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[Raistlin]

Apple isn't going to dumb down their technology for the ten people who want to use this as a Kindle.

It wouldn't be dumbing down their tech though.

 

[edgefusion]

don't kid yourself. This isn't going to be the next iPod.

What were people saying about the iPod when it was first released? Never say never...

 

[Raistlin]

What were people saying about the iPod when it was first released? Never say never...

True, but I'd be kind of shocked if lightning strikes three times in a row. That would be crazy, and pretty much unprecedented in the computer & CE industry.



*contemplates stock purchase*

 

[D4Danger]

What were people saying about the iPod when it was first released? Never say never...

The iPod was a direct replacement for CD/tape players (remember those?).

A tablet has to compete with desktops, laptops, netbooks and phones.

 

[Byakuya769]

The iPod was a direct replacement for CD/tape players (remember those?).

A tablet has to compete with desktops, laptops, netbooks and phones.

There is definitely an element of competition there. However, there is also the potential that as a convergence device that handles most of the tasks people expect a laptop to handle it can actually encourage people to buy desktops. I think many people have chosen to use (increasingly powerful) laptops in lieu of keeping a desktop at home. This device could actually encourage the synced use of both. Also, depending on the price point it could make it more palatable to have multiple units in any given household.

 

[Tobor]

don't kid yourself. This isn't going to be the next iPod.

You're right. But it could be the next Macintosh.

And I still say Jobs pulls a fast one and calls this the iBook.

 

[justjohn]

Tobor is maturing right before our very eyes.

 

[Tobor]

Tobor is maturing right before our very eyes.

My cocoon is sticky.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

The iPod was a direct replacement for CD/tape players (remember those?).

A tablet has to compete with desktops, laptops, netbooks and phones.

The CD market was in full force and everybody figured your average person wouldn't be technologically savvy enough to get their music onto one, or that people wouldn't embrace digital media without owning anything physical. Nobody thought it would be the new Walkman.

Even in hindsight its mainstream success seems strange to me, but Napster/Limewire/Kazaa & the like definitely helped pushed it along.

 

[fireside]

It wouldn't be dumbing down their tech though.

Okay fine, you want them to include some fancy new display technology whose only benefit is being able to dumb down the display automagically in the off chance someone wants to read a book on it.

 

[Raistlin]

Okay fine, you want them to include some fancy new display technology whose only benefit is being able to dumb down the display automagically in the off chance someone wants to read a book on it.

Yes actually.

This is where many laptops, etc are going to.

The CD market was in full force and everybody figured your average person wouldn't be technologically savvy enough to get their music onto one, or that people wouldn't embrace digital media without owning anything physical. Nobody thought it would be the new Walkman.

Even in hindsight its mainstream success seems strange to me, but Napster/Limewire/Kazaa & the like definitely helped pushed it along.

It made sense to me once larger capacity players hit the market.

 

[Tobor]

Yes actually.

This is where many laptops, etc are going to.





It made sense to me once larger capacity players hit the market.

I have a feeling you're going to be a dissapointed dude come the 26th, Onix.

3Qi looks plain, matte, and washed out. There's no way Jobs releases a device with that screen tech as is. Can 3Qi even work behind glass?

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

Guys!!!!

IVE SEEN THE TABLET!!!!!!

Edit* See the bottom post !

 

[Tobor]

Guys!!!!

IVE SEEN THE TABLET!!!!!!

What is the first commandment!!!!

 

[BowieZ]

Just call it the "i".

 

[justjohn]

Guys!!!!

IVE SEEN THE TABLET!!!!!!

0_o

 

[Tobor]

Where did you go Mecha_Infantry? :lol

Are you going to elaborate?

 

[Byakuya769]

Guys!!!!

IVE SEEN THE TABLET!!!!!!

grrrr... this isn't funny, buddy.

 

[Raistlin]

I have a feeling you're going to be a dissapointed dude come the 26th, Onix.

I'm not expecting it, was just hoping.

3Qi looks plain, matte, and washed out. There's no way Jobs releases a device with that screen tech as is. Can 3Qi even work behind glass?

The demo's I've seen didn't look too washed out, though yes, it didn't appear to compete with the best screens in terms of vibrancy. As for glass, I don't think that's an issue.

Guys!!!!

IVE SEEN THE TABLET!!!!!!

You really shouldn't have done that. It's pretty much talk, or say goodbye until the 26th.

 

[fireside]

Where did you go Mecha_Infantry? :lol

Apple's already taken care of him

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

lmao sorry guys

For some reason I hit submit reply before I actually finished the post.

But yeah I saw the tablet, in my dreams ..Like weirdly I was using it in a hospital. All I remember it was a MBP screen, the back was aluminium with an Apple symbol at the back that glows, and the front was exactly like the MBP screen, even witht he iSight camera

I probably need to stop reading so much on this damn thing, and get some uninterrupted sleep

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Guys!!!!

