Why Apple’s Tablet Will Rock
6:16 am, August 3rd, 2009, Leander Kahney
An Apple tablet concept with a 10-inch multitouch glass display. By Sean Mulvihill
Apple’s tablet, which may be on sale as soon as November, will be the best computer you ever bought. It will be better even than the beloved iPhone.
It will be an entirely new kind of computer that will usher in a new kind of computing.
It will be a horizontal iMac: a touch-screen computer that you use horizontally, in your lap or lying on the couch.
It will be a complete rethink of the computer for play, not work, and it use the original pointing device — your finger.
It will be really easy to use — a pleasure in fact, because it will be magical.
The tablet is Apple’s answer to the exploding netbook market, but it won’t be a piece-of-junk netbook. The last thing Apple will do is glom a touchscreen onto a low-cost laptop. It won’t even put a touchscreen on a regular desktop like an iMac. It makes little sense to touch an iMac’s screen when it is sitting upright. But drop the iMac into your lap, and touching objects on the screen makes perfect sense, and seems perfectly natural.
Instead, Apple will address what people DO with their netbooks — surf the Web, watch movies, video chat. It will be capable of some light productivity work, like instant messaging, email or writing blog posts. It’ll be lightweight, easily portable, and have long battery life.
No Keyboard, Mouse or Stylus: It will not have a keyboard or a mouse or other input hardware except a touchscreen and microphone. It’s not designed for work; it’s for lifestyle computing — internet communication, personal creativity and entertainment. It will be perfectly adept at editing and uploading pictures to Flickr or editing movies for YouTube.
Not Niche: It will not be a niche product like previous tablets. There is a huge market for an easy-to-use HOME tablet for games, creativity and communication; because this is what a huge market of mainstream home consumers use their computers for.
No iPhone OS: It won’t be a super-sized iPod or iPhone. Its primary OS will not be the iPhone/iPod Touch OS. Apps for the iPhone/Touch are built for a fixed-sized screen, and the tablet will be much bigger (and have a different processor). It makes no sense to put pocket-sized apps with pocket-sized controls onto a bigger device, especially one that won’t fit into your pocket. It may run the iPhone/Touch OS in emulation though. This would give iPhone developers easy access to the tablet, and users easy access to the vast library of apps on the App Store.
Games: The most important class of apps on the App Store for the tablet will be games. With its big HD screen, accelerometer controls and touchscreen interface, the tablet will be a unique — and fun — gaming platform.
The Clues are Everywhere: The evidence that Apple is working on such a device is in plain view. Apple has already made its iLife apps touch friendly, and with the next version of OS X, Snow Leopard, the process will be complete.
Snow Leopard’s Diet: Snow Leopard will be half the size of Leopard — about 3GB instead of 6GB. It will be optimized for multicore processors. Apple is streamlining its operating system to run on a wide range of devices — from desktops to laptops and lower-powered mobile devices like touchpads. One OS to rule them all.
Snow Leopard Is a Touchscreen OS: As Apple demonstrated at the WWDC programmers conference earlier this year, Snow Leopard will have a slew of “finger-friendly” features, such as Cover Flow throughout, Expose, Stacks and Quick Look. (First noted by CNet).
Cover Flow: Apple has added Cover Flow (a graphical 3D interface for flipping through thumbnails of files, photos or album covers) to many of its apps and much of the operating system. If selected, Cover Flow can act as the primary interface for browsing folders in the Finder, or your surfing history in Safari.
Safari 4: The latest version of Safari already uses Cover Flow to browse history, bookmarks, RSS feeds, even your Address Book. Browsing your History with a graphical representation of the pages you’ve visited doesn’t make that much sense, except on a multitouch screen.
Cover Flow for browsing your website History folder doesn't make a lot of sense, except on a touchscreen device.
QuickTime X: In Snow Leopard, Apple’s long-running multimedia system, QuickTime X, has been simplified and rationalized. It looks and operates like the multimedia controls on the iPhone. Look for example at video editing in QuickTime X. You can trim video by dragging a pair of yellow handles to mark the clip to be edited. It’s just like the editing system that debuted in the iPhone 3 OS, which was designed for fingers.
