There isn't a lot to go by here, but if the
Wall Street Journal's sources are to believed,
recently-returned Apple CEO
Steve Jobs is currently focusing the vast majority of his attention on the
oft rumored tablet device, micromanaging every detail much in the way he did with the iPhone. The report also says that the tablet project has been twice killed by Jobs in recent years -- first time because of bad battery life, which we get, and second because of insufficient memory, which seems a little less believable. Interestingly and uncharacteristically, Jobs took it upon himself to respond, saying via email, "much of your information is incorrect." If Apple really is ramping up to unveiling a tablet, the first of its kind for the company, we have no doubt Jobs would be personally watching over every minute detail of it -- what we really want to know is
when we might see something materialize, and that's still very much a mystery.
posted Aug 24th 2009 9:37PM
This will either be a hit, or the Newton of out time
First Nubs!!!
Leibniz FTW
Psh we all know Leibniz stole from Newton.
Also I don't see how a tabletPC is the first of its kind
Wow iJW. I didn't think anyone could come close to Quix and iShit at being such an asshole. But you clearly surpass those douches.
the man only sleeps half a brain at a time to utilize as much time on an iTablet as possible
Odds are it's going to be very bad for open platforms as a whole.
A device this size would likely result in the same closed 3rd party environment that the iPhone has. If I had to guess, Apple is going to try to blur the line between a computer and a device like the iPhone. That's going to suck balls for developers everywhere on every platform.
iJames,
Even in a story expressly about Apple, without a mention of Microsoft from the editors or the commentors alike, you somehow feel compelled to rant about them. That's called an unhealthy obsession.
first comment reply fail
The devil made deal with him, his life for an apple tablet!
I'm thinking it'll be a hit. And notice that SJ *didn't* say that *all* the information is incorrect -- just *much of* it, so I think that gives us a new spin.
I'll bet this thing is going to be a quarter of an inch thick or something and have the power of a Mac Book....Q
THATS WHAT SHE SAID!
Apple's first TEGRA device? Q.
So, let me get this straight.... I know it's not a netbook, but everyone is going to think of it as one. As such, the biggest differentiators in the netbook market are things like keyboard, battery life, and durability.
Is Apple really going to release a netbook-like iThing that doesn't allow us to type on a real keyboard? If so, I'll have to pass.
But if it flips open to a nice keyboard... Yummy.
Maybe it’s based on their ‘Tablet’ concept designed in 1988 by the University of Illinois which Apple sponsored. Extract from report “Personal computer of the year 2000”: “Apple Computer, Inc. sponsored a contest last September at a dozen universities across the country to design the personal computer of the year 2000. The rules were simple: describe the computer’s purpose, predict the technologies that will be available at that time, and how to use them.
Nearly 1,000 students in teams of up to five entered designs; five teams were chosen as finalists and flown to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California for the final judging on January 28, 1988. The distinguished panel of judges included Ray Bradbury, Alan Kay, Diane Ravitch, Alvin Toffler, and Stephen Wozniak.
.. the winning entry was the design of a TABLET based on the humble paper notebook.”
Reference Details: Communications of the ACM, Volume 31, Issue 6 (June 1988), Pages: 638 - 648, Year of Publication: 1988,
ISSN:0001-0782
I would imagine the "Tablet" to be using a processor derived from apples purchase of PA Semi. The TEGRA seems a bit underpowered for what I would hope to be running OSX.
If you listen closely, you can hear the world gasping in surprise.
No, that's just the sound of your cheaply made, high costing white ear buds.
I for one am glad that I don't have to pay an extra twenty dollars for an iPod so that Apple can ship an average pair of earbuds to replace their moderately crappy pair of earbuds. Why? Because anyone who can recognize the difference is probably going to go buy a nice pair of earbuds for somewhere between $50 & $500 anyway. It would actually be a slap in the face for audiophiles to have to shell out extra just to get a pair of earbuds that cost them more, which are still going to sit in their dresser.
-1 for being a stereotypical fanboy
you know. I really want it to be true.
