According John Paczkowski over at
All Things D, Apple is planning a "
major product announcement" for Wednesday, January 27th -- not the 26th as
we've heard in previous reports. Additionally, the French site
Mac4Ever says developers have been given a beta of the iPhone OS 4 SDK which includes a "simulator" for reformatting / scaling applications to a new, tablet-sized screens. Here at Engadget, we can confirm that sources
very familiar with the situation over in Cupertino have been given info about a tablet heading for launch at the end of January, which will -- in fact -- require reformatting and resizing for (we assume)... yep, its
new screen size and resolution. As far as details, they're pretty scarce right now, but you can probably begin preliminary salivating and / or player hatin' as it relates to new Apple hardware. We'll have more info as it becomes available, but for now, stay tuned.
Update: The
Wall Street Journal just added its support for the rumor by saying that Apple will unveil its "new multimedia tablet device later this month" with a "10- to 11-inch touch screen" with plans to ship it in March. The WSJ's sources claim that Apple believes it can "redefine the way consumers interact with a variety of content" as we've been hearing all along. [Thanks, David]
posted January 4th 2010 4:45PM
@derekdevine
Especially if the exclusivity with AT&T is finally over!
You can put me on the skeptical list, I don't feel this will be a big hit after the "initial" popularity dies down.
I just don't see it being as useful as a notebook, and you can bet the price will be almost the same as a macbook. You will be paying more for less.
example $700 tablet has on screen keyboard, 64gb ssd, wifi, cam, multitouch, you can play games , chat with friends, read ebooks and play music.
$900 macbook does everything the tablet does, and more with no touch screen.
But seriously, anything bigger than an iphone just how long can you hold it with both hands in front of your face? Or looking down at it? A cell is easy its small, but this im not so sure about
I dont care if its a supersized ipod touch.
I want it.. heck.. if apple redefined potatoes (sexy potatoes) and put an apple sticker on it.. i would have bought it!
Apple potatoes! Better than sweet potatoes..
a book like dual 5 inch fold out screen would be best in my mind. Apple would not do this though.
Make it less than $800 = bye bye windows netbook/laptop.
@jgioannini as big a screen as a netbook and the size of an HD2 if it were pocketable and folded in the aforementioned manner.
Here's a shocking newsflash for engadget editors: some of us do not salivate about apple products, some of us don't own any even.
p.s. The dizziness and nausea will pass, just sit down for a bit and take some valium, soon your reflexes will have burned my factoid from your mind as if you never heard it.
@Wwhat
Wait, this just in: nobody is forcing you to read Engadget, the articles here or the comments section, much less forcing you to POST here. This news flash was brought to you by the letter "stop crying".
I only read the headline, I do that naturally when it's on my screen, and I'm helping the editors keeping a grip, it's a friendly service..
Now bothering to read comments, that is a deliberate act so you think about that for a sec.
@Wwhat
And? I'm not the one complaining here, you are. And as far as only reading the headline, the fact that you posted here sort of dispels that theory doesn't it?
As far as Engadget editors keeping a grip, which are the articles that are the most popular here, do you think? Care to hazard a guess? Yeah, it's mostly the ones with Apple-related stuff in them. So posting Apple-related articles is actually good for their business. How's that for keeping a grip?
I expect this so called apple tablet to be over $500 for sure, I will not be surprize if they deny everything about a tablet, just like when the iPod touch 3Gen was about to be launch, everybody thought it had a camera, at the end it was all BS.
freaking awesome.
its an oversized iphone but its pretty sweet..i've seen it
I will not buy this thing if it doesn't run flash.
@Appl
No one cares about flash. Maybe a few nerds do, but that's about it. Their purchasing power is really small and doesn't matter in a greater scheme of things.
When iPhone was released everyone said how lack of flash would doom the device and consumers would shun it because BLAH BLAH ADOBE FLASH. It seems that no one even noticed. On a positive side, it forced some lazy developers to actually learn web standards and fix their sites to be more accessible. Not just for the iPhone but a host of other devices which lack the desktop-class web browser.
@(Unverified)
Yes, but you're also assuming that the tablet will use the same "mobile" sites as the iPhone does. A lot of non-mobile sites use flash. Will it matter? Probably not. Flash sucks, but since there is almost no agreement on which video format shuld dominate in HTML 5 (and there is a LOT of disagreement on that), you're going to end up with a fragmented browser marketplace and, you guessed it, Flash will survive as it will be the most cross-platform friendly.
Not to say I'm happy about it. I hate flash. But if the tablet is going to be expected to do the things a netbook can, having flash support is pretty important.
Then again, I think the age of the website is going to start slowing down as everything starts getting an app. Seriously- between RSS aggregators and apps for individual websites, my need for the a traditional browser has really gone down.
