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Amazon, Apple Expected to Strut Their Small-Tablet Stuff Soon
After a few years of rumors and hints, All Things Digital says that a smaller iPad will debut in October. And Amazon may be trying to steal their thunder with a revamped Kindle tablet: Nerval's Lobster writes with a report at SlashCloud that "Amazon could be readying a new set of Kindle tablets for unveiling in early September. That's the widespread speculation following the online retailer's invitations to media for a Sept. 6 event in Santa Monica, Calif. Even by the coy standards of most tech companies' event invitations, Amazon's is notably bereft of detail. It will take place at 10:30 AM PST at Barker Hangar, a noted (and quite large) event space. But the timing of the event is auspicious: with Apple rumored to be unveiling a smaller iPad in the near future, and the holiday shopping season a few months away, early September could prove the ideal time for Amazon to whip back the curtain from a new tablet and dominate the media conversation, at least for a few days."
It would mean bridging the phone and the tablet. I hope it's available before mid October, since my wife's birthday. Yes, it'll come out in September, I read that, but availability is a different thing.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
You can't steal Apple's thunder. They could release the iTurd, a literal green three-coiled turd, with a USB port squished into it, and people would buy it. People aren't interested in the hardware when they buy Apple -- they're interested in the brand, the experience, the ability to tell all your friends you have the latest iThing. Look at the iPod for example; Even when the very first version was released, there were plenty of alternatives that beat it on cost, service, feature set, and form factor. People still bought the iPod en masse.
It's the same reason some people blanche when offered Pepsi instead of Coke, despite blind taste tests indicating most people couldn't tell the difference. Brand identity is a very, very, potent tool. And so there will be no thunder stealing; The Kindle could beat the next iThing in every category, sell at half-price, and come with a working "Give me an Orgasm" button and people would still buy Apple. It takes time, effort, and a lot of marketing dollars, to undermine brand identity. Also, as it turns out, many cubic miles of lawyers -- as Samsung has recently found out. Apple has the largest market capitalization of any company on the planet; It's Goliath... and unlike the biblical parable, a few rocks will not down this beast.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Are they looking at the success of ebook readers and trying to jump on board? Pearl e-ink technology is why those took off, not the form factor. I could go for a slightly larger reader to be honest.
Ugh. It's gonna be the new ipod touch. Aka the new iPod. It's not gonna be a mini iPad. I wish people would get it right. I mean I know it's just an iName thing but i firmly believe this is the correct iName not iPad mini or minipad blech
I can see it now: Amazon vs Apple, with Apple suing for taking their idea for a 7 inch tablet 2 years before Apple got around to making a midsize tablet. Just because they hadn't made it yest doesn't mean you haven't pre-infringed.
Since the iPad is just a very large iPod Touch, why even both wasting my time with an iPad Mini? This won't be the reaction of the masses of consumers that love Apple (for whatever reason, they actually aren't that great anymore,) but I think it's legit. When will Apple actually embrace the tablet medium as something wholly separate from their iPod and iPhone platforms? They can share a core, have apps that are similar or easier to convert, but when I use an iPad I feel like I'm using an iPhone/iPod with a magnifying glass. It just scales so terribly. The iPad is a success because all other tablets are awful, not really because it's something great. The more I experience the iPad, the more I wonder, "why is this still popular?"
and maybe, just maybe, get a few sales in before Apple.
is the height of absurdity.
I wonder how Apple is going to spin the fact that every man and their dog was releasing a 7" tablet at the time that Jobs was vitriolic in his total contempt for that size. How times change.
Welcome to the party, Apple. You'll discover that it's an excellent form factor for tablets, very mobile for use on the go instead of merely transportable like larger ones, and it doesn't force you to squint like a smartphone display. Best all-rounder size, I reckon.
I love mine, it's proven repeatedly to have been the right choice and an excellent workhorse.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
...sue them for making somthing that looks and feels like Gene Roddenberry invented it....
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Everyone from Archos to Yarvik who already make 7" tablets should sue Apple for blatantly ripping off their IP.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Clearly Apple is stealing the design of the Kindle Fire in an attempt to create confusion in the market place.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Not too excited about a new tablet. What I really want is a color e-ink Kindle. *sigh*
I'm not entirely convinced that the game is settled in favor of Apple and the next rev of iPad. I'm extremely curious about Microsoft's Surface tablets. Surface is not in the same exact category as the purported iPad Mini or the next device from Amazon, or Google - it's an ~10" device whereas the rumor mills suggest a 7" form factor from other tablet competitors. Despite the size difference, it's worth noting that the main use-case for a consumer using one of these devices is web browsing, media consumption, note-taking, occasional (and typically RO) access to office documents, games, and platform specific apps.
.NET toolsets) has been a historical strength of Microsoft's.
