Speculation About An Apple Tablet

worm eater writes "The Register reports that Apple has filed for a European design trademark on a tablet computer. El Reg speculates that this could may make Apple Expo Paris more exciting that previously thought. Could this be the tech that finally brings the Mac desktop, iPod, and AirPort Express (and let's not forget the iPhone) together into the media household of The Future? (Of course, we've heard speculation about this before.)"

Comments

Estimated cost?

[Trigun]

$8499 MSRP.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Aadain2001]

And that, lady and gentlemen, is why tablet PC's will NEVER take off! I know that that price is inflated (or is it?!?!), but tablet PC's are just too damn expensive. Why buy a tablet that is kludgy to use, limited in power/graphics, and costs more than a ultra powerful desktop computer? Until tablets are $500 or so, they will only be a niche market.

Re:Estimated cost?

[lateralus_1024]

No, no, that's the Black & White display model that runs on AAA batteries.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Kenja]

"Until tablets are $500 or so, they will only be a niche market."

What are you talking about? You can get a tablet PC for under 50$ off of eBay. Granted it'll have a 386-486 CPU in it.

What I love are all these people talking about tablet PCs like the're a new thing. I still have my 486-33 tablet around some place, running Windows 3.1 for Pens off of its 40MB hard disk.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

[...]tablet PC's will NEVER take off[...]Until tablets are $500 or so, they will only be a niche market

So you're saying that tablets wil NEVER be $500? You might want to hit Post Anonymously before you say that kind of unlikely thing...

Re:Estimated cost?

[shufler]

Actually, tablets have come down in price. You can get a decent tablet from LG or Toshiba, for around the same price as a laptop. Not to mention that the latest tablets also douple as laptops (ie. The screen flips around).

The price of a tablet will never be less than the cost of a laptop. The cost of a laptop will not be rediculously low like that any time soon.

Re:Estimated cost?

[mr_z_beeblebrox]

Until tablets are $500 or so, they will only be a niche market.

?!?! 500$ They are too expensive now by the order of 15-25% but if you wait for them to be 500$ you will wait a long time.

Re:Estimated cost?

[geoffspear]

Yeah, and I'm sick of people complaining about the price of Macs. You can buy one on eBay for $20. Granted it will have a 68040 in it, but it will run OS 7.5 just fine. Therefore, the Mac market isn't a niche market, either.

And don't even get me started about the deals you can get on wrecked Ferraris.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Twirlip of the Mists]

And don't even get me started about the deals you can get on wrecked Ferraris.

Bad analogy. A totaled Ferarri is worth a fortune for the spare parts alone.

Re:Estimated cost?

[LoudMusic]

$8499 MSRP. (Score: 5, Funny)

Oh come on, the Toshibas were only $3,500 and Apple only doubles the price of competitors so it can't be more than $6,999.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

so that would be 11999 Euros?

Re:Estimated cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did anyone else read that as "Windows 3.1 for Penis"?

BVDOD? Or maybe STDOD..

Re:Estimated cost?

[cristofer8]

If this is in fact a wireless monitor, for the imac or otherwise, it's isn't a new idea. Microsoft came out with a reference platform to do exactly this, see viewsonic's version, but unfortunately they cost a ton. It'll be interesting to see if apple goes down the same route.

I would be pretty cool to have an imac with a detachable wireless monitor, but the imacs are supposed to be 17" and 20" neither of which is particularly portable.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

For that price, I would rather have my 10 linux licenses.

j/k :)

Re:Estimated cost?

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

The Viewsonic models are not Wireless Monitors no matter what they try and tell you. I sell them, they are WinCE based (most of them) PDAs. They let you control a Windows XP machine from a Terminal inside of WinCE. Basically, they are Wireless Dumb-Terminals.

Re:Estimated cost?

[crem_d_genes]

Granted it will have a 68040 in it, but it will run OS 7.5 just fine.

Has there been an update? Anybody got a gopher link that describes it?

Re:Estimated cost?

[adamjaskie]

Wanna join the Pen-15 club?

Re:Estimated cost?

[bhtooefr]

http://jksalesinc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPa th=26_51_80&products_id=217

$330, and comes with a crapload of accessories. Heck, many early Slate form-factor tablets were barely more powerful than that thing (400MHz P3). Oh, and the Stylistic and Point lines were some of the first Tablet PCs, coming soon after the Toshiba Dynapad T-100, the FIRST tablet PC, 11 years ago.

Also, someone got Windows XP Tablet PC Edition running on the old Stylistic 2300, a Pentium MMX 233 box (below the minimum requirements for DESKTOP editions, but XP Pro's been run on an underclocked 20MHz Pentium for shits and giggles). Since the 3400 is above the requirements of XP Tablet, it should run it.

Re:Estimated cost?

[bhtooefr]

Also, I didn't mention that for $1299 (pre-rebates), you can buy an AXP-M 2200+ tablet from Averatec. Pretty much the same features as Averatec's $999 (also pre-rebates) XP-M 2000+ subnotebook, except it's a convertible tablet.

BTW, the tablet I linked you to IS a Slate, it's just that Microsoft didn't come up with the Slate and Convertible names until XP Tablet Edition.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

Only Slashdot's gayest readers (and Jim McGreevey) saw that. No wonder you chose to remain anonymous. I wonder why I did...?

Re:Estimated cost?

[andreyw]

Ok how the hell is this insightful?

You can take your 386 brick and seriously ram it up your arse - I want a piece of equipment that is up-to-date and can run real operating systems, not sexed-up DOS-shells. I want to be able to use normal USB peripherals. I want to have decent processing power and decent amount of disk and random-access memory. Most people do too. By "tablet", they do NOT visualize an antiquated piece of crap that is less powerful than a Palm Pilot.

So yeah - tablets are still overpriced and thus a niche market.

Goddamnit.

Re:Estimated cost?

[mmmmark]

Isn't it possible that this unit is simply a monitor that connects via wi-fi to your home directory/pc?

Also, isn't it possible that your iPod could be plugged into a dock slot on this device (or hook up to it) and could access your home directory this way?

When teamed with the iPod (storage) and monitor (viewing) all you need is processing. Or DO you? If you connect via VNC to another real computer, you are just watching the display. so all that is needed is lightweight processing and display controller. Probably could even do a G3 which would immensely help the battery life.

Re:Estimated cost?

[ScottSpeaks!]

Bad analogy. A totaled Ferarri is worth a fortune for the spare parts alone.

So is an old Mac.

OK, maybe not "a fortune" (they were never worth that much when new), but a used Mac - even a broken one - can have surprising value on the second-hand market. "Obsolete" Mac hardware retains pretty good value, despite the fact that all the beige units prior to the original iMac have been effectively written off by Apple's OS division. Of course the fact that everything since the original iMac is still well supported by the OS helps keep the price of old G3 systems - and the parts to keep them running - fairly high.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno. Lemme fire up Archie and Veronica and see if I can find any ftp/gopher sites...

Re:Estimated cost?

[dgatwood]

But until a tablet is -far- less than the cost of a laptop (or until computing becomes so ubiquitous that the tablet becomes nothing more than a portable input device for some device built into your home), tablets will not be more than a niche.

Why would anyone buy a tablet when they could buy a laptop? Think about it. You're stuck with a clumsy interface that is barely usable. It's fine in places like hospitals, but that's a specialized market with specialized applications---specifically, the need to take notes in an environment where putting a laptop on a desk is not always possible, and the need to be able to guarantee that those notes can be stored centrally so they never get lost. Those aren't common characteristics of general-purpose computing, nor are they needs that most people would care about.

If they were cheap enough, they could be useful as a replacement for carrying a note pad to class for school students, or for businesspeople to carry to meetings. However, as long as the interface is less efficient for taking notes than typing (and by its very nature, writing is almost an order of magnitude slower than typing), there must be some other significant advantage to outweigh that huge efficiency loss.

I can think of two possible advantages that could outweigh the loss in efficiency: portability and cost. Portability... well, make it as thick as a pad of paper. No hard drives that thin? Well, there's a problem. Besides, if you can make a tablet that's super-thin, you can make a laptop that is equally thin, so there's no advantage. Cost? Well, it can't be cheaper than a laptop, you say? Okay, no advantage there, either.

When I can buy a tablet PC for the same cost relative to the price of a computer that a Palm costs now, it will make sense. Until then, it's just a cute toy that costs way too much to be useful. That said, my ideal tablet PC wouldn't be a PowerMac G5 or a Pentium IV. It would be a Palm or a Newton, with the addition of an iPod-size hard drive (say 20 gigs), only wider and not as thick. Limited OS, designed for one main purpose---to serve as a note pad. Synchronize it with your computer using bluetooth or something. Use it to carry files back and forth to class, too, if needed. Maybe even make it so that you can run normal applications (slowly) so you can show your professor your work instead of printing it out. In other words, something that would cost maybe $150-ish and if it broke, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

That said, as long as tablet computing is a more fragile, more cumbersome, laptop-priced device, it's an eye-roll, IMHO.

Re:Estimated cost?

[shufler]

Gah! Didn't you read what I said? Tablet PCs aren't limited to just being a "tablet." There is an increasing number of tablets being sold that are essentially laptops with a screen that can be operated using a stylus.

The implications of this are tremendous. The problem until now with tablets, was that it was rediculous to input large amounts of text. On-Screen keyboards are a joke, and suffice it to say, programs like Windows Journal are neat, but they aren't indended for writing up memos, letters, or even surfing the web.

The key is a laptop that has a screen that can be manupilated into either the traditional tablet position, or to the traditional laptop position. Tablets and pen-entry do have their moments, and I must admit that I find after getting used to the pen, it is sometimes easier to use than a mouse (an input device that I have been using for over a decade).

Not to mention there are tablets that are made using carbon fibre, so they're light as shit (or a feather), which makes them a joy to use in a mobile environment (imagine holding a regular laptop with one hand for an hour -- something that happens naturally with a tablet).

Anything you can do with a laptop, you can do with a tablet. Plus, you can do more with a tablet, and do certain tasks more effiently (such as editing documents), due to the fact that humans have been using similar writing utensils for centuries.

I definately hope "laptops" start being phased out, and replaced with laptops with a tablet.

Re:Estimated cost?

[cristofer8]

But how is that any different from what people are assuming this to be? You can't do vga bandwidth over wifi without compression, and compression requires intelligence in the monitor. It's going to have to have ram and a processor and run some os. It might not be as smart as the viewsonic ones, but it'll have them.

Re:Estimated cost?

[mrchaotica]

However, as long as the interface is less efficient for taking notes than typing (and by its very nature, writing is almost an order of magnitude slower than typing), there must be some other significant advantage to outweigh that huge efficiency loss.

Diagrams, equations, and not-easily-typed characters.

Re:Estimated cost?

[tigersha]

One truly sweet thing I saw at the recent LinuxTag in Germany was a tablet computer that doubles as the screen for a desktop computer. Basically you have a normal-looking desktop setup with a keyboard and a mouse and a lcd screen standing on a stand, but then you take the screen off the stand and you have a tablet computer. Very nice.Unfortunately, handwriting recognition in Linux is apparently non-existing

Re:Estimated cost?

[ecoman]

I agree to you saying its for a niche market, but disagree that it'll NEVER take off. I work in the GIS (Geographic information systems) field and MOST people who have people out on the field prefer Tablets to PDAs or laptops because of the form factor. Also the ability to use it as a notepad seems to be a hit with a lot of people. I do agree though, that the tablet hasn't caught on as a home device, but its preety popular among businesses.

Re:Estimated cost?

[Qybix]

Just a thought.... But could your tablet run ssh and xwindows? All you would need is a 1x card and you could just tunnel to home.

how much

[ack154]

Well the big question would obviously be price. Any Mac fan probably knows it would be a very nice piece of hardware... but really, tablets are expensive enough. How much would something like this be from Apple?

Re:how much

[Oculus Habent]

Apple portables are fairly inexpensive these days. Yes, tablets are more expensive than equivalent laptops, but I don't think Apple would be much more - compared to other tablets.

Re:how much

[jfengel]

Actually, I think the big question would be "features". Tablets are pricey because they don't have very wide acceptance; people who buy them really, really want them.

Apple's stock-in-trade has always been innovative, functional, attractive designs that make people feel comfortable. People pay a $50 premium for the iPod because its design just works for them. They like using it.

Apple has always charged a bit more for its products, though some of that has been staying away from the most bottom level. You can pick up a bottom-of-the-line Dell for half the price of a bottom-of-the-line Mac, but a comparable Dell is usually only slightly less than the equivalent Mac. (Much of that, of course, depends on what you consider "comparable", since the systems use resources in very different ways.)

The question for me is, does Apple have enough clever ideas to make a tablet computer really work? Can they make a tablet that pushes some laptops out of the market? Perhaps they can make the bridge between the power of a laptop and the convenience of a PDA that it becomes an indispensible item.

Or they may end up with a cumbersome PDA/underpowered laptop combination that nobody wants. It'll all depend on the features. If they can get them right, they'll probably charge twice as much as a laptop and sell as many as they can make. Either way, I bet it'll be higher than the price you're comfortable paying, like the iPod, which has managed to be a breakout hit despite its high price by being exactly the right combination of features for people.

Re:how much

[Twirlip of the Mists]

The question for me is, does Apple have enough clever ideas to make a tablet computer really work?

AirPort Extreme for wireless networking. Rendezvous for zero-configuration connectivity to stuff like AirPort Express. Bluetooth for use with an optional keyboard. Inkwell for real-time handwriting recognition. A voice-driven interface that surprisingly few people take advantage of. And so forth and so on.

Yeah, I think Apple does have enough clever ideas. What they don't have is miniaturization technology. They could certainly build a table about the size of a closed PowerBook, but they couldn't put a G5 processor in it. From a marketing point of view, I think it would be hard to sell any new system with a G4 processor, just from the point of view of customer perception.

That's not to say I wouldn't take one.

Re:how much

[Graff]

Well the big question would obviously be price. Any Mac fan probably knows it would be a very nice piece of hardware... but really, tablets are expensive enough. How much would something like this be from Apple?

I honestly don't understand why it would be that much more expensive than a regular laptop. The only things different are a hinge that flips around and an overlay which goes on the screen. The flip-around hinge is really just a redesign, that should be a trivial cost, and the overlay is proven technology that has been in use for years. I can't see the overlay costing much more than an extra hundred bucks. That doesn't add too much to the cost when you are talking about a $1000+ machine.

I could easily see Apple taking a 12" iBook, changing the hinge and putting on a touch-sensitive overlay. They already have most of the software to use the tablet in place with Inkwell.

Re:how much

[OrthodonticJake]

I doubt that it will actually be a tablet. We've been hearing rumors about the next iMac being headless... maybe this is just a portable screen? If that is the case, I can totally see them being sold separately. It's because Apple loves money.

Re:how much

[Dan Ost]

From a marketing point of view, I think it would be hard to sell any new system with a G4 processor, just from the point of view of customer perception

Funny how they sell so many laptops with G4's in them.

I would expect that processing power is even less of a concern for tablet
computers than it is for laptops.

Re:how much

[hattig]

I was betting that it would use an IBM 4xx series embedded PowerPC processor myself! A top of the range one of course. I was willing to expand that to the 7xx series (aka G3) if the power consumption was low enough (under 10W should be ample, and most of IBM's G3s meet that requirement). Certainly not a G4 or G5!

Re:how much

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

Take it from someone who has dealt with Wacom and their pricing for Overlays used in Tablets - It Ain't Cheap! Sure, you can go Non-Wacom...but why? ;)

Re:how much

[dasmegabyte]

I don't really thing that is the big question. When the iPod came out, it came into a widely floundering field of less expensive players and beat the pants off them due to innovative design, excellent software, compact size and beautiful looks.

We have exactly the same situation in the tablet PC field today. We've got a ton of different tablet PCs, but they don't really have a market. For one thing, the resolution usually craps out at 1024x768 on a 14" device, too low density for most non-technophile artists (yes, I know Gabe from Penny has one), and for another their input method leaves something to be desired. The flip down keyboard on some models is kind of neat, but then it isn't much of a tablet if you have to convert it to a laptop all the time.