QuickTime X in Snow Leopard is a good example of how Apple is making its apps finger-friendly. Inspired by the iPhone, the controls are much simplified and easier to manipulate directly on the screen.
Editing video in QuickTime X is now like editing video on the iPhone, with a UI designed for fingers.
Formerly involved tasks like exporting to video to an iPod are now one-click affairs, easily achieved with a jab of the finger.
Expose in the Dock: Expose is a feature of the OS that shows all the open windows at once, or just windows from a particular application. In Snow Leopard, you’ll be able to click on an app’s icon in the dock to see all the app’s open windows. It seems custom designed for touching and holding an app with your finger to easily select the window you want.
Stacks: Another Finder feature in Snow Leopard that seems designed for you fingers is Stacks, which pops up thumbnail previews of the files in a folder. Previously, the number of files was limited. In Snow Leopard, it’ll show all the files in a folder, and if there’s a lot, you can scroll up and down with a finger-friendly scroll bar.
Quick Look: Quick Look in Snow Leopard is another Finder feature that seems custom designed for multitouch. Hold your finger down on a file to see a popup preview of the file’s contents. Works fine now with a mouse, but will work great with your finger.
Microsoft and Windows 7: If this all sounds unlikely, consider that Microsoft is doing much the same with Windows 7, which will be out in October. Unlike Apple, which is very secretive about its product plans, Microsoft talks quite openly about making Windows 7 multitouch friendly. Windows 7 will have many similar interface tweaks for multitouch, and Microsoft will be rolling out its own multitouch computers with the Surface table. PC maker Asus and others already have touchscreen computers on the market, based on Windows XP. While Asus’s Eee Top PC is clunky, it is quite useable in a kitchen setting where you are watching videos rather than making spreadsheets.
Multitouch Already in iLife: Apple has already added multitouch controls to much of iLife. This is no big surprise — all the new MacBooks have trackpads that support multitouch controls (and so will older MacBooks when Snow Leopard ships). But these apps could be easily controlled with your fingers. Look at iPhoto — it’s easy to see how it would behave exactly the same with your fingers as your mouse. The iPhoto app already supports multitouch controls — scrolling through photos with three fingers; pinching, zooming and rotating. But instead of executing them on a touchpad — which is somewhat removed from the photos on the screen — you’ll be able to manipulate the pictures directly.
The Limited UI in iMovie 08: When iMovie 08 was released, the application took a lot of criticism for its limited feature set compared to the previous version. But look at it as a finger-friendly app, and the changes make a lot more sense. It’s easy to see how you could scroll through movie clips with your fingers, dragging them to the project area, and marking edits with the iPhone-like position sliders. Formerly complex operations like adding titles, transitions and special effects are now executed by hitting big, finger-friendly buttons.
Hidden Multitouch Features in iLife: There is more multitouch functionality in iLife that hasn’t been turned on yet. For example, you can enable moving and zooming photo-location maps in iPhoto with some Terminal magic.
Design: The tablet will be made of aluminum and glass. The battery will be sealed, and there will be no optical drives. You won’t be able to play DVDs, but it will have an SD slot for camera memory cards or emergency boot disks. It may not even have a hard drive — Solid State Drive only.
Wireless Connectivity: WiFi and Bluetooth on all models; 3G wireless as an option for “mobile” models.
Camera: iSight camera on the front for Photo Booth and iChat videoconferencing.
Stand: It’ll have a dock stand for recharging and syncing to devices like the Time Machine backup box via Ethernet. The dock will also hold the screen upright like a conventional screen for work. Just pair it with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
Cloud Apps: With seamless WiFi and 3G connectivity, the tablet will be a perfect device for cloud apps. The cloud, after all, fits Steve Jobs’s vision for the future of software, and Apple’s building a big East Coast data center.
Virtual Keyboard: If the tablet has a bigger screen, say 10-inches or more, you’ll lay all 8 fingers on the screen and up will pop up a virtual keyboard.