IVE SEEN THE TABLET!!!!!!

Edit* See the bottom post !

And why would anyone believe this before the edit? I have not looked at your posting history, but are you an apple insider or anything?

 

[D4Danger]

The CD market was in full force and everybody figured your average person wouldn't be technologically savvy enough to get their music onto one, or that people wouldn't embrace digital media without owning anything physical. Nobody thought it would be the new Walkman.

what? that's not true. Digital music was always the future.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

And why would anyone believe this before the edit? I have not looked at your posting history, but are you an apple insider or anything?

No one was meant to, I said I submitted the post before finishing it as I was posting something in another thread... thought that wasn't too hard t figure out via my new post :S

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

what? that's not true. Digital music was always the future.

It's plenty true. Just because it was the future doesn't mean people saw it. There were tons and tons of people who said they'd never pay for ephemeral digital media instead of a product they could hold and look at, and no shortage of skeptics who didn't think people would pay hundreds of dollars for a device 75% of people didn't really understand at the time. Certainly not to the degree of runaway freight train success that it was.

It's exactly why Sony lost the portable music market, few took the notion of mass appeal for digital music seriously at the time.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

what? that's not true. Digital music was always the future.

There was no big digital music store at the time. No one could get the labels to do it.

 

[liquid_gears]

Eh, my hospital has just had its funding slashed for the upcoming computing/networking overhaul. It's essentially ancient right now, too. No fucking way would the cunts behind the scenes actually allow something useful, productive and comparably expensive to be used on the floor.

I can think of one hospital that has just been re-built and could possibly utilise a clever tablet device, this hospital has one of the best information systems that I've ever seen, but it's a big exception to the rule in Britian at the moment.

I'm really intrigued by this device though. It's impossible to make a judgement right now, but unless Apple brings something that we haven't seen before in a mass market device, then I can't see this thing going anywhere. Just making a slightly better tablet device isn't enough to reinvigorate the market imo.

I await with bated breath.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

There was no big digital music store at the time. No one could get the labels to do it.

This too. They liked the record store model, they understood & could control it. They fought tooth & nail against digital music.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'm really intrigued by this device though. It's impossible to make a judgement right now, but unless Apple brings something that we haven't seen before in a mass market device, then I can't see this thing going anywhere. Just making a slightly better tablet device isn't enough to reinvigorate the market imo.

I think that's exactly why people are getting excited. As has been said in this thread before, Apple doesn't tend to bring something to market without putting their own spin on it, and they've shown time and time again, that they can generally deliver a new experience that resonates with the public on a positive level.

Throw in the rumors of having magazines and books available through iTunes, and you have a single store you can use for all kinds of content. Music, movies, books, apps, and so on. I also happen to think that they have a surprise or two up their sleeve that will make the Tablet an object of desire.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

Eh, my hospital has just had its funding slashed for the upcoming computing/networking overhaul. It's essentially ancient right now, too. No fucking way would the cunts behind the scenes actually allow something useful, productive and comparably expensive to be used on the floor.

I can think of one hospital that has just been re-built and could possibly utilise a clever tablet device, this hospital has one of the best information systems that I've ever seen, but it's a big exception to the rule in Britian at the moment.

I'm really intrigued by this device though. It's impossible to make a judgement right now, but unless Apple brings something that we haven't seen before in a mass market device, then I can't see this thing going anywhere. Just making a slightly better tablet device isn't enough to reinvigorate the market imo.

The crazy thing is, no one who has seen the tablet has talked in much detail on it, we have pretty much no idea what it will do, if there is one or more main uses for it. I was watching DiggNation, and Alex said that its suprisingly cheap, which is why I think it won't be the bells and whistles that everyone is thinking it will be.

Plus people saying it will replace a MB, or whatnot, IMO is wrong..as you are cannibalising your own market with a product that's not even tried and tested. All I think this will be is a bigger iPod touch, but it will focus more on larger screen applications, such as delivering Keynotes, used as a 2nd monitor/controller for programs such as Final Cut, Logic, Photoshop, etc.

I don't think this will have a data plan either, just WiFi..as the iPhone market will then be reduced, even by a small amount.

 

[Byakuya769]

mecha, sounds like you're describing the exact sort of thing Jobs would laugh at and ask "what's the point of this device".

 

[D4Danger]

The crazy thing is, no one who has seen the tablet has talked in much detail on it, we have pretty much no idea what it will do, if there is one or more main uses for it. I was watching DiggNation, and Alex said that its suprisingly cheap, which is why I think it won't be the bells and whistles that everyone is thinking it will be.

probably because they're full of shit and haven't seen it.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

The crazy thing is, no one who has seen the tablet has talked in much detail on it, we have pretty much no idea what it will do, if there is one or more main uses for it. I was watching DiggNation, and Alex said that its suprisingly cheap, which is why I think it won't be the bells and whistles that everyone is thinking it will be.