So anyway. We've got a wide open field, lots of interest but no real reason to switch to a tablet PC paradigm. If Apple can deliver something -- say, a lightweight 10" machine midway between a tablet and an OQO, with good resolution/pixel density, innovative software you can't do on a PocketPC or on a standard laptop and a nice, smooth, highly responsive input method for text -- they can take the market as easily as they took the portable music market.

It's all about the software, man. Give me a reason to draw all over my screen besides "hey cool, drawing on the screen" -- and I'm much more likely to want to do it.

Re:how much

[MyDixieWrecked]

yeah, I recently sat on the train next to a guy coming back from VA. He was so into getting a tablet. I was like "wtf do you want one of them for"

he explained to me how he's in law school and is given much of his research paperwork and books in PDF form. He wants to be able to mark them up and take notes on them in class, and since he sometimes gets the PDF on a CD when he walks in door, he doesn't have time to print out the 100 pages or so.

Also, he was bitching about crappy PDF reading software that's a pain to take notes on. Sure the comment feature in acrobat is nice, but it's not really suited for taking notes in real-time.

Re:how much

[trentblase]

Apple loves money

Who doesn't? Commie.

Re:how much

[bhtooefr]

For $300, Averatec (essentially, there are other differences) took their 3200 Series subnotebook, put that different hinge on, upgraded the CPU, upgraded the RAM (IIRC), and put a touch-sensitive overlay on, creating a tablet.

Re:how much

[Graff]

Take it from someone who has dealt with Wacom and their pricing for Overlays used in Tablets - It Ain't Cheap! Sure, you can go Non-Wacom...but why?

Well, first of all Wacom is not necessarily the best company to go to for touch screens. Yes they are a decent company but there are many, many more suppliers of this technology. A quick Google search reveals many. I'm not in the field of computer system component integration but I'm certain that a company like Apple could easily find a decent partner at a decent price.

Now, just a quick look around reveals LCD screen overlays costing from around $90 to $110 for a 12.1" screen. I didn't find out what quantity you would need to purchase to get those prices but I'm pretty sure that a major PC manufacturer like Apple could easily get those prices and probably much better because they are dealing in quantity.

So I feel that I can stand on my estimate of a $100 increase, more or less, in price for an Apple laptop with a touch screen over an Apple laptop without a touch screen. All things being equal it is at least a decent ballpark estimate of the costs.

Re:how much

[squiggleslash]

I suspect this is a tablet, a very small one (possibly the size of an iPod), and will probably be called a "pod".

The device patented is too small (if the "iPod connector" shown in the diagrams is to scale, it's about 10" corner to corner) to be one of the forthcoming iMacs, the smallest of which is likely to have a 17" screen. El Reg themselves discount the idea, in the linked to article, that the device is the iPod, it doesn't match.

It also would explain why Apple has bought a crap-load of 60G iPod ready disks and then turned around and said they have no intention of releasing a 60G iPod.

Re:how much

[bhtooefr]

To prevent confusion, I meant $300 MORE, not $300. The only $300 tablets I know of have Pentium MMX chips. ($330 will buy you a Pentium III 400 tablet with all sorts of optional crap, though...)

Re:how much

[squiggleslash]

In case the above link expires, try here.

Re:how much

[captainClassLoader]

Twirlip of the Mists says:

They could certainly build a table about the size of a closed PowerBook, but they couldn't put a G5 processor in it.

I think they probably could, but once switched on for 5 minutes or more I think it could probably do double duty as a small aluminum pancake griddle. ;-)

Re:how much

[andreyw]

Well, don't expect OS X/Darwin on it if its a G2. *THAT* support has been broken since 10.2 Sad thing is, no one on the mailing lists has it figured out yet.

Re:how much

[tgibbs]

I honestly don't understand why it would be that much more expensive than a regular laptop. The only things different are a hinge that flips around and an overlay which goes on the screen. The flip-around hinge is really just a redesign, that should be a trivial cost

On the other hand, Apple doesn't have such a good history on hinges. Maybe they need to be spending a bit more.

Re:how much

[MacGod]

I could see the increase coming in a couple of potential places:

1. If they go with a style similiar to the Compaq TabletPC, where you can detach the screen entirely. In this case, the miniaturization and heat issues could drive up the price
2. Adding on the hardware to allow a rotation of the screen's image (so the tablet could be viewed in any orientation) could add to the cost.
3. The biggest thing, IMHO, is that it could ismply be an issue of it seeming like a cooler and more enterprise/high-end usage device. Therefore, they might just charge more because they know people who need the technology will pay for it, and to differentiate it from the iBook/PowerBook lines

Re:how much

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not that hard. Fix the software table walk.... That's probably why you're getting random panics.

Re:how much

[tverbeek]

A voice-driven interface that surprisingly few people take advantage of.

It's not so surprising. Hardly anyone takes advantage of it because voice-command for a computer is generally such a useless feature. We've been brainwashed by decades of Starfleet captains giving orders to Mrs. Roddenberry's voice, but it simply wouldn't work that way.

For example, it's completely impractical in shared environments. Imagine the cacophony of a business class airline cabin with people talking to their computers. A few years ago when one of my coworkers activated voice input on his Mac, the rest of us used to have a blast shouting out at random, "Menu, Special, Shut Down!" Sure, it "works", but it doesn't work.

And beyond the puzzle of recognising speech (which computers can do well enough, with enough GHz at their disposal), there's the far greater challenge of getting them to understand the meaning of it, and to figure out how to act on it. Syntax is easy; semantics and solution are the real killers. Maybe by Jim Kirk's time we'll have that licked, but you'll notice that he was usually the only one on the bridge who got to use the voice interface; Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, and Spock all did their jobs by pushing buttons.

Re:how much

[mrchaotica]

I'm using a 12" iBook right now and I'll tell you it wouldn't work for a tablet (it's a great laptop though!). It weighs almost 5 lbs and it's too thick. To make an Apple tablet work, they'd have to start with a Powerbook (aluminum is ligher and thinner than the acrylic on the iBook) and take out the optical drive, at the very least. It might even help to move to a 10.4" screen so they could use a smaller battery, and switch to an iPod-style 1.8" hard drive.

Now, a laptop that would make a damn good tablet with little to no modification is the Sharp Actius MM20. It* weighs only 2 lbs and is about half an inch thick, and has a 10.4 inch screen. That's really the biggest thing I would want to use while carrying around. A tablet PC needs to be more similar in weight to a clipboard than a textbook!

*I've only actually seen the old version, the MM10. I assume the new one is the same, though.

Re:how much

[mrchaotica]

Oh, hey, I forgot something: The other reason an iBook couldn't be used as a tablet is that they overheat if you try to use them with the lid closed (at least according to Apple). This is why there's no way to disable "sleep on lid close" without a third-party hack. IIRC, Powerbooks don't have this problem either.

Oh, and the other cool thing about that MM20 is that it comes with a docking station and can sync like a PDA, which would be a cool feature in a tablet too.

Re:how much

[mrchaotica]

[not gonna argue with point #1]

Re: #2, doesn't that make (much) more sense to do in software?

Re: #3, Powerbooks (and to a lesser extent, Macs in general) are already "cooler and more enterprise/high-end usage device[s]." I seriously doubt there would be any extra markup just because it's a tablet.

Re:how much

[mrchaotica]

I doubt there's much hope on getting more than 1024x768, since 12" iBooks and Powerbooks max out at that resolution (Powerbooks can display at higher res to an external monitor).

Luckily, though, Apple already has the software: they've had good handwriting recognition since the Newton and OS X has nice voice-control software.

Re:how much

[tigersha]

Voice input is (generally) not so useful but voice output tends to be quite nice.

Our server room has a speech synth (festival on Linux) with a simple shell scrtip "say x instead of echo x) that throws out warnings and events. As long as you don't do something like make the computer read all the log entries all the time it works very well to have a talking machine. We use it for things such as moitoring when specific machines are down and reminders about backups and some other events which happen about 5-10 times per day. That works very well.

That said, voice is useless for general purpose work the whole time but for commands which you only give once in a while it may be useful. I dream of an MP3 player which I can tell "play me that latest Alanis Morisett album") That would be truly cool.

Re:how much

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Hardly anyone takes advantage of it because voice-command for a computer is generally such a useless feature.

You and I have different definitions of "useless." I like being able to click an icon and say, "Send this to (name from my address book)." An email pops up with the file attached and all I have to do is hit "send." Or being able to say "Make a new appointment on April 15th at one o'clock." And so on.

For example, it's completely impractical in shared environments.

Headset. Works great. Soon: Bluetooth.

Syntax is easy; semantics and solution are the real killers.

I love the way you're talking about theoretical problems that the engineers have already worked around.

Maybe by Jim Kirk's time we'll have that licked, but you'll notice that he was usually the only one on the bridge who got to use the voice interface; Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, and Spock all did their jobs by pushing buttons.

Um. You know that "Star Trek" was a television show, right? What we can learn from it about how computers work is... limited.

Re:how much

[Blue-Footed Boobie]

Well, there is a HUGE difference between a Touch-Screen overlay and the Pen-Aware Hardware that Tablets use. Recheck your sources and get back to me.

Are they reading my mind?

[cjwl]

I would LOVE to have a wall mounted tablet running iTunes for my home stereo.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[NETHED]

Dear sir or madam,
According to my records, you seem to have "WAY TOO MUCH MONEY" and this needs to be remedied. Please donate all you can to me, a POOR COLLEGE STUDENT.

Seriously, this would be cool, but I'm sure there are less expensive ways to do this. Hey guys, are there ways?? I wouldnt mind hanging a Flatpanel on my wall, use it as a small TV, or a touchscreen control. Hmmmmm....

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[ViolentGreen]

That is a really cool idea. Reall cool. But would be willing to spend two grand for it?

But the tablet thing is done. It never really took off. Unless Apple has made some huge (and I mean really huge) improvement over what's out there now, I fear they are just throwing their money away.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[gricholson75]

I suggest checking out Meedio

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't the Alienware Media Center PC a computer built into a 30" Flat TV? You could do that there, it'd probably be even more expensive than an apple tablet pc though.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[kyle_b_gorman]

But the tablet thing is done.

I was saying that (or at least thinking it) a few years ago about MP3 players competing against discmen. But, Steve and friends to the rescue! So I'll wait until somebody leaks the prototype photos before I make such a judgement.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[LoudMusic]

I would LOVE to have a wall mounted tablet running iTunes for my home stereo.

Why in God's name would you mount it to the wall? Why not lay it on the coffee table or the couch? The point of a tablet is to carry it around. If you want something stationary get a touch screen LCD.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[NatasRevol]

So I'll wait until somebody leaks the prototype photos before I make such a judgement.

Holy crap, but I've never seen such a blatant place to say RTFA.

But then again, I'm new here...

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[John Pliskin]

Yea, but he wants something that works. Not something that would crash (though that would be rather cool); and takes out all of your music.

$

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[rokzy]

tablets will never be done. a tablet is essentially just a very portable laptop with a touchscreen. this is a very good idea and the only problem is getting a good price/performance balance. time will solve this problem.

consider the evidence:
electronic organisers evolved to PDAs with touchscreen and handwriting recognition.

mobile phones evolved to smartphones with touchscreen and handwriting recognition.

laptops will evolve to tablets with touchscreen and handwriting recognition. to claim otherwise seems foolish.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[nuggetman]

That's hardly a prototype photo, more like a pencil sketch
it could be a picture frame for all we know from that

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[talmage]

How about a HomePod? It's not a tablet but you can mount it on the wall. It feeds your stereo your choice of analog or digital audio. It's also hackable. I have one and it sounds pretty good.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[Coming soon!]

Well, its not wall mounted (and not a Mac) but my ViewSonic airpanel is serving just this purpose right now. Yes its the worlds most expensive remote control (prob not) but its fun to pass around at a party and let friends pick the music from the 90 gigs of mp3's available...

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[kyle_b_gorman]

um, yea. TFA definetly doesn't include a photo. it's a sketch. anyways, all i was saying is that, like the iPod, a pretty thing with a nice interface (albeit, expensive, see "iPod", or, "tablet PC") can sell. hence, the distinction between a sketch (as if we didn't know what a table pc looks like) and a photo, which lets us know if it's pretty.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[rampant mac]

"According to my records, you seem to have "WAY TOO MUCH MONEY" and this needs to be remedied. Please donate all you can to me, a POOR COLLEGE STUDENT."

What the hell? You don't have enough MONEY?!? Get off your lazy ass! What's happened to America lately?

When I went off to college I left with no less than 3 ounces of marijuana which I promptly dealt from from my college dorm room! Did I ever have to call my parents up and beg for money? Nope!

College students today expect handouts! You're destroying the very fabric of our society! Jesus, I'd be nothing without my diploma... Where the HELL did I put that thing? Oh shit, that's right. I smoked it.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[.pentai.]

I honestly couldn't decide to mod this up as insightful, or funny...really...so sorry, instead of mod points you get this reply :)

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[Anonymous Coward]

The alienware dhd-3xx series are damn sweet... shame I don't have 6 to 8k just sitting around collecting dust.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[recharged95]

I would love to have instead something like a BenQ PB6200 (similar weight and size) projector with home sound system, ALL wirelessly connected (WiFi & Bluetooth) to my 2 processor server in the basement running iTunes. Then when I go out, to have my cell phone stream the iTunes songs I want to hear and pass them on to my bluetooth car stereo or headphones as needed.

Unfortunately, I'm not rich as the bandwidth costs will be insane and the equipment doesn't really exist. Also security could be a nightmare. So, I guess I'll have to do with my Handspring Visor Delux w/33mHz processor ;)

Tablets are just another fad as along as Moore's law is valid (i.e. iTunes on your watch anyone?). Just say no.

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[Anonymous Coward]

What part of "well regulated" is so hard to understand?

For one, 'gulate' doesn't make a lot of sense to me. What is to gulate? And why do it again?

Re:Are they reading my mind?

[Snart Barfunz]

I've got one - first generation Compaq tablet PC obtained very cheap. Runs only iTunes, maximised full-screen. The aluminum housing goes well with iTunes. Makes quite a nice home stereo with a pair of powered speakers. To do: add a remote and some kind of decent looking USB CD/DVD drive to turn it into a small entertainment center.

Damn.

[Anonymous Coward]

First they put apples in tablets...
next we'll be eating all our food from tubes!

Re:Damn.

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

First they put apples in tablets... next we'll be eating all our food from tubes!

Anyone here remember the "Space Food" that came out during the Apollo missions?

Re:Damn.

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as they don't go putting "tablets" in my apples, then that's okay with me..

Re:Damn.

[Gilmoure]

I still miss the Pillsbury Space sticks. They were smaller than a hotdog and had a slight peanut butter taste. Yummy!

Rumor

[lateralus_1024]

This is the resurrection of the Newton, rumor has it.

P.S. I started the rumor and I want royalties if i'm right.

Re:Rumor

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve Jobs didn't invent the Newton, so he hates it. This will never be called the "Newton" in any way.

And besides, it isn't really the Newton if it runs OS X, and you can just bet this will run OS X.

Sorry, you won't get anything in the way of royalties.

Re:Rumor

[pHatidic]

Newton or not, who cares. If it has an Apple logo on it then I'll buy it sight unseen and then figure out what the hell it does after it comes in the mail. Actually no, thats just a joke. I'd go to the apple store so I wouldn't have to wait overnight for shipping, duh.

Re:Rumor

[Lodragandraoidh]

As long as it has some of the Newton tech - I don't care what they call it (providing the name does not involve something gross, of course)...

Re:Rumor

[bhtooefr]

Well, if it's running OS X, it'll definitely have InkWell. InkWell is the name for the handwriting engine in OS X. It is based upon Rosetta, the GOOD handwriting engine from the Newton.

This is why there'll never be a source release of Newton OS.

