Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Patents Tablet Mac (with Photos)

Posted by timothy on from the slendery dept.

jkheit writes "I wrote a quick news item over at the Mac Observer that might be of interest. Apple patents a tablet Mac. The new photos confirm that this device is a touch-screen Apple tablet. You can see it here."

12 of 565 comments (clear)

  1. Wait! by RatBastard · · Score: 5, Funny

    My iBook isn't going to happy when she sees that come home with me. :(

    --
    Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
  2. Its nice... by Upaut · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It looks, should they make it, to be smaller and lighter than a "current" tablet PC. Kinda like an oversized PDA. Like a Newton and a Powerbook got freeky in the back room...

    Its so pure, I think I'm going to cry...

    Seriously though, I am hoping to see something like this in the near future. Hopefully it will be 'announced' in the next Macworld Boston. Inkwell is such a nice pice of software, it would be great to see it being used in a tablet.

    --
    3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
  3. Correction. Illustrations not photos. by jkheit · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sorry about the misleading title. (A case of fingers before brain) There are illustrations from the patent, not photos. (Perhaps this can be corrected). Anyway, my apologies on that.

  4. Don't Get Too Excited by Cr0w+T.+Trollbot · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Apple patents a lot of things which never see the light of day. It may be that their tablet implamentation has a few unique features they want to patent, but they have no real intention of bringing a TabletMac to market anytime soon. Of course, that could change if they think market conditions warrent...

    Though the pictures don't indicate this, I wonder if they could also be filling in a few final functional gaps to turn the iPod into a full-blown PDA? Tantalizing as that might be, it's probably unlikely as well, seeing as how they're making bigger margins on the iPod Photo than PDA manufacturers are making on their product...

    Crow T. Trollbot

  5. Re:Patent? by TheHonestTruth · · Score: 5, Informative
    It's a DESIGN patent, not a utility patent. They only have ruights to someone using that design specifically. Design patents are very easy to, pardon the pun, design around. You just have to make some ornamental change. IANADesign Patent Lawyer, so I don't know the legal standard for getting around a design patent, but from what I understand, they are more used in the clothing, accessory, and toy markets to prevent counterfeitting where looks are as improtant as function.

    -truth

    --

    I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...

  6. They are, check Tiger, it has built in functions by nickroethemeier · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I noticed that in Apple Quartz Composer, there is mention of a TABLET pen location. I tried this with my Wacom Graphire, and no luck. At this point, I figured that apple must be making new drivers for existing tablets. Well, I guess it's an APPLE BRAND TABLET PC!!! Whoohoo!.

  7. it will work this time by fermion · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Apple has some experience in this. The newton was the tablet PC that technology would allow. It was a full powered computer, with expandability and full network connections. I remember transfering files over my ethernet. I did not have to connect my Newton to my computer, only my network.

    What killed the Newton was syncronization. All the stuff I wrote on the newton was difficult to transfer to the Mac. All my contacts on the Mac was difficult to reliably syncronize to the newton. Don't tell me how to do it. I have used a newton from the day it came out until they day they kiled it. I have all the tools, cards, utilities, whatever. I still ahve 2000 sitting in it's leather case in my house.

    So, as soon as palm V came out, small, sync, everything, I was all over it. It was could not be a writing machine, but I could live with that. My Newton became more trouble than it was worth.

    But Apple now has sync, at least for what can fit on the .Mac drive. It does not sync macs, and I have found nothing that will do so quickly over 802.11b, but you can do calendars, contacts, mail, and good number of documents, which is has made my life so much easier.

    So, this tablet PC, which will have bluetooth and airport, can do what the newton never could. Be an effective remote terminal. You can carry it around for an hour or a day, and, within a few minutes, all relevent changes can be transfered. You can take it to the coffee house, sync to .Mac, and by the time you get back home, your big machine can be updated.

    Am I sorely afraid I will buy this thing. Yes. I don't really know what I would use it for, which is the rub. If it is like an iTablet, consumer priced, it would be fun to have. If it was PowerTablet, the investment would be difficult.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  8. Patent RSS Feeds by stikij · · Score: 5, Informative

    Courtesy of PatentMojo.com
  9. Prior art? by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Doesn't this violate the Etch-a-Sketch design patent?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  10. Using Tiger by CypherXero · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Tiger (10.4) has a built-in feature that allows you to rotate the screen.

    Go the the System Preferences and then hold down the option key while you click the Displays button. You will see a pulldown thats labeled "Rotate". Select it and you will see your screen rotate.

  11. Re:Patent? by mesach · · Score: 5, Funny

    With the speed of the patent office being what it is, maybe this is a patent for the Newton, finally being granted.

    --
    moo.
  12. Re:Photos???? Comment + mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Whoops! Research please!

    Apple Computer is a huge computer manufacturer. In fact, they are the 5th biggest in terms of recent US sales figures, and sales are increasing more rapidly than any other manufacturer. [Source: IDC, 4Q2004 report]

    So even though Apple only holds 3.8% of the market:

    1. Dell @ 17% of market
    2. HP, @ 16% of market
    3. IBM, @ 5% of market
    4. Gateway, @ 4% of market
    5. Apple @ 3.8% of market

    And there you have it. They may be small compared to Microsoft's 95% OS penetration, but they are large in terms of being a product manufacturer, neatly falling in the "2nd tier by volume" along with IBM and Gateway.