Plus people saying it will replace a MB, or whatnot, IMO is wrong..as you are cannibalising your own market with a product that's not even tried and tested. All I think this will be is a bigger iPod touch, but it will focus more on larger screen applications, such as delivering Keynotes, used as a 2nd monitor/controller for programs such as Final Cut, Logic, Photoshop, etc.

I don't think this will have a data plan either, just WiFi..as the iPhone market will then be reduced, even by a small amount.

I wouldn't put any credence into the "surprisingly cheap" reports, as Alex doesn't really know more about the tablet than we do at this point, other than hearing rumors from unnamed sources. Hopefully it'll be affordable though.

I agree that it probably won't, nor is it designed, to replace a laptop. It's going to offer functionality that a laptop isn't right for, and a small screen iPhone/iPod Touch doesn't work well for either.

I also happen to think that it'll be able to take advantage of a data plan, but won't require one. WiFi will work for most of it's needs, but you can get a data plan with AT&T/Verizon/Who ever, if you want, much like on a lot of netbooks. For instance, my netbook has a built in card slot for a sim card.

 

[fireside]

The crazy thing is, no one who has seen the tablet has talked in much detail on it, we have pretty much no idea what it will do, if there is one or more main uses for it. I was watching DiggNation, and Alex said that its suprisingly cheap, which is why I think it won't be the bells and whistles that everyone is thinking it will be.

Plus people saying it will replace a MB, or whatnot, IMO is wrong..as you are cannibalising your own market with a product that's not even tried and tested. All I think this will be is a bigger iPod touch, but it will focus more on larger screen applications, such as delivering Keynotes, used as a 2nd monitor/controller for programs such as Final Cut, Logic, Photoshop, etc.

I don't think this will have a data plan either, just WiFi..as the iPhone market will then be reduced, even by a small amount.

Why should they care if you buy a MacBook or the Tablet? They'll be the only ones getting your money in the end.

 

[Raistlin]

It's exactly why Sony lost the portable music market, few took the notion of mass appeal for digital music seriously at the time.

This too. They liked the record store model, they understood & could control it. They fought tooth & nail against digital music.

That isn't true. Sony's main music store (Connect) came about a year after iTunes hit. Jobs had actually tried to get Sony on board with iTunes, but Sony declined because they were working on their own service (again).


The reason they asked Sony in the first place is because they knew Sony was interested in online music. How did they know that? Because Sony had actually launched an online music service in 2001 (Pressplay predates iTunes music store by 1.5 years) along with Universal. It ultimately failed, and was sold to Roxio in 2003 ... and that's where Apple saw the opportunity to try and get Sony on board.


If anything, Sony pioneered digital music (technically, even at it's root since they created CD). They were pushing out digital players and digital distribution well before Apple created iPod or iTunes.

Spoiler

Given Pressplay's overall design and feature-set, I can however see argument that Sony still didn't "get" digital music, at least not in the way Apple later did

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Plus people saying it will replace a MB, or whatnot, IMO is wrong..as you are cannibalising your own market with a product that's not even tried and tested. All I think this will be is a bigger iPod touch, but it will focus more on larger screen applications, such as delivering Keynotes, used as a 2nd monitor/controller for programs such as Final Cut, Logic, Photoshop, etc.

Apple cannibalizes their markets. What do you think the iPod touch and iPhone are? As fireside said, if someone's going to steal your sales, it should be yourself.

 

[Nerevar]

The CD market was in full force and everybody figured your average person wouldn't be technologically savvy enough to get their music onto one, or that people wouldn't embrace digital media without owning anything physical. Nobody thought it would be the new Walkman.

Even in hindsight its mainstream success seems strange to me, but Napster/Limewire/Kazaa & the like definitely helped pushed it along.

The ipod and iphone have all been evolutionary (I owned at least 2 mp3 players before the ipod was ever released, rio and something else). They were pieces of crap but they got the job done. Most people expect whatever this tablet is to be completely revolutionary and unprecedented. Don't get your hopes up kids, it won't be. It'll be an evolution of existing products wrapped up in a simple, clean form factor with an intuitive and easy to use UI and most likely a very easy to use digital store for media. That's the Apple MO.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

mecha, sounds like you're describing the exact sort of thing Jobs would laugh at and ask "what's the point of this device".

That's why deeeeep down inside, I'm believing that the tablet is and will be non-existent.

probably because they're full of shit and haven't seen it.

Probably so, I'm sure whoever has seen it is hush hush, but I think some people have the info without seeing the device it's self, probably via loose lips

I wouldn't put any credence into the "surprisingly cheap" reports, as Alex doesn't really know more about the tablet than we do at this point, other than hearing rumors from unnamed sources. Hopefully it'll be affordable though.

