iTablet to be released this year?

swingking

source: Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/5323446/ft-claims-apple-tablet-possible-september-launch?skyline=true&s=x

Gizmodo wrote:

According to the Financial Times, Apple is racing to launch the Apple tablet—along with new iPods—as early as September. It seems Apple is working with record labels and book publishers on new iTunes features created for the device:

The talks come as Apple is separately racing to offer a portable, full-featured, tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution. The device could be launched alongside the new content deals, including those aimed at stimulating sales of CD-length music, according to people briefed on the project.

Apple is working with EMI, SonyMusic, Warner Music and Universal Music Group, on a project the company has codenamed "Cocktail", according to four people familiar with the situation.

The Financial Times' sources point out that the device will have a 10-inch touchscreen and run iPhone OS. The tablet will be able to connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi like the iPod touch, and—according to publishers—it will also have a book marketplace. Yes, that's Jeff Bezos' worst nightmare.

So what are people's opinions on this device. I would have loved to have seen a small device running OSX and not the iphone software. I really doubt it's gonna be released this year. I'm guessing it'll make a show at CES next year which will be Apple's first time at this event instead of Macworld.

kevteljeur

I was very sceptical when the first stories came out, but it does look like it'll happen. If anyone's going to make a slim, elegant tablet-style device which could be a success, it would be Apple. It'll be beautiful and a hell of an experience to use, probably great for the touch-based games that are taking off on the iPhone. The previous attempts were basically notebooks without keyboards, and expensive without adding anything to, or differentiating from, the notebook experience.

But would it be useful, or successful? If they launch it, then they clearly think so... I won't be getting one anytime soon though.



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flywheel

i still have a couple of Newton's about (still working grand too!) and the only reason I keep an OS 9 machine alive...



so been waiting for an upgrade for quite a while looking forward to some more info on the iTablet for sure...

Sad Professor

swingking wrote: »

I really doubt it's gonna be released this year.

I dunno I think there might be something to the September rumour. New iPods (with cameras, ugh) will be coming out then. And there was talk that Steve wanted to make his return public appearance at a new product launch. This could be it. Just in time for Christmas.

I don't really care for the idea of an iTablet but it'll be interesting see what Apple will do with it.

Dman001

Apparently it will have the iPhone OS, but it would want to be an updated version of the OS to be useful. It would be a cool product alright, and I can see it selling well, but I can't see what people would use it for especially if it is going to cost around €500.

Hobbes

FT article has nothing to do with that blog post. TBH I'm seeing a lot of fake reports like Apple buying twitter or EA as well as the tablet.

seeing as the famous "pump n dump" Jim Cramer is one of them I have to wonder if someone is trying to offload stock.

J-blk

How long has this rumor in some form or another been going around? 4-5 years now? Eventually, it probably will come true (just like the iPhone did and that was hyped forever as well..) but I have no idea if it will be this year. The iPhone has proven that a touch capable device can work but I'm a bit torn about it if it just ends up being a bigger iPod Touch or something...

If it was essentially a tablet Mac, I'd love to get one. It'd be much nicer than using my MacBook for just lounging around browsing the web, watching movies when traveling and could very easily dominate the eBook market but I'd still want it to be able to run pretty much standard Mac OS X software...

Would Apple release a completely new product line though in a fairly "weak" global economy? They might hold off until things start showing definite signs of recovery and people start spending again (though that could very well be this Christmas season for certain countries...).

Mikey23

Generally agree with J-blk. I think the crucial element is the price - gauge it right, and it could be a huge hit; gauge it wrong and it'll reinforce the common view of Apple as over-expensive, which I think would be a pity.

I've a MacBook @ work, iMac @ home & iPhone on the move, all of which sync beautifully. What I'd mostly want from an iTablet is a browsing device for the living room and something that could bring PDFs, eBooks etc with me to my part-time college course & allow me to take notes. For those purposes, an enhanced iPhone OS would be sufficient, but I'd much prefer the flexibility of a real Mac OS. Given the range of apps already available for the iPhone/iPod Touch, a long-term strategy of a device with a larger screen running the iPhone OS makes perfect sense.

