Apple's patented the Tablet Mac
By Ryan Block 
posted May 10th 2005 11:05PM
posted May 10th 2005 11:05PM
Looks like US Design Patent No. D504,899 is one for the Apple history books-it's been rumored freaking forever, we last heard about this last August, but it became substantiated today when Apple's secret plans for a tablet PC were not-so-ruefully revealed. We're not sure how Microsoft is going to feel about this, but perhaps the heated competition will spur sales of PC tablet devices from their current, sluggish pace. At least one thing's for sure: once this device comes out, tablet devices are officially in. And yeah, if you live in the greater bay area, that loud noise you're hearing right now is the sound of Steve Jobs chopping people's heads off.
[Via slashdot]
The projected saliva-drenched wishes of all of us Mac addicts and tablet fans in respose to this non-news are pretty funny.
But if there really were a story behind this, my guess would be that this thing is like a touchscreen version of a keyboardless Powerbook or a smaller, lighter iMac. When you're back at your desk, you mount it vertically on a stand and it communicates with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse iMac-style.
Of course as with the iMac, wirelessness would just be a dream: you'd still need to plug it into a rat's nest of cables for power, audio, USB, Firewire and external video. Time to revive the idea of a cable dock?
"No, that's why most of them don't get paid big bucks like SJ over there."
Big bucks like $1 a year? That's what Jobs actually makes for his position at Apple's.
He still owns enough shares to make his work profitable to himself, that's for sure. But still your comment is irrelevant as-is.
OMG, I am astonished nobody mentioned the Newton so I will. Newton!
In any case... replies:
#13 "Apple better come up with a different name than that too."
Newton 2 Hehe...
#20 " Jobs is no dummy"
I beg to differ. The moron killed off the best handheld device, the Newton MessagePad, because it was Scully's project.
#21 they also kept the Rosetta handwriting technology (used in Newton OS 2.x)
#23 " Why am I not seeing the usual Tablet jokes ?"
Why did the tablet cross the road? Because it was 'flatter' there.
Anyone remember the Apple Freestyle? It was made specifically for disabled people and sold through Assisitve Technology Inc. It was basically an early Powerbook with an integrated touchscreen, no keyboard and inputs for special switches and controllers. It was discontinued and they swiched to special toilet-seat iBooks; now they sell Windows tablet devices (http://www.assistivetech.com/p-mercury.htm). I don't think it's a highly lucrative market, but I could see an Apple tablet used for this purpose again.
Its an ipod accessory
And the USPTO reaches a new low by granting a design patent on a rectangular prism with radiused corners. Quick! Someone file a design patent for the hula hoop.
This is a design patent. It only stakes Apple's claim to a particular look, where one entire side of the tablet is the display. Lets assume the controls will be triggered to appear and operate by a finger tap on the screen, or by remote control.
The drawing of the user holding the tablet could be deliberately misleading, however. It could be a different size. Imagine the 'tablet' is 3 x 5 inches, or 4.5 x 8; now you've got a widescreen movie-Pod that would also protected by this design patent.
I guess somebody has to show this patent infringement:
http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/classic.htm
I agree that this is probably hoopla over an insanely great brainfart that has long ago disappeared. But its fun to speculate:
Touch screen with no stylus indicates to me that its a couch-based entertainment system interface. The Lay-Z-Mac, if you will. Even though Steve swears the Mac does not belong in the TV room and that people turn on their TV to turn off their brain (I agree), he would nonetheless love to have iPod-like success with the idiot box and frankly, so would I. So would Bill. Why is iPod such a success? Its the interface, stupid.
I hate my TV. I hate my cable company. I hate it because I dont have DVR or TiVo and I burn through batteries trying to find something to entertain me. I want one channel that is non-commercial and so consistently engaging that I dont ever want to turn it off (if I could pause it and pick it up later, even better). Not 300 channels of obnoxious commercials and boring programming that I pay a premium to be bombarded with.
I WILL have a DVR soon and so will you, if you dont already. I would be more than happy to have it be an Apple branded device/service. Just dont gouge me like my current cable does. Thats exactly why I dont buy their online DVR. They are already getting too much of my expendable income.
Steve, do me a solid and please fix this for me? Thanks. Youre a pal.
Peter heard first hand Bill's SKU-ed plans. I would imagine Steve would enjoy eating his lunch for a change:
"Media Center, Tablet PC will all be integrated into Longhorn, correct?
Thats right. They will ship. Well have different SKUs but all those things there will be a major release that will ship with the client and so thats the big update for those things.
So Ill be able to get my Tablet Media Center PC?
Actually we are looking at that, we will have an SKU that combines those. Thats been a little bit of a missing piece. People like Toshiba that are doing these machines that are great for that have been very clear about that."
http://tabletpcs.engadget.com/entry/1234000400042080/
As one of the 9 or 10 people in the world who think tablet pc's are a good idea, and a mac user, this makes me pretty happy.
I'll be honest, Windows tablet edition is not bad at all... the main thing that's kept me from getting one is the price and the fact that none of the hardware has really been exactly what I want. Now, my expectations of something sub-1-inch thickness and full work-day battery life may be unreasonable, but hey, a man's got to have standards.
From a hardware perspective, i have to believe apple can design the device i want, and I've always hoped they would.
Palm has the "new" LifeDrive hitting the market this week... 4 gig harddrive, WiFi, Bluetooth, Flash Drive Slot, touch screen, (iPods take note) - mp3's-to-go, etc, etc...
Think Apple crossed with PDA - how sweet this could be! The ultimate portable device that would fit in my purse! I've got my money out already!
The main market for tablet PCs is for professionals and technicians who work with clipboards, a very large group of people that the comptuer industry has largely ignored. They also tend to work in industries that have been slow to adopt IT, but are now getting into it in a big way. Types of professions include builders, architects, doctors, vets, surveyors, social workers, etc. Laptops are useless for them, PDAs are used, but are rather limiting. They tend to work with very visual material, and fill in forms alot. The devices have to be light, rugged, drop-proof, long battery life, wireless connections via 3G, WiFi etc, integrated with organisational IT systems, secure, and hardware extensible - e.g. cameras, radiation detectors, printers etc etc. This is actually a pretty tall order with todays technology, so it is a struggling product category.
it's D504,889
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=17&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=Apple&s2=tablet&OS=Apple+AND+tablet&RS=Apple+AND+tablet
Maybe it could be this super-secret Apple tablet:
http://www.secretsocietyfilms.com/iwalk/