There is so much conflicting thoughts/evidence about size, cost, features, etc. It's either going to be an affordable 10" screen, or an expensive 13" device, or maybe there is middle ground per sey..but that middle ground will only be achieved when/if Apple have figured out what the hell it's going to do.

The problem is, they've created a device in the iPhone and iTouch that can do most of what people expect the tablet to do; email, music, games, WiFi/3G, eReader, etc. So I'm really intruiged to see if this is real, and if they can market it correctly..

I agree that it probably won't, nor is itdesigned, to replace a laptop. It's going to offer functionality that a laptop isn't right for, and a small screen iPhone/iPod Touch doesn't work well for either.

But what functionality is that though? Is it as I suggested in my previous post, where D4Danger said Jobs will laugh and say "What's the point of this device?"

What the laptop isnt right for is mobility, no matter what anyone says, laptops aren't as mobile and practical as they should be, so the middle ground is reducing the size to something bigger than an iPhone..but the iPhone has a HUGE benefit of a data service, so where is the middle ground, WiFi only? Then the point in case will actually be, wtf is the worth of this hypothetical

I also happen to think that it'll be able to take advantage of a data plan, but won't require one. WiFi will work for most of it's needs, but you can get a data plan with AT&T/Verizon/Who ever, if you want, much like on a lot of netbooks. For instance, my netbook has a built in card slot for a sim card.

Give it a data plan and people will moan, don't give it one, then people will moan. Maybe we'll see some incentive with AT&T/o2/Orange/T Mobile..or even for you US'ers; Verizon. In the UK, netbooks aren't that popular, but mobile broadband is gaining a steady rise in followers. I don't know how it is in the USA, but UK has to subsidise the costs of mobile broadband/data plans with free netbooks or reduced laptops..So maybe Apple might see some benefit in pushing new mobile data plans, like they did with the iPhone, if they pair it up with the hypothetical device

(this post might not make sense, it's silly o'clock in the morning here, but I was watching UFC!)

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

Apple cannibalizes their markets. What do you think the iPod touch and iPhone are? As fireside said, if someone's going to steal your sales, it should be yourself.

What market of their own did Apple introduce the iPhone to cannibalise? The iPod range?

I'll speak as if the iSlate is real, but if they do introduce it, will it be more similar to the iPod being eaten by the iTouch? They're both MP3 players with different features, but ultimately they are the same device with the same basic capability of playing music. The touch introduced the feature of the App store..but where in relation is the iSlate to a MBP?

That's an actual question, not a rhetorical one

I don't think the iPhone is cannibalising any of Apples current devices, so far...

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

I don't think the iPhone is canablising any of Apples current devices, so far...

It is. Apple has discussed that point and know it's taking the iPod market. But what does it matter if you take the iPod market if that becomes the new iPhone market?

The tablet is replacing notebooks. It's not making a new market. It won't kill it outright in the first version, but you know they have a long-term plan where 20 years from now they see the tablet design as the new MacBook.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

It is. Apple has discussed that point and know it's taking the iPod market. But what does it matter if you take the iPod market if that becomes the new iPhone market?

The tablet is replacing notebooks. It's not making a new market. It won't kill it outright in the first version, but you know they have a long-term plan where 20 years from now they see the tablet design as the new MacBook.

I see I see...

Well this is why if this is for real on the 26th, it will ask more questions rather than answer them until it's been released and had a year in the market. Apple/Jobs' has done this in the past, so I'm so hyped for the hopeful announcement on the 26th, so we can at least stop wondering.

I just hope this isn't an Apple TV ...

 

[Shogmaster]

The tablet is replacing notebooks. It's not making a new market. It won't kill it outright in the first version, but you know they have a long-term plan where 20 years from now they see the tablet design as the new MacBook.

You just did a perfect Bill Gates quote from 4 years ago (just replace "MacBook" with "notebooks") when people branded Tablet PCs as a market failure.

I agree too. The evolution of the notebook into a device that allows more than a mouse pointer and keyboard for input is in full swing. About 5 years into that evolution, in fact.


BTW, iPhone and iPod Touch do not cannibalize into each others' sales. That is impossible since they share 90%+ of parts and tooling. They do cannibalize into other iPods' (classic, nano) sales, however.

 

[Raistlin]

I just hope this isn't an Apple TV ...

That is my concern as well.

Apple TV was a perfect example of Apple being too ... Apple. While the UI was pretty, the overall feature-set was simply too watered down. Not enough codec support, etc. I/O, was also far too gimped.