The last two categories (games, platform specific apps) give Apple, and Android based devices, a significant first-mover advantage (in that order). When it comes to web-browsing, office applications and familiarity of interface, Windows has an edge (now along with Mac OS X) - at least in the consumer demographic that's waiting to spend money on a new device. If the rumors of low-pricing of Surface RT are true, and they are sold in the vicinity (or under) USD 300, and if the curiously interesting keyboard-and-mouse-on-a-flap turns out to be a seamless peripheral, then there is a good chance that Surface RT + Windows RT will gain momentum. Microsoft has already announced that they will bundle Office with Windows RT - and that's going to be a big deal IMO. This will certainly upset Google, and Amazon offerings - but perhaps only make a small dent in to Apple. Nevertheless, the world could look like an Apple and Microsoft dominated one this holiday season, leaving behind Android offerings. If the sales momentum is even somewhat interesting for Surface RT devices, I think that App developers will start implementing Metro style applications quickly - and developer experience (using Visual Studio and
Of course, my analysis is predicated on two important assumptions - pricing and a great execution on the flap-keyboard, but I'll nevertheless be tempted to at least wait until Surface starts selling before deciding which tablet to buy next (and which ones to recommend to my non-techie friends).
-- obligatory (but true) caveat: my comments my own, and don't reflect my employer or colleagues' positions.
I think a second, smaller iPad will actually fragment the iPad market and send the message to the world that there are choices in the tablet market. Right now people are patrified to plunk down $600-$800 on "the wonrg" tablet. They know they can't go wrong with the iPad so they buy that. When there are two iPads to choose from that mentality should start to change. People will start asking themselves, "what's the right tablet for me?"
I think this about sums it up:
Kindle expected to sell well among parents who always buy the wrong thing
I hope every tablet manufacturer now making a tablet smaller than 10" immediately sues, claiming Apple stole their design.
to a 7 inch wi-fi tablet and I'd buy one immediately. With bluetooth earphones/microphone I'd be all set.
that's what prophet Jobs called the smaller Samsung tablets when they were announced.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
I would rather buy something made by Microsoft then something made by Apple.
Who cares what's expected. I expect a lot of things, but this world isn't full of sane or rational individuals, and my hopes are uncorrectably too high.
Events, or it didn't happen.
Apple usually has a , good, better, best category... so an iPad Mini would fill in the "good" slot. No fragmentation there!
What about Samsung suing Apple for stealing it's design of a tablet with a size smaller than 10" but bigger than a phone ? After all, we DO KNOW (it was publicly said) that Apple came to that idea after using a Samsung 7" tablet !!! Blatant copy...
I'd say that samsung should ask for... 1B$ damages ;-)
Seriously though, do you know where I could get some dried Steve Jobs shit?
It had better not be rectangular with rounded corners.
Have gnu, will travel.
Sorry, but I don't buy the argument not to buy from ANY company because of legal actions they take, at least not when legal actions re not the core business model.
Google is I think even more guilty than Apple of bad patent lawsuits, by having Motorola violate the RAND patents they were supposed to offer to all companies on equitable terms but they tried to shake down Apple for way more money on.
Even if you disagree with Apple being able to sue for design patents the fact is they had a strong case and it was more that obvious Samsung was copying closely. There is no excuse for violating RAND, the whole reason standards work is because you know the terms for the pool of licenses it holds. If companies are just going to drop RAND terms because the mark, er licensee is rich, then standards mean nothing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Surface needs to be very cheap if Microsoft wants to make a splash.
Very true.
But can they afford the resulting backlash from other hardware makers? A number of them have already fired shots across Microsofts bow warning them they will be very displeased if Surface is undercutting the hardware they make.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Sadly the better cheap tablets are manufactured by lesser known Chinese manufacturers. Compare the Nexus 7 to nearly similarly spec'd tablets by the virtually no-name Ainol. http://www.ainol-novo.com/buy-products.html The cheaper models, which should be less expensive than even the direct online price of the Nexus 7, don't have Bluetooth, but all models have the one thing missing from the Nexus 7, HDMI output. Comparable to the Nexus 7, except for the GPU, is the unimaginatively named Ainol Flame. http://www.ainol-novo.com/ainol-novo-7-flame-dual-core-1-5ghz-7-inch-1280-800-ips-screen-android-tablet.html The only thing to recommend the Nexus 7, compared to the cheaper Chinese tablets is the better English, not Engrish, of the manual and possibly the warranty. But I'm not sure, Google doesn't have Amazon's reputation as an online seller. Import duties are another matter, something that probably doesn't matter if you're living outside the US anyway.
Can we stop letting Ricki Lake write headlines? It's nauseating to see shit like this on slashdot.
So in addition to non-x86 architecture, no DVD drive, my giant fingers instead of a keyboard and mouse, they made the screen impossible tiny and hard to read for the majority of adults. Wow, it's like they've never asked a single question to a single customer ever.
Until Google sue Apple for copying the Nexus 7. I really hope they do, after Apple's behaviour.
2. Apple's case against Samsung was pretty awful: that they won had more to do with bad management of the case by the judge (and a failure to anticipate that by Samsung's lawyers) rather than anything about the merits of the case. The fact is, and this is not even open for debate, the look of Samsung's products has not changed significantly since before the iPhone - that is, Samsung already had products out or announced that had the critical design elements in place, before the iPhone announcement. (It's not even hard to see why - rounded corners, a bezel, shiny blackness, as thin as possible, etc, are common design elements on virtually anything with a flat face and a screen. Most TVs have them. The iPhone's design elements weren't radical.)
It was a stupid lawsuit, aided by an awful, awful, judge.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.