Cocktail: Apple’s rumored Cocktail project, a rethinking of the album for interactive digital media, will be just one of many new killer apps that will make use of a nice big screen, a beefier processor, always-on Internet, and naturalistic gesture controls. Imagine a Kindle-killing eBook app that allows you to flip through the virtual pages of a magazine with your fingers. Maybe it will switch automatically to a low-power black-and-white reading mode when the tablet is held in portrait mode. Apps like the Classics Collection eBook reader for the iPhone, which allows users to flip through the pages of an eBook, hint at these kind of capabilities. It will change the interaction model for PCs from menus and buttons, links and mouse clicks, to manipulating objects directly on screen with your fingers.
Alan Kay’s Dynabook: It 1968 the computer genius Alan Kay envisioned the Dynabook — a “dynamic book” for digital media. Kay called it a “computer for kids of all ages” and imagined a slate computer, or tablet. Kay’s ideas inspired the first graphical interfaces at Xerox PARC (which in turn inspired Jobs and the Mac). Even in 1968, the natural form factor for a computer was a tablet with a graphical user interface.
Apple’s MO: In November 2007, Steve Jobs admitted that Apple is researching multitouch for computers. “Consider it a research project,” Jobs said about a touchscreen iMac.
The tablet has Apple’s modus operandi all over it. Just as the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, the tablet won’t be the first tablet. But it will be the first tablet that makes sense for the mass market.
What Apple is doing is rethinking the computer for the home. Netbooks, laptops and desktops are machines that were designed for work. Made to sit on desks, they are computers from the productivity era, designed for offices.
With the tablet, Apple will define a new category of home computers that are made for play, not work. The tasks that home users want to perform are already pretty well defined — videoconferencing, watching movies, listening to music.
Apple is making a computer that makes those tasks easy, natural and well, magical.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, Opinions | Comment on this article
Despite all this, I’m sure some geeks will find a lot to complain about and declare it a failure.
John T., on August 3rd, 2009 at 6:26 am
Is the tagline for this going be …… “TOUCH MY MAC” ……. I’m too used to telling people NOT to touch my Mac
joe weiss, on August 3rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
I think I can almost see the author’s boner for this product.
Lola, on August 3rd, 2009 at 7:05 am
Okay, so we’ll need one computer to do fun stuff, and another computer for work stuff.
How is needing to have two computers any sort of advancement? I’m tired of these interim technologies that only complicate things, rather than make them easier.
Just what everyone needs: another rectangular blob stuffed with electronics.
EB, on August 3rd, 2009 at 7:06 am
While all of this sounds incredibly impressive, it does seem incomplete without a stylus. Thinking about this computer as more than just “entertainment” opens up worlds of possibility for productivity apps. A student being able to write out notes and diagrams, having them converted into text and TIF files like an actual notepad seems to be a valuable feature. It would be far harder “writing” with your finger.
The stylus could also be used with a “sketchpad” type application could be used by professionals in the graphic arts, as well.
So while a “lifestyle” focus would bring a lot of people to the iTablet or whatever it will be called, there’s a significant part of the population who would jump all over a tablet that includes a stylus and the writing functions. Without the stylus, I doubt my business or my family would consider buying one. With a stylus, I’d buy at least one for my business and one for my family.
eric, on August 3rd, 2009 at 7:09 am
Check your spelling before you submit an article.
Kevin Cassidy, on August 3rd, 2009 at 7:13 am
Quote: “You won’t be able to play DVDs, but it will have an SD slot for camera memory cards or emergency boot disks.” –Didn’t I read something recently:
“Osaka, Japan – Panasonic and Walt Disney Home Entertainment have inked a deal to distribute Disney movies on Micro SD cards.”
Matt, on August 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 am
No one has complained about it being another closed system, an unexpandable, unmodifiable black box from evil, no-longer-loyal-to-the-sacred-spirit-of-Woz Apple yet? You guys are slipping.
John T., on August 3rd, 2009 at 7:31 am
The iPod peta.
(Google “measure prefix” if you’re stumped)
Just think how much those Capital-F fanbois will pay for this. Now think about how much more they’ll 6 months later when it becomes the iPhone peta!!