Re:Rumor

[Lodragandraoidh]

Ah - so while Jobs hates the Newton, due to his misplaced 'not invented here' or more exactly, 'not invented by me' syndrome, he does recognize the power of the technology Scully's team came up with - and intends to leverage the 10 year old technology for profit, rather than sharing it with the world (as could have been done while the rest of us limped along with the PalmPilot, its clones, and other blecherous handwriting interfaces).

I suddenly feel like I need a bath... :|

Apple PDA

[phalse phace]

This is probably the design for the scrapped Apple PDA Jobs talked about. Also, take a look at the pictures the Register has.... on one of them it looks like the so-called tablet has a connector similar to the one found on a iPod, which leads me to believe this was the scrapped PDA

Re:Apple PDA

[MoonBuggy]

OTOH, they have bought a shitload of 60GB microdrives while stating that a 60GB iPod isn't in the works...

Re:Apple PDA

[enjoilax]

Thats very true, and Apple was super pissed that toshiba leaked that... Also they would be the size convient enough for an ipod... why not PDA?

Re:Apple PDA

[ShallowThroat]

But aren't they only like 4200rpm drives? a bit slow for a tabletpc, IMHO.

Re:Apple PDA

[Anonymous Coward]

How is 4200rpm slow? TONS of laptops run at 4200rpm and it saves hella battery. You're expecting a tablet to run as fast as a laptop? Espescially from Apple!? Apple would make it slow and charge the price of an iBook for it.

Re:Apple PDA

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually they said the 60GB iPod was not in the immediate future. Trust me, it'll be out soon enough.

Re:Apple PDA

[dasmegabyte]

And I for one can't fucking wait.

100 gig lappy hard drives and 60 gig ipods means my digital hub is soon to get a much needed 50 gig space boost.

And no, I can't just get an external drive. I already have 20 lbs of shit in my laptop bag.

Re:Apple PDA

[PCM2]

Then why buy the drives now, when prices are surely going to come down?

Re:Apple PDA

[Shig_ENC]

Got to put something in those prototypes and developer demos.

Re:Apple PDA

[jrockway]

Uhh my powerbook has a 4200RPM drive... so do most laptops with higher than 15 minute battery life...

Re:Apple PDA

[daviddennis]

I'm wondering if it might be the new iMac.

The new iMac is supposed to have electronics in back of the screen, instead of as a separate unit, so perhaps it just has something of a stand and an external keyboard. That would make a lot of sense ... ... except that it has a G5, and we don't have a G5 PowerBook yet, so that's not possible.

Interesting speculation, though, no?

D

Re:Apple PDA

[Anonymous Coward]

These pictures are ... descriptive.

Re:Apple PDA

[mrchaotica]

They need a "shitload" just for prototypes and developer demos?

Re:Apple PDA

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever heard of the "gotta make enough units before putting them up for sale" fact?

Not the first time Apple's been toying with this..

[wfberg]

One of the early designs for the iBook was a design in which the screen could fold 180 degrees. In that position, the keyboard would be deactivated, and the screen would act as a touchscreen. Which is actually a pretty neat idea.

Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[TrollBridge]

...and price it right. Given a large enough selection of eBooks to buy/download, they could take the lead on a very large untapped market.

Apple has always been good at making high-quality consumer-grade electronics (iMac, iPod, etc.) and I think a quality eBook reader would do more for them than a "tablet".

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[rainwadj]

And, of course, the iTunes Music Store could be the perfect delivery vehicle for eBooks...

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[TrollBridge]

Exactly. They have a proven distribution model, and the only thing stopping them would be co-operation with publishers.

Of course there's a certain challenge to making a lightweight, portable, durable, readable screen that's affordable. When put into that perspective, the iPod was much easer to pull off.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[Lumpy]

you forgot something...

make the ebooks an OPEN format locked to a id device and not the hardware.

it's stupid that you have to re-buy all your books if you buy new hardware.

if your ebook reader costs more than $150.00 then it will be a failure, if you make your own "format" for the ebooks then it will be a failure.

in other words, as long as corperate america is making ebooks, they will stay a failure.

it's an untapped market because the users do not like what they are currently pushing out to everyone. RCA REB-1200 is an awesome Ebook reader, overpriced MSRP? yes. Locked down so I cant add my own content? Yes... is it a failure? you bet!

Until a manufacturer and publisher get together and bull their heads out of their accountant's asses ebooks will continue to suck.

sorry about the rant, but this is a recent pet peeve of mine... I have the franklin ebookman and have tons of books for it and get lots of new books for it, unfortunately I have to break the law to use it by converting secure PDF's of the books I buy to the franklin format which breaks lots of laws by using "enabling" software.

you know things are wrong when an honest citizen has to resort to crime to use something he legitimately bought.

if Apple does it the need to use an Open ebook standard, use a seperate device (smartcard,simcard,iButton) to identify the owner and be completely open with that also. so if Sony makes a reader I can take the content and id card and plug it in that reader and continue to read the books I LEGALLY own.

Until then I'll continue to Violently violate Copyright and Licenses so I can read the books I buy on the hardware I own.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[jcenters]

12" iBook.

Download desired book as PDF.

Open it in Preview.

View --> Rotate Left

View --> Fullscreen

Click mouse button to flip pages.

Done.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[TrollBridge]

That's fine for people who only read books in places where they have a large amount of desk/table space for a laptop and mouse, but when I mean portable, I mean something that weighs no more than 4 lbs. and doesn't require extra peripherals to use (select book, turn pages, etc.) Ya know, something that one could throw in a backpack and read on the bus/train.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[jfengel]

It would be lovely, but I don't think that the tech is right yet. LCD screens are heavy, power-hungry, and not very attractive when compared to a paper book. In addition, no matter how cheap you make them, the up-front price will be high compared to a book, unless you plan to subsidize them (which would drive the price of the books up). They've got computers inside of them, even if small ones, so they can only get so cheap.

Not to mention that e-book readers are more fragile than paper books and more expensive to lose, which means people would be reluctant to invest. They're more likely to buy software for the laptop or PDA they're already carrying around, if the visual were pleasant enough to read. PDA screens are generally considered too small, and even good laptops get only the equivalent of 4" wide (at the 300 dpi you'd consider pleasant to read on paper.)

That's just the tech end. The other side is the business case, by which I mean DRM. It's a touchy issue in music, but digitized music already existed on CDs before people could readily make copies of them. Books don't exist in digital form, so copies are hard to make. Nobody wants to read a photocopy, and it's usually pricier than just buying the book. The publisher has the digital form, but they keep it to themselves, and they'll continue to do so until they believe they have a pricing model that allows them to make their money back. Most of them believe, like the music industry, that that model depends on DRM to ensure that each person buys a separate copy. There are other models, but none is an obvious knock-out-of-the-park win.

They're probably waiting on the music industry to see how they fare with the DRM. The hackers take it as a point of pride to work around it; at least one prominent e-book DRM has already been hacked. So the publishers would be reluctant to e-publish even if there were significant numbers of e-book readers.

Apple would probably love to take your advice, but it's my guess that the tech won't support it just yet.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[volsung]

Forget "eBooks." Just make me a tablet that can run Safari and Preview, and I'm set.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[NatasRevol]

Um, you basically described an iBook:

From apple.com/ibook:
Size and weight: iBook G4 with 12.1-inch display
Weight: 1.35 inches (3.42 cm)
Width: 11.2 inches (28.5 cm)
Depth: 9.06 inches (23.0 cm)
Weight: 4.9 pounds (2.2 kg)

You can use the keyboard for input. Or can you only imagine a tablet with a touch screen? And I bet you want it cheap too...

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[TrollBridge]

What would you need a keyboard for on an eBook reader? Or a g4 processor? Or a 150GB hard drive? Or cutting-edge video chipset? All that stuff costs more, and yes, I want it cheap.

Ya don't see iPods with mice and keyboards, do you?

Or can you only imagine a tablet with a touch screen?

A few well-designed buttons (navigate menus, select/turn page) are all ya need.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[jcenters]

Like Natas said the iBook is light and has a form-factor similar to an actual book. I use it as an ebook reader all the time.

What would you need a keyboard for on an eBook reader? Or a g4 processor? Or a 150GB hard drive? Or cutting-edge video chipset? All that stuff costs more, and yes, I want it cheap.

Well, it's nice for a multi-purpose machine. You can get an iBook for around $1000. Now you're going to say "too expensive for an ebook reader," but the fact is that quality LCD screens cost money.

Other ebook readers I've seen cost nearly as much, have screens that are nigh unreadable, or read only proprietary formats. The iBook will happily read PDF, HTML, txt, etc.

Or you could, ya know, just buy a paperback if you're that low on cash.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[ducman]

I patented that idea months ago! Please start mailing your royalty checks. :-)

Seriously, I've been doing it for a long time with my TiBook, and I still get funny looks on the airplane. And I still haven't seen anyone else doing it. But I get a huge, clear screen, and >4 hours battery life. Only thing I'd change would be to make it lighter.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[jcenters]

I personally would like to see them put little buttons on the back (Like the status button on the battery) for navigation.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[Johnny Mnemonic]

Given a large enough selection of eBooks to buy/download, they could take the lead on a very large untapped market.

For instance, if they were sold through the iRead--the eBook equivalent of the iTunes Music Store? If they had the O'Reilly library in eBook form, it would be powerful hard to resist.

I've long hated that the aspect ratio of a PDF is different than the monitor aspect ratio--I shouldn't have to scroll to read the bottom of a page, and then scroll back up to read the top half of the same page. How about rotating the page such that it fills the screen? But then the monitor is not oriented to the keyboard. This could fix that.

Plus, the guy that does Desktop Manager has hinted about curious screen rotation stuff in undocumented APIs. Hm.

Re:Just make me a GOOD eBook reader...

[Anonymous Coward]

>I don't think that the tech is right yet. LCD screens are heavy, power-hungry, and not very attractive when compared to a paper book. PDA screens are generally considered too small, and even good laptops get only the equivalent of 4" wide (at the 300 dpi you'd consider pleasant to read on paper.)

I guess you need to read about e-ink (which I've heard about years ago)
http://e-ink.com/

Also, Apple was able to make a good solid business model for the music industry, I guess they can do the same with books (just wrap PDFs inside a Fairplay wrapper DRM or something)

>They've got computers inside of them, even if small ones, so they can only get so cheap.

Doesn't Motorola make embedded systems with G3's in them? OS X can still run on G3's too.

I imagine the eBook: a perfect PDF reader which can also do basic tasks: Web, Word processing and maybe even iTunes.

Wasn't that called the Newton?

[writertype]

Anyone? Anyone? *sigh*

In all seriousness, if this is true, then it's doubly interesting that this was filed in Europe. Personally, I had thought that there the conventional wisdom had shifted away from the PDA and tablet to the smartphone -- especially in Europe and Asia.

Well, I'm sure it'll all make sense when Jobs explains it. At least until I walk out the door.

Re:Wasn't that called the Newton?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't spell "Bullshit" without "Bush".

Really? I don't see the word "Bush" in "Bullshit".

Re:Wasn't that called the Newton?

[Anonymous Coward]

You also can't spell writertype without witty, but that obviously didn't prove too much either.

Re:Wasn't that called the Newton?

[anjrober]

you aren't too bright are you?

BUllSHit

Usage?

[lacrymology.com]

I'm failing to see how this could be useful. I'm willing to conceed that I probably do not have a use for such a beast, but would be interested to know who Apple might target this to. Any ideas?

-m

Re:Usage?

[bigbadunix]

Doctors, RN's, Clinicians, Real Estate Appraisers, Dope Dealers? Any market where basically they don't care about cost, but do care about portability.

But, that's just my opinion, and I'm dumb.

Re:Usage?

[worm eater]

Hmmm... I don't see Apple going in this direction. These are the markets that tablets have penetrated already (except, perhaps, dope dealers), but I see Apple trying to make more of a consumer electronics device for controlling your desktop in the den without leaving your living room. You could control iTunes (which is streaming to your stereo system), look up info on the web, check your email, stream video and iPhoto slideshows from your desktop to your TV, and possibly use it as a glorified Tivo.

Re:Usage?

[Anonymous Coward]

I would guess asian countries. Especially japan and china. Japan is one of the larger apple markets, and in china, (japan too) typing the chinese character set on a keyboard is very difficult compared to the latin character set.

Re:Usage?

[tb3]

See my post above. Graphic artists are crying out for a device like this. Alias Sketchbook Pro turns a tablet into a sketch pad, with infinite sheets of paper, more pencils, pens and brushes than anyone could ever carry and the world's biggest eraser. :)

Photoshop on a tablet would be like interacting directly with the materials; a good graphic artist could take it to a whole new level.

Windows tablets aren't reliable enough for this kind of work, and the Wacom Cintiq is just too damn expensive.

Re:Usage?

[Anonymous Coward]

Steve was just in the hospital. Maybe he saw a reason to release it after all.

Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[neuro.slug]

I don't think this patent is for a tablet or handheld device. As the article states, Apple's iPod already is a great information carrier. However, this patent with, along with Apple's work with a 'wireless monitor' company may be a portable monitor, which connects to your home PC.

I think it would be cool to be able to carry around a tablet-esque device and pen that allows you to do things with your computer. Maybe there will be universal remote functionality and other new features. Just speculation...

-- n

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[nlawalker]

Not just speculation, but a great idea, and one I've heard talked about before. It seems like the place where a "tablet" interface would really be useful is the home: stick it to the fridge, have it on the couch etc. If you want a tablet interface in your home, there is absolutely no point in making it a seperate computer. It just needs to be a roving wireless monitor.

This also capitalizes on price. All you need is an LCD monitor in a casing that can respond to a stylus (expensive already, true, but every tablet that also has built in PC parts has to have one of these), wi-fi connection to a "monitor dock," where the screen could be placed upright and "docked" to restore a wired connection, and a cheap microproc to do the networking and input translation.

I honestly think this will be standard inside 15 years or so.

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[Bingo Foo]

But what is the req'd bandwidth of, say, 1280x854 hi-color video? It would swamp 802.11g, wouldn't it?

The thing would have to be connected with some kind of VNC or Apple Remote Desktop protocol, which means you'd need something more than a "cheap microproc" on the monitor itself to translate from the wireless signal to drawing. I don't know enough of Quartz internals to know if this could all be done in video card compositing. Anyone have real numbers?

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[cristofer8]

Microsoft made these a few years ago. They had a strongarm proc in them and a wifi chip, and ran wince. Remote Desktop Connection on windows works great even over 802.11b, and in fact is even quite usable over the internet, so whatever apple comes up with should be fine.

Granted, it may not be able to handle games or the genie effect, but plug it in via the connector on the bottom and you've got a much faster dvi connection.

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[Solder Fumes]

Philips has been making these for ages (link. They are expensive as heck (~$1500) and haven't caught on. However, they do require a Windows PC, so maybe they're targeting the wrong market: one that doesn't like their wallet being flogged to hamburger for basic hardware. So perhaps Apple could pull it off.

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[LoudMusic]

I don't think this patent is for a tablet or handheld device. As the article states, Apple's iPod already is a great information carrier. However, this patent with, along with Apple's work with a 'wireless monitor' company may be a portable monitor, which connects to your home PC.

I think it would be cool to be able to carry around a tablet-esque device and pen that allows you to do things with your computer. Maybe there will be universal remote functionality and other new features. Just speculation...

That's basically what I want - a tablet monitor that is essentially a thin client for your workstation. Give it a cradle on a desk and it could be the monitor for the workstation. Something like a ... 8.5" x 11" screen would be pretty nice. Maybe a little larger. And if the display could be rotated to portrait that would be cool too.

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[sammy baby]

The iPod is a great information carrier, as you say. However, it is a crappy information retrieval device, unless the information you're trying to retrieve is music. Try reading complicated directions of one sometime. Or, even better, taking text notes with one. (And, no, the Belkin voice recorder doesn't count.)

The idea of a "wireless monitor" isn't a bad one, but if this device doesn't incorporate the functionality of a standard tablet - that is, if it is useful only in conjunction with a computer, it's going to be a complete flop. I can't see that the market for Macs is deep enough that Macheads will be willing to shell out signifigant bucks for a Universal Remote Control for the iMac in the corner.

