Apple tablet terrorized by component rumors
By Thomas Ricker 
posted December 28th 2009 3:34AM
posted December 28th 2009 3:34AM
ook some time off for the holidays, did you? Well, things haven't changed much since you've been gone. The world is still afraid of terrorists and Apple's still rumored to be working on a tablet. Regarding the latter, two rumors have coalesced this morning from component suppliers. First, Taiwan's Economic Daily is reporting via the Wall Street Journal that Cheng Uei Precision has landed "connector" orders for a "new flat-panel Apple Tablet PC" expected to begin shipping in Q3. Then DigiTimes piles on with its claims that Innolux (not WinTek) will be the initial supplier of 10-inch glass "touch panels" for Apple's new tablet. DigiTimes then muddles things by claiming that the tablet will begin mass shipments (presumably to consumers) in March or April based on its analysis of shipping schedules from Apple's upstream component suppliers. One thing's for sure: if Apple does ever announce an iSlate or whatever they decide to call it, you won't be using it during the last hour of your flight into the US.
Hope it lives up to what people are hyping about
@kibito the weird thing is it doesn't exist. I still remember how people believed the "Apple phone" was going to be a run of the mill thing with music and look what happened.
The only thing you can believe is to expect the unexpected as ridiculous as that sounds... I only keep thinking it's going to be a giant iphone.
@(Unverified)
Haha. I was just thinking the same thing, just one big iPhone, except its a tablet
@cherryboom
"All the hype is net based. Apple hasn't said a damn thing. They never have to".
FIX'D
@kibito whatever the case maybe, the new tablet will be release and no terro-attack will ever stop that :D
As for the post, Hopefully 'Steve's' new tablet a.k.a iSlate will perform its goal on 2010 , else a lot of people will be getting really angry, some of them ready to kill. Technology of multitouch times 2? Not so shabby but still need to be proven: http://bit.ly/new-apple-tablet-best-or-worst
@kibito. while some of the rumors are logical and likely the best thing to do is wait until Apple announces the device. remind yourself that everything else is just fan talk. huge chunks of salt and all that.
i can buy this talk of a Jan announcement of something and the tablet if it is going to happen this year will likely be part of the talk. cause half the appeal will be content and folks need time to get that ready for launch. but I'm not sure about this March thing. cause to me it seems more logical that its an iphone OS device and if they are going to put 3g in it, unlocked makes more sense and that might not be possible until the summer when the ATT contract could be up. and since there's not really much to do with the actual phone this year other than small improvements (better camera, better battery, more storage) since LTE is not large. the 'tablet' could be this years big phone device. so announce in Jan, release in June makes sense.
but again, just my guess
@Charlik
AT&T's contract is only on the iphone so apple could release a tablet whenever. I doubt the tablet will have a cell radio in it. i think it will be a hybrid ipod touch/mac.
Um, ok...Thanks for this important piece of news (astroturf).
@LAY
Likewise, thanks for your important comment (troll).
i would understand going nuts because of a blurry photo of the tablet, but going crazy over a rumor of a rumor of a rumor... seriously?
show apple the middle finger and ignore their ass-tablet crap unless it's a photo or something for a month...
@NIMBUS
I agree with you. Nothing is more serious than a crappy photo and youtube video.
@bigfatpanda
but that might be something... unlike this...
apple's products are all about looks, if there isn't a picture or something, who gives a feces about apple...
@NIMBUS
I just spat out my drink when I read the word 'Nimbus'.
I have no idea why. It's not even funny.
@Alex R
you should have choked on it and died, now that would have been funny.
@NIMBUS I can not agree with you any more. Either Engadget should report on ever whisper of a rumor of an unreleased device, or take a chill pill on the iShit. FYI: This is vapor ware! This does not exist!
It would be one thing if they didn't actively contradict every post, but it is lately just regurgitation of Apple Insider, the Fox News of the tech industry.
That guy on the picture just looks so windows xD
is this supposed to be news about the apple tablet or the new flight regulations?
@Billy I think we all know which was the more news worthy.
You Tommy can't resist the urge to bitch about politics whenever possible. Poor guy just wants to feel like a legitimate journalist, even if it's only for a few minutes.
I wish they would announce it, so I can stop hearing about it!