I really hope this doesn't follow a similar track. The good thing is Apple generally has there shit together when it comes to computing. They need to rethink their priorities when it comes to devices that tread too deep into HT though.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

Anyway, this is from MacRumours/Gruber (I'm never staying up for UFC again....Good night all)

The Tablet
Thursday, 31 December 2009

Another former Apple executive who was there at the time said the tablets kept getting shelved at Apple because Mr. Jobs, whose incisive critiques are often memorable, asked, in essence, what they were good for besides surfing the Web in the bathroom.

—”Just a Touch Away, the Elusive Tablet PC”, The New York Times, 4 October 2009

Here’s the thimbleful of information I have heard regarding The Tablet (none of which has changed in six months): The Tablet project is real, it has you-know-who’s considerable undivided attention, and everyone working on it has dropped off the map. I don’t know anyone who works at Apple who doubts these things; nor do I know anyone at Apple who knows a whit more. I don’t know anyone who’s seen the hardware or the software, nor even anyone who knows someone else who has seen the hardware or software.

The cone of silence surrounding the project is, so far as I can tell, complete.1

The situation is uncannily similar to the run-up preceding the debut of the original iPhone in January 2007, including many of the same engineers and software teams at Apple — such as those who built the iPhone Mail, Calendar, and Safari apps — disappearing into a black hole. The iPhone remained a secret until Steve Jobs took it out of his jeans pocket on stage at Macworld Expo. All of which is to say that what follows is my conjecture. Pure punditry, not one of those smarmy “predictions” where I know full well in advance what’s going to happen.

I have a thousand questions about The Tablet’s design. What size is it? There’s a big difference between, say, 7- and 10-inch displays. How do you type on it? With all your fingers, like a laptop keyboard? Or like an iPhone, with only your thumbs? If you’re supposed to watch video on it, how do you prop it up? Holding it in your hands? Flat on a table seems like the wrong angle entirely; but a fold-out “arm” to prop it up, à la a picture frame, seems clumsy and inelegant. If it’s just a touchscreen tablet, how do you protect the screen while carrying it around? If it folds up somehow, how is it not just a laptop — why not put a hardware keyboard on the part that folds up to cover the display? (Everyone I know at Apple refers to it as “The Tablet”, but so far as I can tell, that’s because that’s what everyone calls it, not because anyone knows that it actually even is, physically, a tablet. And “The Tablet” most certainly is not the product name.) If it’s too big to fit in a pants pocket, how are you supposed to carry it around? And but if it does fit in a pants pocket, how is it bigger enough than an iPod Touch to justify existing? And so on.

But there’s one question at the top of the list, the answer to which is the key to answering every other question. That question is this: If you already have an iPhone and a MacBook; why would you want this?

The epigraph I used to start this piece — the bit about Steve Jobs demanding that a tablet be useful for more than just reading on the can — indicates that Apple will release nothing without such an answer. I agree that such an answer is essential.

Successful new gadgets always seem to occupy a clearly defined place alongside, or replacing, existing devices. The Flip filled a previously empty niche for a small, cheap, simple video camera. How was the iPod better than existing portable music players? It fit 1,000 songs in your pocket, with a fun interface that let you find them easily. Why buy an iPhone to replace your existing mobile phone? Because there was a clear need for a modern handheld general-purpose computer.

But how much room is there between an iPhone (or iPod Touch) and a MacBook (or other laptop computer, running Windows or Linux or whatever)? What’s the argument for owning all three?

“I’d use it on the couch and lying in bed” is not a good answer. You can already use your iPhone or MacBook on the couch and in bed. It strikes me as foolish to market a multi-hundred-dollar device that people are expected to leave on their coffee table.

“It’s a Kindle killer” is not a good answer. If you think Apple is making a dedicated device for reading e-books and articles, you’re thinking too small. As profoundly reticent as Steve Jobs is regarding future Apple products, when he does speak, he’s often surprisingly revealing. David Pogue asked him about the Kindle a few months ago:

A couple of years ago, pre-Kindle, Mr. Jobs expressed his doubts that e-readers were ready for prime time. So today, I asked if his opinions have changed.

“I’m sure there will always be dedicated devices, and they may have a few advantages in doing just one thing,” he said. “But I think the general-purpose devices will win the day. Because I think people just probably aren’t willing to pay for a dedicated device.”

He said that Apple doesn’t see e-books as a big market at this point, and pointed out that Amazon.com, for example, doesn’t ever say how many Kindles it sells. “Usually, if they sell a lot of something, you want to tell everybody.”

Of course, this is the same Steve Jobs who back in January 2008 told The New York Times’s John Markoff:

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

One could reasonably argue that the “people don’t read” comment, taken at face value, suggests that Apple has no interest in that market, period.

I, however, would square the two remarks as follows: Not enough people read to make it worth creating a dedicated device that is to reading what the original iPod was to music. (Everyone, for practical definitions of “everyone”, listens to music.) But e-reading as one aspect among several for a general-purpose computing device — well, that’s something else entirely.