I will buy this if:
- It has Tegra or Snapdragon
- It can communicate w/ my iPhone so that I can get 3G speed internet w/o another monthly bill.
Or.... if it has 4G, I'll probably have to cave.
I THINK it will be announced in Sept., though it prob won't come out until 2010. Who knows though.
This isn't even a newsworthy article. yeah, let's just build speculation...
That said, if Steve Jobs himself indeed comes out in a couple weeks and announces this new device w/ 10" screen, tegra, a new "HD" app store, along with the capability to tether from your iPhone, or a 4G radio, THIS THING WILL SELL
It should go without saying that the new iPhone HD OS NEEDS TO OFFER A TRUE MULTITASKING EXPERIENCE.
This pathetic "quirk" that plagues the iPhone OS will absolutely cost them this customer, unless they can fix it before my contract expires next July.
Of course, in addition to the iPhone HD OS, they will also announce the iTunes Book Store.
There are so many "revolutionary" things that will make this thing sell like hotcakes. Imagine it has an automatic kickstand triggered by the accelerometer. boom, automatic picture frame. Imagine it has a magnet on the back and it'll stick to your fridge. Imagine they sell an optional $99, self powered keyboard that can attach to the tablet completely elegantly and turn this thing into a netbook, though the keyboard cna also attach to the screen to protect the screen when you're not using it.
It all depends on how well Apple plays this. Bottom Line. If the new device has all these "innovative" features I've mentioned, they most certainly won't have a problem selling this thing for $599 or $699.
The iPhone does a certain amount of multitasking as anyone who uses one knows. It is only limited because the battery will not last half a day if full multi-tasking were supported. Certainly the OS is capable of it. The only time I have ever noticed it as an issue is when playing internet based radio and doing something else.
BTW the iPhone project was also halted by Jobs multiple times because he did not feel the technology was ready yet.
As for the tablet, I have never seen the appeal of tablets beyond niche applications. But Apple certainly has a knack for taking moribund technologies, like smartphones, and remaking them into something appealing. So if they are making a tablet it will be very interesting to see what they come up with.
I doubt very much it will be a "closed" system like the iPhone either.
As usual all the teenagers angry because Daddy won't or can't buy them an iPhone or Mac want to take out their pre-pubescent anger on sites like this. if you don't know what you are talking about or are angry because of envy perhaps you should stick to your XBox and Facebook. Amusing that they think voting people down bothers anyone though.
Yeah, magnets and computers get along famously.
Yeah, because the current Macbooks don't each have at least 3 magnets in them, and that new device from Always Innovating can't be stuck onto a fridge, either.
But those magnets are magic. You didn't say this product would be magic.
@derX - The magnets will be magic, just like in my HTC Advantage. I love the idea of a snap-on keyboard/screen protector that I can carry with me if I want, but also leave in a bag or at home if I don't need it.
I wish I could be the cool kid with an apple product. Alas, one can dream.
IM NOT COOL ENOUGH. There I said it
*Goes crying in the corner*
Funny, I have a job,can barely afford an iPod (I pay for my own gas, FYI), not foreseeing buying a MacBook anytime soon, and am happily posting from my netbook listening to music through my CD player.
Your self esteem must be quite bad when you think owning one item or another will make you cool. People buy iPods because they work well and are fun and easy to use.
I think someone needs to give you a hug.
people like ijames white is why i hate apple and all the people who use their products. suck a dick you smug mother fuckers. yes. all of you.
What's that? You are fading away so fast I can't make out what you are trying to say.
Dude, anger management classes, look into it...
srsly.
Should they actually be making a tablet, no matter the cost, it may turn out to be bigger than the iPhone. And even the 3GS turnout was unbelievable.
It will cost too much money for what it's worth.
@iJames I totally agree with every word you have typed. You get brownie points. :) I hate MS so much I have never touched a X-Box. EVER. Playstation fanboy hatred also contibuted.
Why do so many seem to begrudge the enjoyment of the fanboys?
If you don't want to buy Apple products, don't.