But then, I've been wrong before, and us Mac fans have been known to shell out a hell of a lot of money on items of questionable utility.

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[Ibanez]

I have not heard that rumor, and I wish I hadn't because I'll excited now...I've been wanting an Apple laptop for a long time, but don't want to shell out a bunch of money for one right now. This, if attractively priced, would be a great middle road. I'd be able to walk around my house with my "computer." My question is, will the bandwidth allow for just basic computing, or could I play games, etc? And what kind of graphics card does the monitor run on?

One of the other reasons I've avoided a laptop happens to be that we have wireless internet all over campus at school (yeah, who doesn't...), and I know that given the ability to surf porn in the middle of class, I'm the kind of person who would do that just because I can...

Blake

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[Kyaphas]

If that's all you want, pick one up this afternoon. They've been around for quite a while now.
Here's the manuf's page. :-)

Re:Possibly a remote tablet interface?

[shriek7]

Yup, I also don't understand why people just thinks Apple might suddenly sell a tablet, a PDA or something that's already invented. They already told countless times that there'll be no Apple PDA in the near future and I don't believe they'll get a tablet of their own when everybody elses tablet are just not selling!

If it is to be only a smart-display (like the Philips-one) then there's nothing new (Microsoft talked about these electronics years ago) but if on the other hand it has basic processing and storage capabilities it might just be a hybrid smartdisplay-PDA: near the WiFi range it would use the desktop/laptop horse-power, when out of range it would use its own cpu and storage then stuff would sync easily.

Size?

[tomee]

Will they release a version with the 30'' Apple Cinema display? That would be cool for riding the subway.

Re:Size?

[shepmaster]

Only if you replace "riding" with "being unmercifully mugged and beaten. Then all of your other stuff (iPod, Newton) gets stolen too. Finally you are left lying in a seat, bleeding profusely until a bum pushes you out of his spot. All of this happened on"

Re:Size?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

The 30" display probably makes a good body board or surf board.

iPorn

[doggiesnot]

Soon you can have iPorn streamed directly to your bathroom?

Re:iPorn

[Rude Turnip]

I do this with my 12" iBook and Airport Extreme now...I mean read the news with it, that is.

What if you drop it?

[mveloso]

Are there any tablet users out there with experience? I'd think that dropping any tablet would cause catastrophic damage to it.

The same could be said with a laptop, I suppose, but laptops seem to have OK survivability.

Re:What if you drop it?

[Kenja]

As with notebooks, if you are unable to hold onto to it, get a ruggedized one.

Re:What if you drop it?

[g3000]

About two weeks after I bought my G3 iBook, my brother dropped it down a short flight of stairs, and hit a wall and tile floor before coming to rest. I guess that virtually bullet-proof, white plastic enclosure is up to snuff, because not only does the iBook still work well today, it barely has a scratch. In case you're wondering, it faired better than my brother's "enclosure." He received a wrist fracture and a strained ligament when I dropped *him* down the stairs shortly thereafter.

Re:What if you drop it?

[stienman]

I'd think that dropping any tablet would cause catastrophic damage to it.

Don't drop it. Seriously, if you think you're going to drop the thing while it's outside of its case, then you have no business using one.

The same could be said with a laptop, I suppose, but laptops seem to have OK survivability.

The only difference between a laptop and tablet is that in tablet mode the entire computer is in one solid(ish) block - you won't break the screen mounts dropping it as you would if you dropped a laptop with its screen open. Of course you aren't supposed to drop them, but typically most laptops and portable devices are generally able to withstand a 3 foot drop onto concrete as a basic survivability test.

Tablets will be just as safe/vulnerable as current laptops. The only additional vulnerability is that the screen is more exposed to scratches.

-Adam

Re:What if you drop it?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been using Stylistic tablets for quite some time now and really like the tablet form factor, though it does indeed suck for data entry without an external keyboard attached (not a problem, has standard PS/2 and USB). I dropped my 2300 off the side of my bed with no real damage, and my 3500 off my desk at work without even a scratch. Built right, there's no reason it shouldn't have at least the survivability of a laptop, if not moreso. Actually, because the screen has a (relatively) durable digitizer in front of it, there's some extra protection for the screen. Also, a common point of failure in many laptops seems to be the various ribbons and such in the screen hinge, which is completely eliminated with a tablet. Even the older ones do still command a price premium, though not much. The Stylistic 3500 I use daily is good enough for most everything.

Re:What if you drop it?

[Zareste]

I dunno about the tablet, but the pens break at the drop of a hat. I'm using a Wacom tablet and had to put tape on the pen after having it for only a week, though it's been doing fine for the last year. I never dropped the actual tablet before, but it's not a screen anyway.

As for screen-tablets, you can already get a 15" one at http://www.wacom.com/lcdtablets/index.cfm for $1500 - a thousand more than an apple studio display - though of course, it's made for standard computers.

I foresee a lot of people buying tablet Macs if they come out with one (and according to one post, this article's faulted and Apple isn't really planning to release one), but unless the price is right, Apple would once-again be throwing money out the window trying to screw people.

Re:What if you drop it?

[Hitmouse]

I have dropped my Motion m1300 slate tablet a number of times over the last year, without any ill consequences. It has yet to get a single scratch on the screen. I still haven't replaced the original nib on the pen, even with a year of daily use.

Re:What if you drop it?

[KingFoo]

I've been using a tablet for the past year (acer travelmate c110). We're a High School, all the students have laptops (some tablets last year, all tablets for incoming students this year). It's a convertable model, and haven't seen any more damage related trouble than a conventional laptop. Unless it's in a weird configuration (screen offset 90 deg and the like), there isn't much difference. The 'slate' stile of tablets are insane, but more because you can't effectivley protect the screen. This is unrelated, but they're not that much more expensive (at least from acer). When we worked the numbers, the tablet ended up costing about as much as a laptop with the same processor/ram, and a gaming GPU. We couldn't see any academic reason to give them killer 3d graphics, however the tabletPC's have been amazingley useful. We've finally got non-geek kids choosing to bring/take notes on their computers.

Re:What if you drop it?

[Steve Cowan]

FWIW my G3 iBook (500) was open on the passenger seat of my car when I had to come to an abrupt stop. It wasn't wearing a seatbelt so it collided with the dash before it fell on the floor.

Didn't miss a beat. It left a mark on my dash, but the iBook was unscathed. The only problem I ever had with my iBook was when my roommate spilled beer into its keyboard. Hooray for extended Applecare!

Note: I bought that extended warranty for a lot of $, thinking that I would be able to use it to replace the battery once the laptop was a few years old and the battery didn't hold a charge for long any more. Well as luck would have it, the thing is two months shy of the end of its 3-year warranty, and the battery still pretty much acts like new.

well, it sure beats this

[b17bmbr]

anyone remember the iloo?

Cost?

[Penguinoflight]

Everyone is already complaining about cost when Apple has yet to give any estimates. You can generally assume a Apple hardware product will cost 1.5-2X the amount of a generic manufactured PC of same speed. The apple will provide some features better. Some will argue features like a flowerpower colorway are worth 1.5x as much, others just want a reliable platform for photoshop. Apple can do this, but I really don't understand why this is news at all. If Compaq just announced they were going to make a new panel model, everyone would just shrug it off. Of course things are more important when apple does something, because they always think different. You know, apple is always first, no matter when they get their product to market.

Re:Cost?

[cowscows]

Because Apple has this habit of taking things that other companies have tried before and doing it better. A few recent examples being the ipod and their music store. It's a combination of design philosophy, attention to detail, and yes... generally higher price.

Yeah, a lot of companies sell tablet pc's. But why haven't they become the next big thing? Apple seems to be good at figuring that out. That's why people care.

Re:Cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mr. Troll you forgot to mention that another thing you get with the 1.5x-2x price premium is a computer that takes twice as long to become obsolete. Of course that mostly comes down to operating system quality.

Re:Cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's so lame, if you even knew... Not even apple users claim that their computer take longer to go obsolete.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't Microsoft have a Tablet PC?

Seriously!

I don't think this is flamebait! http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/defaul t.mspx

Bandwagon

[enjoilax]

Apple is just trying to show that it can do everything a PC can do, including the tablet form factor. Here's a suggestion for apple. Work on making em cheaper!

Its for the new iMac!

[rogerborn]

Its not for a tablet Mac or a Videoplayer Mac.

Its for the new iMac!

Here is a great article speculating that the new iMac to be released in 19 days in Paris, is to be a miniature iMac, sort of like the old color Classic Macintosh.

http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=-750

Its small screen will conect wirelessly to the Internet, the Ethernet, via the new mini Apple wireless hub. It will also likely have a small keyboard and mouse to go with it.

Since its supposed to be with an aluminum body, perhaps it will come in mini iPod colors too.

Roger Born
writing.borngraphics.com
Sorry, no refunds.

Re:Its for the new iMac!

[danamania]

Something nifty like that seems a bit more apple than the first impression of the new imac given by the latest Think Secret article.

A quick & dirty apple-ification of the Vaio W series they compare it to in vague terms comes up looking like this little piece. Certainly looks like it could be made by apple, but with the history of the iMac really being something unique, I suspect it'll be Just That Bit More.

Re:Its for the new iMac!

[ericdano]

You might be right about this being the new iMac. However, where is the processor to go? If the new iMac uses a G5, and from what I know of the G5, you need a fairly large cooling system. So.....

This would seem to be a step back from the original iMac design. Unless it is the LCD that connects to the base unit. But you'd think Apple would have put that in the filing.......

I'd imagine it's for some sort of new "iPodish" like device. Perhaps a PDA or maybe something that would link up to a Bluetooth enabled Cell phone?

It's interesting regardless.......

OS X light?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was thinking that this device could use a light version OS X--iTunes plus music store, email, web-surfing and maybe some kind of photo management. How difficult would it be for Apple to incorporate the option of streaming video from your cable box with the aid of Airtunes?. This could also take care of that small issue of the PC market share people are always taking about.

Re:OS X light?

[Anonymous Coward]

the main thing OSX needs to make it 'light' is to lose Quartz. Number of programs it can run makes no difference at all. Guess you've been reading about that XPSE thing, eh?

It's probably design specs for the new iMac

[SeattleDave]

The new G5 based iMacs are reportedly designed so that the CPU is attached to the monitor - which looks remarkably like a tablet. We'll know in 2 weeks.

Re:It's probably design specs for the new iMac

[Joey Patterson]

The new G5 based iMacs are reportedly designed so that the CPU is attached to the monitor - which looks remarkably like a tablet. We'll know in 2 weeks.

Speaking of the new G5 iMac, ThinkSecret has a report that confirms this, along with supposed specs for new 17" and 20" iMacs.

Re:It's probably design specs for the new iMac

[ericdano]

Yeah, but look at the existing G5's. They require a LOT of cooling, and that sketch does not look like it could hold a G5 at all. Unless Apple has some extremely advanced liquid cooling they are putting in it.....

Re:It's probably design specs for the new iMac

[kalidasa]

Yes, Apple has an advanced liquid cooling system - they're already using it in Powerbooks. Also, the 90nm G5s are much cooler than the originals (as well as being smaller).

Re:It's probably design specs for the new iMac

[ericdano]

In the powerbooks? No, I don't think so. Give me a link that says so...

In the new G5 power macs they do, but I hardly see that scaling down to be what that diagram suggests....

Re:It's probably design specs for the new iMac

[kalidasa]

My mistake, I thought it was the Powerbooks, but you are right that it is the Powermacs. Mods, note error.

Re:It's probably design specs for the new iMac

[Anonymous Coward]

The new G5 chip that's going to be in the iMac will still be 2 GHz but it will be smaller than the last one and that was smaller than the one before that. IBM keeps shrinking the size and power and heat of the 2 GHz clock speed so it can fit into more stuff, like notebooks and tablets. The chips in the XServe G5 are half the size and power of the ones in the original Power Mac G5.

Dimensions?

[vuvewux]

This would be great if it was maybe double the width of a regular PDA. Even better with a foldout keyboard, but I'm sure we could survive without one.

Size

[GoofyBoy]

Is 8 inches on the diagonal a good size?

Its bigger than you can fit into one hand, and might be heavy at that size.

Athough it might be a good size for reading text or naturally writing in cursive a few notes.

And depending on the price, I would be very interested in buying it if it had good PC/Linux connectivity.

Re:Size

[Anonymous Coward]

Is 8 inches on the diagonal a good size?
Its bigger than you can fit into one hand, and might be heavy at that size.

Your Mom told me she likes it that way.

Re:Size

[Anonymous Coward]

but u said i was a good size!

Re:Size

[Anonymous Coward]

Is 8 inches on the diagonal a good size? Its bigger than you can fit into one hand, and might be heavy at that size.

Yeah but just imagine the looks you'll get from women if you take it out at the bus stop.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[burns210]

I totally agree... except for the fact that Apple literally invented the PDA market, and the tablet is simply a merger of laptop and palmtop devices.

I haven't read the patents...

[ProfessionalCookie]

but it seems like patents for a tablet style PC could easily be applied to the next generation iMac. It's likely that it's an all in one design with the components behind the lcd.

See here: http://www.thinksecret.com/ and here http://www.appleinsider.com/.

Re:I haven't read the patents...

[ericdano]

One word. COOLING. Looking at the sketches, compared to the sketches I remember seeing about the iMac of old, there is no way this could hold a G5. It's too thin. The drawing would hold no resemblance to the actual iMac......

It's either what Apple is using all those 60 gig drives for (new ipod? PDA? or whatever), or some sort of wireless display, or a tablet type computer.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[yetdog]

Apple's going to leave out the keyboard, and rightfully so. Any tablet worth it's salt will have handwriting recognition replace the need for a keyboard, and for the real sticklers, a virtual keyboard onscreen. I'll bet this thing will look like you took an iBook and ripped off the bottom half. Nothing more than the screen, and maybe a little bit thicker. This could be huge, if done right.

Don't tell me this...

[ackthpt]

Cripes, I'm trying to get a tablet in here for evaluation. We do surveys with scan sheets and the stuff comes back half-assed half-filled out and I want to send out a tablet with an app (written by yours truly) to collect the data and tell them as they fill it out what's required and what the limits are. This would greatly reduce errors and make more money for us. Don't need lots of power, just enough to run a small app and keep some data.

Related to Apple -- if it comes with iTunes it'll sell and you'll immediately be impressed and jealous of people who use computers as they're meant to be used, rather than what adverts try to convince you you need what you should be doing with them to be a proper power user.

Re:Don't tell me this...

[daviddennis]

Why not use a Palm? It's almost throwaway cheap and you could do surveys on it just fine and sync them with whatever application you're running on the back end.

I agree that an Apple tablet will sell like hotcakes, especially if the reason for the delay is Steve Jobs' legendary attention to detail. This is something the tablets I've seen so far lack.

I tried a Toshiba tablet (about $1,700) and thought the user interface and overall design was pretty clunky. Apple, however, has the design talent to make it fun, and the artistic clientele who might make it useful. Imagine, for instance, if you could dual-use it as a Wacom-style tablet you could hook up to a G5 when doing some serious work. Wacom's monitor+tablet combinations are thousands of dollars.

D

Re:Don't tell me this...

[blitziod]

a 15" flat screen can sell for 300+ dollars, a 15" tablet can sell for 400 easy. What about a blue tooth tablet pc that doubles as a wireless monitor? Also if it is a slim and light lap top with a touch screen that flips around( or detaches for a wi-fi or blue tooth connection to the cpu) , it will sell when it adds less than 300.00 to the cost of the unit.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

Errr...

*cough*Newton*cough* ... I mean PocketPC...

Yeah, Apple can innovate. Now they're revisiting the old neighborhood and are going to show the current residents how to do things *right*.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[b17bmbr]

tablet pc's go back a long ways. hell, all they are really are just touch screen lcd's. and they go back a long ways. the real problem is simply the handwriting recognition, and a powerful enough cpu to do the work.

the tablet pc is an idea that was more consumer driven, and microsoft just responded to it. probably more to enter the market now, and scare any innovation. like they've done numerous times. so, if they bomb, it's chump change. if they take off, then microsoft controls the market. when you are the 8000 lb gorilla, and have a monopoly, you can do these things, you know.

