Apple Tablet rumor roundup: NYT speaks of 'impending Apple slate,' new SIM tray leaks (video)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Oct 26th 2009 5:14AM
posted Oct 26th 2009 5:14AM
There's also a pretty big fuss being made this morning over remarks made by Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times responsible for the NYT's web presence. Speaking at an all-hands meeting with the Times' digital staff, the supposedly off-the-record speech somehow made its way to Vimeo. Here's the quote that has Apple fanatics and old-media revivalists in a tizzy:
"I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that."Now, it's hard to tell if Keller is speaking from insider information or if he's just another member of the media convinced that Apple's tablet will be launched in the New Year. Then again, as Keller himself points out, Apple has always had a special relationship with his paper as routinely demonstrated in Apple's ads that use the New York Times landing page as proof of the "real internet" browsing capabilities of the iPod touch and iPhone. And with Apple supposedly in content delivery talks with the nation's newspaper of record, well, the remarks that begin at about 8:15 are certainly suspicious. Listen for yourself after the break.
[Via Gawker, thanks Robert S.]
Read -- SIM Tray
Read -- NYT 'impending Apple slate'
DO WANT
Me too. Love that SIM cardy goodness.
When is this SIM tray releasing so that I can take a break from my hectic unemployment and wait outside the store a week in advance?
Don't believe this, this is the same store that also sold 3GS parts before it came out and those parts turned out to not be parts of the 3GS...
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/chinese-supplier-already-selling-third-gen-iphone-bezel/
Me want too....
Apparently that Foxconn employee wanted it too, remember, he was responsible for handling a 4th gen iPhone prototype.
at least its no longer "too soon" to say that a chinese worker got sacked for those parts.
Cool or whatever, but I'm still waiting for some MEATY iPhone news. I'm on the fence as it is, but I will SHITCAN my existing phone in a heartbeat if a 800+px wide display gets put into an iPhone.
"...tattle brew." Most excellent expression! "Slate", sounds thin and sexy. Bring it on Apple. And please include a stylus to help people unlease their creative juices without blocking the view with stumpy fingers. Cheers guys!
Extrapolating wildly from a SIM card holder seems a touch desperate wouldn't you say?
Thankyou
agree, this is all bs!
Sim tray, REALLY?!!
Whoever made that image is pathetic and has no life whatsoever.
I would also like to point out that because of the angle of the top of that "sim card tray" it seems that it's either going to have extra room around it once it's pushed in (not likely on an apple device), or someone really screwed up when photoshopping this one.
Clearly the extrapolation was incorrect.
This is the sim card holder for the impending iCar from apple that will revolutionize the worlds transport system.
It's soooooo obvious....god you people are stupid...
Especially when the image is wrong. Why would it be discussing anything of a 4th generation iPhone when Apple is only on the second generation?! The 3GS has a model name of iPhone2,1
Maybe, this person with insider info is wrong. Or maybe this is the SIM tray for the 2011 iPhone… either way, it doesn't tell me anything.
No. A reasonable extrapolation.
I don't know how but Apple can even make their SIM trays look beautiful.
I have never seen a SIM tray as beautiful as this one. Look at the way the aluminum highlights the SIM slot, at how refined and distinguished the tray looks as a whole. Truly amazing.
And utterly pointless given it spends its time inside the machine.
Does it look $14.05 beautiful?
14 dollar sim tray?
the whole thing is going to be a tad expensive...
It's gold with rhinestones. Steve is going Liberace.
Tablet or whatever. Hello Apple. I've got your iPod Touch for a couple of weeks now and there is already no f-word-ing place on its polished back left unscratched.
Please stop.
Agreed, as much of an Apple fan as I am those chrome backs suck. It looked amazing on the first iPods but it needs to stop, they scratch like crazy.
Some sort of solid coloured metal back would be much nicer.
Exactly. I had a 4G apple, and the flat side made the chrome back scratch-prone, but not horribly. But with the new ones having a curved back, there's no way they can't get scratched to hell unless you take them _directly_ from the packaging to a skin. After I had my iPod Touch for a few days I couldn't believe it was already scratched to hell on the back, far worse than my 4 year old 4G.
Why is everyone so excited about a iTablet? Didn't the rest of the computer industry give up on tablets like... 4 years ago?
>> "Didn't the rest of the computer industry give up on tablets like... 4 years ago?"
The former tablet which was a full laptop computer without a keyboard... yes.
But a new tablet as a media device, book reader, virtual magazine stand, movie player or whatever else Apple will sell this as... not yet.