But I think what gets the haters' blood boiling is that deep down, in that place they don't like to talk about, they want apple products. They need Apple products so bad that it makes them feel ashamed, and their shame turns to anger at the fanboys.
fanboys are fanboys. Sony fanboy myself, never touched an X-box, and being an Apple fanboy also helped.
Well, what you say may be true, I suppose. Then again, there's also the fact that however well-made and pretty their products are, they lock you into doing things the way Apple wants you to do them. You are held hostage to the Cupertino Bourgeoisie, because in trying to provide you a gloss-coated, seamless experience, they have locked you, the user, out from doing much that is truly innovative.
locked? that's a word the MS fanboys love to regurgitate. But actually ever since dumping my Windows PC and switching to a Mac I've felt very free. I'm free of not being locked into having to worry about running regular malware/virus scans, free of having to reactivate my OS any time I chose re-install it, free of registry errors, etc. You catch my drift.
The internet is just filled with egos and immature fanboys, especially tech blogs. Everyone thinks they are always right about everything.
Uh... Ross? Can we get a link?
Nice eye...
Do you put little cut-out Steve Jobs heads on all the ladies in your porno mags?
Because that's kind of how I picture it going down...
That was very unnecessary.
Actually it was quite necessary and mildly humorous...
My GF is very much anti-Apple. She's sick of seeing 15 year old skanks waving their status symbol under people's noses. So she bought a Blackberry instead.
I showed her the pic of the photoshopped tablet and her mouth dropped. She'll buy one (or two) in a heartbeat.
This thing is going to be huge. Maybe more so than the ipod even as presumably it will be very much a multi function device, and there's no competitors on the landscape at all. Kindle? Black and white, I don't think so.
I suppose your girlfriend isn't really that different than the rest of "skanks", eh? ;)
aren't blackberrys generally more expensive than iphones
I bet your GF has that Blackberry on Prepaid...
Talk about a poser skank (your GF)
"9 out of ten 15 year old skanks prefer iphones. Clit piercings come a close second. "
I suppose the other one went with blackberry??? ;)
>> "She's sick of seeing 15 year old skanks waving their status symbol under people's noses."
Is it really a status symbol is *everybody* has one?
When does the iPod or iPhone stop being a status symbol... and start being a hugely popular device that people are happy to use?
"She's sick of seeing 15 year old skanks waving their status symbol under people's noses"
She must have some severe low self esteem if she feels that threatened by what phones people chose to buy.
smart people purchase devices based on the evaluation of the device's functionality, ease of use, cost, etc ---- who owns said device or stereotypes there of should not be a consideration.
What is with this iCrap argument that "Apple products are better but people can't afford them so they bash them?" First of all, not to spark up a flamewar, but Windows is ultimately a more versatile, useful, and capable operating system. It also has a great environment from the 3rd party and plenty of hardware support. I'm not a douche who's too stupid to build his own computer and needs some company to build one with proprietary parts (I built the computer that I'm typing this on...). In summation, STFU iFanboys and admit defeat to the ultimately better company.
You're just as bad as the 'iFanboys'
:/
Do your mommy let you type on the computer again? I hope you got permission.
Ooooh, Mr-I-am-cool because he "builds" his own PC. Sorry if I'm not impressed that you can put together pre fabricated parts. When your whole computer fails because your power supply blew everything out, who do you go to? 10 manufacturers. How fun!
fanboys of all flavours are all equally awful and you're no exception
Cool, lets take the exact same design as 3 or 4 of our other devices and make it bigger.
Spending all his time my ass, more like burning fanboy's money.
Nobody knows anything about this device yet least of all you.
*wonders how they'll gimp the tablet like they gimped the mb air and other macs stuff* I guess we can assume there won't be any type of media drive on it.
*wants to build a crazy hackintosh comp*
-1 to LordFlapJack for trolling.
I have never owned an apple computer, and I want an ipad.... but only after a generation or two of fixes, and the price has come down.
Apple products don't usually come down in price.
You will get a new product with more capacity, etc next year... but it will be at the same price point.
So if the iPad, iTablet, whatever is $799... next year's iPad will be $799, but will have 50% more widgets.