Being needy for affirmation, I’d like to point out that long ago I predicted the iPhone/touch was the test bed/launching pad for the next generation of Apple computers.
imajoebob, on August 3rd, 2009 at 8:10 am
ENOUGH ALREADY WITH THE FLUSHINGENER TABLET !!!11!1!! lol
Tablets STINK!
How do you type? With one hand?
This isn’t the B & W G3 era “TouchScreens-Are-A-Big-Deal” era.
And what do ya think the battery life on that monstrosity’d be?
Here’s what *would* rock ….
A 9- or 10-inch laptop.
A “MacBook Mini”, if you will.
I’d rather there be a mini MacBook than a big iPhone.
CaryMG, on August 3rd, 2009 at 8:27 am
This is, without a doubt, the definitive article on Apple’s latest top-secret project; mondo kudos, Mr Kahney!
Julian Delphiki, on August 3rd, 2009 at 8:31 am
Yeah, because I want to walk around with a tablet in the crook of my arm all over the house. Continually looking for places to rest it while keeping it away from spills, animals, general house clutter, etc. At the assumed price point of about $800, I’ll stick with my laptop and iPhone thanks. I seriously, except for doctors and the like, do not see a broad market for a tablet form computer. I am a full on Apple Fanboi, but not a apologist. When they make crap, and they have, I’ll be the first to shout about it. This tablet thing…..I dunno. I’ll reserve final judgment until the distortion reality field has dissipated and the dust has settled. As for now, there’s no way I would consider adopting this form factor. That aside, I’m sure it will be beautiful and cool……just not practical for Jon Q. Fanboi.
fatsvernon, on August 3rd, 2009 at 8:33 am
Consider this – Apple TV has been sitting around with minimal upgrades for quite a while.
Could this new tablet/pad/whatever be the leg up to bring Apple TV into the mainstream ? It would make one heck of a “remote control”.
Could it be that the “4th leg” was just a little short ? and this will help “level it out”?
Chris, on August 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Once again, a potentially excellent article with spelling and punctuation mistakes all over it. Sloppy.
Punky Helper, on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:00 am
If you ask me, this whole Mac tablet thing is sort of an iffy proposition. I know that already owning a MacBook and an iPhone, I have absilutley no use for this product. And I’ll go as far as saying that I would not be surprised if this turns out to be a complete and utter failure.
The tablet itself is just too niche market to be successful.
Oh well, Apple’s got to fail at some things once in a while.
Petey
For Pete's Sake, on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:04 am
given that this is basically just a summary of all the rumors, I think I will wait until Apple actually admits such a device exists, when it will release and what you can do on it before I cheer or hiss.
Lucas, on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:04 am
THE major weakness of your article is assuming that it will be for ‘play’ only. Just as you said that Apple is trying to make sure it is a mainstream market, they would not limit it from said market by not also making it useful for as many work activities as can be executed in a quality manner. Doing so would limit the market, and make this less of a mainstream product. Don’t you remember the job ads that Apple had out for handwriting recognition? That work will be applied to this project, if not in its first iteration, in revisions to come at least. I’ve had tablet PC’s and abandoned them for a Mac, but there is a right way to do handwriting recognition with a stylus- I am confident that Apple will get it right, and will eventually if not at first put it on this device. They wouldn’t limit this device like that- which to do so would make it less mainstream-, it’s size is too perfect to serve as a notepad, etc., not to pass it up.
This device, in its later iterations, if not the first, will do about 20 activities well, the average user will only use it for 4-7, which is what will make it mainstream- they will be hitting multiple markets-work , play, etc- with this thing and combining them into one- which is what will make it sell like hotcakes. Thankfully, Apple’s vision is even more refined than than yours.
Logan, on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:15 am
well I hope the tablet doesn’t burn my genitals…
if the 3GS and latest macbooks are any indication, heat dissipation is a major issue.
Manula, on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am
I also think this tablet would be the best product to introduce a rubberized backing (which some thought would show up on the most recent iPhone iteration) to keep the thing from slipping off your lap or whatever surface you use.
swellman, on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am
I’d enjoy having a tablet device in my living room to interact with my Apple TV and hopefully run Skype so that I could more easily take calls while I’m on the couch. I’d also LOVE functionality as an eBook reader, since I can’t justify buying a Kindle because it lacks too many features (color, Word functionality, etc..).