The pre-Touch iPod was (and remains) an enormous success. It changed the music industry and rejuvenated Apple. But it was and remains a dedicated device; originally focused on audio, now capable of the sibling feature of video.

The iPhone, on the other hand, was conceived and has flourished as a general-purpose handheld computing platform. It was not introduced as such publicly, and is not pitched as such in Apple’s marketing, but clearly that’s what it is. The iPhone was described by Jobs in his on-stage introduction as three devices in one: “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, a breakthrough Internet communicator”. Thus, it was clear what people would want to do with it: watch videos, listen to music, make phone calls, surf the web, do email.

The way Apple made one device that did a credible job of all these widely-varying features was by making it a general-purpose computer with minimal specificity in the hardware and maximal specificity in the software. And, now, through the App Store and third-party developers, it does much more: serving as everything from a game player to a medical device.

Do I think The Tablet is an e-reader? A video player? A web browser? A document viewer? It’s not a matter of or but rather and. I say it is all of these things. It’s a computer.

And so in answer to my central question, regarding why buy The Tablet if you already have an iPhone and a MacBook, my best guess is that ultimately, The Tablet is something you’ll buy instead of a MacBook.

I say they’re swinging big — redefining the experience of personal computing.

It will not be pitched as such by Apple. It will be defined by three or four of its built-in primary apps. But long-term, big-picture? It will be to the MacBook what the Macintosh was to the Apple II.

I am not predicting that Apple is phasing out the Mac. (On the contrary, I’ve heard that Mac OS X 10.7 is on pace for a developer release at WWDC in June.) Like all Apple products, The Tablet will do less than we expect but the things it does do, it will do insanely well. It will offer a fraction of the functionality of a MacBook — but that fraction will be way more fun. The same myopic feature-checklist-obsessed critics who dismissed the iPhone will focus on all that The Tablet doesn’t do and declare that this time, Apple really has fucked up but good. The rest of us will get in line to buy one.

The Mac is, and will remain, Apple’s answer to what you use to do everything.

The Tablet, I say, is going to be Apple’s new answer to what you use for personal portable general computing.

Put another way, let’s say instead of a MacBook and an iPhone, you’ve got an iMac and an iPhone, but you also want a portable secondary computer. Today, that portable from Apple (portable as opposed to the iPhone’s mobile) is a MacBook. With The Tablet, you’ll have the option of a device that will more closely resemble the iPhone than the iMac in terms of concept and the degree of technical abstraction.
The Tablet OS

The original 1984 Mac didn’t abstract away the computer — it made the computer itself elegant, simple, and understandable. Very, very little was hidden from the typical user. Mac OS X is vastly more complex technically and conceptually, as it must be due to the vastly increased complexity and capability of today’s hardware. But Mac OS X has always tried to have it both ways: a veneer of simplicity that doesn’t cover the entire surface of the system. The user-exposed file system is a prime example. On the 1984 Mac, the entire file system was exposed, but the entire file system fit on a 400 KB floppy disk. On Mac OS X, the /System/Library/ folder, one of many exposed fiddly sections of the file system browsable in the Finder, contains over 90,000 items, not one of which a typical user should ever need to see or touch.

The iPhone OS offers a complete computing abstraction. Under the hood, it’s just as complex as Mac OS X. On the surface, though, it is even more simple and elegant than the original Mac. No technical complexity is exposed. Hierarchy is minimized. It relegates the file system to a developer-level technology rather than a user-level technology. (Did you know the file system on iPhones is case sensitive?)

But so while I think The Tablet’s OS will be like the iPhone OS, I don’t think it will be the iPhone OS. Carved from the same OS X core, yes, but with a new bespoke UI designed to be just right for The Tablet’s form factor, whatever that form factor will be.

One common prediction I disagree with is that The Tablet will simply be more or less an iPod Touch with a much bigger display. But in the same way that it made no sense for Apple to design the iPhone OS to run Mac software, it makes little sense for a device with a 7-inch (let alone larger) display to run software designed for a 3.5-inch display.

The iPhone OS user interface was not designed in the abstract. It’s entirely about real-world usability, and very much designed specifically around the physical size of the device itself. The size and spacing of tappable targets are designed with the size of human thumb- and fingertips in mind. More importantly, the whole thing is designed so that it can be used one-handed. Even an adult with relatively small hands can go from one corner to the other with their thumb, holding the iPhone in one hand.

Mac OS X apps couldn’t run on an iPhone display because they simply wouldn’t fit, and the parts that did fit would contain buttons and other UI elements that were far too small to be used. Running iPhone software on a much larger display presents the opposite problem: it’s not that the UI couldn’t be scaled to fill the screen, it’s that it would be a waste to do so.