@ Scrip
Actually once in a while Apple does drop the price of their products. Case in point, the last revision of the MacBook Pros are cheaper than the versions they replace, and so on. As more and more people continue buying Macs, economies of scale will make it easier for Apple to keep reducing prices further.
I might be ready to replace my 2006 MacBook Pro next year :)
Yea Apple products don't drop in price, you're absolutely right. The iPhone is still 600 dollars. The original iPod is still 399. The iPod nanos still sell for 249 and 199. The Macbook Air still starts at 1799, and the Air with an SSD option definitely didn't just drop 700 dollars. The white Macbook still costs 1299. Oh yea, and don't forget that the new Macbook Pro lineup definitely did NOT just receive a spec bump and price drop at the same time. Because that would be crazy.
@Millah
Jeez. Did you notice the that I said Apple products don't **usually** come down in price? And that the example I gave would be for one particular product?
Yes, there have been some price drops recently. But overall, once an Apple product reaches a certain price point, the prices stay the same... and you get more next year for the same price.
iPod Touch has been $229, $299, and $399 for a while. iPod Nano has been $149 and $199 for a while. iPhone has been $199 and $299 for a while (save for the $99 closeout old 3G). I'm quite certain that the new iPod Touch will be at those same prices, just with double the capacity... if history proves anything.
Apple will have a $999 starter laptop for a while. MacBook Pro will be $1199, $1699 and $2499 for a while. I'm quite certain that new Mac laptops will be at those same prices... if history proves anything.
But overall... Apple prices *usually* stay the same. Usually... it's a modifier to a statement.
okay first off. the notion that Jobs would be giving tons of attention to the tablet (assuming it is real) is not news. it's SOP at Apple. despite his wishes, he is still seen as Apple and he's not going to willingly release something that makes him look like a total douche from the get go
second. I can't see this thing really having the power of a full laptop. it will be Apple's answer to the netbook craze and yes I think it will be more like the iphone than a laptop. but if you look at the app store, there is a lot going on for the iphone and much of it could be scaled up to a larger device. (at least in these early stages, a couple of models down the road they might have something that falls more halfway in between iphone and laptop with power to run some of the computer apps. not something like final cut but certainly iwork level)
third. If they intend to put a cellular data antenna in this thing, I don't see them doing it until the ATT gig is up. that way it can be unlocked from the start. avoid the displeasure with ATT dragging it down (cause you can bet the contract would cover any device that uses cell data. ATT is not that stupid after all)
i'm genuinely not getting the appeal of this device. As far as I can tell, the Iphone 3GS can already do whatever this is offering, except maybe HD video/Hulu or whatever. Are people seriously going to pay money for a 3G tablet that will require a 3G subscription to work outside of a wifi network? I say subscription required because there's no way they'll have a Kindle-style 3g-price-built-in for something designed to be a media data-consuming gadget.
Maybe its because its not out yet and we have no idea what it will do. Unless you possess a time travel machine.
When MS proposed tablets a few years ago the manufacturers that built them did not see many sales. Tablets have remained a niche product ever since. Having said that, clearly the tablet market as is, does not have much marketability. It would be illogical to think Apple will repeat the same mistakes that MS and partners made, therefore IF and IF this tablet exists, it will have a very different approach to what the status quo in Windows tablets are today.
What it is, only a lucky few at Apple know. No one else.
It's going to be decent video calls on iphones I suspect.
I love almost everything Apple does, but can not overstate how much this thing will fail.
@fox
those were two of the most biased blogs i have ever seen in my life. Honestly. The rough draft report was... wrong. Badly. It was so biased.
i'm totally looking forward to this computer. i just hope it have leopard and not the iphone os. oh, and i don't need it tired to a wireless company. if so, i'll be on line getting one. pizzzy
"9 out of ten 15 year old skanks prefer iphones. Clit piercings come a close second. "
I suppose the other one went with blackberry??? ;)
Itablet is a big iphone/itouch with a bigger screen res, more power and a couples other thing that iphone/itouch doesn't have but will get in the near future. Gimmicky.