If this device in indeed real... Apple will not be making a tablet like all other tablet before it. This will be in a new category of devices.
Steve Jobs has probably been thinking the same thing, if reports of him holding the tablet back because he couldn't figure out what people would do with it are accurate.
These days, I think there's a place for a tablet form factor primarily for couch surfing, media playback, and control purposes (i.e., home theater control, or a MIDI/OSC interface). Previous obstacles IMO were adequate CPU/GPU processing capacity, adequate battery life, and optimized UI. All of these obstacles are being eroded by ARM Cortex A8 and Snapdragon, PowerVR SGX, Android and iPhone OS. (Not so much by the Intel Atom.)
I think one problem with MS's approach to tablets is that they are always running their software on a full Windows platform. Courier is a great concept, but then you read that it's running on top of Windows 7, which means that it will have limited battery life and possibly a weak CPU.
One thing that will hold back a tablet like this, however, is cost. Why would someone spend $700 for an Apple tablet instead of $1000 for a Macbook or $300 for an iPod Touch? Not to say that no one will be interested, just that that is the question. A 9" or 10" tablet is a more limited device than a notebook PC, but it's not as portable as an iPod Touch or an iPhone. Furthermore, why would anyone get a data plan just for such a device?
Anyway, just a brain dump.
@ Mr Scrip
I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Apple can see how well eBook readers (Kindle et al) are doing and want a piece of the action. I mean, why buy a book reader when you can get an all-in-one? Even better an all-in-1 designed by Apple, you know it's going to be good.
Let's hope iPhone 4 will take non-jelly videos, have a damn led flash... and is it too much to ask yet for global (or at least more international) 3g?
the 3GS has global support for 3G...
Ah, you're right, it basically does. I was thinking more countries were using 900 or 1700 MHz, but now I see they're pretty rare, according to this:
http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html
the current one is a tight fit for a paper clip already so why would they make the extraction hole smaller?
i smell chinese knockoff to go
This way, Apple can design up another "SIM extraction tool", and when you lose it, they can charge you $10 for a new one - no paperclip for you!
No way can that tray cost $14.05. A quick check of retail prices has the all-plastic tray at $2-5. Wholesale price has to be $1-2 tops. A metal tray might cost twice as much, but why bother? No one expects users to constantly swap SIMs. Apple's a company that will go with a slightly inferior sound chip just to save a few pennies per unit. This makes no sense.
That SIM tray seems snappier.
The sleek innovative industrial design just exudes user experience.
Photoshop runs noticeably faster with this. A+++
after that everybody will point out how apple invented sim trays and all other sim trays are blatant copies! ;)
Unibody tray design?
yes! every sim tray is cut from a single 1 kilogram piece of aluminium.
yes apple is the greenest company in the world.....
you have got to be kidding me. isn't this bordering on desperate in a very I-Am-A-Loser kind of way? i mean really??? i can put a turd on the table, feather the background and draw all kinds of exciting straight lines anotated with douch-bag words like "optimally curved", "exceptionally metal", and "paper clip hole" and a fanboi would still jizz his screen.
A SIM tray holder is Apple product news? Clutching at straws much?
For the iphone, while there where rumors for a while it was the FCC filing that indicated the release was near. Since this device is suppose to be 3G, wouldn't it also have a FCC filing? Unless I have missed it, I have yet to see a rumor of FCC filing for a mac tablet.
This is why I come to Engadget. To look at Sim card trays of phones...Wait, only one type of phone...
YEAH!
I see you somehow managed to miss the nonstop orgasm of Win 7 news for days straight. But sure, keep thinking that all Engadget does is run Apple related articles. I mean don't let facts get in your way or anything.
Wha?
What does this have to do with Windows? Let alone Microsoft/Apple coverage =/ What kind of news is a SIM card tray?
Wha the fu...?
Im sure the tablet is real, because amazon is launching mac software for ebooks, to compete with the kindle, apple has to do something.
Wow, this is even more exciting than the time I discovered the plastic widget thing lurking in the PCMCIA slot of my old laptop.
i lolled
I play with mine every day.
as in I play with my widget every day.
You know what I mean...
I’m not sure what he meant when he suggested their relationship with Apple is a mixed blessing? I tried my best to stay focused but his dry monotone delivery had me day dreaming. I did manage to perk up a bit when he mentioned the Apple slate and beyond, but other than that I remained under-whelmed. From other readings, it's clear to me that Apple will focus on media and reading content with an all-wheel drive communicator. So, I guess we’ll see the ambiguous iSlate in a few months time.
Regards,
Dan
This Tablet Thing thing reeks of Newton all over again.
