you know we'll all be real happy with what it ships with
Pixel Density/Resolution - iPhone is 163ppi, Macbook/Pros are in the 110-130 range, Apple desktop displays in the 95-110 range. The closer you hold it to your face the more dense you want it. Assuming the tablet would be held somewhere between iPhone / laptop distance, a pixel range around 140-145 would be consistent with a 1280x720 10.2" display (9" x 5"). 720p is "good enough", would offer power consumption benefits over anything higher and is consistent with iTunes store offerings and available bandwidth. A physical size around 9 x 5 would be purse friendly and portable on a whole 'nother level compared to a laptop.
Cost - High, but not too high. I hate to state the obvious, not to mention ambiguous. But I suspect Apples high initial offering price of the iPhone was a very conscious strategy. Remember the buzz? Remember the geek-magnet draw of such a premium priced phone? First impression are important, and the reputation of the iPhone being a super-premium phone "in a league of it's own" exists to this day, when you can get one for $99 - hardly a premium price. So why wouldn't they start high?
CPU - You don't need all that much power these days to run a browser and some hardware-assisted h.264 720p decoding. Decent battery life and a super thin enclosure would be far more important. Theres nothing to gain by overpowering this device, especially since app offerings at first will be meager. There's always the second generation and beyond for that.
Just my thoughts (and hopes)...
Rob
If they don't call it Newton, I'll quietly do nothing.
Moi aussi, but loudly.
Apple shares to $300. Easy.
"Several different models"?
When's the last time Apple debuted a new product in 'several different models'?
Almost every time. There will probably be different memory configurations and possibly (although unlikely IMO) different screen sizes - and there may be a 3G version with a contract and one without. Personally I don't know why Apple would want to limit its customer base in that manner.
Also the 'high end' graphics people are getting hung up on: I think it's likely the display will have a very high pixel density to make reading as comfortable as possible - I think we'll see 720p resolution as standard. But as for 'high end' GPU, well in theory the iPhone has this already - to function as a tablet, media player and eReader, it just really needs a decoder as good as the one in the Apple TV for 720p H.264 playback... so a something about as powerful as a mid-range GPU from 2006 (like the 7300).
How to do a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation without full Mac OS X? And I mean a true one from NATIVE ".key" and from NATIVE ".ppt" files. As far as I know, that cannot be done from the iPhone or iPod touch because requires a full Mac OS X. On the other hand, USB is required for wireless presentation remotes like the Keyspan-by-Tripp Lite Remote control:
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products...D=517&EID=2988
You need an app to run keynotes and powerpoints, not an OS. Last I heard there was something called the App store. A tablet would get these Apps either direct from Apple or through the App store.
Those particular remotes are far from a requirement. You could likely use an iPhone in its place (Apple would like that) or any other bluetooth remote. You could possibly use the IR Apple Remote. Lastly the iPhone SDK already supports devices connecting through the dock connector, so you would just need a dongle with a dock connector instead of usb for any other remote.
Now you could argue that your current remote wont work without a new dongle if it doesn't come with usb, but you were stating such things as absolute requirements, and they quite simply are not.
Your needs are simply wants. Full OSX and USB are not required for a powerpoint presentation. You want them because they are what you use now.
Computers are getting smaller, phones are getting more powerful, printed paper is slowly obsoleting... Here's my humble predictions of Apples take on this form factor. Like the Apple TV and it's spot dead in the middle of TVs and Computers, they will be slow and conservative in order to steer this device into a functional middle spot and not pigeon hole it into a soon to be forgotten niche (cough, kindle, cough). Steve has way too much vision for that?
[?]
Just my thoughts (and hopes)...
Rob
Excellent analysis. Welcome to the forums.
First it is pretty much a given that through PA Semi Apple will have a custom SoC in the tablet. Given publically available information from the likes of ARM and Imagination we can see the potential for a huge performance boost over the current iPhone/Touch implementations. With Cortex and Imaginations new graphic cores I have little doubt that the performance would be anything less than impressive. Consider that Imaginations latest IP allows an implemented to tailor the number of cores the GPU will use and that each core is more powerful than the current iPhones. Imagin 8 of these cores on the SoC.