Thinking that this is a useless product idea, as some of the commenters above have stated, is a bit shortsighted.
JAYnLA, on August 3rd, 2009 at 10:24 am
This is a remarkably well-reasoned theory. Kudos to Leander–a lot of it makes sense. I do disagree that this would have limited application in business or educational environments. I’ve sat through countless meetings wishing that I could crack open my laptop without seeming rude. A tablet could enable users to take notes and do other things (surf, etc.) while not seeming to break the etiquette of business meetings. I would also love to see a stylus for editing documents, which I find to be a more natural way to write and rewrite than typing on a keyboard. I hope Leander’s right!
Don, on August 3rd, 2009 at 10:58 am
I use my MacBook in my lap pretty much all the time and there’s no denying it puts a strain on my neck. I can’t imagine having to stare almost straight down at the tablet to have all this fun you expect we’ll be having.
It would be pretty silly if after six months of this tablet being out we found out that most of the time everyone has it docked with a keyboard attached.
In a lot of ways I want this tablet to happen, but I’m still holding out for a good explanation of how it will be functional/usable.
I try to keep in mind just how far off everyone was in their iPhone mockups before that came out and then rocked us all in our socks. I’d like to believe Apple has it in them to do the same thing again with the tablet, but only time will tell.
Darcy Fitzpatrick, on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:23 am
I think I may like a tablet computer, but an apple? I dun know, I love the iPhone and the iPod. But my laptop will always be a PC system, because it’s like picking between a Ford and a GM product. PC products are easier to upgrade and have a bigger market for 3rd party hardware/programs. So I’m not a big mac fan.
However I would like a tablet that I could draw/write on, whatch videos and surf the net. Also it would be great if I could make a virtual music book on it so I didn’t have to carry song books around. Reading magazines like Time and IEEE just as though it were on paper would also be awesome. Good bye magazine pile. So I don’t see where it would be useless at all if it did these things well as long as it interfaced with my PC, also I find a lap top heavy and cumbersome to place on my lap, nor do I find reading a small narrow screen fun. A paper sized screen with little weight that rotates the display would be great. Oh, BTW there are pens on the market for iPhone and drawing apps that work well with them, I would assume same would be true for a tablet even if Apple mistakingly doesn’t think we should use one at all.
And Yes while their at it an IR transmitter/ reciever would be well recieved.
I’m a FPS gamer so I’ll stick to my 17″ laptop for games. I just don’t see anything but casual games worth running on a touch screen.
Now would it be worth $800? Well paper is cheaper and U can leave the computer desk once in a while if it gets uncomfortable. Maybe when it drops to $300 or so. CYA
hgiog, on August 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I would hope they have the option of a stylus, what is the point of having a tablet if you at the very least, cant doodle/draw/take notes. I would give my left arm to be able to ditch my paper notebook for a computerized version for work and play.
Edwin, on August 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
My vision is as someone said above that its rediculous that you need 2 computers, thats no advancement.
Instead, I imagine that the increased timemachine size 2tb is to accommodate all of your movies etc & to be your wifi base station (still need a stupid modem externally as apple wont make one. i hate extra cables!). There will be a dock that contains a superdrive and connection ports. so when you come home it can be your desktop & link to printers larger monitors etc But still be able to burn in disks of whatever you need.
It will be cheaper than a laptop but when you add the dock/timemachine thingy it will be about the same.
Apple wont sell them together, that way it will make their product look cheaper
Also a family could use 1 dock to back up all of their tablets/iphones etc to save on space, clutter & money
Funky Love Bunny, on August 3rd, 2009 at 6:49 pm
How is this innovative??.. all of these things already exist out there on other platforms and they are available at your local best buy..
I am really glad these features are finally coming to Apple platform users. However just because Apple makes it doesn’t make it innovative. I have seen so many tablet demos from Apple over the years (from 68k to PowerPC, and now Intel, I will be happy to see it finally..