Rumored Apple tablet? Love my Toshiba Tablet PC 14". Table interface is intuitive. Drawing & Presentation aps awesome. No problems in 2 yrs.
When it comes to 'tablet' we all have different ideas. Ebook reader? gaming tablet? Or something great for a touchscreen/stylus for art and drawing. I have a feeling it wont appeal for all of these, I'm sure Ebooks and games, but my guess is any real stylus or art type of devices will be left off
I want to know just what you people think is the attraction of a tablet now that wasn't a tablet back when Apple said they weren't useful before? Tablets are the worst selling of any gadget currently. They are only used regularly in specialized markets. When Apple went with the iPhone, smart phones were already hugely popular. Are you going to give up your desktop for a tablet? Are you going to give up your big screen laptop with keyboard for a tablet? Are you going to carry around a tablet and a cell phone every where you go? Are you going to have a notebook and a tablet? The tablet is a giant elephant in the sitting room.
>> "When Apple went with the iPhone, smart phones were already hugely popular."
Popular... how? With business people? Was the Treo the hottest thing in phones? Were old Blackberries the video playing, music playing devices we have today?
I think what you meant was that smartphones were already around... but Apple just put them into *everyone's* pockets.
Tablets are *AWESOME* for note taking in class. I have a few friends in the EE department here at WSU with tablets, and they have completely stopped carrying paper unless they need scratch paper for an exam.
Michael Scrips,
Smartphones were not simply the domain of business men. Business men made the most of the functionality and certainly did make up a large portion of the sell base, but RIM has been selling millions of blackberries worldwide. In fact, in SEA, blackberries are hotter property than iPhones among the youths, university students and trend-purchasers. Not to mention that Nokia has and is still selling their smartphones primarily to the general consumer; not just business men.
Look at the data. the only pockets Apple put their "smartphones" in are primarily Apple users/fans. For all the hype they haven't really managed to sell very well outside of their installed base. 70% sold in USA, 75% of those are to existing Apple product users. Of the remaining 20%-25% sold to the rest of the world, 60% of those are also existing Apple installed base (rough stats obviously). While Apple's installed base is large, it remains a very small drop in the pond and iphone has mostly been filling apple user's pockets.
Nokia and RIM put smartphones in the general public/consumer's pockets.
@WindowsFTW and cow
Whoa... calm down... I never said the iPhone has sold more than all of the other smart phones.
All I meant is that I bet there were more "feature" phones or "dumb" phones in *most* people's pockets than smartphones. I never knew a lot of people with Treos or MotoQs or anything like that. Most people didn't buy $300 phones a few years ago.
I know a lot of people with Blackberries, * I'm a Blackberry Curve user! *... but I see a lot of flip phones still being used today.
Most people are happy with a messaging phone, like an LG enV. They probably don't need to jump up to a Blackberry or HTC whatever.
You're right... I'm wrong... Apple is a tiny percentage of the phone market. And more traditional smartphones rule the roost.
So will this be Apples version of the Amazon Kindle? That is the only reason I can see Apple offering a tablet. So that they can sell books and other media and subscriptions.
I hear crickets chirping.
Would this suffice?
http://visionaforethought.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/macpad_alex_b_oflife6.jpg
hes just drunk.
I think it's funny that the doomers here predict a fail because because they assume Apple's tablet is UMPC with a prettier case design. Have you learned nothing over the years? Jobs may be a narcissistic SOB, but when it comes to picking features and deciphering product trends, the man is a genius with no equal. It will defy all of the norms and redefine this category of hardware. The software is going to send everyone else back to the drawing board. It is a game changer. Buy AAPL shares now.
exactly
ARM.. iPhone OS... No... disappointing..
what's wrong with you people?? don't feed the troll!
i think this is just going to fall into the same box as the macbook air. really nice to look at, but too expensive for anyone to take seriously.
Apple fanboys make the lousiest and most intelligence-deprived comments.
Many Bothans died to bring us this information...
Can't wait. If there is one company that can make Tablets relevant it's Apple.
Wanna bet they took away the keyboard