Apple's new handheld?
By Peter Rojas 
posted August 13th 2004 11:40AM
posted August 13th 2004 11:40AM
Three months ago Apple filed a European design trademark for some sort of a handheld or tablet-style computer (it's hard to tell how big it is from these sketchs that accompanied the filing). Read into this what you will, but people have been buzzing about a tablet Mac for months and months now and Steve Jobs himself admitted that the company developed a new line of PDAs which they then abandoned at the last second. A new multimedia tablet, or could this possibly even be the design for the new iMac, which could turn out just be an all-in-one flat-panel PC?
[Thanks, Tim]
Man, that's blown WAY out of proportion. Jobs made an off-hand remark that he was glad that he didn't ship a handheld recently. Most likely, he meant that Apple explored the possibility of building one, then decided not to. Claiming that Jobs "admitted that the company developed a new line of PDAs which they then abandoned at the last second" is a gross misreading of what he said and is almost certainly false.
[Peter responds: Here's the quote from AppleInsider: "Speaking from the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference this afternoon in Carlsbad, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a number of interesting statements. Most notably, Jobs confirmed that Apple had designed its own PDA device, but canned the project just prior to bringing it to market." Sounds like they canceled it at the last minute to me. If you were there or have access to a transcript of what was actually said, please let us know. http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=484]
well, I'm about to get on a plane, so I only had my Treo to help research this. the best I can find is this, http://www.appleturns.com/scene/?id=4743 . certainly not definitive, but it points out many of the flaws in AppleInsider's speculation.
[Peter: Yeah, though I agree, that isn't completely definitive either. It sounds like things are really fuzzy about what was actually said there.. Anyone out there have a transcript?]
Looks like a closed iBook to me. With little close-snap-hook thingy and all.
Could be an eBook reader (to go with an eBook service a la iTunes). Apple's the ideal company to finally build a decent one that's all cute and stylish like the iPod. Major drawback: Even if it's great, is there any money in it?
I think it was just an offhand remark, from what I remmeber, Jobs was asked if there was anything Apple was glad they never made, and Jobs replied "A PDA." Nothing more.
Anyway.... looks like some interesting stuff may be coming, can't wait!
Judging by the sketches alone it looks like they're trying to patent the mirror. *Genius*
According to this article from last year, there was a chance the WSJ would impose a no-reporting for reporters and non-reporters alike, http://www.macobserver.com/article/2003/06/05.9.shtml . On the other hand, this page points to the transcript of D:, although a WSJ subscription is required http://www.macminute.com/2004/06/19/executivebriefing . Can anyone help out?
Funnily enough, Jobs later admitted to trying to buy Palm.
I'd kill for a DIN A5 Palm PDA, the closest thing to an eBook in my mind.