Don Burnett, on August 3rd, 2009 at 9:01 pm
[...] het apparaat eruit gaat zien. Leander Kahney van Cult of Mac heeft hele vette poging gedaan om de Apple Tablet in detail te beschrijven (het plaatje hierboven is ook van hem). Als je de beschrijving van Leander Kahney [...]
Geruchten worden duidelijker: de Apple Tablet gaat er komen, on August 3rd, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Still, there is THE QUESTION: app store only or any (optimized) OS X app? I can’t imagine myself paying $800 (= over $1000 here in Czech republic) for almost-a-computer and being forced to use only Apple-approved apps. With the iPhone it somehow isn’t problem for me… but with a tablet, however I love Apple — no way.
Daniel, on August 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Low expectations = key to happiness
Rutger, on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:18 pm
iPhone OS has resolution independence too. So a different screen size isn’t a problem. Of course the applications are designed for a small screen, and this could cause problems because they will look odd in some cases.
But most applications will like fine when resized, I think.
J, on August 4th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Your also wrong on the processor. It must be an Arm.
Intel atom would give zero battery life in such a small package.
Note that it isn’t a big problem for Apple to port Mac OS X. Especially since it is already done in parts for the ‘iPhone OS’.
J, on August 4th, 2009 at 4:17 am
This in my eyes would be awesome if the dock that is spoken of has a USB socket in it, thus making it into a low spec iMac at a desk as well as a tablet.
If im using text docs or other work I really do not like using a laptop on my lap and would love a desktop computer to this on (iMac) and they are times when Im on the sofa and like to surf the net and my Macbook is just a little to big.
This would be just right for me, small and easy to use on the sofa and yet dock it and it becomes a desktop with full keyboard and mouse. If it does come out and falls into this backet them I will certainly be getting one.
Ryan G, on August 4th, 2009 at 4:29 am
What I am thinking a killer app for a larger iPhone/Tablet would be is as a peripheral device for your primary computer… thnk of it as a “keyboard” from the future, completely customizable and that has actual computing power in addition…. oh yeah.. and on top of that, while you aren’t using it as a peripheral it would also be the ideal personal media player available.
What I am thinking is that if you just try to market this Mac Tablet as a pure media device it seems kind of redundant to a laptop or even your primary PC. BUT if you market it as primarily an interface device that you use with your current computer.. be it Mac or pc then you have a killer app for this device. And this is on top of all the things it can do that the iPhone and iPod can do as well.
So when I say use it as a peripheral let me flesh that out a bit. let’s say you are a film student.. and in your spare time you make a lot of student films. You know how there are those machines editors use when making films that have all kinds of buttons and sliders to make editing more efficient and easily controlled? They have the same thing for audio editors too.. like a big panel with all kinds of sliders etc.
Well.. the iPhone touch interface in a tablet form would be the PERFECT interactive canvas for making all kinds of customizable interfaces for this purpose. Any application you could think of you could have a custom control panel designed to use in conjunction with your primary computer. And the great thing about this is that rather than having this tablet that is JUST a low tier laptop.. instead you have something that can be used with your primary computer to make it more powerful and easier to use.
Basically, I view this as being an attachment for your computer, be it apple or PC, that makes it better and more usable.. whether it is by making a custom control panel with all different kinds of controls.. or as an input device for drawing OR just as a way of multitasking. Rather than having to upgrade our computer the tablet is a way of adding another monitor.. or another control method or just more RAM for multitasking.
So you could attach the tablet to your computer and it works in conjunction with it communicating and controlling it or working in tandem with it. Imagine you want to use your primary PC for some big task like rendering something.. your tablet could work in conjunction with your PC to play music so as not to sap your main computers resources. But what makes it so great is that it is connected to your computer rather than just isolated.