A 7-inch display isn’t twice the size of an iPhone’s, it’s four times bigger in surface area. I’m not sure even Shaquille O’Neal could hold a 7-inch iPod Touch in one hand and swipe from corner to corner with his thumb. Why would Apple stretch a UI designed to afford for one-handed use on 3.5-inch displays to cover a 7-inch (or larger) display that couldn’t possibly be used one-handed? If Apple’s starting with a hardware size where the iPhone OS can’t be used one-handed, then trust me, they’re designing a new interaction model.

Apple is not in the business of making monolithic OSes that they cram down your throat on as many widely-varying devices as possible. Apple is in the business of making complete products, for which they craft derivative OSes to fit each product. There is a shared core OS. There is not a shared core UI.2

If you’re thinking The Tablet is just a big iPhone, or just Apple’s take on the e-reader, or just a media player, or just anything, I say you’re thinking too small — the equivalent of thinking that the iPhone was going to be just a click wheel iPod that made phone calls. I think The Tablet is nothing short of Apple’s reconception of personal computing.

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.”
—Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912) ★

1.

The only known breakage of the cone of silence around Apple’s tablet project I’m aware of are the meetings Apple has held with publishing industry executives. The way these meetings work, from what I’ve gathered, is as follows. Apple brings no hardware. They bring no software. They show no mockups. They do not even completely acknowledge that they’re making a new device. The people from Apple simply say something along the lines of, “If we were to create a new platform for book/magazine/newspaper content, would you be interested in offering your content for it?” Apple is, without any question in my mind, courting book and periodical publishers. But that doesn’t mean Apple trusts any of them enough to reveal or describe in detail what it is they’re actually working on. ↩
2.

That said, I would not be surprised to find out that The Tablet uses UIKit, a.k.a. Cocoa Touch, as its programming API. I don’t think the same apps will run as-is on both OSes, but I do think you might use the same set of APIs to write apps for both platforms. (Or, perhaps iPhone apps could run as less-than-full-screen widgets on the larger tablet display.) ↩

 

[Tobor]

You just did a perfect Bill Gates quote from 4 years ago (just replace "MacBook" with "notebooks") when people branded Tablet PCs as a market failure.

I agree too. The evolution of the notebook into a device that allows more than a mouse pointer and keyboard for input is in full swing. About 5 years into that evolution, in fact.


BTW, iPhone and iPod Touch do not cannibalize into each others' sales. That is impossible since they share 90%+ of parts and tooling. They do cannibalize into other iPods' (classic, nano) sales, however.

5 years of failing miserably. Gates was right about the form factor, but wrong about everything else. The hardware, the software, everything was wrong. MS was the wrong company to try to make a go of it anyway. They're too reliant on making sure it will run Office and the like to truly break free from the desktop metaphor.

 

[Future]

5 years of failing miserably. Gates was right about the form factor, but wrong about everything else. The hardware, the software, everything was wrong. MS was the wrong company to try to make a go of it anyway. They're too reliant on making sure it will run Office and the like to truly break free from the desktop metaphor.

Said perfectly. M$ business revolves around Office and Windows. So everything they do is almost a marketing ploy to buy those products. Office mobile is bullshit, but there is enough usability there to make someone want to have the desktop applications so they can work together. Windows XP and 7 is not designed for the small space of a netbook, but again..there is enough usability there to get you hooked on their software, or at least they hope so.

I love my little Netbook, but I recognize its still a failure in design. Every other program I open gives me resolution warnings, forces me to use an undersized touch pad, programs dont fill the screen the way you'd want, etc etc. When using a netbook it is still astonishingly clear that nothing here is in fact designed for a netbook sized screen and processing power. Instead, they squeezed all the software meant for larger screens and faster processors to these mini laptops and Ultra Portable PCs. They did the same for Windows Mobile and failed at that, and now Apple is gonna show how they equally failed at netbooks.

The beauty of the iPhone is how well it performs. Every app is designed for the screen touch capabilities. Nothing feels out of place, nothing runs poorly...EVERY app Apple initially included worked perfectly and paved the way for external devs to follow suit through the app store. This is what they are gonna do with the tablet. Design software specific to the platform, include some must have applications, and then watch the $$$ roll in while Microsoft adds more stationary templates to Word 2012

 

[Shogmaster]

5 years of failing miserably. Gates was right about the form factor, but wrong about everything else. The hardware, the software, everything was wrong. MS was the wrong company to try to make a go of it anyway. They're too reliant on making sure it will run Office and the like to truly break free from the desktop metaphor.

Oh christ, please don't try to make it like you know what the hell you're talking about!

Hardware? MS doesn't care as long as it run X86 code and has some kind of digitizer. MS does NOT manufacture PC hardware (only accessories). They are purely a software company in that regard. You can't blame MS on some shitty OEM designs (which some of you simpletons just can't seem to grasp). But it's not like there aren't any good hardware designs. There are tons! Of course, I'm measuring this in functionality, and not how all silver or white polycarbonate it looks.