@Synergi Considering Engadget's amount of news stories on the iPhone, mac, macboooks and each of their revisions, possible revisions and reports on their mention on tv shows, if it were to be announced you wouldn't see or hear the end of it here.
@Synergi I think we all know which was the more news worth.
@Synergi Same here but this is an endless cycle! As soon as this tablet is announced we are all going to hear more rumors about some new apple product with ridiculous names like the iToilet or iDildo point is. . . IT WILL NEVER END! So in the mean time let's all keep speculating until they finally have a keynote and this time Job's "One More Thing" won't be as big of a let down as you know an iPod nano with a VIDEO CAMERA! - Gasps for air... faints
@Dane5461
Yeah that's Apple strategy.
Lame and boring.
Funny part : it makes about half the annual work of Engadget and a quarter of the other techblogs, which is why they continue to buy it ...
@Synergi. if you are sick of hearing about it, turn off your computer for the next year.
cause until they announce it, you'll get rumors non stop. when they announce it, you'll get talk nonstop. folks that love it will be hyping it. folks that hate it, will whine about what it doesn't have, what Apple is doing wrong blah blah. tech blogs will praise, financials will make estimates and stock price predictions
then when it is released it will be reviews up and down everywhere. for the next gazillion weeks. and then talk of apps not getting approved for it, of damages and defects and suing Apple and how it wasn't ready (basically repeats of every iphone, ipod and computer release for the last 6 years)
on second thought, make it the next two years. cause iTablet 2.0 will be just as bad
...Taiwan's Economic Daily is reporting via the Wall Street Journal that Cheng Uei Precision has landed "connector" orders for a "new flat-panel Apple Tablet PC" ...
don't EVER call an Apple product a PC.
/sarcasm
Damn, is it finally coming?
Please do not let be over $1000.
@revoltracers
think, 'luxury kindle' for featureset and price point
@revoltracers
OVER 1000$ WTF ?
it's a tablet ? what are you gonna do with it that could possibly be worth one thousand dollars ?
(Exept go like : "hey have you seen my new iSlate ? yeah, costs $1000.")
This is a giant iPod Touch people !
(A giant iPod touch that stays at home of course..)
@revoltracers
Unsubsidized and with all the bells and whistles? IMHO could be $1000 or more. But the heavily subsidized base version will most definitely cost $500 or less. Everything else would be crazy, even for Apple. For comparison: cheapest US iPhone cost $99 with a contract, most expensive $699 w/o contract but still with an AT&T net lock and AT&T will only activate it with a new iPhone plan).
@Flix C
More than likely it's going to have a custom UI based on the iPhone OS yes, but it's going to be a completely different device than an iPod Touch. You are going to have a larger screen and higher resolution so the iPhone OS scaled to fit those proportions would be "god awful" and isn't really Apple's style.
As for the Tablet staying at home, that is highly doubtful. This device is probably going to sport the same specs as the MacBook Air, and will probably replace that line all together for their ultra portable, or it will sell next to it as an "Air" product. Potential target audience isn't just artist and businessmen needing a presentation device here, but I think everyone is going to want one, just like everyone wanted an iPhone. Kindles and nooks are selling like hotcakes, but it really hasn't "hit" like it's going to provided the "iSlate" also has an ebook store as well as a magazine stand access, and the whole digital comic could breathe new life in an already struggling segment.
I could also see these devices (provided it the way I imagine it) in classrooms with books loaded onto them for your classes as well as a notes tab for each page to take notes during the course of the class on that subject.
I would like to see this device at the $599 price point, but I doubt it, I think it's going to be more along the lines of $899 - $1000 unless it is going to have AT&T or some other carrier on board with it which we might see a subsidized price. Which would be great.
But the cost of the device is probably very much justified once it revitalizes a few industries, and re-thinks the whole Tablet. Tablet PCs aren't exactly the most user friendly devices, they are bulky, uncomfortable, and clumsy. I welcome something that could change the way these things are designed, much like the iPhone did for the Cell Phone market.
@7egend
Why is everyone thinking that the iSlate is just gonna scale unmodified iPhone Apps to fullscreen? Well yes, it will most likely run on a tweaked, adjusted and beefed up iPhone OS, but I don't think Apple will let developers run unmodified iPhone apps in fullscreen on the iSlate. Maybe as an extra BONUS on a dashboard-like screen with their natural resolution (let's say up to 4-6 of them simultaneously, side-by side), like widgets on Mac OS X. I think I would like that. Super Widgets!