My only questions are whether Jobs WOULD do this.. would he make a device that works with Windows machines? And could he do this.. is it logistically possible to make a device like this that could work seamlessly with both macs and PCs as a peripheral for all different kinds of apps. If Jobs isn’t going this route that I envision is it possible the Mac touch tablet could later be modified and customized for this purpose contrary to Apple’s plans or in addition to them?
choco, on August 4th, 2009 at 5:27 am
This will be another over priced P.O.S. from Apple that fanboys will wish had a hole in it so they could “do it”. It will be only 50% as functional as an actual netbook and will get slammed by analysts and technical professionals alike. IT and Network gurus will roll their eyes at it and dread the day idiot executives with money to burn bring it in off the street and ask, “Can I get this on the network?” Apple’s innovation died a horrible death about 5 years ago. Now they just make shiny metal overpriced PC’s, tweak the BIOS, force you to run OSX, and hope to God that the Apple faithful will still line up for product in the hopes of getting something they can find a use for. All the while spending millions in the background to make sure there is a way it can run Windows so it will actually be useful in the professional world. This “tablet” will be no different.
The only and I mean ONLY reason Apple held off on releasing this product was that they needed Microsoft to release a more “touch friendly” operating system. This product is being specifically timed with the release of Windows 7. If Apple’s new PC (oh get off it already, Apple makes PC’s just like Lenovo and HP) doesn’t run Windows in some capacity or another, it won’t sell. Stand in the middle of any Apple store in the world and you’re going to hear the question, “Can it run Windows?” followed by an Apple Genius proudly proclaiming with a huge smile on his or her face, “Why yes it can run Windows and all of your Windows compatible software!”
The inevitable fate of Apple and Microsoft is 100% cross compatibility. Apple will eventually give up on hardware. The signs are everywhere. They will never gain a bigger jump in market-share than they already have regardless of how many over-priced laptops they release. Once a cross platform OSX comes out, Apple’s laptop hardware sales will be nil. The iMac and Mac Mini will carry the torch for a year or so but they too will be eventually dropped. After that, they will work on becoming a true competitor with Microsoft. Since many consumers will consider OSX if they can install it on their existing hardware, Apple may just come out on top.
Time will tell…
Jake, on August 4th, 2009 at 5:35 am
[...] ã€æœ¬æ–‡åŽŸè½½ï¼šcultofmac.com ，作者：Leander Kahney ，原文链接】 [...]
为何苹果的平æ¿ç”µè„‘ä¼šç« - æ•°ç , on August 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
[...] Leander Kahney has published a very nice article ,that speculates on the tablet’s features based on recent updates to Mac software. He writes: [...]
What could the Apple Tablet Apple iProd iPhone Nano New iPod offer? | CEOWORLD Magazine, on August 5th, 2009 at 4:34 am
Apple’s tablet shold be a computer like any other Mac.
And therefore it shouldn’t be just for “play”.
Computer’s advantage over gadgets-designed-to-do-just-one-thing is that you can ue it for whatever you want.
Also iPhone’s advantage is that you can do so much more than just make calls.
If you can use tablet for simple video editing it has enough power to do anything else than run latest & gratest 3D games for computers.
So it would be stupid to limit it’s use just for “play”.
One thing that would make tablet really useful would be ability to use it wirelessly with external monitor. All other communication is already wireless or will be in near future (wifi, bluetoth, wireless usb, etc.).
toke lahti, on August 6th, 2009 at 1:25 am
dear god, i hope they have some decent speakers on this. not the crap they have on their laptops.
ash meer, on August 6th, 2009 at 4:12 am
[...] Link: Why Apple’s Tablet Will Be Rock [...]
うま口Mac。, on August 9th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
The comments and speculation are interesting but..
Everyone seem stuck with the “Tablet Concept!”
My gut feeling tells me, they will surprise everyone again.
Before the iPhone was out there where so many fake designs & mock ups on how it would be, and all turn out to be wrong:
If it was me, this is how I do it:
** Note that MacBook range as we knew them are already discontinued to introduce this new product **
- I would sensibly call this: iBook Touch
- iTunes would open a BookStore.
- The device would fold in half, just like a book and be one single wide screen.
- SnowLeopard is released simultaneously and finally tuned for multitouch devices + accessibility.
- I would imagine a “FrontRow” TYPE of interface for true multitouch user experience with 2 layers of control… easy & detailed..
- Meaning, we should see: new Preview.App with “pagecurl” to read books and news, etc… Displaying two pages side by side just like reading a book.