What I'm personally betting on:
an Apple tablet of some sort, with 3G, a 10 inch screen and basically upscaled iPhone apps
a new iTunes, the ability to use iPhone apps as dashboard widgets, and the tablet's apps as full-fledged apps on your desktop, and buy apps for your mac from the app store
just my two cents :)
A price point at or around $1000 would lend credence to the murmurings that Apple intends to replace the low-end Macbook with this tablet and would, to my mind, also insinuate that the OS in question is closer to a "conventional" computer operating system than the pared-down interface of the iPhone/iPod Touch family. Of course, all of this is based upon conjecture at this point so... I guess I'll sit by quietly until a proper reveal.
There could just be a higher-DPI screen in the iPhone 4. Nobody said it has to be a tablet.
If it looks like this damnnnn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnxGNwifqLQ
I just want to be able to delete the Yahoo stock app.
Unless they're announcing a Verizon iPhone, the event won't do me any good.
Hope they bring new Macbook Pro with Arrandale that day.
When I was a waiter entering my orders on a large touchscreen, I often thought, "I wish someone could combine this with my cell phone." Thank God, apple is listening to me.
I cannot wait to play Jelly Car 5 and be able to see what my grainy 3 MP pictures look like on this slab of wholesome goodness. The idea that I could send text messages on a huge virtual keyboard is also a plus.
The iPhone filled a need. This appears to be an example of trying to create a need.
@Crutnacker
Try again. What need was the iPhone filling? There were smartphones on the market already. In fact if you listen to the Apple haters, nothing the iPhone does is new, and it was all done before the iPhone even came out.
So what was the point of creating it and releasing it? The point was that the iPhone was BETTER. It identified all the problems with current phones and FIXED them. It did that so well that it went on to become the single most popular smartphone ever made.
Now you're wondering why Apple is releasing a tablet? Have you just not been paying attention for the last ten years? Current tablets suck ass. They aren't good enough to replace netbooks and they're not powerful enough to replace notebooks. Their interfaces are all over the map, there's no consistency and none of them have a solid design that goes all the way through from hardware to software.
In fact it's a lot like the smartphone market just before Apple took over. Do I need to paint you a picture here?
Danny Salomon Vice President at United Holdings Group, has developed the world's first Anti-Aging iPhone App which uses Color-Light & Sound frequencies to stimulate skin cells, produce collagen, and helps heal various ailments from Wrinkles, Acne, Cellulite, and even Hair Growth Stimulation.
Choose between Wrinkle Eraser, Acne Clear, Cellulite Buster, Skin Cleanser, Dark Circles & Puffy Eyes, Stretch Marks & Scars, Oxygenation & Circulation, Joint Discomfort & Arthritis, Sleep Disorder & Muscle Tension, and the Hair Growth Stimulator.
I don't get it. Tablets have been around forever. What's with all the hype? Nobody likes them but all of a sudden apple may have one and it's already the thing to have? Can someone explain y I would want a 10inch iphone that $1000?? And don't say oh you can read on the subway cause maybe if I wanted to get robbed. Also I would think a news paper that I can toss is easyier to carry than the screen of my macbook
@sandwich2
I don't get it. Smartphones have been around forever. What's with all the hype?
Does that sound familiar? That's what people were saying before the iPhone came out and completely changed the smartphone landscape. That's what Apple does. They go into a market that is full of shit products (like the current tablet market) and create their own product that solves all the issues they were having.
That's what all the hype is about. A tablet from Apple will be first tablet that doesn't suck, and in fact is pretty awesome. Just like the iPhone.
Come on people, seriously? Hindsight should be 20-10 at this point. Look at the timeline of Apple product launches since their revival. They're releasing something that's elegant and flawed; expensive and fragile, amazing and cool, even if the haters won't publicly admit it, and yet when the novelty wears off, you'll have something indeed so revolutionary it becomes commonplace, like carrying entire libraries of media around with you in your pocket, or a multi-point touch display on a portable device. Who could deny that with the iPod and iTunes, Apple changed the way we do certain things, simple things, such as listening to music, or with the iPhone and the App store, and at the same time, changed the efficiency of their business models and their ability to maintain and grow exponentially their bottom line?
But I refuse to believe your or their imaginations are quite so limited. An oversized iPhone with WiFi? Oooo. On-screen keyboard? Aaaah.
A camera on the front AND back? Hi Def display? Flash memory? A scroll wheel? USB INPUTS? Take it easy. Step out from 5 years ago and think bigger. Usable technology. If it isn't new, find a new use for it, or make it better, and better than anyone else.
Like, resonant induction charging. MEMS projection. Mobile array microphone. No?
How about something based on an actual Apple patent, filed quietly at the end of June '04, silently toyed with and improved at the Cupertino R&D campus over the last 5 years, such as a layered hybrid electrophoretic/integrated-sensing display. An all-in-one solution, eliminating the drawbacks and incorporating the benefits of an HD screen, e-paper like that of the Kindle, and a chassis mounted camera.
Sounds expensive, doesn't it? But Apple's great for that.
Quick disclaimer: I do not own a single Apple product, and aside from the random friend's iPhone or iPod, I haven't used an Apple product since programming the turtle on a ][e in gradeschool...but if the iTablet or iSlate or Newton ][ or whatever the hell it's called is half as decent as everyone's pie-in-the-sky paradigm shift in computing product hopes it can be, I might check it out.