Now that number of cores guess above comes out of thin Air. What Apple has to do is to tailor the maximum power draw of the system board to some arrbitrary level that meets certain design goals. What ultimately makes it onto the SoC will be controlled by the maximum power allowed. The iPhone can max out at 2.5 watts running everything hard. I'm going to suggest that Apple will want to keep total power under 7 watts. That is a lot but much of that would go to back lighting a large screen. So maybe the SoC and main board are allocated five watts. That effectively doubles iPhone max power draw. Given the latest semiconductor technology that is going to be one nice tablet.
If the rumors about a ten inch tablet are true that provides a lot of room for a battery. I won't guess at run times but it won't be bad. Consider that the logic board won't be much larger than what is in the Touch or iPhone. A big battery plus an ARM SoC using a low power tech will equal long run times.
As to the screen there is a reasonable possibility that it will support 720P. I'm not down with super high resolutions though. 1080P would be nice but extremely small pixels require aGgressive back lighting. Supper high pixel density works against long battery life, a good portion of that due to driving the back light.
Of course that is LCD screen related but new tech like OLED and TMOS are nice. Even here there are bad trade offs. For example black text on a white background is very expensive power wise. No matter which way Apple goes a large display implies high power usage. It is also where innovation is possible, it will be interesting to see if Apple moves some of the more interesting tech out of a lab onto a tablet.
As to multiple size devices it would be a very wise move on Apples part to have two different sizes at launch. Mainly because, as we all know size matters, of the dramatically different needs in the market place
The OS will be derived from or a superset of iPhone OS. It will though take on many of Mac OSes features such as the Dock. The Dock will provide access to multitasking even on a device with one app per screen. While at a low level there is little difference between iPhone OS and Mac OS a tablet needs an interface much closer to iPhones that a Mac.
Running Powerpoint or other presentation programs on this device would be a waste of time in my mind. I just don't get the point!
I actually wonder if this will be a tablet in the traditional sense. The one thing that is bad about a tablet is that big exposed screen. Fracture city if you ask me. I could see Apple addressing this in a number of different ways. One would be the holly Grail of the folding screen. Another would be via a transparent material other than glass. The cheap approach is pecan with a hardener applied. We could get something along the lines of transparent Aluminum. This is however another place for Apple to innovate and solve the problem of the breakable screen.
What is interesting isthat every body here seems to poo poo what is possible with respect to electronics and performance yet misses the far more demanding challeges. The electronics isn't the problem between ARM, PA Semi and Imagination there shouldn't be a problem at all.
Dave
Dave
Whatever it'll be, it'll be a game-changer. Bet on it.
Apple shares to $300. Easy.
The tablet market is dead there is no game to change.
One of the most obvious raisons d'être for the tablet I can think of is to take on the net book market.
The other huge market potential and one I have a suspicion the device might be aimed at, is the medical field.
Like the iphone it does so much more than just the internet, not having flash isn't going to be a problem in my opinion. Especially if it supports HTML5 and things like LP's. We're really talking about shaping perceptions and I'm not so sure the users first instinct is going to be "how am I getting short changed in my web experience".
Regarding the medical market... I agree 100%. Every nurse and doctor I know carries an iphone. When they can get a tablet it seems a no brainer. I'm sure the traditional corporate world would be a bigger challenge than specifically the medical field.
The Iphone OS is pretty capable. Take the NASA chemical sensor App for example or the iphone diabetes app. Both utilize external sensors and custom software and what Apple had to do was provide a killer device and a solid Devkit. What can't the iphone OS do exactly? When it's got a better CPU and GFX chip it will be cutting edge for sure.
On that note, most of what MacRonin was talking about, the iphone can already do I think that was his point...
10" hi-rez touchscreen (multi-touch with fingers & stylus capable), Tegra 2 inside, 'Touch-ified' Mac OS X (and all of the accompanying apps; Mail, Address Book, Safari, Preview, iTunes, QuickTime X, etc. ...), iLife, iWork, mobile video iChat capable, iTunes-centric App Store, Apple Remote Desktop; I would SO buy one of these...!
... less the form factor itself and desktop apps, but we're honestly not that far away from that either. Didn't MSFT already say they are working on Office for iphone OS? I already use "remote desktop" on the iphone. There are a growing number of great and very powerful photo and video and drawing apps which require quite a bit of power, not to mention bigger games. Have you seen ReelDirector? Christ you can edit, add transitions and text. The games are absurd, who ever imagined the iphone would "replace" nintendo or sony. If the iphone can run it, a tablet will only do it better.