- This should feel very natural like a A5 book, and would be cool to see the protective book covers + pens for this device.
- I would say: Wifi+Optional 3G plan of course / usb / Sound output / camera + would make sense to support the Removable DVD Drive they have for MacBookAIR! “they got to sell those right?!
- This would target the most wider range of audience so far and would really make it in my opinion! Because a Mac Tablet already exists made by Axiotron.
- But Apple is tight! they are all about innovation.
- Think MacBook AIR on a A5 Format Book… or Think Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with a apple symbol!
.. to push the envelope even further, next step for me would be enabling Apple Displays to become touchscreen and its monitor arm bend to meet better comfort levels.
Then again, this is only speculation using my intuition.
I guess we have to wait and see the real deal!
regards
XD
callmeyang, on August 9th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
[...] The comments and existing speculation are interesting but.. Everyone seem stuck with the “Tablet Concept!” [...]
Mac tablet? « callmeyang BLOG, on August 9th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Two comments:
1. Imagining a device as a tablet ONLY does seem like a limited market. Millions might want/drool over the thing but how many will be able to justify spending $800 on a limited function device that won’t replace any existing device. People like to paint a picture of apple fanatics willing to spend any amount on any apple product. But the truth is that even the most rabid apple cultist is mostly just willing to spend a certain percent extra; to spend $1200 for a macbook instead of $900 for a dellbook, or $100/month for iPhone service instead of $60/mo for vanilla service. What few are willing to do is drop an extra $800 to have a tablet on their lap while they watch tv.
Where there is a LOT of potential is a rethinking of the iMac as a tablet + dock. When vertically docked its as functional as a current iMac. Grab it off the dock and it becomes all the drool-worthy business Leander talks about…
elldove, on August 11th, 2009 at 12:58 am
[...] In “Why Apple’s Tablet Will Rock,” Cult of Mac’s Leander Kahney raves about the device with such conviction and fervency [...]
Dwayne Hills Photography » Apple Tablet News, on August 11th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
What is missing from the discussion is the “killer feature” that will separate the mac tablet from the competition. I do not think Jobs would mess with it without the “killer feature”.
I think a Wacom type device built in could be that “killer feature”. Why not have a built in broadband (hopefully not from AT&T) that serves as a data device as well as a phone. Granted the phone would have to employ bluetooth or a tethered headset.
Something that has more functionality than the iPhone but not all the horsepower of a MBP. I would carry something like that a lot because it would be more portable than a MBP.
Building a vehicle mount/docking station comes to mind as well. Incorporate that with mesh networking and you have instant public safety comms.
At the end of the day, I am probably full of crap.
jamesg, on August 24th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
[...] Plus sérieusement je pense que ce concept préfigure ce qu’Apple risque bien de nous sortir avec sa futur MacTablet (cf. Why Apple’s Tablet Will Rock). [...]
10/GUI réinvente le pavé tactile pour remplacer la souris > FredCavazza.net, on October 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
“apple’s tablet, which may be on sale as soon as November,”
it’s december now… and i still haven’t seen this gorgeous item on market yet
Machiatto, on December 7th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
The device is the MacWorld Conference & Expo 2007 in San Francisco for the first time presented. The ModBook has no keyboard, but has touch screen technology from Wacom, which you can draw directly on the screen and writing. check the video here – http://www.techarena.in/video/21963-apple-mac-tablet-2010.htm
Fenil, on December 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am
i wonder how much will it cost?
analeigh, on January 9th, 2010 at 2:12 am
[...] has previously denied a desire to get into the e-reader market, Apple is apparently full-go towards developing and launching their own tablet computer. Such a device could be a [...]
The Apple-Amazon War Begins 1/27 « bill | petti, on January 19th, 2010 at 8:40 am
[...] vor putea tasta fara probleme cu toate degetele, spre deosebire de iPhone şi iPod Touch, crede Leander Kahney, editorul Cult of Mac şi autorul a trei cărţi despre compania lui Steve [...]
Detalii iTablet « Un Blog In2itive, on January 26th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
does anyone know what price it will be
arran, on January 30th, 2010 at 6:23 am