Not actually happening...

[MacGoldstein]

I can't see Apple ever releasing a Tablet PC... Here's why:

1. Cost is too much. Non-Apple users already see Macs as too expensive, so a Tablet (unless it were uncharacteristically inexpensive), would just fuel the fire.
2. Appeal. Yes, I know it would be sexy as all get out. But really, Macs are a niche market... I use mine to code and write webpages, and love how easy it makes many things, as well as the tinkerability of th OS, but the market for Macs is still (sadly) around 2-3%. Tablet computers would comprise a subset of that, so they wouldn't be economically feasible. Think G4 cube.
3. Finally. Technical issues. From the drawings, this thing is pretty thin. Apple would have to find a very low heat, low energy processor to use (the G4 qualifies), but also a very small size Mobo, GFX card, etc. With all the logic board problems of recent iBooks, I would seriously doubt whether they're considering releasing something as iffy as a Tablet.

Then again, they did (without Steve, btw) originally bring us the Newton, iPod and widespread GUI, so perhaps they will revolutionize Tablet PC's as well?

Just my 0.02$

Re:Not actually happening...

[dasmegabyte]

I call bullshit on this.

1) Apple obviously doesn't give a shit about cost. They obviously don't give a shit about the commodity PC market. And it obviously hasn't hurt them. The could charge whatever they liked and it really wouldn't make all that much of a difference.

2) Actually, a tablet PC could add an entirely new market or encourage upgrades among the many, many people who use Apples exclusively for creative purposes. Here we've got something that's akin to a really smart graphics tablet. Something which could permit people to sketch on trains, draw ideas in meetings and transfer them instantly...basically, the market that HP, Acer, etc can't get because they're practically unknown in the arena. Shit, most of the artists I know won't even use HP printers due to anger left over from ink scams, etc.

3) Considering that Apple hasn't had nearly the technical issues with G4 based iBooks or Powerbooks that they had with the G3 systems, I think this is pretty moot. You could take a standard 12" PowerBook, put the screen on the other side, and have a nice sized tablet pc at 4.6 lbs.

Re:Not actually happening...

[General Sherman]

I'll give you the first two points, but not the third. Technical issues, have you even looked at a 17" PowerBook? That's only 1" thick and they seem to have handled it pretty well.

Also, the logic board issue was caused by a faulty wire sheathing from the company that apple bought them from shorting out the board, not really Apple's fault.

It's the new iMac

[Anonymous Coward]

I dare say (from rumors...thank you thinksecret) that this is the new iMac. Everything in the monitor (uh...tablet pc anyone?). AND with airport express, this is the natural progression. Digital hub wherever you roam in your house...nifty.

As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[Seanasy]

No, not a tablet. I'm imagining an LCD screen for your Mac/iMac that detaches from its stand and can be carried around the house. Wireless video voodoo. Not intended to be a standalone computer but just a portable display with touchscreen. Needs Wifi and a Mac nearby. You can use it as a remote for AirportExpress, as a 'non-portable laptop,' i.e. it doesn't leave the house, usually. Maybe you can take the screen over to a friends house or to work and log into a Mac there with it. Hmmm....

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[ericdano]

Now that is an interesting idea. That is probably the ONLY thing that really gets in people's way. Apple already has a wireless mouse and keyboard. A way to make the display wireless would be awesome....

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[Wesley Felter]

Microsoft tried this and it totally sucked. I'm sure Apple could do better; the question is how much better.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[Anonymous Coward]

You do realize that not only does WiFi have nowhere near the bandwidth necessary for a full video signal, even compressed, but in fact the amount of information required to broadcast a full video signal wirelessly would likely fry anyone unlucky enough to come between the monitor and the computer? I remember someone on slashdot doing the calculation before and it wasn't pretty. So either the thing has to have its own processor, in which case it is a tablet PC, or Apple has to use some massive shortcuts to get that information over to the screen. Do you really think Apple is going to make a product that has to cut corners like that?

Mike

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[Roguelazer]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q= Microsoft+Mira&btnG=Search

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[Anonymous Coward]

Just for the record, Mira is a terminal services client. Anyone with experience using TS knows the graphics kinda suck. It just shoves screen shots across the network as fast as it can.

I think the guy here was talking about basically a wireless video cable from you computer to you monitor. As that other dude pointed out, that would require way way too much bandwidth for wireless.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[PantsWearer]

Why not make it a tablet? Let's talk about the specs for a portable display:

• An LCD display. (Duh.)
• WiFi to talk with the basestation (the CPU box in this case) or the Airport Express directly (where's the CPU in this case?)
• A way to decode video. The better the video codec, the thinner the stream (which for wifi is necessary or you'll flood the network) and the faster the decoder necessary. So there's going to be a processor, either general purpose or single prupose (video decoder).
• On board battery. It's a portable display. Portable. It needs a battery.
• A touch screen. This is optional for a purely display function, but I can't see it as very useful without some kind of interaction available. So we've got some kind of input, which means we definitely have to be able to talk back out to the network instead of just blindly receive, which takes some more processing ability to set up the outgoing data and send it.

Okay, so let's review. We need a display, something to decode and encode data, take input and talk to a remote source all powered by a battery. Wow, it sounds pretty much like a laptop to me, except it has no keyboard or hard drive.

Basically, we've already got a battery powered bundle of processing power. It's already going to cost a fair amount to manufacture, why not go all the way and make this a tablet PC, so that you can save the cost of the basestation (traditional CPU). A tablet PC can be used as a portable display and can also be used to write a document. To set it up as a desktop, you can just set it on an easel and sit a bluetooth keyboard and mouse in front of it (Apple already makes them) or just include a USB port.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny, I seem to be able to play DVD's over WIFI with no problem.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[Seanasy]

You're ruining my fantasy. Stop it or I'm telling The Steve.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[ljaguar]

dvd is compressed.

think apple remote desktop. Does that run at full speed? even over 100mbit full duplex on switched networks? I mean it's VNC. So the answer is resounding no.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[EddWo]

VNC just shoves screenshots over the network, RDP works at a higher level. It sends GDI drawing commands over the network much like X. RDP works fine over 802.11b for basic desktop graphics.

The issues with Mira/Smart Displays were.
1. Too expensive.
The prices were $1000 to $1500, for that much you might as well buy a Tablet pc.
2. Not enough bandwidth for watching DVDs, playing games.
3. Difficult to set up. You only get RDP with XP Pro, so some smart displays shipped with an upgrade from Home to Pro, its rather a lot to expect someone to reinstall their operating system just to use an extra bit of hardware. It was tricky to use as a dockable monitor where the RDP connection had to take over automatically when the screen was undocked.
4. Licensing restrictions meant you couldn't have someone using the desktop machine at the same time even though its technically perfectly capable of it.
5. Dockable monitor version was too large/heavy to carry around. Slate version too useless outside of wireless range.

Personally I think there would be a market for a smart display that at least functioned as a Browser/Media Player/Ebook Reader with WiFi and/or Bluetooth when outside the range of the base computer. The version of internet explorer shipped with Windows CE 4.1 (not the pocket pc one) ought to be good enough.

With Avalon the intention seems to be to raise network transparency level even higher and send the display scene graph over the wire to be rendered by an Avalon stack on the client. Videos would be sent in compressed form and rendered by appropriate codecs on the client.
Its a good idea to reduce the bandwidth requirement but an Avalon level smart display would not be possible on a low power arm chip.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[MQBS]

Math time.

1024 * 768 = 786432
786432 * 60 (Hz) = 47185920
or about 50 megabytes per second. Sure, you can compress it VNC style, but it's never going to work for a fulltime monitor display. On the other hand, I am not a computer graphics engineer, so I could very well be off here, but I don't think I am.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[homesteader]

So you're proposition of taking it over to a friends house got me thinking . . . What good is this if all my data is at home? Well what about an LCD + Pen + wifi + 60gb HD + GPU with a full cpu in a base station. Could someone design a system like this and keep it efficient despite an 801.11g cpu bus? We already know they are working to offload some instructions to the GPU. Having the HD and GPU in the LCD might nullify the 1280 x 1024 = not enough bandwidth for a wireless monitor. Steve did point out recently that GPU's were scaling much better than CPU's of late.

Re:As Long as We're Talking About Unicorns

[mamahuhu]

Seansy is right.

I reckon that if the base station has the G5 CPU with the screen detachable then it would be very useful. It'd be an iMac most of the time.

Then when you move about with it the video streaming screen function kicks in. It'd have it's own cut down OS like the iPod that is optimised to run the video stream and the simple tablet interface. There could be some data storage using iPod type microdrives.

The video could be streamed using FireWire of UWB as described here.

Then imagine all the features you could add in.

Universal Remote for iTunes / Airport Express etc...
eBook reader with books sold over iTunes
Wacom tablet replacement
Remote watching of DVDs in bed - or as a remote for the Plasma Screen also connected to the iMac base station via FireWireUWB.

The Cost = an iPod plus an iMac - and since it also acts as the screen for the iMac when docked it remains useful when it is not being used as an iTablet.

I'd buy one like a shot as it replicates my current set up in one neat package...

iBook for mobility with Wacom Tablet
iMac G3 with Bluetooth adaptor for media serving
DVD Player ( Only USD49.99 in Hong Kong ) and LCD monitor
SonyEricsson with SallingClicker for remote

If it could be done with that functionality and at that price it'd be a sure fire winner.

They would sell really well...

[Steamhead]

If they kept a well organized copy of the WIKIpedia on it and wrote "DON'T PANIC" in large friendly letters on the back...

Re:They would sell really well...

[mrchaotica]

The Guide didn't contain a local copy, only a wireless link to the master server. A Powerbook with a PCMCIA cellular modem would qualify, except for the "Don't Panic" : )

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD PARENT UP!

Don't let the astroturfers on Apple's Payroll win!

The missing remote for AirTunes?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no indication of the possible size of this device from the pictures. however, a touch screen with AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth (maybe even USB and Firewire) would be all you need for the perfect digital hub remote

if done right

[Bauguss]

Apple proved with the iPod that high price doesn't mean poor sales. They completely proved that if done right, it would be a big hit. How many mp3 players existed before iPod came along?

I've never used a tablet pc but always liked the idea. If apple came along and did it right, who knows what could happen.

Of course it could just be a new display for the iPod, or they just want to protect their research on something that they won't actually use.

Re:if done right

[jamesdood]

Ahh but the difference is that the ipod costs less than $1000.. and falls into the "discretionary" spending category, while a tablet would likely be in the > $1000 range and no longer something that can be afforded with single paycheck...

Re:if done right

[mobby_6kl]

>How many mp3 players existed before iPod came along?

A lot, both memory and hard drive based. I'd argue that there are better players availible, but this is an apple thread and I'm afraid my asbestos suit won't protect me.

Re:if done right

[mrchaotica]

If "better" means higher numerical specs and a lower price, you have a point. If "better" means better user experience, I'm curious about what player you're talking about. If "better" means Ogg compatibility, my head will explode like the "yes man" in that one episode of Family Guy...

Re:if done right

[Anonymous Coward]

A lot, both memory and hard drive based

i think you're missing the point. that's what he was saying - a lot of MP3 players existed before the iPod but it wasn't until the iPod, despite MUCH higher prices, that MP3 players began being adopted on a large scale.

What an idiotic concept...

[imsabbel]

Why would anyone want a wall mounted itunes pannel?
Its to small to read from the couch, so you have to stand right before it to do anything...
Then i would rather sit in front of my pc or activate playlists/ect with a remote.

Or use the tv as screen.

But to wall mount a tablet pc ?!?!

Wonderful!

[raider_red]

Now Apple can tap the huge market for Tablet PCs. After all, the Windows based tablets are selling so friggin well.

Re:Wonderful!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, and MP3 players were a massive market before the iPod. Amazing how they managed to capture an already-developed market.

Personally it'll never sell...

[stienman]

Why would people buy an Apple tablet PC when they could have a P-P-P-Powerbook for practically free, and with all the ability of a tablet?

-Adam

Explain to me slowly...

[Nice2Cats]

...using simple words, why I would want to buy a tablet instead of my current 12" iBook. A tablet doesn't have a keyboard, and I can't shut it to protect the screen; and when it is too old to deal with Mac OS X 14.5 or whatever it will be by then, I can't install Linux on it.

Obviously, Steve Jobs is better at this than I am (or I'd be making one dollar a year plus a few benefits), but this would not seem like a clever move.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[norkakn]

complete BS on my part, but what if it were a spiffy 17" LCD that ran off of your main computer, but had enough power that you could take it around the house and use it to control itunes (and airport express), write simple emails from other rooms, surf the web while watching tv.

I dunno, if I could get that for 500$ i'd probably really think about it. All the power would hopefully be run on the main computer, and it would normally be plugged in, but a detatchable tablet would kinda kick ass

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[Axfish]

I beg to differ...

A tablet doesn't have a keyboard, and I can't shut it to protect the screen

I have an Acer C111 sub-3lb (or sub-1.5kg) TabletPC that does include a reversible screen (you can close it with the screen facing down) and a keyboard. If Acer can do it, I'm sure Apple can make a MacTablet (or whatever) with the same form factor.

As for the "slow explanation" you asked for which, I assume (but correct me if I misunderstood the title of your post) addresses the question of why anyone would want a Tablet-type machine in the first place:

I've been using this machine now for a few months (>6, <12) in both "Laptop" (sub-notebook, since it has a slightly small keyboard and a small-but-1024x768 screen) and "Tablet" (screen reversed over the case, use stylus only) modes, and I can say, in answer to a lot of the posts that claim it turns a PC into nothing but an overgrown Palm-type machine, that it works surprisingly well.

I can sit in a meeting and scribble notes while looking at the speaker - not easy to do when you'r playing hunt-and-peck on a keyboard.

I can sketch things as if on pen and paper, but the software can help me correct diagrams (making rectanguloids into rectangles, ellipsoids into ellipses and circles, etc) as I sketch them, taking my eyes off the speaker no more than with pen and paper.

Plus, by opening the writing bar at the bottom of the screen, I can input handwritten text into any application, be it designed for Tablet or not...

And then the goodness: I can transfer all that stuff into "real" applications with a lot less work than copying it all off paper.

Of course, I'm speaking from someone who uses a (gasp! I'll get modded flamebait, I expect) machine running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition, and Apple or Linux have yet to show a similar offering, but I expect that, if these things catch on, Apple and Linux will come up with equivalent solutions. (Perhaps, in Apple's case, the tables are reversed for once, and this time it's Apple waiting to see if a technology catches on before they implement it...? ;)

Bash me if you like, but personally, I think that the Tablet Edition of Windows is actually one of the better things MS has come up with lately (whether they nicked the fundamental research off someone else or not - it's a product, and it's available). However, I'd like to see that sort of functionality clad in the elegance that companies like Apple (among others) have a reputation for. That, I think, could really make pen-based laptops into a killer tool.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[Axfish]

Okay - mod me down and shoot me, I didn't actually bother to RTFA before posting this... LOL That'll teach me!

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[LetterJ]

You
can't
draw
diagrams
directly
on
the
scr een
of
an
iBook.

Basically, one of the primary appeals of the tablet form factor is to those who spend a great deal of time entering things other than text into a computer. I'm constantly making workflow diagrams, sketches, interface ideas, etc. on paper because I can do them quickly. So, I either end up trying to enter them into something like Visio (ick) which takes forever compared to the quick sketch, or scanning them into an image. Using a tablet you can just drop the sketch directly into a word processing document or turn it straight into an image without having to go back to my desk and scan.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[plj]

I've an 12" PBook, and I'm using it a lot while I'm reading -- mostly like a book, except the content is normally not local but something on the net. If I'm behind my desk that's all the same, but when at home, I nowadays quite often find myself laying on my bed, and the keyboard is nothing but on the way. I'd love to have a tablet with touchscreen (or just stylus-recognizing) LCD (with scrolling keys by it's side), which could be turned around and flipped over keyboard, like some PC tablets have.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[jimicus]

... in simple words, why you seem to be smoking crack while posting your comments?