I don't think having flash will "cripple" the tablet as some have said nor do I think Flash or web surfing are the "raisons d'être" to own the tablet. Apple is going to look to differentiate themselves and while web surfing is key, yes but if I were the salesman I would be confident I could make the pitch and sale even if the browser didn't support flash.
Here's a new thought. We haven't heard a thing recently about iWork.com -- it's still in beta form, and still free. Apple's cone of silence on the development of this service is conspicuous. Could it be that the slate will be tied into iWork.com in some way? If we're wondering how Apple plans on providing some level of productivity application support on a slate device, could this be the way?
That would be cool, but bear in mind that it could also simply be another case of Apple's unnerving habit of throwing cool tech out there and seemingly losing interest.
And generally about a possible tablet:
Surely the model here is the iPhone? Just as with smart phones, we have a market full of not particularly engaging, not especially successful (outside of some specialized niches) products, and a lot of skepticism that Apple can bring anything useful to that market.
What Apple did with the iPhone (as has been mentioned) was rethink the entire experience from the ground up by considering what people (many people, not some subset of geeks or road warriors) might want to do with a ubiquitously connected, ubiquitously present handheld device. Then they set about polishing the experience of that device, ruthlessly paring away "features" that might interfere with that experience, making it as easy and pleasurable to use as possible.
The result was a device that literally transformed (show of hands of anyone who thinks Droid or Pre or WinMo 7 would exist as they are if not for the iPhone) the market it entered. And thereby rendering moot any questions about why anyone would want another smart phone, much less from the makers of a minority desktop OS with pricing and control issues.
We have heard that Jobs kept putting this project on hold because he couldn't see why he would need the products he was being shown. Given that, and what we know about how Apple operates, it seems like the only thing we can know for sure about an Apple tablet device (assuming such even exists) is that it will start with some questions about what it is for, and go from there.
It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to assume that an Apple tablet will at least attempt to do for the "ubiquitously connected hand held media pad thing" market what they have, in fact, done for the smart phone market-- make a device that rethinks the fundamentals, and possibly creating in the process a new class of device that delights its users in ways that no one really expected.
Beyond that, I don't think it's really productive to speculate about particulars of OS or form factor or price, because it will surely be judged in the market as more than the sum of its parts. After all, it would have been possible to pick apart the iPhone as a non-starter just by focusing on specs or features, thereby completely missing the point.
The tablet market is dead there is no game to change.
Excellent analysis with much insight provided, especially given explosion of new tablet products as of late, windows getting more touch friendly, the improvements in text recognition and touchscreen displays, and the large amount of hype surrounding an apple tablet. The tablet market is definitely dead. Spot on.
/s
Yeah, I'll give this analysis on a unannounced Apple product about as much weight as one written by John C. Dvorak.
Excellent analysis with much insight provided, especially given explosion of new tablet products as of late, windows getting more touch friendly, the improvements in text recognition and touchscreen displays, and the large amount of hype surrounding an apple tablet. The tablet market is definitely dead. Spot on.
/s
Tablet products as of late? HP use to have a Tablet not sure if they do anymore because no one bought it. E-readers like Kindle and Sony are not very popular.
Give me an example of a hot selling tablet. This tablet would have to appeal to Windows users to be widely popular, just like the iPod and iPhone. If its only popular with Apple users then its going to go the way of Apple TV.
So please tell me what Tablet currently on the market is selling like crazy
Excellent analysis with much insight provided, especially given explosion of new tablet products as of late, windows getting more touch friendly, the improvements in text recognition and touchscreen displays, and the large amount of hype surrounding an apple tablet. The tablet market is definitely dead. Spot on.
He does have a point. It?s not dead, but it is stagnant. Same thing for the smartphone market before Apple jumped in.
Even Win7?s multi-touch capabilities are still working off the absurd idea of using a desktop OS for a tablet device. It seems only logical that Apple will create a Tablet OS somewhere between the iPhone and Mac OSes, designed specifically for the device. MS seems out of that game with Android and Maemo the closest to play catch up once Apple announces their mythical tablet.