Slashdot Mirror
Inside View on Apple WWDC Rumors
AppleLurker writes "In a recent interview with DVD newsroom an Apple employee talks WWDC rumors including the iPhone, Blu-ray, MacPro and the Apple Tablet. More realistic about what not to expect next week when Steve Jobs hits the stage." Apple's next move is always a hotbed of debate leading up to a product release and with all the rumors flying this year all bets are off until we see the checkered flag, so take with the requisite grain of salt.
I'm an attendee and have noticed that the online schedule of sessions still has about 40% of the slots with "To Be Announced" as their descriptions. In the past Apple has done this when new technologies are to be announced; the session titles are filled in after the keynote is over.
So perhaps there's going to be quite a bit of new software this time.
Maybe if they announce Windows Vista at the WWDC it might actually materialise?
I think that the author should take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
I'd love an Apple tablet with the same approximate specs as a MacBook (you could lose the optical drive, drop the camera, and use a slower processor and I wouldn't miss it). I'd happily pay the price for a base MacBook with these features, and I think even a small $50-100 price difference would be sufficient to keep sales high. Using MacBook parts (except for the touch display and enclosure) could help offset the high cost of a tablet.
If you haven't bothered reading TFA, don't. It's sub-Mac-rumor-site rumors, complete with a (probably fictitious) phone conversation and cheesy backstory.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
It's interesting to see the hype and everyone excited about upcoming products lately. For Microsoft, I think it's because they're a de facto "standard" in the desktop and office products spaces. For Apple, it is more like they are known for coming out with very sexy, sleek products that are also easy to use. Too bad some of the free and open source projects don't benefit from this kind of free publicity. I guess you could almost count Firefox as being among the hype machines, but I would bet most of that is user-generated -- people who are fans of Firefox -- as opposed to pundits, industry people, etc.
- Introduction of the Core 2 Duo to the iNtel Mac lineup;
- Conroe will be featured in the iMac and the new PowerMac; Quad capability may or may not be present...
- Merom will be featured in the MacMini, the MacBook, and the MacBook Pro [evidence of meromac]
- Woodcrest MAY be present in the next revision of the XServe and XServe RAID
- Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
- Point releases are traditionally announced at WWDC.
- Point releases usually accompany upgrades.
- Conroe, Merom, and Woodcrest bring x86_64 (EM64T) support, 10.5 should take advantage of it fully.
- A bigger shift to the iMac line.
- A shift to the iPod nano line (they've been killing off stock by giving the freaking things away with new Mac purchases).
- Something less useless than the iPod Hi-Fi.
Everything else is gravy. Don't count on an iPhone, Apple's not ready for that market. I think Motorola may be on hand to announce a sister to the ROKR and SLVR, something akin to the RAZR with a better capacity. And it will synch with iTunes via Bluetooth. We may also see a Bluetooth-enabled iPod. Stock TV Tuner support for the Mac Mini would also be expected, as would SLi/Crossfire for the MacPro.Informatus Technologicus
- "Apple's next move is always a hotbed of debate leading up to a product release and with all the rumors flying this year all bets are off until we see the checkered flag, so take with the requisite grain of salt."
Meanwhile, it's full speed ahead for mixed metaphors!The NeXT Version of Windows(TM) has been announced at WWDC several times in history. Most recently, Longhorn was announced at WWDC 2005. The result in that instance was a name change and schedule slip.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
"We're a silo. Apple employees find out about new products when they're being announced. Or online. Nobody knows anything."
Frankly, I'd be concerned if I had a CEO that said "we will do this and that" and only then ask the developers who in the end will end up making them, if it is possible, how much it'll cost, etc.
Also, just for a "side-comment", this is a common tactic in politics. They give a false informant to the press who leaks something out saying it's coming from a reliable source near the point of origin. Only part of it is usually true, and it's usually manipulated. I would bet that if Apple's empployees are in a silo and know nothing of what is being anounced, then how does this source know? Is she at the source? Is she making it up? Is she a plant by the marketing team to cause a stirr? I think this is the case. But that's just IMHO.
In a recent interview with DVD newsroom an ex-Apple employee talks WWDC rumors.
More likely is that we'll see updated powermacs and xserves, such that apple completes the intel changeover (promised a year ago), and Leopard. Maybe a "one more thing", say 64-bit support. It's a /developer/ conference, not a consumer show, so expect new stuff that will directly impact developers rather than consumers.
Of course, things like a tablet and iPhone would be nice, but I really doubt it (at least, not yet).
Drop the optical drive? How will you install the OS?
Use a slower processor? Who would buy it?
The whole reason that Windows-based tablets are starting to sell better is that they are now more comparable in performance and features to regular laptops. They have the pen functionality as a bonus. You will notice that there are no major manufacturers making slate-type Tablet PCs anymore, because they were too expensive and lacked the performance capabilities of a convertible-type tablet. The niche is just too small for a very application specific device; similar to the one you describe. Plus, how many tablets have sold to date? I went looking and from what I could find the 1 millionth one was sold in February of 2005, and we may be up to 3 million by now. That's not a lot of machines when you consider Apple sold over a million Macs in the last quarter.
So, to answer your question, it will compete for sales because it will need to be just as capable a device with the added pen functionality. If the numbers (sales and dollars) won't support the product in the mix, there won't be a product from Apple.