A tablet has a keyboard, can be closed to protect the screen (though these ones don't run MacOS), and you can run Linux on it.

Obviously, a random Slashdot reader like myself is better at this than you are (and I'm not making one dollar a year plus benefits), but it would seem that you're not a very well-informed person.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[yamla]

Two reasons why you'd want a tablet:

• Your 12" iBook costs roughly $1099 U.S. new. A well-priced tablet would be, I'm estimating, in the $375 - $750 region.
• More importantly, a well-designed tablet would allow you to start working on your desktop, decide you want to head downstairs for a coffee, and take your tablet with you. All the software running on the desktop would move over to the tablet, you do your work, then you return and move everything back.

Now, I have no idea if either of these points would apply to a proposed Apple tablet, but this is what my friends and I have been discussing as possibilities if Apple released a tablet.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[wehe]

There are Tablet PCs running Linux already, as well as Apple Powerbooks and iBooks running Linux. So there seems to be a fair chance that an Apple Tablet PC might run Linux, too.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[dwightk]

this wouldn't compete with the iBook, it would be a great tool for professors and such in classrooms... It might take some sales away, but if you want the iBook you would buy the iBook

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[RocketScientist]

Where do you get a PC running Windows XP for Tablets in the $375-750 region? Please tell me? Reply with a link. I'll buy one. Don't send me a link to a 10 year old GRID machine either, or a Fujitsu running Windows 3.1 for Pen. Pricewatch has a couple of Wacom USB Graphics tablets for sketching into a real PC on in that price range, but not a Tablet PC.

I just checked Pricewatch, and the cheapest they've got is for $918, a refurbished P3/1Ghz with 256 MB of RAM. Here's a link to Pricewatch where I looked. A decent one with enough RAM to run XP for Tablets without constantly swapping would probably be another $100 at least. The cheapest I've ever seen one (a Viewsonic unit at my local MicroCenter, which was returned unit) was well over $800, add another $125 for a dock.

Re:Explain to me slowly...

[yamla]

Oh, sorry, I'm not saying that you can currently get a tablet in the $375 - $750 region, I'm saying this is what a well-priced tablet would cost and what I'd hope Apple would charge if they released one. There are several major reasons why wintel tablet pcs haven't taken off, one of the biggest of these is the price point they are selling them at. Absolutely outrageous. If Apple released a tablet in the region of $1000 - $2500, they'd be rightfully laughed out of the auditorium.

Re:iPorn (reading on your iToilet)

[axis-techno-geek]

iToilet

I just hope...

[jbarr]

I jukt h%pe th2 hand3uit&ng re)oGni7iob is Bet7Er thaN oN tfe N0wtan!

Re:I just hope...

[mbourgon]

Never used one set up properly, eh? My condolences. There were two modes of handwriting recognition. While the cursive was better, and could learn, I preferred the print mode, as I could write down some 1337 words and it would put them in properly.

Re:I just hope...

[condour75]

Eat up martha.

Re:I just hope...

[Roguelazer]

Both can learn. The cursive mode was what is now known as Calligrapher and Transcriber (by ParaGraph and Microsoft). The Print was the Newton Recognizer, now known as Inkwell and present in every copy of OS X.

Re:I just hope...

[rampant mac]

I know the parent is just making a joke, but the Newton OS (after updates) was incredible.

Imagine drawing a square, triangle or circle and seeing your PDA recognize the shape. Or scratching out a word and the OS understands you wanted that part deleted. Or circling text you wanted selected. Or using written carets to mark inserts. Plus you didn't have to learn some obscure "written" commands for the OS to understand your writing. The OS, over time, learned your handwriting. I've heard that future versions would even recognize "1 + 2 =" as a formula you wanted calculated.

Remember that the MessagePad was originally released in 1993. 11 years ago! Over a decade has passed and PalmOS and the Windows Tablet Edition still can't achieve some of the functions the Newton OS provided.

Re:I just hope...

[aussersterne]

Um... You obviously never used a Newton and just bought the negative hype (which was unfortunate).

I took all my upperclass notes as an undergrad on a Newton 2000. The thing would take handwriting and punctuation, and numbers as fast as I could write it, naturally, and without mistakes. My notes were the best in every class. And because the Newton didn't require me to write in just one area of the screen, but rather where I wanted the words to appear, there were no worn areas on the screen even after four years of heavy use.

And because the Newton could print directly to a LaserWriter, I could come home and instantly laser print my outline-formatted (i.e. w/bullets, numbers, indents, italics+boldface for headings, etc.) notes right away, same night... they became the "notes archive" for many of my classes, because people would borrow them and photocopy them.

And of course I got the best deal of all because I still had the electronic versions, so when test time came around and we all had to study, my notes were searchable.

But the point is that I could write on my Newton just as fast as I could write on a sheet of paper, using my normal handwriting, and get 99.95% accuracy.

I've used Palms, I've used Windows CE + Calligrapher/Transcriber, and now I've used a Sharp Zaurus 5500 as well, and none of them even comes close to the InkWell recognizer on the Newton.

Re:I just hope...

[mbourgon]

Really? I had always heard that the print version didn't learn, but Rosetta (the cursive) did. Cool.

(oh, and then there was the whole "guest mode" thing, where it didn't use what it had learned, nor did it learn in that mode)

Re:I just hope...

[davesag]

i loved my newton. i loved i could write 'lunch caroline' and it would schedule a lunch with my girlfriend for 1.30pm in my diary and then give me the option of editing it. it could read my handwriting better than i could. these things learned. they communicated, they were as close to the MagicCap dream as could be. where are those guys now?

please apple give us a mac osx with all those funky newton features - and a handheld device to run it all on.

But Jobs said...

[Anonymous Coward]

I seem to recall Steve Jobs saying he has no interest in ever making a Tablet or a PDA (well ever again)

Sure to have innovation at least...

[l4m3z0r]

This really excites me, Apple doesn't really ever toss a sub par product on the market, they really cant afford to with their image. And with Jobs reputation for pushing the envelope on design, I wouldn't be surprised if this tablet is a usable computer for the average person. Unlike the previous tablets which for the most part are crap despite MS predictions that they would own the market. If any tablet will redefine the way I compute, it will be an apple one.

iTunes remote control/web surfer?

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't some Apple honcho made some remark about how they were to make sure that people wouldn't have to get up from the couch to change the song they listen to?
Make the tablet a fancy remote control, throw in the abiility to suf the web from your couch and read ebooks as pdf's or whatever. A G3 processor would be powerful enough, and - importantly - the power requirements would stay low

This is the iMac

[christor]

Pure speculation, but pulling various of the latest rumors together (see macrumors.com), it makes sense that the new iMac has a similar quasi-portable form factor. On your desktop it connects to a stand, which in turn connects to keyboard, mice, etc. But the whole computer is in the display (as has been previously rumored to be the design of the new iMacs). Take it off the display, and you can use it like a tablet, hang it on the wall and watch dvds (or tv?) - maybe even with a bluetooth remote. Even move it between multiple stands.

It's like an iBook with the display where the keyboard would be.

Of course, this is pure speculation - but it would finally tie together the rumors about hangable displays and the new cpu-behind-the-display form factor.

iWallet?

[edwardog]

Notice that an innovation that I doubt will ever come out is the iWallet, simply because it will always be empty. Thanks Apple!

Re:What happened, Apple?

[callipygian-showsyst]

Apple literally invented the PDA market

Not quite! I'm a big fan of PDAs and portable computing. I've owned many PDAs, including Newton Messagepad 110 (which Apple gave me when I was working at Adobe), but before that I had a Tandy 100 and an HP 100 both of which pre-dated the Newton by quite a bit.

What would be really nice...

[Lodragandraoidh]

It would be really nice if they built a tablet PC incorporating much of the technology they have been greedily holding since the Newton was pulled (natural handwriting recognition etc...)

Maybe its not a Mac, but a "WebPad"

[Beebos]

Maybe this thing is not a full fledged computer but a "WebPad", a wi-fi device for WWW, e-mail, and iTunes. Other possible abilities might include PDA type stuff, an advanced home entertainment remote control (maybe including HVAC, security, and security camera streaming), and /or video conferencing. The iTunes store concept could be extended to selling magazines and books to read on the "WebPad"

Specs. that I'm pulling out of my backside;
1 ghz G4
256 Megs ram
40 gig iPod type hard drive
802.11g
800x600 active matrix screen
bluetooth?
memory card slots?

I know I'd love such a device. I'm using my Clie to do many of those things I listed above right now. Then again I'm a Tech Addict.

Back when the iTunes Music Store opened, Apple solicited public comment about the store. I sent them an e-mail that described the above device. So if Apple does come out with such a device you are all witnesses for my lawsuit!!!! ;-)

Note to Apple: I'll settle out of court for 2 WebPads, 1 new iMac, 1 new iPod and an Airport Express.

Re:Maybe its not a Mac, but a "WebPad"

[Anonymous Writer]

Specs. that I'm pulling out of my backside;

That's a lot of specs. Is that you, goatse man?

It is NOT a tablet.

[rogerborn]

Tablets are dead. Even Micro$oft may be getting out of the tablet business. Laptops outsell tablets a hundred to one.

http://engadget.com/entry/8312965763231519/

I think this new screen is for the new iMac.

It is wireless.

It may detach from the CPU/hard drive.

It is aluminum (in colors?).

It has the full OS X.

It may be small like the old Macinosh Classics.

Here are the links:

http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=-750

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/13/apple_tabl et_mac/

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/imacg5specs.html

Roger Born
writing.borngraphics.com

Re:It is NOT a tablet.

[Idarubicin]

Tablets are dead.

Netcraft confirms it.

Blue Tablet vs. Green Tablet?

[Anonymous Coward]

You take the blue tablet and the story ends. You wake up in your bed with Bill Gates and believe whatever you want to believe.

You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Any tablet worth it's salt will have handwriting recognition replace the need for a keyboard, and for the real sticklers, a virtual keyboard onscreen.

And a Bluetooth controller so it can work with Apple's Bluetooth keyboard. No wires.

Also: Inkwell. Handwriting recognition has been built into Mac OS X for years now.

Re:Not the first time Apple's been toying with thi

[Have Blue]

That would actually be more like a 350-degree fold, all the way around. The clamshell iBooks had a hinge that could rotate through about 160 degrees; the screen and keyboard were nearly in the same plane at its widest.

(It just occurred to me that I'm misinterpreting you, and you mean the screen could rotate around the vertical axis, so it would point out away from the keyboard without having to be bent over backwards...)

Re:Not the first time Apple's been toying with thi

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

First they put apples in tablets... next we'll be eating all our food from tubes!

So, it's "just" a thin laptop with a flexible spine and a touch screen? Actually, sounds like the way to go, than you have the best of both worlds, keyboard or no keyboard.

eBook? no way.

[Anonymous Coward]

i don't think an eBook will ever succeed. unlike music or movies, it would be incredibly difficult to prevent and SPOT forgery in books. and we all know how much the meaning of texts can be altered by simple but targetted forgery.

no publisher/author in the right mind would accept a medium of publishing where their words can be modified with little effort but difficult to trace or identify. the other option is to encrypt the documents and we know how much we (/. people) like that!

Re:eBook? no way.

[TrollBridge]

"no publisher/author in the right mind would accept a medium of publishing where their words can be modified with little effort but difficult to trace or identify. the other option is to encrypt the documents and we know how much we (/. people) like that!"

And here we have the eternal conflict between authors and (I hate the word too) consumers. Personally I don't think the authors' wishes are unreasonable, but I also know that a lot of people want to be able to "read the file on other devices" (i.e. they want to be able to download it for free).

So far, Apple's DRM isn't keeping too many people from using iTunes. If they sell it right, the same could apply to eBooks.

Re:eBook? no way.

[PCM2]

i don't think an eBook will ever succeed. unlike music or movies, it would be incredibly difficult to prevent and SPOT forgery in books. and we all know how much the meaning of texts can be altered by simple but targetted forgery.

Sounds like a great incentive for people to buy their e-books direct from the publisher -- who presumably can provide digital signatures, MD5 checksums and the like -- rather than downloading pirated versions.

Please Yes

[pyrrho]

Early this year I would have bought a powerbook except that I wanted a tablet. Why? Because I hand draw diagrams to prepare my work and because I don't like typing notes at meetings.

Tablets do for handwritten work what word processors did for typing. Yes it's a niche, not everyone uses hand drawn notes, diagrams, etc... but it's also not a niche that's going away. A tablet computer is much preferable to lots and lots of paper notepads.

As for price... well, I need a notebook too for programming and got a combination tablet/notebook, it cost the same as other good notebooks like IBM T41 and the Powerbook with similar specifications EXCEPT the display, which is more low resolution. That is... the tradeoff was between higher resolution and the ability to write on the display... fair trade. (fwiw, keyboardless tablets seem useless to me... but they might make sense in hospitals, for delivery people, that sort of thing)

Another reason to get a tablet from Apple besides the fact that this tablet is the only reason I have to run WinXP is I suspect Apple will smooth the edges... the interface in XP Tablet is not really as pen freindly as it could be.

I hope they do this. But having said all that... Jobs has vowed not to before... he loathes the Newton experience (so I hear anyway)... so I'm not holding my breath.

Tablets Done Well

[mandos]

I always thought the Tablet PC should be something of a large PDA, but with some of the benefits of a laptop. Maybe Apple has figured out how to do this. The Vadem Clio (ebay link) always seemed to be a good physical design, wonder why it failed. Maybe it was just too early.

Re:Tablets Done Well

[Roguelazer]

They -did-. It's called the Newton and is the best PDA ever designed.

Re:Tablets Done Well

[Dielectric]

Agreed. Wonderful touches in the UI, and absolutely no need to read a manual because of the advanced interface design. Plus a giant green backlight that works as a flashlight when necessary.

BTW, my MP2100 is for sale if anyone wants it.

Re:Tablets Done Well

[Roguelazer]

I'll take your serial cable. :P

Are Apple laptops that expensive?

[Smeagel]

They're slightly more expensive than a Dell, but not by any great amount. When you consider how much faster they run, and their performance, it is hard to recommend a non-apple laptop to anyone who isn't an MS addict. Their desktop hardware is a little insane, but their laptops are well priced IMO.

This coming from a person who has never owned an apple (aside from my ipod) and who spent last year working tech help for my university and repaired hundreds of laptops from all brands (but apple) for people.

Re:Are Apple laptops that expensive?

[mrchaotica]

I agree. I bought a 12" iBook 7 months ago, and chose it because I couldn't find a comparable PC laptop any cheaper (and it was simpler to just get Mac OS than to get Linux working with arbitrary PC laptop hardware).

Re:Are Apple laptops that expensive?

[Unregistered]

First, they are only a little more expensive than Dell, but Dell is a POS and won't last mear as long. And the desktops aren't expensive either. They have otehr desktops than just the PowerMac. The PowerMac is ultra high end. Most people would be better suited by an afoordable iMac or even eMac.

you can't predict the future by looking at history

[mojoNYC]

seriously,most of the posted comments mostly provide a compelling reason why y'all aren't working in Product R&D...

gee, d'ya really think apple's going to release Newton2004? yes, you're right, MS already HAS a tablet PC, so why would Apple want to reinvent the wheel? didn't smartphones take the place of the PDA? Apple hardware's already so gosh-darn expensive, who'd buy it, when (cough) Dell can sell you the (pretty much) the same thing cheaper?

and lastly, who'd want to buy a mp3 player from Apple? it's already been done, they'd charge too much, etc. (ooops, good thing they didn't listen to /. on this one, eh?)

it's times like these that remind me why i come to slashdot...and it ain't for the futuristic prognostications or the dating advice!

count me as one who's interested, and hopeful that Apple's coming out with something that once again knocks 'conventional wisdom' on its ass! personally, i'd love to be able to control itunes remotely, browse the web and be able to access other nodes on my network and perform basic file operations from a tablet...yes, i'm a proud '3%er' and yes, top-notch product design, quality hardware, seamless integration and ease-of-use is indeed worth a few extra bucks to me;>

$500 budget? please...