No because Steve would sooner cut off his lucky charms then release a superior device like a newton. You can be assured that this will be nothing more then an oversized iPod Touch. Something like a Newton 2.0 with a refined interface would require actual innovation and that costs money.
PS- I still take notes on my Messagepad 2100. The community hasn't died. The UI of the Messagepad still kicks add and takes names compared to the junk that is on the iPod Touch. When I beat the crap out of Apple THIS is why. The 2100 may have not sold well, but it was simply a device that was released too early and wasn't sufficiently advanced enough due to the tech available at the time. the Messagepad was true innovation and makes me mourn for the Apple of old that actually would take risks with something really new vs. the play it safe Apple who's iSlate will no doubt be nothing more then a Touch, but bigger.
*yawns* Another week, another iSlate rumor. Meanwhile the rest of the Windows world is working on perfectly capable hardware in its what? Its 8th generation or something and a continuously evolving OS that at this point with Windows 7 rocks. Well I guess it will be nice for Apple users to get this device. Then they can bitch about how MS's implementation sucks. Oh wait, they don't need hardware to do that. In fact its easier to bash it with nonexistent hardware because you don't need to worry about those typical Apple 1.0 bugs and flaws. Never mind, carry on.
OMG the rumors for the iSIM were are true!!
In other news: *Confirmation Apple IS Working on Next iPhone!* ZOMG!
Really, like we couldn't figure that out.
You know, I was really excited about the Apple tablet-- until I saw the video of the Courier.
Do not believe any of this!!!
This is the same store that sold what they called iPhone 3GS spare parts before it even came out.
I do not know if anyone remembers it but they were selling a black bezel that included a higher earpiece.
The 3GS turned out to look just like the 3G so obviously they were selling fake parts.
Read the story here: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/chinese-supplier-already-selling-third-gen-iphone-bezel/
The "Extract Hole" {that sounds nasty) is already tiny - they want to make it smaller?
I must be the only one excited about Apple's Tablet rumors. I am looking for a small, netbook-ish device for web-surfing around the house, especially in the living room while the family watches TV.
Right now my family uses my iPhone but I'd like a larger screen. Our Netbook sits unused because of the long boot times, awkward interface and less convenient form-factor.
Archos' A5A is a contender and I am interested in Dells upcoming Tablet but I wish Apple would confirm this tablet rumor before I make a decision.
There are probably close to 10 such tablets out there (though most of them are from brands most Americans wouldn't recognize). If Apple had been the first to release a tablet such as this, they would have been seen as innovative groundbreakers. Instead, they're coming late to the game and will not have the success they did with the iPod
Quixotic - You realize Apple was "late to the game" with the iPod too, right? It's not like the iPod was the first PMP. Nor was the iPhone the first smartphone. Being first is completely irrelevant.
@Pingles: You are the only one excited because everyone else has been hearing the same sorts of rumors for going on two years now. People who might possibly know something making vague references to it, dodgy far-east "news" sources claiming Apple were ordering large volumes of 10" screens or such-and-such a part. It's all so very tiresome.
This is so lame... a sim card tray seriously.I wanna know bout the apple tablet as well but WTF?
A new iPhone this summer and possibly a Apple Tablet as well?!!!???!!! I will have a VERY happy new year!
Even if there turns out to be a tablet from Apple, these guys are still wrong because THEY HAVE NO FACTS.
I just love it, another top of the line Chinese product
I'm Amazed! However, thanks for sharing...
Dean
http://www.themasterseo.com
After watching the whole video and observing his body language, its clear that after announcing the "Apple slate" he was expecting some kind of reaction. The grabbing of his chin is a nervous reaction and something inconsistent with his body language throughout the rest of the video. It shows he is anxious at the announcement, excited perhaps at being one of the first to drop a "smack in the face" hint.
However, it could have also been a rouse - to spark excitement in his speech. This apple tablet rumour is circulating at great speeds and with much hype around the internet. It makes business sense to prepare for a next gen method of reaching audiences. The e-book market is taking of at an alarming rate and the islate could see the start of the mass consumption of digital print media, if a form of appstore for newspapers/magazines became available. After seeing the iphones extraordinary success at revolutionizing how the mass market (compared to blackberry's target market for example) consume the media and manage their social profiles, the idea of the islate being capable of the aforementioned change in print media consumption is overwhelmingly plausible. This could be nothing or it could be something - it depends on which way you view it.
At least you can have a midboard to go with your SIM tray http://www.chinaontrade.com/iphone-4gen-spare-parts-c-74.html