When a rumor never seems to fade into the past and is frequently brought up over and over again generally there is some truth to the matter. Reports are surfacing again that Apple will be releasing a tablet PC in October for around $800.00.That's a direct statement which means that the source in hand must be fairly confident that the information received is accurate. More interestingly is that the new information matches up with previous rumors.
"Taiwan's high-tech supply chain companies said Apple will debut its first netbook in October; Apple will pose itself to tackle the Christmas shopping season. Three corporations – Foxconn, Wintek, Dynapack have received direct orders from Apple"
What is interesting about the quoted source is that it says netbook unlike previous rumors that mentioned a tablet. Further the source says that Apple will debut "touch screen technology on its netbooks, Apple will not target low-end consumers, avoiding direct competition with Acer, Asus, as well as their less-than-500-dollars netbooks. Apple's netbook (or a "tablet" as many call it,) will probably be sold at around $800 USD each."
If the sources are correct then it means Apple will be selling a small light netbook with a touch screen; something that isn't prevalent today. A product of this nature will certainly attract attention but it's clear that at around $800.00 it's not truly targeting the netbook market with its pricing.
Apple generally holds a press conference in the fall to release its new iPod line and could bundle this announcement in with its other products. It is also no secret that Apple is flush with cash right now and may be more willing to invest into niche markets but only time will tell.
If Apple gets one out and it's not a half-assed products like some other Tablet PCs, I might just sell my MacBook and get it.
But for under $800, I'd be surprised though. I still need something good and fast, not just something that has the tablet "feature".
Instead, a pc (or netbook) with a touchscreen is different, it is just as useful as a McDonald's POS. :-/
AKA an UltraMobilePC
I own two tablets, a slate and a convertible. The slate is largely useless for anything other than what I've repurposed it into: A wall-mounted interface for music and such.
That's because the device is small enough to be used by the thumbs and you see the entire keyboard, where your thumbs are and what you're typing all at the same time, keeping errors to a minimum.
A tablet is much bigger (naturally) and even though an on-screen keyboard can be close to full-size you would still have problems typing because you can't feel the buttons so you will have to rely on your eyes or simply just muscle memory. The speed would drop and errors would rise since you would have to look at your fingers and the keyboard or at what comes out on the screen.
I just don't see it as being very practical in that regard. However, It can be very practical since you will have a lighter and thinner tablet instead with no physical keyboard.
...or maybe you get used to it and type just as fast.
I don't think that on screen keyboards scale up very well. At small sizes, you can probably get away from the lack of tactile feedback, because as epple pointed out: You're primarily using a single finger to type. Scale it up, and that no longer applies.
$800... it better be twice the size of an iPod touch/iPhone, which means twice as wide and twice as "tall" with the same thickness, which means 4x the resolution too.
If they can do that, and it works, then they'll win the tablet game instantly.
actually, I don't see how additional size and pixels can massively increase the cost. it should be matter of additional 300$ and no more.
and again, Tecra M7 was totally sold out despite 2000$ price for hi-end configuration (2GHz Core 2 duo, 4Gb ram, Nvidia Quadro NVS 110M 128mb) and around 1600$ for less performance. wonder why? if you ever worked with graphics, you should know that 1280x800 is pretty pointless resolution for that purpose, so artist and designers consider not buying small tablets, imho.
Last edited by х.iso on 13 Jul 2009 - 23:18
Well depends who it is aimed at whether it would sell or not. As a professional tool, if it does the job people may be inclined to buy it despite any premium. Not like the sorts of users likely to gain a lot from tablets havent spent a lot on CAD or Imaging applications already.
Basically this is going to be a LARGE iPod Touch. 8P
Laptops typically are designed to be usable on a lap as well as a desk...or the better ones are anyway.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/913...t_pm_2009-07-13
I WILL SOOOO BUY IT. That is perfect for my portfolio.
I WILL SOOOO BUY IT. That is perfect for my portfolio.
That keyboard looks unpleasant to use.
Its not about whether it disapears or not, it's about whether you can comfortably write with it. If tablets have failed because people found the input to be lacking then that above solution doesn't solve the problem, especially given unlike an iPhone you could only use one hand since your thumb won't have the same travel thus you will need one hand to hold it and one to type.
But again .... $ 800, why ?
Overpriced not only to avoid completion, also, so you buy a premium, only because of the Apple hardware being used ?
Money is always tight for me, and robbing people/banks, still illegal. Having $800+ spare is a very rare event.
grrrrrr .....
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.