Is Apple working on a tablet style Mac?
If there is one Apple rumor that seems to never die, it’s that they’re working on a tablet style Mac. Well, guess what, the rumor is back… again.
According to Crave, Asus is claiming to be currently working with apple to finally bring the tablet Mac to market. This would make sense that Asus would be involved as they work on all of the Mac laptops.
The story goes on to claim that the new tablet Mac will be a completely new form factor, but no word on the dimensions. A patent application from 2005 shows a design was submitted that was approximately the size of a sheet of standard paper in height and width. Some rumors though are saying it’s closer to a PDA and about 1 & 1/2 times the size of the popular iPhone.
The never-ending cat-and-mouse games with Apple rumors is always infuriating, and as always, there is no solid evidence. As I said earlier, this rumor comes-and-goes like the tide, and no one can even agree on what final form this will take. Is it a PDA? Is it a tablet? Personally the 2005 patent filing looks more like a UMPC to me.
With MacWorld coming up in January, there is sure to be some sort of announcement of new products (it’s where the world got it’s first view of the iPhone last year), but we will just have to wait and see as usual.
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November 6th, 2007
It’s logic, really.
Why would the iPhone and iTouch be the only multi-touch enabled devices apple offers? Also, why not first test the market with devices that are the most used by consumers to guage the durability of the multi-touch interface, as well as the potential bug testing that is taken out, unbeknown to the voracious consumers, that would be required in these utilitarian appliances?
As much as we’d like to beleive otherwise, most computers, including notebooks, are used to surf the web, and what we call protable computers right now leave alot to be desired. I have ALWAYS hated the concept of the laptop. It is not user friendly in the way I feel a portable computer should be and is essentially what it says: A LAPTOP, because you have to stop and set it on your lap to use it.
In my opinion, that is counter productive, especially with today’s younger lifestyle, coupled with the new professional lifestyle (DC excluded).
The younger and trendier social demographic is apple’s market. They are constantly moving, constantly keeping in touch, and apple knows they need to push the notebook market in a different direction, just as they did the mobile phone market.
There was only a “Soft” update to the macbook line, just as, before the release of the new iMacs, there was only a “soft” update to the previous line.
if you watch apple you will see they now have adopted the strategy of letting others leak thier upcoming products. It’s as textbook as knowing that if Sony denies something, it will definitely be hitting the market.
Or have we all forgotten the leak of the new apple keyboard?
Will there be a mac tablet PC? Absolutely.
Will it be in the form factor asus states? More than likely.
Will it be announced after January at the Mac expo, just as the iPhone was? That I can’t say, but would probably bet on it.
The fact is Apple WILL change how we view computing, and a multi-touch enabled UMPC tablet is more than likely thier next step.