[Anonymous Coward]

$500? you can't get a "spiffy" 17" LCD that does nothing but work as a display for that much.

no wonder this is a site for geeks and not for business people. a lot of people here demand $1000 worth of functionality and think that they are doing companies a favor for being willing to pay $500 for it!

What Apple really needs

[eadint]

An entry level Imac at around 500$ (sans montor)
If apple had an entry level Imac at 500.00$ and marketed them at costco staples and walmart. with a poster that says
( no spyware , no adware, no viruses, stable and easy to use)
apple would take off. i know that apple isnt a comodity computer, but this would get the mindshare of the people. once thats done apple will launch into the big time.
hell even if apple did this at a loss it would work out in the long run.
the more people are exposed to apple the bigger the mindshare. and the more willing exceptance by corprate america.

Re:What Apple really needs

[rampant mac]

"An entry level Imac at around 500$ (sans montor) If apple had an entry level Imac at 500.00$ and marketed them at costco staples and walmart. with a poster that says ( no spyware , no adware, no viruses, stable and easy to use) apple would take off. i know that apple isnt a comodity computer, but this would get the mindshare of the people. once thats done apple will launch into the big time. hell even if apple did this at a loss it would work out in the long run. the more people are exposed to apple the bigger the mindshare. and the more willing exceptance by corprate america."

iMac
monitor),
Apple
iMac
Costco,
Staples,
Wal-Mart,
Apple
I
Apple
isn't
commodity
Once
that's
Apple
Hell,
The
Apple
mindshare,
corporate
America

What. The. Fuck.

Re:What Apple really needs

[rampant mac]

oops...

"...is an"

and

acceptance

Re:What Apple really needs

[jaoswald]

If Apple sold its wares at CostCo, any $500 iMac would sit right next to a $399 Windows machine.

If anyone *did* buy it because daughter Missy thought it was "cuter", they'd bring it home and wonder why why they didn't get the blue-sky-and-clouds when they boot up and why all their pirated software from work wouldn't install on this machine.

The mass market doesn't understand Windows != computer.

It's iWalk all over again...

[Bones3D_mac]

Steve has already told us no PDAs are being made. The market for tablets is anything but profitable. How about a more realistic rumor, like a powerbook with a touch sensitive display or somrthing?

Wake me up when we have an official word from Apple...

Re:It's iWalk all over again...

[mrchaotica]

How profitable were MP3 players before the iPod?

Also, how is a Powerbook with a touch sensitive screen different all that different from a tablet? If you're going to go to the expense of a touch screen, why not add a relatively cheap stylus and swiveling hinge too?

penmac

[gessel]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa fe=off&q=apple+penmac&btnG=Search

I was there. It was cool. There were lots of variations and one that went into production and was sold in Japan, briefly, before it was pulled for fear of competing with Newton.

Sheesh.

[JHromadka]

Jobs takes a month off on medical leave and they try to sneak the Newton back in while he's gone. :)

Re:Sheesh.

[miradu2000]

Well Said James. ;)

Re:Sheesh.

[Justabit]

How is Steve doing by the way? Is there a website (preferably with live cam) letting us know of his progress? has the object cut from his body made it to ebay yet?

Re:Sheesh.

[Anonymous Coward]

:-)

Why not? Just make it into a little more convenient form factor and make sure to call it iSomething.

And while there's still a lot of the month left, what about an in-house HyperCard "clone"?

Just don't call the thing by its original name and please don't mention the words "John Sculley" or Jobs will need another three months or so in a different hospital...

Re:Sheesh.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Just make it into a little more convenient form factor"

A little more convenient form factor than 15 or 17 inches, I meant...

So what about the size of the original Message Pad?

No hard drive?

[Anonymous Writer]

If this is a tablet computer equipped to do a network boot of OS X through 802.11g, would it be possible to have the unit work as some sort of a thin client without a hard drive? Perhaps rather than a unit working independently of a computer, it would be a thin-client supplement for a desktop or laptop. I've always wondered if this could be done, because I presume that it would lengthen battery life and could be very thin in design. I would love to see a tablet computer that simply looked like a detached screen of a powerbook without all the buttons and extraneous shapes the Tablet PCs have. That may be possible by excluding a hard drive, CD/DVD drive, and keyboard from the unit.

I recall reading something that may have been a hint about this alleged product. Here's a quote from AppleInsider...

"When Jobs was demonstrating the new Airport Express, Walt Mossberg said that the biggest problem he saw was that users had to get up and walk to their computers to change play lists. Jobs joked that walking was good, but when pressed, he smiled a wry smile. AppleInsider correspondents took this to mean that Apple is developing in this area, and the Airport Express is just a step along the way."

Re:No hard drive?

[mikeee]

Yeah, there was some speculation back about 3 years ago Apple was going to introduce a thin-client-wireless-tablet and a headless desktop.

Obviously there's also a docking station with, eg, tablet stand and keyboard...

Would be nifty. Not sure it's wouldn't cost a jillion $.

Re:No hard drive?

[squiggleslash]

If this is a tablet computer equipped to do a network boot of OS X through 802.11g,

Probably not. OS X is fairly large, to put it mildly. /System is usually over a gig in size. Even Darwin, OS X without the GUI, Finder, apps, etc, takes up a few hundred megs or so once installed.

And once running, it requires quite a substantial amount of disk space for things like swap. Doing swap over 802.11g would be... interesting...

Re:No hard drive?

[LionMage]

This has been mentioned in another sub-thread, but Toshiba recently announced 60 GB 1.8 inch hard drives, and said that Apple had already placed an order for them. But Apple denied they were releasing a 60 GB iPod. At the time, the only device Apple had that we knew of which used the 1.8 inch hard drives was the iPod...

So, if Apple is ordering a ton of 60 GB drives from Toshiba, and if they're not used in iPods, where are those drives going? With judicious power management, and a stripped down kernel and UI, such a tablet device could run a version of OS X. I wouldn't bet on network boot over 802.11g, though. There's too much stuff to be shipping over the wireless LAN every time the device needs to be reset/rebooted. OTOH, a tiny 60 GB hard drive which doesn't consume much power would be perfect -- it can hold an operating system and a huge cache of files locally.

Re:No hard drive?

[Anonymous Writer]

I've never tried the Network Boot feature in the Startup Disk section of System Preferences in OS X. Does this still require OS X to be installed locally? I just presumed that it allows the firmware to load the whole OS from a LAN server and keep it off the local drive to optimise space, and I also presumed that this could be done just as well over AirPort as it could through the Ethernet port. And since LANs can be set up so that users can log on different machines with their files stored on the server, I presumed network booting computers could do without a local drive. If OS X can't do this, can Linux? If it can over Ethernet, can it do it over 802.11g? I'm just curious.

As for the speculated Mac tablet, if it were wireless device that didn't have a hard drive, could it still be a thin client that runs over 802.11g? Perhaps the Mac OS X System Architecture could allow a thin client for the GUI while the actual application runs on another computer, like a X Server, or Windows Thin Clients. The page on the OS X System Architecture says Quartz supports remote display, so I suppose it is the OS X equivalent of an X Server. Perhaps Quartz allows for the possibility of thin clients for Mac OS X networks.

Re:No hard drive?

[Anonymous Coward]

First off never trust a Mac Rumors website. If anything it's possible they are making a 802.11 remote control that could be used to control iTunes remotely, as well as other devices they might come up with. Seriously how many $500 remote controls are they going to sell?

The key to the tablet will be making it cheap enough, but I think it's a great idea. It would be great for digital photography, it would be great for people in science, it could be used in a lot of ways. And Apple has developed all the technology to do it. Question is will they?

Another question. Could all of this be a smoke screen? I mean Apple has made it very obvious that they are developing a tablet, but are they really doing it, or trying to divert their competitors attention and energy from something else. I've seen a lot of tablet PC ads and stuff, but I have honestly never seen a person using one and I work and live by Microsoft in Redmond! Was this an attempt by Apple to divert Dell or whomever from releasing an iPod competitor, or is there something in the works at Apple that nobody has thought of.

Re:No hard drive?

[extra88]

I've never tried the Network Boot feature in the Startup Disk section of System Preferences in OS X. Does this still require OS X to be installed locally?

You can NetBoot a Mac with no hard drive at all. You need a lot of bandwidth though, they always said the clients and server should all be connected to the same 100Mbit switch and the first NetBoot servers came with network cards with 4 100Mbit Ethernet jacks. Under optimal conditions I suppose you could NetBoot a Mac over a 802.11g connection but it would have to be just one Mac using the channel.

It's definitely more efficient, bandwidth-wise for the tablet to be a thin client displaying a terminal window on a base computer. It's also more efficient power-wise because a NetBooted computer is running everything on its own processor whereas a 486 can be a fine terminal services client.

Intellectual copyright pending

[Anonymous Coward]

So as not to repeat myself...

(tig)

Wireless Display

[schiefaw]

What is it isn't so much a full fledged tablet, but a detachable screen for the iMac? The processor, drives, and network connections remain in the base, but you can pop the display off and use a pen on it as a tablet. It would require a wireless video/display protocol, but I think that has been in development for a while now.

Re:Wireless Display

[leinhos]

It would require a wireless video/display protocol, but I think that has been in development for a while now.

I think it's called X11, but seriously, OS X gained a native X server with Panther.

Re:Wireless Display

[gerardrj]

If the processor and memory stay in the display X11 won't do it, X most definitely requires a CPU and memory to run.
I'm fairly certain the poster was talking about something more like the NTSC broadcast protocol where you transmit video as a raster image to the target receiver(s) that have no computing power.

WiFi just doesn't have the bandwidth to drive a remote display like that.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[thatguywhoiam]

Apple literally invented the PDA market...

Not quite! I'm a big fan of PDAs and portable computing. I've owned many PDAs, including Newton Messagepad 110 (which Apple gave me when I was working at Adobe), but before that I had a Tandy 100 and an HP 100 both of which pre-dated the Newton by quite a bit.

That's a bit of a stretch... the Tandy 100 measures 30" wide x 21.5" deep, sounds like a C64. Not sure about that HP thing but neither one had pen input, which was really the impetus of the whole PDA thing.

Although I would agree that Apple gets credited a lot for inventing things they didn't really invent... more often than not, it was a case of Apple getting the implementation of an idea right, or right enough to be exciting, the first time.

A wireless thin client

[tentimestwenty]

It wouldn't be hard to have a wireless display with no internal storage and minimal processor power that just mirrored what your desktop monitor. You could interact via a stylus but everything would actually be happening on the "base" computer. It could be thin and focus on a good quality screen and get much better battery life than a laptop.

State of the Tablet-PC

[jejagua]

I've got a Fujitsu convertible Tablet-PC (T-3010D) and it suits me just fine. Actually, I would be hard pressed to part with it. Before I first laid my hands on a Win-Tablet I wondered what all the fuss was about. After using mine for the last year, I can't imagine going back to a conventional notebook, not even to one with much more power. Slate mode is by far the most comfortable design for lounging on the couch or in bed. Obviously it is the most comfortable design to use while standing. My Tablet stays in slate mode unless I'm at my desk or if I have A LOT of text to input. My company did a pilot implementation to prove the concept of Tablet-PC use for our field workers and it was a whopping success. I believe Microsoft really put forth an effort to advance this technology. The innovation argument, ie, who invented it, is rubbish. The Tablet-PC is a combination of several technologies, which were all a natural evolution to a more usable design. For example, writing on the screen is a practical and logical interface whos time has come. I don't believe innovation is the correct terminology for this adaptation. I'm tired of the incessant noise about the Newton and how it was the first Tablet-PC. Fujitsu and other vendors have been making pen-format PC's for decades. The Newton was also proprietary and had limited functionality. Microsoft has taken a better approach by simply developing the OS and setting hardware stardards to help equipment manufacturers quickly bring products to market. Adoption has been slow, but recently, Tablet-PC prices have come down significantly. It will be interesting to see what Apple does to make their Tablet entry compelling..that is, if they make one. Apple, or more accurately Jobs, screwed up big by rejecting PDA and Tablet architectures after killing the Newton. If you haven't tried a Tablet-PC, I would strongly urge you to do so. Doctors, students and service workers greatly benefit from the design. Anyone else who prefers their PC to be as natural and ergonomic as possible will also enjoy owning one.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[lrucker]

Apple literally invented the PDA market,

They didn't invent the market, because it didn't take off til the Palm, and they didn't invent the PDA either, it's based on the dynabook

Re:Not the first time Apple's been toying with thi

[trentblase]

I don't think he means either of those. I think he's saying you can fold the screen in half, closing a book. That would be 180 degrees. Then you unfold it from the other side and it's magic.

Have you actually USED a tablet????

[micron]

This is not intended to start a flame war.

My question is, have you actually USED a tablet? Not picked it up in the store, picked it up from a friends desk, but actually carried one around for a couple of weeks as your only computer?

I have been using a Compaq (yeah, it is HP, but this one is labeled a Compaq) T1000 with the transmeta chip in it.

It does have its quirks, and it is slow on the boot. Other then that, you will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands. The utility of these things makes them more than worth it. You have to really need the writing functionality though.

With my job, I do a lot of "green pad" work. I have diagrams all over the place. No more with the tablet, they are all stored on the computer and easy to search. It is also great for reading all of those Intel and Motorola PDF manuals. Given, this is not a game machine, but for what I do, it is really handy.

I have run into two types of tablet users out there, and they are at the extremes. Group A are the folks that have them, hate them, and can't wait to get rid of them. This group largely uses the tablet as a laptop, and does not seem to use any of the writing functionality. Group B are the ones that use the heck out of them.

The software is still catching up. There are a couple of applications out there now that make the thing well worth it, if you need those applications.

I would not be so quick to dismiss these things outright.

Crazy, but possible?

[cbowland]

How about some sort of wireless / diskless laptop, sort of like a wireless Sun Ray? Mount the volumes over the network and have a couple ports (firewire, usb, etc...). Throw in the Inkwell software and the famous Apple "it just works" and presto - instant cool!

Just One More Thing....

[Big Sean O]

Sheesh, will Steve have to say this twice?

Once for the new iMac...

Once for whatever this is... iLap? iPage? iChart? iDunno?

If this thing comes as described: a tablet with a smallish hard drive running Mac OS X, then I bet the next big thing in Mac land will be the iServe: a headless powerhouse with a big drive to serve up all your music and media files.

Laptop for doing work on the road. iPod for your music on the road. iMac for doing work at home. iTablet for controlling iTunes & surfing the interweb while on the couch.

I know people say there's no such thing as full-screen full-motion video wirelessly, but I'm guessing Apple is hell-bent on making Quicktime work with the limited display resolution of this iTablet. Plug headphones into the iTablet and watch the DVD which is loaded in the iServe.

Ok, that's my guess and I'm sticking to it.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think all those who marked this as "flamebait" are gay.

ipod + ?? = Tablet ?

[stibles]

For what it's worth ... I'm wri ting this on a Casio Fiva 501 Tablet. I've VNC'd into my OSX box. The recognition sucks bu+ it's sufficient. The LCD 's about 6 inches. It's perfect around the house for browsing reahing email etc. Now follow me here ... There was a piece about the new iPod having new features that people don't know about yet ... what if Apple created an enclusure that had a docking bay for an iPod. It aII kind of fits ... I DROOL @ ThE THOUGHT

Re:ipod + ?? = Tablet ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's hoping.... just think of all the freshman students that already have a part of the investment.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ummm. Apple already have the handwriting recognition. It's called 'ink' and it's included in all OSX from 10.2 IIRC. It came from Newton. I still have, and use, my Newton. A lot. The hwr on that is pretty much awesome, it adapts to you (it's a bit sucky at first, but gets better and better and....). With a G4 or low-power high speed G3, it would rock. I would like a G4 newton. But I doubt if we'll see one as such.