I'd like to transfer them to the video iPod
Try plugging your iPod into your USB port. It happens automagically.
watch it during a rail-commute
Place your iPod in your hand. Get on trin. Sit. Turn on iPod. Select show. Watch.
or plug it into a friends tv for playback.
Attach small end of video cable to headphone jack. Attach other end to friend's TV. Set iPod TV output option to "on." Select video. Press play.
Either you're the dumbest electronics customer in history, or you don't have an iPod and you're just trolling.
-- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
I'd love an Apple tablet
Trouble is, you're rare enough that it's not worth doing. You can be sure that Apple is intensely aware of how the Tablet PCs are selling, and there just isn't that much demand for that form factor. It would take something compellingly different to make it fly, beyond just being a Mac without a keyboard. Now, if Samsung came up with a 300 DPI display or something to go with it, that might do the trick, but I'm not holding my breath for that.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I'm still waiting for "elevator photos". The keynote hype is not complete until then.
(Anyone who follows these things will know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.)
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
No, actually the point was to save space and weight. I'd actually prefer a sliding keyboard to a clamshell notebook design, and Apple just might be the only company willing to go there.
I still see no particular reason why Apple couldn't make a tablet AND the MacBook and have both sell well. The main issue is minimizing the "unique" parts of the tablet--by using as much stock componetry as possible from the MacBook, except for the unique display and case, and possibly a very slim Motorola RAZR style low-profile keyboard (with less tactile resistance on the keys, of course, to facilitate normal typing speeds and a Mighty Mouse-style audible click for user feedback, since the keys wouldn't feel like they've moved much). By keeping the price just slightly below that of the MacBook, it wouldn't cannibalize sales--Apple would make money with either purchase.
I don't expect the $599 price that TFA seems to suggest Apple wants. I want the "typical" notebook reinvented. I'm willing to accept a 3-400MHz slower processor to help offset the higher cost of the touch interface and to lower power requirements. I'm willing to lose the integrated optical drive because it's as useless to me as a 56k modem (which has become a USB accessory itself)--an external unit for the one time a year most people use it would work fine...or even no optical drive at all in favor of remote installation software, like used with a PDA. If I can push OS updates to the tablet from my other Macs or PCs, I'm set.
Ultimately, the tablet wouldn't compete with the MacBook any more than the Mac mini does. They're for different markets all around (mini for the budget-minded person who doesn't care about road use; MacBook for the thrifty road warrior/student; tablet for the technophile/professional/multimedia junkie who wants a full-powered, big screened PDA). I'll never buy a MacBook (I already have a PowerBook), but I'd immediately hand over close to the same amount of money for a thoughtfully-designed tablet without a clamshell hinge.
Apple's the company that can make these things work.
They tried. Remember the Newton?
The thing is, anytime Apple launches a new product they gamble not only the development money, but a large portion of their reputation. iPod paid off, Newton didn't, and so forth. When Apple introduced the iPod, there was clearly a market for music players, and they were able to do it far better than the competion. When it comes to making a tablet, the decision must include at least the following considerations: 1) how many people want it: Thousands or millions? 2) Can Apple completely blow the other players away, and make a major technical leap? Apple's handwriting recognition is good, but is it that much better than any of the others? 3) How does it play with the Mac, and enhance the market position of their core products?
You may want such a device, but until millions of people want it, Apple may well be better off working on whatever it is they've already got in the pipeline for the next year and a half.
Heck, I'd love to see Apple sell a true 1080p HD portable projector, but if only five thousand people want it they'd lose money doing it.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Despite the low numbers, Apple could be very interseted in who the tablets are sold to rather than the quantities. Tablets are an expensive luxury form of portable craved by doctors, lawyers, and salesmen. Anyone who likes the "walk softly and carry mean clipboard" look as a form of function or authority will want a tablet just because of the form factor.
A gynecologist friend of mine has a Windows Tablet PC and hates it because of the crashing and small resolution, but he carries it because he doesn't look like a "troll or jeweler hunched over a laptop". He'll write on paper before he'll use a conventional laptop when he's with a patient. Apple is very good at making form factors everyone drools over. Even if the Mac Tablet is only a doctor's "data entry" PC it could be quite a lucrative market that would inspire many more sales.
The development side is risky, but Apple already has much IP that a tablet could benefit from. They've been pushing alternate input for a while in Mac OS X: Inkwell hand recognition, Voice recognition, Universal Access, and other technologies are already there. Apple has patents on areas of parallax compensation, handwriting recognition, and a whole lot more left over from the Newton. The rumored "resolution independence" for Quartz could solve one of the biggest problems of other PC tablets. As far as the hardware goes, it would require a new production process but only a few parts that aren't already bought in bulk for other Apple items. Again, it all seems to come down to the form factor.
If Apple gets into this area, my bet is that they will live or die on the form factor much more than on the OS features or even price. This is a very lucrative audience and Apple has lots of experience making, pricing, and selling machines to these audiences.
At the end of the article
AFAIC, this article is a made-up bunch of dog crap. When the other party hangs up on a land-line you don't get a dial-tone afterwards, just a black line. The dial-tone only comes after you've hung-up and picked up the phone again. That's my experience on all phones I've ever used.Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
A realistic-looking accounting system. Enough to convince the SEC.
I don't think anyone would want their gynecologist drooling at work ;)
I believe Apple no longer has a live webcast of the WWDC. You can see a text-only live webcast here at MacRumors.