Last words are for Jobs, Cook, Ives, Oppenheimer, Apple B-O-D Campbell, Drexler, Gore, Jung, Levinson, and York, and all their stockholders; I am all for IP--its how ideas turn into money and people are kept working, and therefore, spending and keeping our economy from much faster collapse--but if you spent half has much time and cash on development as you do on suing movie stars and Finnish competitors, you'd have MY product to launch this month, and ten million monkeys would be camped out and lined up to scratch their backs on their new pocket Monoliths.
Just a thought. This little brainstorming session is on the house; the next one will cost you. Good luck. --MOS
I am a teenager, and form a large portion of apples customer base. This company could honestly take a slab of glass slap an "I" on it and we would all buy it. I know that once this itablet comes out me and all my friends will be drooling over it for the next month or two and then move one. The truth is, it's no longer about the hardware in tech products, yes there does have to be some amount of speed and quality, but what my generation really focuses on, is interaction. It is more important as to how this product will change yet again the way we view and interact with the ridiculous amounts of information that gets dumped on us on a regular basis. What apple lacks hardware wise, it makes up in looks and appeal and an ingenious simplicity we all seek to calm down our ever increasing complicated lives. Now for the older ones out there I understand your desire to get the most bang for your buck, you want the most you can get with your hard earned money. But with me and my friends, our relationship with our personal tech has become much more intimate then that. We walked hand in hand with our ipods as we started to mature socialy. Apple has hopefully made a product that will not only function well and look stunning, but fit in to your life like you never new possible. Anyone who has ever owned an iphone will get the jist of what im talking about. Yes it sounds like im sooooper emotionally attached to this for some unexplainable reason. But i started to explore the world with apple at my side, and plan to continue grow up with all the new doodads and gadgets filling up my pockets and my life.
@Dr D Jesus dude get a room lol
the word tiring comes to mind when the "major"new announcement is coming from apple,it will probably be more hype than anything else,why do I say this,well the hype with these guys always out does the product itself,the mac book air,the apple tv,the apple servers,safari,the mac book cases,oh yuh nearly forgot the the edge quality,overheating,under performing iphone...now the tablet,like the tablet hasn't been around for say 6-7 years....but it will be introduced as a brand new jee whiz product by the king of hype,boy can humans be marketed,and why do i feel this way,it is what i do for a living,so in a around about way ,i admire them for doing something right ,they market the hell out of their products,whether they are truly good they are never afraid to tell you they are......interesting eh
@hype22
Nothing is as tiring as reading that post. Yeah tablets have been out for years and they all suck. What's your point? Smartphones existed before the iPhone, and they all sucked. But then the iPhone came out and showed everybody how to not suck, and now we have good smartphones. See how that worked?
Also, learn some spelling and grammar. Your posts are actually painful to read.
first of all you have been marketed my son...totally dude...functionality,and cost are primary after you mature,for past generations ,for example have seen the cost derivative of buying something to be first,lets say 45 records,cassettes,in several forms...cd's....dvds\'s...blue rays....8 tracks....and on and on ....whether it be TV's does any one remember plasmas....apple is cool ...ya i get it ...but when you hold the phone .....doing nothing ...then you have problems ..not coolness...or you are constantly checking the phone for what ...the latest hong kong market flucuations...come on now ...please put the phone down and stop your anti social behavior ..it is no longer cool it is childish....oh that is right you said you were a child ...my bad,dude....nevermind....continue on with your iphone syndrome
@ Jack
Demand for Android phones makes 'monstrous' 250% jump
ChangeWave sees huge leap in Google Android interest; Apple iPhone demand to slip
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9143027/Demand_for_Android_phones_makes_monstrous_250_jump
You were saying?
Who Says it will not be the next gen iPhone with a higher screen resolution? The iPhone OS4 would have to run on all machines.
I for one am ready to rub one out to the apple tablet. Who wouldn't?? There is no denying this thing will revolutionize the tablet and OWN everything in it's path!
Just stop hating on it and except your destiny!!!!!!!!!!!
@tranceman
The 'tablet market' is almost an oxymoron, so it won't take much to revolutionize. It currently consists of a few sales people, hospitals, and some other commercial uses, think Panasonic Toughbook.
Now from what I've read, this product isn't meant to compete in that market, and would probably never have a leg to stand on in it.
It seems to me that this would compete more with products like Archos PMP's. So it may revolutionize the PMP market, and..... maybe.... it will be of a PMP/hand-held gaming platform. They are pushing the iPhone 3GS/iPod Touch as a gaming platform, it seems logical.
I don't know how this will be presented, but based on the rumors, I just don't see the market for this. Especially if you already have a laptop, and/or a recent phone (apple/android/symbian/winmo).
If this can't replace most functions of my laptop, I cannot see wanting to carry around another few pounds for a pretty UI and features that may overlap both my laptop and phone.
It is Apple though, and if they are selling it, based on the iMac era (minus G4 Cube..), it will probably be marketable and profitable. Should be interesting to see unfold.