My betting is a 'satellite' screen with low power consumption, touch interface, limited HWR and no storage driven by a low-power, slow onboard processor, linked to a 'base station' computer with 'proper' keyboard and processor, and all the storage, running across airport express. But I've been wrong before ;-)

Apple

[lJlolel]

Apple is known for its spectacularly chic designs and ease of use. No doubt they will place all of their impressive resources on making an original tablet that will set the future standard.

One possibility

[kalidasa]

Take an iBook.

Remove the keyboard and mouse, and add integrated bluetooth.

Leave in the Airport Extreme card.

Change the screen to a touch screen. Rotate it around and place it flat against the spot where the keyboard was.

Take out the FireWire, one of the two USB ports, the VGA connector, the modem, the ethernet card, and the optical drive, and replace them all with a dock connector.

Shrink the hard drive by replacing it with the new Toshiba 60 GB drive. Shrink the motherboard about the same amount.

Add a little metal stand that has the same freedom of movement that the iMac monitor arm has, but with a base that's just big enough to hold the two USBs, a FireWire port, a modem, ethernet, an integrated Airport Express, the optical drive, the power transformer, and a weight, and has an easy-to-release connector to hold the computer and a Dock connector.

Throw in a stylus, a bluetooth mouse, and a bluetooth keyboard (you can set them up using the stylus on the touchscreen).

What do you have? Maybe a 10-in iBook that's also an iMac?

Re:One possibility

[Maserati]

Mmmm.... I think you'll want to leave the Firewire connector on. The potential utility of a tablet-camcorder combo is just too powerful to ignore for the professional market; substitute any media device with a 1394 port for 'camcorder'". And Apple *will* make it so you can connect an iPod to the tablet, and they aren't likely to use USB2.0 for *that*

Otherwise, nice product summary.

s/summary/wishlist.

Apple coined the term "PDA"

[daveschroeder]

Apple (actually then-CEO John Sculley) coined the very term. And while I suppose all this is up for debate, the Tandy 100 and HP 100 aren't exactly what people would consider a "PDA". Even though the Newton was a little too big (or at least that's the prevailing notion), it is generally considered to be the first PDA, not to mention that technically, it really *is* the first PDA, since Apple invented the term "PDA" itself.

I need my eyes checked!

[Anonymous Coward]

On first read, I parsed the headline as "Apple: Speculation About An Apple Toilet". I assumed they were coming out with a "iPee"...

Re:Not the first time Apple's been toying with thi

[bhtooefr]

I also read something about one where the logic was in the screen, and much like many of the newer Slates, the keyboard could be completely removed. It was also supposed to use the G4 processor (this is when the iMac had JUST come out).

Common misconception

[AllenChristopher]

Wacom tablets don't use touch overlay technology. It's RFID tweaked to locate the stylus precisely in space. That's why it's pressure/tilt sensitive instead of just on/off.

You could build a non-pressure sensitive tablet PC, heck, maybe someone has. You couldn't sell it as an Apple. Graphic designers will buy Apple tablets with Wacom parts like chocolate bars. Digital sketchbook done right, yay.

I'd love a tablet. I don't care about the high price right now, I don't care about the lower cpu power. All I care about is that the current tablets run Windows and are made by insane PC firms. You just can't rely on the sleep functionality in Windows laptops.... not until someone you know has been using the specific model you're going to buy for three years and has had no problems.

Re:Common misconception

[tb3]

Bingo! Graphics people are the target market for this gizmo, not suits who want to take notes. This is why Windows-based tablets fail, Windows still doesn't really 'get' creative graphics. The killer app for the tablet Mac is Alias Sketchbook Pro which recently became available for the Mac.

Re:Common misconception

[Anonymous Coward]

The other killer market would be school kids.
well not so much the kids themselves but parents and teacher.
who would like computers more if they had handwritting input.
Also a market apple targets. Low power (ie High G3 or G4) wouldn't be an issue, not with 30 of in a room and say Zeroconf/Xgrid support.

my guess for a tablet to really breakground it should be cheap and resource seeking. more than powerful and standalone.

Re:Not the first time Apple's been toying with thi

[BandwidthHog]

I think he's saying you can fold the screen in half, closing a book [...] Then you unfold it from the other side and it's magic.

Jacob's Laptop?

Thin Client Remote Control

[ztirffritz]

I think that this item will be part of the the new iMac, but the screen and the CPU are going to be wirelessly connected. Currently Apple allows you to stream music from your computer to your stereo, but you still must go back to the computer to control it. I think that the Screen is going to be like a wireless thin-client that will allow users to control iTunes from their couch. Visualize this: On your way to the living room of your house/apartment you pluck your iMac's moniter from the cradle and carry it with you to the living room. Your Airport Express is already connected to the stereo and you moniter is now connected to your CPU via the Airport Express. You can now access and control iTunes from you living-room instead of having to walk back to your office to change playlists or select the internet radio station you want to listen too. Want to search the web? Guess what? You portable iMac monitor allows you to do that too from the comfort of your humble living-room. Couchpotato meets Nerd.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[.com b4 .storm]

Can't you innovate?

Yeah, it's pretty obvious that Apple can't innovate for crap.

Nice try though.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Akimotos]

don't forget about this one.

This comment made my afternoon, thanks

[subtillus]

means no text.

Definitive answer on the wireless monitor?

[Alaska Jack]

I've always thought this would be the holy grail of home computing. I just want to sit on the couch and websurf while my wife reads or watches TV.

The killer hardware app would be a relatively inexpensive accessory (under $500) that would let me do that. I don't want to have to buy a whole new computer -- I don't need a laptop, and if I wanted to get any serious work done, I could always just go over to my desk and use my desktop.

Now, my question. I've seen others bring up the possibility of exactly such a wireless, touch-screen monitor. When that happens, replies seem to fall into two categories:

*Either: "It can't be done -- moving pixels requires a huge amount of bandwith, more than can be provided wirelessly,"

* Or "Viewsonic already sells these as "smart monitors."

Well, which is it? Viewsonic does seem to be selling them, although they are very expensive. Is there a technical reason someone can't take a 15-inch LCD screen, slap an inexpensive, non-pressure-sensitive overlay on it, add a standard wi-fi card, and sell a million jillion of them? And if so, how did Viewsonic overcome it?

A dumb non-computer guy wants to know.

- Alaska Jack

Re:Definitive answer on the wireless monitor?

[BenjyD]

The wireless monitors are basically small thin clients running some sort of VNC like software. That's why they are expensive, because it's like buying a whole extra small computer to put in your monitor.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[callipygian-showsyst]

Well, the folks on /. have proved history wrong again! Apple invented *everything*! All other companies do is copy them.

Re:They aren't getting anything out the door NOW!!

[rogerborn]

Dear Junk:

Thus spoken by someone who probably would not own an Apple computer or iPod anyway, regardless of its availability.

Small Dog Electronics (smalldog.com) still has iMacs for sale, and so do many other places, if you really want one.

Everything else Apple makes is still for sale and available.

Since this marks the time Apple has ever not met its product availability, cut them some slack. Its not like they are Micro$oft trying to ship Longhorn, right?

Regards,

Re:What happened, Apple?

[callipygian-showsyst]

Automator is simply Microsoft Bob.

I don't see this happening

[curtlewis]

There have been two waves of tablet PCs in the industry: The original with Go, etc back in the early to mid 90s and the recent wave that fell flat on it's face.

This history makes it a rather risky move for anyone to enter that market. I just don't see Apple making this move. I see them sticking with their excellent laptops.

Now I do see them considering more integration between computers and the iPod. Apple may well license iPod technology to other vendors than Motorola (for their upcoming iTunes compatible phone). Before too long 4gb of memory in a cell phone is going to be commonplace and that's what the iPod mini has now. I think Apple's deal with Motorola shows that Apple knows they won't be able to sell the hardware forever, so they've taken steps to move the technology beyond that.

I think an iPodPhone is a great idea. One less gadget to forget to grab on my way out the door in the morning. I don't see Apple making the phone, though, so count out your dreams of an iPhone. An iPod-white SonyEricsson T630 with 8gb of memory sounds great to me, though! Talk about a big selection of MP3 ringtones!

Re:I don't see this happening

[TCaM]

As obnoxious as most cell networks are about ringtones I predict 'special' 'vendor requested' firmware versions to force you to have to pay them for anything you can use as a ringtone. Verizon is a good example, they had nokia hack up the pc cuite so that your verison phone wont use non verizon sanctioned (paid for) ring tones.

bastards.

Re:Not the first time Apple's been toying with thi

[FireAtWill]

Cool, it would be. But better would be if they eliminated the keyboard completely in favor of a docking port that would connect easily as you slid the tablet (in portrait or landscape configuration) into an inexpensive tablet stand, which in turn was connected to a real life-sized keyboard.

This is what I've been waiting for. Then I could get the stand/keyboard combinations for the office, home, and one to stick in my suitcase while traveling. That would be the best of both worlds.

You are forgetting the target market...

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course none of the geeks on Slashdot would buy a tablet when they can get a notebook that is cheaper and more powerful. But the target audience for tablets is people that can't type!!! A tablet should run a web browser and nothing else; thus it is the perfect web access device for people that don't want to bother learning to use a computer OS.

Re:You are forgetting the target market...

[rogerborn]

Target market?

Not a very big one. People in business who can't type for themselves are in trouble. They can't compete. Students are the same way. In fact most students are already much better typists than their parents.

Who does this leave? Very few people. In some businesses an employee using a tablet is seen as backward. He/she would have to write their notes, then later convert them to text with a keyboard, then make their reports, analysis, or presentations. Taking notes in a meeting or during a session with a client by using a silent keyboard on a laptop is much faster an more accurate than scribbling on a tablet.

There is a reason tablets are dying off.

Take a look:

http://engadget.com/entry/8312965763231519/

Regards,
Roger Born
writing.borngraphics.com
"Out of my mind. Back in five minutes."

Averatec C3500

[FaasNat]

Averatec came out with a reasonably priced tablet PC. I've seen it at Costco for roughly $1,299. I think there are rumors about Dell releasing a sub $1,000 tablet PC.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[callipygian-showsyst]

the Tandy 100 measures 30" wide x 21.5"

You can't get away with making up facts like that! That's just plain wrong. The Tandy100 was the size of a small notebook. It was 30 (w) x 21.5 (D) x 4.5 (H) CENTIMETERS.

Now, I know that Apple trains you folks to spread disinformation on blogs, but you won't get away with that here.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[fermion]

I have owned and extensively used all these machines, in additon to thier succesors. The tandy 100 was a general purpose computer. It did not inherently have any organization software, and I do not remeber ever buying a tape with such software. I do not ever remember thinking that I would use the machine as a replacement for a day planner. In fact I had both.

The newton replaced my dayplanner, not my laptop. Apple did indeed commercialize the idea of a reletively advanced computer dedicated to storing and elegantly retrieving personal information. The only problem is that they visioned it as a standalone device, and did include sufficiently advanced provisions to connect with the GPC. And it was big. This is where Palm made advancement.

Pretty much everything else is targeted at the people who will only buy a commodity GPC. Perhaps striped down, but still a GPC.

Enough with the monitor already

[SengirV]

Why is Stevie so fixated on FORCING people to buy a monitor with a Mac. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know - Buy a PowerMac. Well excuse me, but I'd rather NOT have to spend $2K to get a Mac without a monitor. Stevie loves his profit margins, but give me an F'n break already. It seesm taht he is simply afraid to sell computers.

I already have like 5 monitors, I don't want another one!!!!!! Looks like it's upgrade time for my B&W instead of buying a new Mac. Until a cheaper headless MAc comes out Apple will never see above 4%

Re:Not the first time Apple's been toying with thi

[Anonymous Coward]

why dock it?
http://www.apple.com/keyboard/

OT: danamania's photochops

[mrchaotica]

Hey, cool photochops! One question though: where's the engine on those Countachs?

Yes, in facf it is

[Udo Schmitz]

May be not perFe ct but it works quite fine here as you can clearly see.

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh no...An Apple hating troll. The only thing worse than a Apple zealot!

Re:What happened, Apple?

[thatguywhoiam]

You can't get away with making up facts like that! That's just plain wrong. The Tandy100 was the size of a small notebook. It was 30 (w) x 21.5 (D) x 4.5 (H) CENTIMETERS.

Ah, you are right, I was hasty in reading the spec.

Although i think my point still stands, its not a PDA.

Oh, and this:
Now, I know that Apple trains you folks to spread disinformation on blogs, but you won't get away with that here.

That's fuckin hilarious. Now, I know Microsoft trains you folks to talk about Apple training other folks, but you won't get away with that here.

And, for architects, SketchUp 3D

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.sketch3d.com/

Very, very nice application. I would love for an architect to come to the coffee shop and work on the design of my home in real-time 3D from tablet.

Go to market team and focus

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe that what you guys fail to see is that such an effort would require a seriously dedicated vertical go-to-market team. Apple with it's Enterprise effort still doesn't have such a team and they don't dedicate the resources to "winning" in this sector.

Apple has to keep building out the message that it is selling to Wall Street which is Music and Digital Lifestyle. Anything else will be perceived as distracting and losing focus. Their stock is strongly supported by the cash in the bank and the education that they've built for the analyst's all falls around iPod and the Retail Stores.

If they were to get into the Tablet marketplace they would be a niche company with a non-standard offering (eg no ISVs) going into a niche marketplace. That's not how Apple is built. They are a consumer electronics company (not a computing company) that likes to make simple, elegant products who can be sold through tiered distribution or direct via the web.

Think "Aiport Express" to get an idea of what I mean. Then for their innovation quotient think about the new screens that they launched which appeal to their core customers getting them to upgrade as well as attracting new people to Apple. This is why way back they invested in LCD manufacturers overseas (see the historical financials) - now that forsight combined with Apple's innovative productization process is paying off.

Tablets IMHO are best with low end processors and simple form software. In China they are building entire PC's that are Windows free AND Intel free. The whole system is sub 300. This is the same cost discipline that must be applied to cost sensitive markets like vertical ones where tablets are still at.

The Monitor is for the new iMac!

[rogerborn]

You are very correct about the idea of an Apple tablet. Its a dad idea.

I still don't see where people think this new "monitor" is for a tablet. It makes perfect sense that it is for the iMac that will be introduced in 18 days in Paris.

Think about it.

Aluminum clad, wireless, not physically connected to the computer, running the full OS X in a G5 desktop computer (probably water cooled)

You could probably hook a real flat screen monitor to your new iMac, and use this little wireless guy any place you want to.

In other words, the new iMac will come with the little monitor, and you can buy a bigger one to go with it, if you want a bigger one. This is a great marketing paradigm.

I think those 60MB Toshiba drives Apple has been buying up may also be in the new, smaller iMac. It just makes sense, IMO.

Roger Born
writing.borngraphics.com
"These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

Re:What happened, Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

He said the "PDA market" not the "PDA." Maybe not to a nerd, but there is a difference.

All this speculation...

[OSeXy]

Maybe, just maybe all it is, is just a design trademark filing and nothing more.

I think it is strange they (Apple) would file in Europe, and not at the US Patent Office.

Also, a keynotes or so ago didn't Steve mention that they had a PDA-like prototype, but it got shelved?

Its not exactly a tablet.

[Anonymous Coward]

The article mentions that the device runs OS X but that it has only a 8 inch screen. That sounds more like a PDA.

I think a low power G3 processor would be perfect for such a device. I think Apple could get 10+ hours of battery life by using a G3. OS X has the ability to use the GPU effectively, minimizing the need for a beefy CPU.

it is real

[Anonymous Coward]

I have seen it.... it is much more than a monitor. There is a flip-out (think of a retractable trio keyboard) that comes out of the bottom.

There is also a full array of ports.

It is also the most beautiful piece of industrial design that I have ever seen. Just wait, people... you will cream yourselves.

This is the absolute truth.... i saw it at Apple's packaging design firm, Character.

Take it or leave it... it is true. I will smile nice and big as you all doubt me, because you might feel very stupid in the next month.