The Software? OneNote (and even Journal) is perfect example of how awesome INK (the real star of the platform) is. And unless you have experienced INK with a proper active digitizer, please don't even attempt to talk about it. You have no point of reference! Also, their multi lingual handwriting recognition is incredible (and makes Apple's look like a joke). But again, that would require experience, not just guessing about how much it must suck because Apple didn't do it, on an internet forum.

It's obvious that you are clueless about the Tablet PCs in any capacity. And that's why I'm jumping on your ass for this. Yes, you don't want/need it unless it's from Apple. I get that. But many do want it and need it. And the platform that MS has established is making it possible for those who want it to have it for the last 5+ years! Without MS, it would all still be a pipe dream. They are making it possible, and Apple have not. It's that pure and simple.

And to keep this clear, MS's vision of tablet is work centric via INK, but it does not prevent anyone from using it in any other capacity. BECAUSE IT FUNCTIONS PERFECTLY AS A LAPTOP! Apple's, vision of tablet will be mainly a plaything, and you won't be able to use it satisfactorily as a work device because it's built on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform, and not compatible with all the proper OSX applications that need to run on X86 hardware.

Eventually, they will meet in the middle in functionality, but that's probably a decade or more down the road. Some of you are totally clueless if you think MS isn't leading the charge on the tablet, and everyone owes a great deal to their efforts.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

Eventually, they will meet in the middle in functionality, but that's probably a decade or more down the road. Some of you are totally clueless if you think MS isn't leading the charge on the tablet, and everyone owes a great deal to their efforts.

lmao what charge? It's barely a trickle at the minute..NO ONE owes anything to anyone in the tablet market because no one has actually taken the initiative to actually design something that's indispensable

Everything is still in it's infancy at the moment, it's all prototypes that have just come alive. This is the reason why people are excited about the possible introduction of an Apple tablet, because people know when Apple do something, it will always be something of substance, stylish, look slick and what not.

MS not designing hardware is a fucking cop out really. MS can always assist HW companies what to do and the best ways of designing HW to meet their software needs. Just like netbooks running Windows; it's still Windows. It's still the same program I can get on my desktop, it's still the BSoD, it's still the same arse Windows (positives and negatives) that are on desktops

That's why people are so excited about a possible Apple tablet/netbook. The possibility of something different from the norm

 

[Shogmaster]

lmao what charge? It's barely a trickle at the minute..NO ONE owes anything to anyone in the tablet market because no one has actually taken the initiative to actually design something that's indispensable

I LOVE how you loons determine "indispensable" for everyone else! Guess what? It's indispensable to many! just because it isn't for YOU doesn't mean it isn't! smh

Everything is still in it's infancy at the moment, it's all prototypes that have just come alive. This is the reason why people are excited about the possible introduction of an Apple tablet, because people know when Apple do something, it will always be something of substance, stylish, look slick and what not.

What the FUCK are you jibber jabbering about? Infancy? Prototypes? I've personally had THREE separate units spanning three generation of products that are tablets! From day ONE (back in 2005) I was using INK apps and making a living with Photoshop and Painter on it! Talk about head in the sand...

MS not designing hardware is a fucking cop out really.

How? It's NOT what they do. They are OS and applications company! No OEM wants MS telling them how to design their hardware and what their margins should be! Are you fucking nuts? Do you have any clue how businesses are run and profits are made? smh

MS can always assist HW companies what to do and the best ways of designing HW to meet their software needs.

They do, and obviously, some OEMs do a lot better job than others of meeting those guidelines.

Just like netbooks running Windows; it's still Windows. It's still the same program I can get on my desktop,

And yet, you probably don't have a clue that there are hidden features in that same Windows that don't reveal itself until you plug in a tablet. See what happens in Vista and Windows 7 (none Home Basic and Starter please) when you plug in a Wacom tablet.

it's still the BSoD, it's still the same arse Windows (positives and negatives) that are on desktops

I'm calling you on your BS. When the last time you actually had a BSoD that wasn't from a borked hardware? Hmm? Go ahead. List the details. Last time I had a OS crash not from borked hardware was back in Windows ME days. And guess what? I had much more OS crashes in OS8 that my work G3 had in it.

That's why people are so excited about a possible Apple tablet/netbook. The possibility of something different from the norm

BS. Normal people are not excited about Apple tablet. They don't know such thing is even coming. Those who are excited are Steve Jobs jock rider in the first place. Don't even lie.

 

[numble]

The tv is indispensable to many. Some people have bought separate units and the new versions since its launch in 2007. Just because it isn't for YOU doesn't mean there isn't a market for it.