@kemo
Thats exactly what I said, The iPhone OS as is scaled to fit a larger higher res screen would be "god awful".
The tablet would have a custom UI ontop of the iPhone OS core. It could run full OS X, but OS X isn't touch interface friendly in it's current state, and they have invested serious amounts of time into the iPhone OS, which I think is going to under go a name change very soon. "Mobile OS X".
The tablet will more than likely have it's own App Store that it accesses, and will be allowed to run iPhone Apps as widgets of sorts. But to scale said app to the larger screen would look horrible.
@7egend. again, why don't we wait and see. the iphone OS might be perfectly scalable, given that the folks that wrote the original are doing the rework.
also the screen sizes rumored work out to the size of a mass market paperback or a trade paperback and likely half the thickness. hasn't stopped Kindle, Nook or Sony Reader sales which are all in the same range.
as for prices, something in the $599 - 799 range seems plausible. the 3g would hopefully be optional, unlocked and both CDMA/GSM so the carriers could offer some kind of rebate to knock $100-200 off but even at full price, a lot of folks would probably buy.
I myself would drop $799 for a trade paperbook sized device with wifi and optional/unlocked 3g I could add later if it had all the ipod Touch functions (including my previously bought apps) and an ereader built in for my books, comics and digital mags. toss in a front facing camera so I can ichat, make the video 720p and I've got all I need to take on the road. One day on location and I could probably sell a couple of dozen to bored cast and crew (movie sets are a lot of hurry up and wait so we like our entertainment)
I dont get the airline joke...
@Jaylittles531
The "joke" can be further explained here: http://gizmodo.com/5435188/leaked-homeland-securitys-post-underwear-bomb-airplane-rules (sorry to link to gizmodo, but it was the most readily available link and I got lazy)
@Conceyted
God damnit, Engadget. Your comment system took a while to post my first comment so I left another one thinking your system didn't take. Sorry for the doube post, guys.
I'm gonna guess on this one and say its gonna be called the "iPad"
too many gossips,i just look forward to Yerba Buena Jan 26
Could we please change the topic ?
I mean Some chineses manufacturers are making a 10inches touchscreen with Apple tablet labbelled on it, and some company Apple owns has registered islate.com...
Ok there is gonna be a 10 inch Apple tablet, period.
Everyone knew it, since every company in the world had been doing it for a year. (Archos 9 and such..)
Engadget is gonna say it rocks, people are gonna buy it in mass, I'll still think it's overpriced and I won't be able to install what I want on it so I won't buy it.
You're talking about a 10inch iPhone... same restrictions, same features..
THIS STORY IS BORING ! MOVE ON !
One site has reported that it will run soley on Unicorn blood.
Watching porn on the iphone is not the best experience.. In the beginning its cool since everything gets tighter on a small screen, but after a while it gets kinda weird..
So here comes iSlate/pad/tablet/whatever and bam! Big chicks are hip again.. More cushin for the pushin! ...
Making halfportable porn better..
>The world is still afraid of terrorists
Maybe you just forgot a smiley to indicate cynism or sarcasm. I don´t know in which world you are living, but from all the people I know nobody is afraid of terrorists. People might be afraid of being mugged in a bad area of town, have a car accident or become sick or die. But if you are really afraid of terrorists you probably should stop believing in the news from traditional media and stick to gadget news.
Apple, release it already! I want an, iTunes free, tablet from HTC or whoever, sporting much higher-end components with a much lower price tag.
Apple should allow downpayments for 'whatever next undisclosed device is released', I bet millions would pay them regardless of not even knowing what it is..
Couldn't give a flying f**k ... Apple this Apple that ... they should just get something affordable out before the moment is lost - but that'll never happen and idiots will still pay stupid prices for old tech!
But once apple releases a tablet, that has some decent functionality, then all the other manufacturers will too, why they can't take the initiative themselves I do not know, but that;'s how it works in practice..
@(Unverified) I suppose where you consider the right moment to be. For Apple its going to be at the highest price point possible, in order to maximize profits and sales.
Our school newspaper reported on the "Apple Tablet" in the tech section as if it was an already announced device. They even cited Apple.com as a source. I was laughing my head off.
Hey everyone!! Its time to make up some shit about the Apple tablet to make Apple's stock go!!!