Dman001

J-blk wrote: »

How long has this rumor in some form or another been going around? 4-5 years now? Eventually, it probably will come true (just like the iPhone did and that was hyped forever as well..) but I have no idea if it will be this year. The iPhone has proven that a touch capable device can work but I'm a bit torn about it if it just ends up being a bigger iPod Touch or something...

If it was essentially a tablet Mac, I'd love to get one. It'd be much nicer than using my MacBook for just lounging around browsing the web, watching movies when traveling and could very easily dominate the eBook market but I'd still want it to be able to run pretty much standard Mac OS X software...

Would Apple release a completely new product line though in a fairly "weak" global economy? They might hold off until things start showing definite signs of recovery and people start spending again (though that could very well be this Christmas season for certain countries...).

Yeah I'd much prefer a the Tablet to run OSX (or a slightly scaled down OSX) rather than running the iPhone OS, that would just make it a big iPod Touch.

Apple are still making huge profits so I don't think they are too worried by the current economic climate. The tablet could essentially be their version of a "Netbook", a sub €1000 device running OSX in some form. Going by the continued popularity of the iPhone (People still went mad for the 3GS) I think Apple would be able to pull off the Tablet and sell 1000s of them.

bluemachaveli

I would defiantly be interested in one. I use my iPhone a lot on the move and a bigger screen would be perfect.I will not part with cash if it has no flash support. Also no more than €800!

swingking

if this device comes out soon I think it will be mainly launched as an Apple Ebook reader and web browsing device. I don't think they will want to have people running very powerful processes on it. Would it be good for movie watching I wonder?

conchubhar1

Am I the only one who does not like the idea of no keyboard?

Would love a touch screen, but need a keyboard.


It would need a 15 inch screen - with a fifth of that as an on screen keyboard, with a quick launch and close permanent touch button on the side!

J-blk

swingking wrote: »

Would it be good for movie watching I wonder?

Can't see why not - if something like this ended up being a bigger iPod Touch essentially, I would still expect it to play all the same media as the iPods can (but would hope for much more, especially mkv support but that is hugely unlikely, unless the device runs proper OS X).

conchubhar1 wrote: »

Am I the only one who does not like the idea of no keyboard?

It would definitely have a soft keyboard, like the Touch or iPhone - what's wrong with that? If it had a hardware keyboard, it'd just be another laptop/netbook. Though if it has USB ports (and again, proper OS X) you could just connect any keyboard you like...

conchubhar1 wrote: »

t would need a 15 inch screen

15" would be way too big. 10" to 13" is far more likely, essentially any size that can fit an A4 page in portrait view without the need to zoom - I'd lean towards 10" or so, just like the Kindle DX.

conchubhar1

hhm you make a very good point with the portrait view - changed me mind on the screen size.

I would be okay with a soft keyboard as I am with touchpad on a normal laptop.

But it would have to be a fifth of the screen - or resizable would be great. It would also need to have a permanent touch button on/to the side of it to turn on and off the keyboard to have more space when not using it.

J-blk

conchubhar1 wrote: »

But it would have to be a fifth of the screen - or resizable would be great.

It'd be pretty cool if you could customize it more than the iPhone/iPod Touch keyboard, sure. I'd expect it to at least support portrait/landscape in every application, pretty much like the latest iPhone OS. And they better include copy/paste right from the start this time! This is why I don't particularly like the idea of it being iPhone OS based, there will probably be a ton of stupid limitations for no good reason. Full OS X, even scaled down to a degree, would be far better...

conchubhar1 wrote: »

It would also need to have a permanent touch button on/to the side of it to turn on and off the keyboard to have more space when not using it.

It would be nice to have physical shortcut buttons for certain common functions. Or even better, a couple of customizable buttons (like the Home button on the iPhone) to assign whatever you want to them. Hopefully they have learned something from the 1st gen. iPod Touch which did away with even the physical volume buttons, annoying everyone... Which is why they were added back for the 2nd gen. one...

Even as a larger iPod Touch, I think I'd probably be interested in one of these, though in that case, it all depends on price/features (whereas if it was full OS X on it, I'd probably sell a kidney or something and get one no matter what ).

Dman001

Both Gizmodo and PC World are both wondering what exactly could it be used for. It surely will be a pretty, shiny new device but will it useful, especially if it will cost above €500. It will need that unique selling point that the iPhone and iPod brought.